Synopsis: King Piccolo is in disbelief that someone who knows who he is would challenge him to battle, so he assumes that Roshi must only know him through rumors and old stories. Roshi assures the Demon King however that this isn't the first time they've met, saying that he once fought Piccolo alongside his master. This catches Piccolo's attention, so Roshi tells him the name of his late master: Mutaito.
Piccolo instantly recognizes the name of the martial artist that once sealed him away, and while Piccolo is in shock, Roshi quickly throws out a capsule, revealing an electric rice cooker with a talisman attached to it's side, putting even more fear into Piccolo. Watching from the side, Tenshinhan is proven correct that Kame-sennin knew the Mafuba all along and now intends to sacrifice his life to seal away the Demon King once more. Pilaf is confused as to what's going on, but Piccolo's attendant also starts to worry about what's going on down on the ground. Piccolo leaps into the air to try and flee, but Roshi launches the Mafuba, catching the evil being in it's wave of energy instantly. As everyone else on the scene watches on in either amazement or horror, Roshi swirls the energy around, before finally hurling the energy and the trapped Piccolo towards the rice cooker and...missing, slamming Piccolo into the ground rather than into the rice cooker. As Piccolo coughs and tries to gather himself, Roshi curses himself for coming so close only to fail right at the end. He cautions Piccolo however that this is only a temporary reprieve, as someday someone will come along who is strong enough to defeat him outright and save the world. Roshi says he truly believes that before, energy completely expended, falling to the ground, dead. Tenshinhan mourns Kame-sennin's demise as Piccolo gets back onto his feet, laughing. Elsewhere, Goku thinks he can feel that something has happened, but he can't quite tell what. Piccolo and his crew celebrate his victory, though even Piccolo acknowledges that it was a far closer call than he would have liked. Now however, he has nothing to fear, and he quickly levitates the buried Dragon Balls out of the ground before regurgitating his own two. Now, all seven Dragon Balls are in his possession, and there seems to be no one left to stop him from having his wish granted. Review: Kame-sennin is a character we've known for a very, very long time now. He's practically been with us since the very beginning of the story – he does date back to the very first story arc, though his role wouldn't be greatly expanded upon until the following arc. He's been a source of pervy antics, sometimes questionably so, but he's also always been shown to be a wise and powerful mentor, the perfect character for others to learn from and improve themselves. He's been shown to still be a capable fighter as well, and after whipping himself back into shape, he was even able to go toe-to-toe with someone that ultimately won against Goku. But here, now faced with the power of King Piccolo, even Roshi is outclassed, and he knows it. He's been saying since the very start of the arc that their only chance at winning is through subterfuge...but as it turns out, that very plan was itself an act of subterfuge against his friends, to a degree. As we learn from the last chapter and this one, what Roshi actually realized was that using the Dragon Balls or the Mafuba were the only way to defeat Piccolo immediately and put a stop to any further carnage here and now. With the Dragon Balls unable to be used without first dealing with Piccolo however, Roshi has had to opt for Plan B, the Mafuba. This means his own death, something that Roshi is seemingly content with, but he doesn't want any more of the next generation to get involved and die as well (especially since in this scenario, sealing away Piccolo seemingly would mean sealing away two of the Dragon Balls as well, so none of the already fallen could come back to life). Piccolo has already taken the lives of too many of the young, so he's taking it upon himself to make sure the past and only the past stays buried this time, which is part of why he makes sure Tenshinhan can't get involved in this fight. But then, we come to the other reason he had to make sure Tenshinhan couldn't get involved – on the off chance of his failure, Roshi needed to make sure there was still a Plan C, the hope that someday, someone could grow strong enough to take down Piccolo, and at this point, Tenshinhan is his greatest hope for that endeavor. And from his own perspective, it's a good thing that Roshi did plan for this eventuality, because failing is unfortunately exactly what he does ultimately. Roshi expends his entire lifeforce to grab Piccolo in the Mafuba, but misses the rice cooker. It's a sad, unfortunate turn of events. The great master of martial arts, known for some time in the series as the strongest man in the world, falls upon his own sword in combat, and ends up with nothing to show for it either. It's a sad, tragic end, that hits all the harder because it's the first main character death we actually fully witness – remember, Kuririn was already dead by the time we saw the aftermath, and Goku hasn't actually died in either of his two recent defeats. Roshi's passing hits exactly as hard as Toriyama intended it to. There's also something to be said about this being the perfect ending for the character. I don't want to go too far into content that's further ahead, but Roshi may perhaps have been better served with this being his final scene. He would have perfectly set the pace for the next generation to build off of, and would have been memorialized in the same way as Grandpa Gohan, except by more than just Goku – most of the cast, as well as all of the audience, would have looked upon him and remembered him in that same vein. It would have been sad, but sometimes, from a story perspective? Sometimes that's better. I leave it to each individual to decide if they think that would have been better in the long run, or if they prefer what we ultimately get instead. 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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