Synopsis: After being asked where the old turtle guy lives, Bulma reasons that he must be somewhere around the beach that they met him at. Gyu-mao is excited at the prospect of getting back to his castle, but stops celebrating when he at last notices the nyoibo on Goku's back. He asks him where he got it, and when Goku reveals it was from his grandpa Gohan, Gyu-mao reveals that while he was the old turtle guy's #2 student, Goku's grandpa was his #1. Oolong reasons that this explains a lot about why Goku is so strong, while Bulma can't believe the old turtle guy was actually someone important. Watching from nearby, Yamcha's equally surprised to see his theory proven right – Goku really does have an in with Gyu-mao!
Getting back to business, Gyu-mao once again asks Goku to go to his master and borrow an item called the Basho-sen from him, which he can then use to put out the fire on the mountain. Goku agrees, but asks if they can have the Dragon Ball once they're done, and once he shows Gyu-mao what a Dragon Ball is, the king readily agrees. Before Goku can get going however, Gyu-mao stops him and asks him for one more favor – if he happens to see his daughter, Chi Chi, while out there, could he please pick her up and take her along with him. He even offers Goku her hand in marriage if he finds her, an offer Oolong scoffs at until Gyu-mao shows them a picture of how cute his daughter is. Yamcha meanwhile is horrified when he realizes the girl he knocked out before is Gyu-mao's daughter! Immediately rushing back to where he left her, Yamcha wakes Chi Chi up to check on her, almost getting attacked for his efforts. He calms her down by revealing her knows her name, and tells a lie about how in love with her that he is, throwing the young girl for a loop. She asks if he's lying, prompting him to smile and ask if he has the face of a liar. Chi Chi's not exactly sold on his honesty based on his missing tooth from an earlier fight with Goku, but Yamcha's efforts are cut short regardless when he sees Goku approaching from the air on kinto'un, forcing him to retreat early. Goku spots the confused Chi Chi and drops down to greet her, making the girl think that a second boy has come to confess his love for her. Goku reveals that he's come at her father's request, and Chi Chi agrees to go with him, though she's not sure about riding a cloud. Goku says it'll be fine if she's pure of heart, but Chi Chi has trouble climbing aboard, and ends up grabbing Goku's tail to do so, instantly sapping Goku of so much strength that he falls off of the cloud. Goku asks her not to do that, revealing his greatest weakness to an eavesdropping Yamcha. The bandit's plan is now clear: he can let the group gather the Dragon Balls as planned, then swoop in and take Goku out via his tail before stealing the balls for himself. While Goku and Chi Chi fly towards the beach, Goku taps Chi Chi's crotch with his foot to make sure she's a girl, causing Chi Chi to at first freak out and shove him, but then swoon that this must mean she really will become the boy's betrothed now. Back at Gyu-mao's, the king, Bulma, and Oolong worry if the kids really will be all right out there on their own. Goku asks a dolphin for directions to Kame-sennin's house, and with it's help the pair soon arrive. The old man is happy to see Goku again as well as kinto'un, but Chi Chi wonders if the old man is really the invincible old master? Review: Phew! Despite my misgivings about how unfulfilled a threat Gyu-mao himself is, his arc is quickly proving to be the densest plot Toriyama has yet thrown our way in this manga. As much as I love the goofy antics, it is nice to see the story kick into overdrive at last. What at first seems to almost be happenstance, what with Goku having run into the old master before, now starts to feel a little bit like fate with Goku also being the grandson of Gyu-mao's old training buddy. In some ways this might feel a little bit too much, but somehow Toriyama manages to make it reveal in a rather matter-of-fact manner that makes you go 'Oh, of course this is how it is!' rather than it feeling like an ass-pull. It might help that we've already previously established that Gohan himself is a big deal via Yamcha's commentary. For a character that exists almost entirely as background for Goku, he's certainly getting built up to be a larger than life figure! That build-up does come with a bit of a downside though, and that's in the form of Gyu-mao himself. I'm getting ahead of the story here, but old-time fans will already know that after this point, we never really see Gyu-mao as a threatening sort of figure ever again. We also never really get to see him fight, and certainly not in a martial arts sort of way. So the idea that he's the #2 student after Gohan doesn't really feel that impressive when we never get to see him DO anything to prove it. It's just said that he's the second best, and that's pretty much it, the story moves on. It definitely would have been nice to actually see him cut loose at some point in the story, but alas, it's not to be. The mystical nature of the world of Dragon Ball grows a little bit more as well with the addition of the Basho-sen to it's mythology. We don't really get a lot on what it can do here yet though, so I'll touch more on it when we do. While all of the Gyu-mao, Gohan, and Kame-sennin connections to Goku could perhaps feel a bit forced, the reveal that the little girl from before is Gyu-mao's daughter feels completely natural by comparison. I mean, little girl running around the wilderness on her own wearing armor, she just about had to be connected to Gyu-mao somehow, right? The character of Chi Chi, much like her father, couldn't be more different here than how she'll be later on in the series. Here, she's a shy, pure-hearted girl, who seemingly is in love with the idea of being in love, and...well, that's about all there is to her. It's a little hard to see how the girl here will become the woman we know as Goku's wife, but a brief time we have with her later will make that transformation at least a little easier to envision. We also get the reveal of Goku's weakness, a plot point that the series will get a fair bit of mileage out of going forward. It's easy to see why Toriyama would feel he needed to add something like this too. Up until now, Goku has basically proven to be able to tank anything the world throws at him. Even against Yamcha, the only reason he lost initially was because he was starving, but Toriyama can't rely on that to be the reason Goku loses all the time. It's too convenient. He also can't have him run into folks similar to Gyu-mao or Kame-sennin in strength but far less benevolent all the time. For the action to feel exciting in the future, it's going to need to still feel like Goku has a fighting chance against his opponent. That's where something like Goku's tail weakness comes into play perfectly. It's specific to Goku in particular as the only character shown so far with a tail, and it's something just random enough that not every person he comes up against is going to know about it and take advantage of it every time, but also something they could stumble across entirely by accident. It's the perfect fit for the situation. I guess you do sort of have to wonder why, if it's so sensitive, he can still swing from it and do all sorts of other things with his tail, though. Hmm. 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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