Synopsis: As Goku hurtles through the air towards King Piccolo, Piccolo prepares to block Goku's incoming attack. With his fist raised out before him, a spectral Oozaru seems to appear behind Goku, catching Piccolo by surprise at the level of power he's sensing from Goku. The two collide in the air, and Goku is shown to have flown right through Piccolo's chest, ripping a large hole in the demon's body. As Piccolo recoils in pain, Tenshinhan marvels at Goku's achievement, and Goku loudly declares that he's won while beginning to sob.
Piccolo himself is taken aback by the fact of his loss, but praises Goku's strength to himself as brilliant. He cautions however that demon kind won't disappear as easily as that, and quickly spits up an egg, sending it flying far into the distance. He asks his newest son to someday avenge his father's death and not to let the fire of evil die out. Piccolo's body is then wracked with pain, and he explodes, the shockwave sending Goku flying back down towards the ground. Tenshinhan sees Goku coming crashing down and is unable to move in time to go get him. Thankfully however, Yajirobe arrives in the nick of time to catch Goku just before he'd hit the ground. Having landed their plane nearby, Yamcha, Bulma, and Lunch watch Piccolo's explosion in the air and wonder what's going on. They think whatever it was was pretty bad, and wonder if there's anything they can really do, but swear not to let their friends die in front of their eyes. Back on the battleground, Yajirobe claims to have come to help take down Piccolo and have arrived a moment to late, but Goku doesn't seem to believe him. Tenshinhan praises Goku's achievement, and Goku says it feels like his entire body is wrecked. Yajirobe says they both look pretty wrecked, so he tells Tenshinhan and Goku to both get in his car and he'll take them to get their wounds treated. Tenshinhan says he's alright however and asks Yajirobe to take Goku alone, as he wants to get back to Kame House and tell everyone the good news as soon as possible. Tenshinhan tells Goku to get well soon, but Goku stops him to ask if it's true that Kame-sennin is dead. Tenshinhan confirms this bad news as well as telling him that Chaozu is dead, and confirming Shenlong's death as well. Goku takes this news sadly, and Tenshinhan tries to cheer him up slightly by telling him that he's going to train harder than ever before to catch up to Goku in time for the next tournament, promising to win against Goku outright this time. Goku laughs and says he won't let Tenshinhan surpass him that easily. As Yajirobe drives away with a sleeping Goku in tow, Tenshinhan says he can't believe how strong Goku really has become, with Yajirobe agreeing as well. Seeing that Goku has left nyoibo behind, Tenshinhan picks it up to give back to him when they meet again, just as Yamcha and the others show up. Tenshinhan tells them about Goku's victory, and says there's a lot more he has to tell them yet too. Once back at their plane, Bulma calls in to one of the local TV stations to tell them the news about Piccolo's defeat, and when they ask who took him down, she simply says the forces of good. Around the world, the populace celebrates their newfound freedom from the evil of King Piccolo, but unbeknownst to them, their safety might not be guaranteed just yet, as the egg Piccolo spat out is revealed to have hatched a small being that looks just like King Piccolo, who vows to avenge his father and put an end to peace once and for all. Review: And so ends the short reign of King Piccolo. At the end of the day, King Piccolo might not be the most interesting villain Toriyama has ever made, and his story arc may have been a bit too simplistic to really fulfill everything it could have been either. At the same time though, the character and the arc around him very much set up the basic blueprint that almost all future Dragon Ball arcs will follow to some degree, even to this day, so I can't help but love it warts and all. King Piccolo himself, despite being rather one-note and basically just going 'EVIL! I'm EVIL!' constantly, and not having the best plans at all, also can't help but grab my attention. He's arguably the villain who most gets his way before everything is said and done. He actually gets his wish granted, he's the cause of death or near-death for every character that actively fights in this arc, and he even manages to take the Dragon Balls out of the equation, seemingly setting up the story in a way that there's no coming back from. Later arcs will have similar things happen in different ways, but I'd argue that here, before we've seen it happen a bunch of other times, is where it most feels like something might stick. His design is chilling, his actions repugnant, and he absolutely loves every moment of villainy he gets to perform. Everything that makes King Piccolo great is basically given a second life later on by another far more well known and beloved villain, and I can't help but feel like more fans should experience and appreciate the original owner of said traits as well. The ending of the fight is also one of the absolute best in all of the franchise. Goku's spectral Oozaru energy as he punches through Piccolo's body is something I can only describe as 'hype as hell'. Seeing Goku who we've come so far with defeat someone as strong and evil as Piccolo in so conclusive a manner is almost enough to bring a tear to your eye, and it certainly does for Goku himself. In his case however, I'd definitely say it's coming from a mix of emotions. He's glad to have proven himself so strong, and he's glad to have gotten vengeance for his lost friends, but he still mourns their losses, especially now that he knows there's no getting them back. I think this is also why one of the first things he asks Tenshinhan is for the truth about what happened to Roshi and Shenlong, because he still can't accept that everyone is really gone for good. He knows it's not fair and it's eating him up on the inside. Goku is often criticized as a character that's too forgiving and laid-back, and those are parts of his character that sometimes come too much to the forefront for sure – but within him is still a heart that dearly loves his friends, and will grieve for them when they're gone and fight for them when he's there. As opposed to Yajirobe who just strolls in at the end of the fight to help out by basically being an Uber. But hey, that's Yajirobe – did we really expect anything more from him? There's a nice moment of Bulma choosing not to reveal Goku's name or further existence to the world as well. I don't know if she gave the TV station her own name or not, but she's already somewhat on the global stage anyway, coming from a rich and famous family as she does. In Goku's case, she probably recognizes that fame or fortune aren't things Goku's after, nor is recognition for his achievements in the way that the world would be giving it to him if they knew who he was, so she spares him from dealing with any of that. As the world cheers however, we see that things might not be as wrapped up as any of the characters would hope, as Piccolo's child is alive... ...and seemingly is born wearing clothes. Huh. Come to think of it, Drum popped out with clothes too. Cymbal never wore clothes – Tambourine did, but I guess I just assumed Pilaf's goons had given him pants for some reason, or maybe one of King Piccolo's unseen skills was the clothes beam that we see used later by his offspring, or something. It's also kind of weird that Piccolo was able to talk with such a huge hole where his lungs, heart, and at least part of his stomach were all supposed to be as well. Not to mention how he managed to form and spit up an egg with most of his major organs compromised. And he explodes, kinda randomly to be honest. Huh. I guess it's only fitting that King Piccolo's end, as great as it is, is also as weird and uneven in some ways as the rest of his arc was as well, it only seems right. So with the end of this arc, we once again come to the point where I like to imagine what people may have been expecting to come next for both Goku and for the story itself. This time around, it's a little simpler in some ways, but not so in others. On the one hand, we know that Piccolo's latest offspring is still out there and is going to want revenge, but given what a little guy he is, it's hard to say just how capable he is of achieving that revenge just yet. There's the tease of the next Tenkaichi Budokai from Tenshinhan, and even with everything lost, Goku is no doubt going to want to attend that and try to win at long last. That still leaves the question of what he does in the interim however, as he's seemingly far outgrown every method of training available to him. There's also the lingering question of the rest of the cast, particularly the dead ones. Are they truly gone for good? Are the Dragon Balls going to be just a memory from now on, despite being the title of the series? There's so many different possibilities in the air that I'd imagine lots of fans at the time were really scratching their heads trying to figure out where things could go next other than the most basic idea of 'Piccolo's kid is going to get revenge' and 'another Tenkaichi Budokai'. That's two ideas though. There's now way they'd be one and the same, right? 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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