Synopsis: As the third match of the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai gets started, the announcer reminds everyone that this fight between Kuririn and Chaozu is yet another Turtle V.S. Crane school match. Goku encourages his friend to do his best, but faced with the blank stare of Chaozu, Kuririn finds himself unable to tell what his opponent is thinking and wishing he'd paid attention to how he fought during the preliminaries. As the announcer starts the fight, Kuririn goes into position but finds Chaozu still just staring at him. He asks him if he wants to fight or not, when Chaozu suddenly just floats towards him without ever moving his body. Chaozu surprises Kuririn with a kick, knocking Kuririn into the air where he then follows and aims a punch at him. Kuririn manages to duck under the punch and rebounds off of the ring to punch at Chaozu himself, but Chaozu merely floats back out of the way. Once both fighters are on the ground again, Kuririn rushes Chaozu, but disappears before getting closer to his opponent. Chaozu stares on in confusion, causing Tenshinhan to shout and warn him to watch his left. Chaozu has to figure out which way is left by remembering which side he holds his chopsticks on, delaying him enough that he looks left just in time for Kuririn's attack to connect. The two fighters end up in a furious exchange of blows, with Kuririn continually pushing Chaozu towards the edge of the ring. Goku shouts encouragement to his friend again, but before Kuririn can seal the deal, Chaozu floats up into the sky and away from the edge. Kuririn curses him, wondering how he can attack someone who can just fly all over the place, while Jackie Chun recognizes the flying technique of the Crane School. Tenshinhan says that the old man seems to know a lot about the Crane School, and Goku tells him to treat Chun with respect. As Kuririn ponders how to go about his next attack without getting knocked out of the ring himself, Chaozu decides to go on the offensive himself. He holds a finger in front of his face and energy starts to form around his finger before he unleashes his attack, firing a mighty Dodonpa at Kuririn who barely dodges in time. Chaozu continues to fire Dodonpa after Dodonpa at the quickly dodging Kuririn who wonders what in the world this attack even is. From the sidelines, Goku recognizes the Dodonpa as the same move that Taopaipai had used against him. This catches Tenshinhan's attention who asks Goku how he knows that name, and Goku says it was the name of an assassin he beat up. Tenshinhan accuses him of lying but Goku asks him what business of his it is anyway, and Tenshinhan angrily stomps off. Chun asks Goku if he really did take down Taopaipai, and Goku says he did though it wasn't easy due to how strong he was. Roshi thinks to himself that it's amazing that Goku was able to defeat the world's number one assassin, before revealing to Goku that Taopaipai was Tsuru-sennin's younger brother. As Kuririn continues to dodge Chaozu's Dodonpa attacks, Tenshinhan fights his way through the crowd to talk to Tsuru-sennin. Kuririn curses himself and thinks that this would be easy if he only knew how to do the Kamehameha, when it dawns on him that he's never actually tried, and if Yamcha could do it, then... Kuririn gives it a test and thinks he can do it for real and turn this fight around. In the crowd, Tenshinhan reveals the information he just found out to a stunned Tsuru-sennin who now realizes why his brother hasn't called for three years. Tenshinhan assures him it must have been some sort of fluke or accident, and Tsuru-sennin angrily agrees that that's the only way it makes any sense. Tsuru-sennin orders Chaozu to stop fooling around and to just kill Kuririn outright, and Chun realizes what's happening now, though Goku can't understand why they'd want to kill them just because he killed Taopaipai. Chaozu prepares an even stronger Dodonpa to fire at Kuririn, as Kuririn himself goes into the motions for the Kamehameha. Goku realizes what his friend is doing, but Chun says that it's suicide, as there's no way an improvised Kamehameha could ever stand up against a Dodonpa. Review: After reading this chapter again, I'm all the more convinced that the Man-Wolf V.S. Jackie Chun fight should have opened the tournament so that there would have been a more clear escalation going on here rather than that weird cool-down moment in-between. If the last match set up a more personal reason for the Turtle and Crane feud from the Turtle school's POV, then this chapter gives it ample reason to exist from the Crane's as well. Before digging into that further though, let's first talk about Chaozu a little bit, though I'll be saving a few of my deeper thoughts on him for the next chapter. We haven't really had much of the character so far, mostly just the one scene of him being a little snot towards Kuririn before. Here though, we finally get to see a little bit of what Chaozu is capable of, and while I don't know that I'd ever say it's impressive, it certainly is unique in the world of Dragon Ball. Between the unassuming blank stare, the ability to move without actually moving his body, and even his ability to fly all over the place, Chaozu quickly proves to be a character capable of keeping Kuririn on his toes. At the same time though, it's pretty easy to tell that Chaozu doesn't really have much in the way of strength to put Kuririn down for good, at least not at first. He's more of a nuisance than anything else, but I think that was sort of the point. Rather than giving Kuririn a chance to really show off how strong he is, Toriyama's giving Kuririn a fight to help develop him into the kind of fighter he's going to ultimately become. Kuririn will never be the strongest fighter around, but if there's one thing he's known for, it's being able to hang in fights far beyond his natural capabilities by thinking smart in battle, and Chaozu is actually the first person to put Kuririn in a position where he has to think that way, because in this fight strength just isn't enough to get Kuririn the win. As good as this fight is however, it very quickly goes from being the main point of the chapter to a secondary one as soon as the Dodonpa enters the picture. Fans probably recognized the move even quicker than Goku did, and once the reveal of how it's all connected was kick-started, this tournament's intensity shot from it's already pretty elevated level right through the roof. Taopaipai was the strongest person we ever saw Goku take on prior to this, as well as being the first person to completely wipe the floor with him on their first encounter. Having the Crane School be connected to him in any serves well as a way to make them even more impressive, but more importantly than that, it gives an even greater meaning for this conflict. It's clear through Tenshinhan's speaking of him that Taopaipai was someone he held in great regard, and given how cruel we've already seen him to be, it only stands to reason that this is going to make him that much greater of a foe. It's not just Tenshinhan either, as the knowledge of Taopaipai's apparent demise hits home for Tsuru-sennin as well. No longer is he snickering and snidely enjoying the idea of his students beating Roshi's and claiming victory for themselves, he now becomes hell-bent on revenge and seemingly doesn't even care if it results in expulsion fromt eh tournament, given that he shouts for Chaozu to kill Kuririn. Things have most definitely gotten personal for the Turtle and Crane schools' next generation now, and only one side will be able to claim vengeance in the name of a fallen ally in the end. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The Chaozu Conundrum
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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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