Synopsis: On the road to Fry-Pan Mountain once again, Bulma notices that it's starting to get hotter, which Oolong says tells them how close they're getting. Long ago, the mountain was called Pleasant Mountain, but about ten years ago a fire spirit fell from heaven and lit the mountain with a fire that cannot be purged – or so the stories say. To make matters worse, the mountain is home to the castle of Gyu-mao, the Ox King, a brutal person whom protects his castle and treasure at all costs, even with the entire mountain on fire. Bulma and Goku are undeterred however, and reason that the Dragon Ball must be in that castle, so they'll simply have to get it out somehow. Watching from afar, Puar thinks that the chances of them getting the Dragon Balls are next to none now that they know one of them is in the hands of Gyu-mao, but Yamcha thinks there could be a chance yet. He remembers hearing a rumor once that said both Gyu-mao and Goku's grandpa Gohan once trained together under the same old master... Yamcha's thoughts are interrupted by a young girl's scream as she's chased by a hungry dinosaur. The girl quickly proves able to take care of herself however as she decapitates the creature with a blade thrown from her helmet, and promptly blows it away with a laser from it as well. Yamcha is taken aback by what he just saw, but when the girl sees him and assumes he's another threat, he's forced to knock her out quickly to save himself. They leave her dazed on the ground, and Puar is surprised that being near that girl didn't bother Yamcha, to which he quips that he's not a pervert. Using her radar, Bulma is able to determine that the Dragon Ball really is inside the castle somewhere, so she asks Goku to see if he can fly in there with the kinto'un and get it. Goku tries, but the fire proves too hot for him to approach the building even from the air. While Bulma scoffs at him, an axe suddenly embeds itself in the wall near her head, and she and Oolong turn around in horror to see the gigantic Gyu-mao. Gyu-mao quickly surmises that they must be here to steal his treasure, an idea that Bulma and Oolong are too terrified to refute, when Goku turns back up on his cloud. Gyu-mao immediately recognizes it as the kinto'un and asks Goku where he got it, and when Goku tells him about the 'old turtle guy, Gyu-mao says that's his invincble old master! Bulma and Oolong are taken aback by this turn of events while Gyu-mao desperately asks Goku where the old man lives. Review: Now THAT'S more like it! This chapter isn't the best of the series or anything by any means, but after it's extremely weak predecessor, I'm happy for anything interesting at all to happen frankly. It's hilarious how much build-up there is for Gyu-mao as this terrifying figure when you think ahead to what he's going to be like later on in the story, and really it's still pretty funny just with what we're given here. Almost seconds after almost killing Bulma and Oolong, he's already groveling to Goku for help. That de-escalated quicker than anything I've ever seen, and frankly it's at least a little bit of a let-down. It would have been nice to see Goku go up against him only to be quickly proven way out of his league, and then call on kinto'un at that point in the encounter. The anime does improve upon this a little bit by having Goku attack Gyu-mao and it proves ineffective, so I'd wager I'm not the only one that felt like this was a little underwhelming as is. The story about the mountain being a nice place prior to the fire is an interesting one for a couple of reasons. First of all, if Gyu-mao was already living there and tormenting people, it can't have been all that 'pleasant' to begin with. Secondly, the story about how the fire got started is interesting as well because I'm pretty sure it's the only explanation we get about the fire, outside of some filler at the end of the first anime. You'd think such a pivotal moment for this part of the story would get a more concrete answer given somewhere, but I guess it's not really needed either. The mountains on fire, it's hard to get to as a result, the effect needed is done so that's that. Gyu-mao's daughter shows up for the first time in this chapter as well, but she's yet another case of a character that's seen before really being introduced, so we'll talk more about her next chapter. I have always been curious about her laser beam though. We only ever see it this one time, and this is at a point in time where ki attacks have yet to be introduced and even when they are they're very specific techniques, so I've always assumed this is some sort of attribute of her helmet rather than something she herself knows how to do. Throughout this chapter, we're able to witness just how much Toriyama is working with the previous ones to build his story, even just with referencing gags he's already told. Gyu-mao was mentioned a few chapters prior to this, as was the burning mountain; Oolong's diarrhea pill is again brought up here; and we've got Yamcha in hot pursuit after being a thorn in our main characters' sides for multiple chapters prior. We're even bringing in some more lore about both Gohan AND the old turtle guy who previously seemed like a one-off character. For a guy who seemingly makes stuff up as he goes along, it's amazing how well Toriyama is able to tie all of these varying things together so naturally. Until next time! Favorite Panel:
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About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
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