Synopsis: Seeing his father alive again, Upa rushes over and tackles a confused Bora in a hug. Bora then remembers that he died, and Upa explains that Goku gathered the Dragon Balls together and wished him back to life, with Bora looking up at the dragon in awe. With his job done, Shenlong bids them farewell and disappears, the Dragon Balls flying up into the sky to disperse across the world once more. Goku watches carefully for which one is the four-star ball, and leaps up as it starts to fly away, grabbing it. Upa runs over to Goku when he lands, confused, and Goku explains that once a wish is granted, the Dragon Balls turn to stone for one year and scatter across the world again, so he had to grab his grandpa's ball before it flew away. Bora thanks Goku for all that he's done for him and his son, and Upa tells his father that Goku even climbed Karin tower to train and then defeated the man (Taopaipai) who killed him. Goku prepares to leave again, and Upa and Bora try to convince him to stay long enough for a feast, but Goku says his friends are waiting (though he really wishes he could stay long enough to eat). Goku calls back down kinto'un and flies off again, and Bora asks his son if he thinks they can live each and every day of their lives as courageously as Goku does. Goku returns to his friends and gives them the good news about Bora's revival, and they all praise him for having done something really good. Goku interrupts the moment by realizing he really needs to pee, and running over to the edge of Baba's outdoor arena to relieve himself, prompting them all to wonder if Goku really is the type to save the world one day... When Goku comes back over, Puar and Bulma say that Goku's journey to gather the Dragon Balls is over at least until they're active again and he has to go get the four-star ball again, but Goku reveals that he caught the ball before it could fly away. Kuririn wonders if this means Goku won't ever have to look for the Dragon Balls again, and Goku says his focus now will be on training for the next Tenkaichi Budokai. Yamcha reveals that while Goku was gone with Upa, he's been accepted as another student of Kame-sennin's, and will now be training under Roshi so that he can catch up to the likes of Kuririn and Goku, a fact that Goku is overjoyed by when he thinks this means they'll all be training together. Roshi interjects however and says that Goku is on his own. He tells Goku that he's already an amazing fighter and has learned everything Roshi has to teach him, so the only way for him to get even stronger now is to go out into the world on his own and learn more about life. He assures Goku that there are many adventures out there just waiting for him, so he wants Goku to go on those adventures and then come back to him to show him just how strong he can get. Roshi thinks he's made a really good speech, but Goku ruins it by saying he doesn't really get it but thinks it sounds fun anyway. Roshi says they'll all meet again at the next Tenkaichi Budokai, and Kuririn worries that this means they won't see Goku for five years, but Roshi reveals that the next tournament will be in only three years – it seems the last tournament was so popular that there's been a growing demand from both audiences and entrants, so the tournament has switched to a more frequent schedule. Kuririn still thinks that'll be a long time, but Goku can't wait to come back and see how strong everyone has gotten, with Yamcha swearing that he'll be able to beat Goku next time. Kuririn similarly vows that he'll be taller than Goku by that point too, but Goku says he'll still be growing too. Goku wishes farewell to his friends and starts to call down kinto'un once more, but Roshi stops him, telling him to instead travel the world by his own power by walking, running, and swimming. His friends are aghast at such an idea, but Goku happily agrees to it and runs off intot he distance, causing Bulma to wonder if anything ever fazes him. Baba chides her brother by saying that of course a master will practice what he preaches, and Roshi leads the way and says they can all at least run back to his house, causing Yamcha and Kuririn to rush after him with Bulma and Puar doing their best to keep up behind them. Three years pass, and the day of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai arrives. Roshi, Kuririn, Yamcha, Bulma, Lunch (in her blonde form), Oolong, Puar, and even the turtle all travel by plane towards Papaya Island. Yamcha is excited, and Puar thinks he might even be able to win this time, but Kuririn cautions them that he's going to be there too. Bulma thinks they've all forgotten that Goku's going to be coming as well, and Oolong further reminds them that there's a good chance that the previous tournament's winner, Jackie Chun, could be showing up as well. Everyone's excitement about possible glory and what could be coming next is soon interrupted by the antics of Lunch (who really feels like she needs to hijack the plane just because) and Roshi (who really needs to use the bathroom), embarrassing the rest of the group. Review: This chapter finally brings the second search for the Dragon Balls to an end, but since pretty much all of the story threads from that were taken care of as of the previous chapter's ending, this chapter primarily serves as an epilogue to that, while also sort of becoming a prologue for the next storyline. It's interesting to note that Bora seems confused when brought back to life. For longtime fans who got into the series via the 'Z' era of the franchise, that might seem a bit confusing, but as we'll learn later on, not everyone is given the same treatment upon death that our heroes are. Taking into consideration what we learn at that point, it's safe to assume that as good of a person as Bora is, he didn't quite rank to keep his body after his passing, and as such his last memory prior to waking up in the dirt is...well, dying. It's pretty easy to imagine how that'd be pretty confusing to go through. Discounting brief moments of filler (none of which are important enough to review here that I can recall off the top of my head), this is sadly the last time we'll see Upa and Bora until almost the very end of the series, and I can't lie, that's a little bit sad. While we never really saw much in the way of fighting potential for Upa, and I'd be lying if I said he had the most engaging of personalities, we've not had a character before this stick around outside of their own arc unless they were intended to come stick around or come back again later on. Heck, comparing him to Chi Chi right now (and again not counting filler), Upa's already been around and involved in more than she ever was, but only one of the two gets to come back into the story proper and be considered part of the group. Given the fate of almost every additional character is to eventually be shoved aside by newer and more powerful characters though, it probably is for the best in the long run that Upa didn't stick around – if there's one thing the cast of characters in this series is rich with, it's faces to stand around and look shocked or amazed. Once Upa is seen off into the great void of off-panel life, the chapter switches gear and focuses entirely on the feeling of 'now what?' that we were sure to be left with. The idea that Goku is going to save the world someday is briefly paid lip service to again, but quickly put aside as the story needs to figure out what's coming in the immediate future rather than the distant, and two panels basically clear the air and tell us exactly what to expect – since he caught the four-star ball, Goku will seemingly never have to go on another Dragon Ball hunt again; and as such, all of his focus is now going to be on returning to the Tenkaichi Budokai. The former beat is a bit presumptive of Toriyama to say perhaps, as surely a series titled after the Dragon Balls can't not have them involved in some way, but ironically, he is pretty true to his words here – we'll never again see Goku go on a journey to find these particular Dragon Balls again, and as such we'll never see him have to find his grandpa's ball specifically. There are unseen points in time where we know he has to have done just that, and there'll be plenty of times where we see characters gathering the Dragon Balls for one reason or another again, but the search for them is never the focus of the story anymore after this. Overall, I think that's a pretty wise decision on Toriyama's part. I mean, think about it – with the first search, we saw various one-off locations and adventures leading up to the ultimate gathering of the seven balls and conflict with a previously unseen foe in the form of Pilaf; and with the second, we saw more locales, but there was always one driving force in that of the Red Ribbon Army, that Goku was constantly going up against to gather them. Toriyama's already expended the most logical two choices to make a Dragon Ball search exciting, so unless he could come up with something exciting and new about it, there's not really any reason to go through it all again. Narratively it just wouldn't be very exciting. Without Dragon Balls to search for, that then naturally leads to the question of what Goku's next goal is going to be. At the end of the first arc, I mentioned that the series had to switch focus to Goku and give him something that he wanted to do to keep the story going. At that point in time, it was to get stronger, and that goal naturally lead Goku to the Tenkaichi Budokai, where he got to show that he had indeed gotten stronger...but not that he was the strongest. Now with his grandpa's ball in his possession once more, Goku's focus as well as the narrative switches gears back to that again, with Goku's desire to grow even stronger and to prove it by winning the tournament. You might be noticing a bit of a pattern forming here between Dragon Ball searches and tournament arcs, and I don't think that's entirely not on purpose, as each serves to get Goku closer and closer to his goal of proving himself as the strongest person in the world. It's also the most natural place to keep the story moving next as well, as the only remaining dangling thread at this point is that Goku didn't win the last tournament he was in. Moving forward from here is where we unfortunately hit a little bit of a snag – how in the world can Goku get even stronger now than he already is? As much praise as I give Toriyama, this is one of those times where I actually have to call him out instead, because he just sort of throws his arms up in the air and goes 'I dunno. Adventures?'. Don't get me wrong, Roshi's suggestion that Goku travel the world by his own power is a good one, as he relied on kinto'un for large portions of the Red Ribbon arc, and we've already seen how much stronger he got just from climbing Karin's tower a few times – it's probably a pretty safe bet that traveling around the world will be an even greater distance and push him even further. No, my problem is the fact that we don't get to see ANY of those adventures whatsoever. This is the first time in the series where Goku's power gain is going to happen entirely off-screen, with us not really getting to see how or why it happened other than some vague notion, and I can safely say that I'm not a fan of it. I think the anime staff must have felt similarly, because the anime takes it upon itself to fill in this gap a little bit thankfully. As far as the manga itself goes though, it's onto the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai arc, and the characters dialogue does it's best to hype us up about what we're going to be seeing. Just how much stronger have Yamcha and Kuririn gotten now, not to mention Goku? Will we be seeing Roshi don his Jackie Chun disguise again, and even if he does, does he stand a chance against any of his students at this point? Will it be one of them that wins the title of champion this time around, or will there be a new foe coming to the forefront of this story arc? 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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