Synopsis: As Goku was able to land without taking any damage, Kuririn is left at a disadvantage in the air where he can't easily dodge. Goku leaps up and aims a kick at his friend, but Kuririn takes a deep breath of air, managing to keep himself just above Goku long enough to avoid the blow and land back on the ground himself. Goku lands as well, and happily praises Kuririn for being way better than he was the last time they'd met, and Kuririn asks him if he's surprised by that. Goku says he wants to keep going as he's never had a fight this fun before, and Kuririn asks Goku if he's not at least a little bit scared as his own heart is beating through his chest. Goku tells Kuririn to just enjoy the fight – after all, it's not like he's going to kill him or anything. Kuririn scoffs but smiles, reminding Goku that he told him not to hold anything back. Watching the fight from the audience now, Roshi thinks that they're about to get a look at Goku's true strength. Wasting no more time, Goku rushes Kuririn quickly but stops just short of him, leaping into the air instead. He fires a quick Kamehameha into the air, propelling him down towards Kuririn quicker than the other can react and slamming him with a punch that knocks Kuririn to the ground, where Goku follows up with another knee strike. With Kuririn down and seemingly out, Roshi is amazed at his student's power, and even a watching Tenshinhan praises Goku as a true warrior. The announcer starts his count, but Kuririn manages to get back up, telling Goku that that was a fun attack he did just now. He says it's his time to have some fun now, and tries rushing Goku, but Goku merely blocks and knocks him down again with a quick neck chop. Kuririn rushes away, realizing that Goku's way too strong to face head-on, and if he fights fair, he has no chance whatsoever of winning. Roshi can't believe the difference between them, as he notes that even Kuririn's strength is already approaching superhuman. Seeing no other choice, Kuririn tells Goku he's going all out now, and prepares to fire a Kamehameha. Goku cautions Kuririn that his Kamehameha will still be too weak and he'll only waste his energy, but Kuririn smiles and fires the beam anyway. Goku calmly blocks the blast with an open hand, but misses Kuririn moving quickly out of view as the blast collides. Before Goku can figure out where he went, Kuririn re-appears behind him, grabbing hold of Goku's tail. Goku is shocked, and Kuririn tells Goku that it's all over now that he's managed to grab his weak spot. Tenshinhan is confused while Roshi praises his second student's quick thinking, as Kuririn gives Goku's tail a squeeze to drain him of strength. Review: With all of Roshi's moralizing about the next generation done for the moment, it's time for Goku and Kuririn's match to really get going, and for a fight with a pretty clear outcome, it more than manages to keep itself entertaining. As much as Goku keeps Kuririn on the edge, Kuririn doesn't back down, and even manages to come up with some pretty creative ways to get around the gap in power between them. Some of those ways do kind of strain a reader's belief perhaps though. I can't lie, as much as I love the fight, Kuririn's balloon man moment is pretty out there. I guess in a way it could be seen as an inverse of Goku's kiai in the preliminaries, but as unrealistic as that was, it at least makes some sense in the world of fantasy martial arts that Dragon Ball operates in. This is just...silly. But Dragon Ball is also a world full of silliness, so it's not the worst thing ever or anything. If nothing else, I'd hazard a guess that it may have been around this time that Toriyama realized he was going to be needing a way for characters to avoid the whole 'unable to dodge while in mid-air' problem, and would you look at that, the Crane School just so happens to have a move that could be easily abused to remedy that. Hmm... The bad news for Kuririn of course is that Goku is not only stronger than him, he's almost just as good at thinking on the fly. Goku's running and leaping Kamehameha marks the first time I believe that we've seen someone fire the beam and not just remain stationary while doing so, as well as I believe the first time the technique is used only to give forward momentum rather than outright as an attack itself, and there's certainly no questioning it's effectiveness here. It's after it's usage that Goku starts going at Kuririn harder, and the poor boy just has no chance by this point. That is, until he does. Kuririn going for Goku's tail is a twist that makes perfect sense here. Kuririn learned of the tail's weakness at the end of the previous arc where everyone else was thus reminded of it, and it's the one aspect of Goku's character that has never changed up until now. It was even pretty well shown or suggested that regardless of his strength, Goku from before could have lost to even the Pilaf gang had he had his tail at the time, so Kuririn actually getting a win through a tactic like this doesn't seem that crazy at all. ...But again, we all know where this is going. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The Best of the Boys.
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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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