Synopsis: The day of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai has arrived at last, and as a heavy downpour of rain falls from the sky, Roshi and Lunch stand and wait. Roshi notices that everyone seems to be running late, but just then a taxi pulls up, and Bulma, Oolong, and Puar step out of it. Lunch and Bulma greet each other, while Roshi compliments Bulma on how “mature” she's become, prompting Bulma to elbow him hard in the face when he touches her butt. Roshi then asks where Yamcha is, and Oolong explains that as soon as they got back to West City, he ran off somewhere alone to train, a fact that annoys Bulma greatly. Roshi chuckles and says that the same thing happened with Kuririn, suggesting that everything they heard about Goku three years before must have lit a fire under them to train even harder than before.
The friends' conversation is interrupted by a stranger in a turban greeting them. Roshi asks if the stranger is a friend of Bulma's, but she doesn't know him either. The stranger says he's happy to see that Roshi really is alive again and that everyone else looks great too, but asks where Kuririn, Yamcha, and Tenshinhan are. The truth slowly dawns on everyone – is this...Goku? The stranger says of course it's him, and as the rain stops, he takes off his turban, revealing his instantly recognizable hair to everyone. Goku asks if they've shrunk, prompting Bulma to say he just got bigger, something that Goku says must be true now that he thinks about it. As Goku asks Bulma why her lips are bleeding and she retorts that it's lipstick, Roshi stands by in disbelief at how much his student has changed, yet stayed the same. The interaction is interrupted yet again by the arrival of Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu. Tenshinhan greets Roshi, and Kuririn takes how speechless everyone is to see them as surprise at how much they've changed. As Goku greets his old friend and Kuririn realizes that it's him, he embraces his old friend and thanks him for bringing him back to life, as Yamcha and Tenshinhan are also surprised by how much Goku has grown. An announcer for the tournament asks everyone taking part in the preliminaries to come to the gym, and Goku asks Roshi if he brought their uniforms. Roshi scoffs and says that they're all great martial artists in their own rights now, and should walk their own paths, saying they don't have to wear the Turtle gi forever. He encourages them to fight their best, and when Tenshinhan discreetly asks him if he's not entering as Jackie Chun this time, Roshi says he doesn't stand a chance against them all anymore, so there's no point. Bulma is somewhat taken by how much of a man Goku has become, causing Oolong to call her fickle as Goku, Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu walk to the gym and talk about their training in the past three years. Once inside the gym, Kuririn changes into a Turtle gi that he had a store make for him, only to find that Yamcha and Goku both came prepared with their own Turtle gis as well, though Goku's now has an undershirt. Kuririn scoffs, thinking that he'd be the only one to stand out with one, when Yamcha notices that Goku doesn't have his tail again. Goku explains that Kami-sama got rid of it for him, saying something about wanting to bring the moon back but being unable to do so as long as Goku's tail was there. Goku doesn't get it, but Yamcha and Kuririn nod understandingly. Something suddenly grabs Goku's attention much to Kuririn and Yamcha's surprise. On the other side of the gym, Goku spots the reborn Piccolo, now grown as well. Yamcha notes that this mysterious person's eyes are like ice, and Kuririn asks if it's someone Goku knows. Tenshinhan recognizes him however, and stands in disbelief. Goku smirks seeing that the 'Great Demon King' has indeed come to the tournament, and Piccolo returns the grin ominously. Review: We might not have hit the 'Z' era of Dragon Ball proper yet, but as you can quickly tell by the changed character designs here, we may as well have. Even seeing Bulma drawn as so much more of an adult – and not just her body, get your minds out of the gutter – is a bit shocking, but of the characters who actually look a little different now, her design is probably the least changed. This is probably one of the reasons Toriyama leads with her, to kind of ease you in and reveal how much of a different three years can really make to characters as young as they were previously. Then he rips that bandage completely off without warning by showing us an almost unrecognizably older and taller Goku. Seeing a character grow and change is almost a given for long-running shonen series nowadays. People from my generation of fans have grown up seeing the likes of Naruto, Luffy, and even the cast of Digimon grow and age along with us to various degrees, but it wasn't always like that. It's almost a given that if a series is going to have a somewhat linear movement of time, the characters are going to have to grow and change, lest you end up in a situation like a lot of Western animation does where kid characters are basically stuck as kid's forever, like the Simpsons. King of the Hill ran into this problem quite frequently, when it tried to show Bobby growing and changing, but had to work doing so around the fact that they weren't allowed to change his voice or design. A lot of older anime and manga tended to do the same, with the only way you got to see an adult version or older version of a character was generally if there was a flash forward at the end of the series. So back when this chapter was first coming out, the very notion of seeing an older Goku, particularly for fans that had been reading the series since they were very little themselves, was probably mind-blowing. It's also a risky thing, to re-design your character that drastically in such a sudden way like that. I'm reviewing Dragon Ball in a written medium, but the series itself, whether we're talking about the manga or the anime, is a visual one. The look of Goku had basically been cemented in people's minds for 165 chapters straight now, but here came chapter 166, changing up the iconic look of the character dramatically. Imagine if Spongebob or the like suddenly showed up in the next episode looking different, they're still recognizable as themselves, but their designs are completely different from how people were used to seeing them. There's the chance that it would alienate fans of the previous look or version (I mean, look at US comic books and their various runs and adaptations, or even rebooted video games - it happens all the time), and they'd then decide they didn't care for the series any more. This was definitely a calculated risk that Toriyama took, and no doubt one that he had to heavily campaign with the staff at Jump to be allowed to do. As we go forward, I think it'll be pretty heavily agreed that it was the right choice in the long run, so kudos to Toriyama for rolling the dice and taking that gamble. Toriyama's no dummy when it comes to this stuff either, and he smartly lessons some of the shock of how much things have changed by showing how much they've stayed the same as well. Bulma still reacts angrily to Roshi's continued perversions; Goku's still oblivious to things that are obvious to most other people; even Kuririn, when he finally shows up, is still the same endearing mix of full of himself and laid-back. These are still the same characters we've come to know and love after all this time, they're just growing up. Let's talk a bit more about those changed designs and the ones that didn't change at all however. It's somewhat forgivable that the likes of Oolong, Puar, Roshi, and Lunch don't really change. Oolong and Puar, despite their young age, aren't human, so there's really no way to say for sure how they'll age – that said, we see plenty of adult-sized animal people, so really, shouldn't Oolong at least be getting bigger? ...On second thought, the idea of a taller Oolong is kind of...utterly terrifying...so maybe it's for the best after all. Roshi's already an old man, so three years probably wouldn't make that much of a difference for him, and Lunch is seemingly already an adult woman as well by the time we meet her, so there's less reason for her to be changed either. But then there are two characters who don't appear changed at all that don't make a bit of sense – Tenshinhan and Chaozu. Tenshinhan was already a tall guy, and while there can probably be comparisons made by putting the likes of Kuririn next to him from before and Kuririn next to him now to show that he's maybe even taller now, that's the only way you'd notice anything. He looks exactly the same as he did before despite now being a young adult as well. The effect is even worse on Chaozu, who is exactly the same size and everything as he was before! In fact, spoiler alert here – his design, outside of the occasional new outfit, won't be changing for the entire course of the series. It's bizarre and off-putting the longer you think about it frankly. There might be some cause lying in his design motif, being inspired by the Chinese Jiang-shi vampires, but nothing is ever suggested in the series proper that he actually is one of those, so...it's just weird. As for the characters that have changed, that leaves Bulma, Yamcha, Kuririn, and Goku. I've already talked about how subtly different Bulma is looking, so let's take a look at Yamcha. His design, much like Bulma, has constantly changed throughout the series at least in regards to his hairstyle. That's happened once again here, though now he's also received a more permanent visual shake-up in the form of the scars on his face. It's never made clear exactly how he got them, though we can assume it has something to do with the training he's endured for the past three years, and honestly, I like them. Without them, he'd largely be in the same boat as Tenshinhan and look no different really than he had before - though having hair that can be changed does give him a leg up regardless, sorry Tenshinhan. And speaking of bald characters, the changes to Kuririn's design are largely the same as what was done with Goku's design. Both receive a taller, more adult body shape, but most everything about their face and overall appearance outside of that is left the same. That's more than enough to shake things up in their cases though, given what little butterballs they were prior to this. As said before however, the characters themselves seem to be largely the same as when we last left them personality wise, at least in-so-far as we get to see. The biggest exception to that is Goku, who does give off a hint of being somewhat different from before...but still showcases that naivety that we find charming (usually). Bulma certainly seems to be looking at him in a different light however. Outside of one more moment later on (a moment that might even be anime only, I honestly can't remember), this is the only time we really have it suggested that Bulma finds Goku attractive, but it's a moment that lives in the subconscious of a lot of fans, myself included to a degree. Perhaps in a parallel universe, we had Goku and Bulma ending up together rather than the pairings we'll ultimately see for the both of them? It's definitely something interesting to think about, and I at least can definitely see some reasons to think it might have been a more interesting pairing for Goku than what we do get, though that does come at the expense of a lot of character growth and a rather fun pairing in the end for Bulma, so it's kind of a toss-up. Either way leaves poor Yamcha in a lurch though, but I think at this point in the story it's pretty clear that happiness is always going to elude him anyway, poor guy. As far as the improved fighting prowess of our major characters, we really have no way to know just how much stronger and how much more impressive they're going to be other than it being a safe assumption that it's going to put everything seen previously to shame. Roshi himself is pretty sure that he wants to sit this one out – his main reason for fighting in these tournaments was to ensure there were plenty of strong rivals for his students anyway, and they've already found that in the form of Tenshinhan and Cha- I can't even finish that sentence. There was a bit of Roshi that enjoyed fighting again himself I think, but after dying against King Piccolo, I think he's earned himself a bit of a rest, even if it does unfortunately mean he's just going to be a pervy old man moving forward. He even suggests to his three students that they don't have to wear the Turtle gi any longer, as they've all come into their own as fighters now. This seemingly is something that Roshi himself likely once did, given that Mutaito's teachings don't seem to have been either that of the Turtle or the Crane, so he probably expects his students to go out and make foundations of their own. That's definitely an interesting idea, as all three of them have had training outside of the Turtle as well. Sadly, this doesn't ever really come to fruition even in modern Dragon Ball, as time and time again, we see these characters in their orange Kame gi if they're prepared for what's going to be a “serious fight”. On the one hand, I get it, it's the iconic look for a lot of these characters. At the same time though, it really would have been nice to see more of them change up their basic looks a little more, as after a while you end up with just too many people wearing largely the same orange gi at once. It is what it is, I suppose. One thing I neglected to point out changed in Goku's appearance earlier is that he's once again missing his tail. This isn't the first time he's been without one however, so that might not be that jarring at first glance. When Yamcha and Kuririn ask him about it however, Goku points out that Kami himself removed it this time, and the dialogue suggests that it was a little more permanent of a removal than what's happened to Goku previously. We know it was in retrospect, because as far as the original manga goes, the aftermath of the fight against King Piccolo is the last time we ever see Goku with a tail. This is a little sad, at least to me, as his tail was one of Goku's most recognizable features alongside his iconic hairstyle. Sure, we'll soon enough be meeting other characters with the same type of tail, but even then the feature won't be sticking around that long in the grand scheme of things. Goku's tail had already been rendered obsolete as a weakness for him, but the threat of his Oozaru form still lingered, and I guess Toriyama wanted to take it out of the equation for him. While I get it, this also feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. The other characters might not know exactly how the form functions, but they have seen how destructive it is, and they are going to know how much stronger Goku's become. Just imagine them having to think about the possibility of an even bigger, stronger Oozaru coming out the next time there's a full moon, or Tenshinhan and Chaozu who have no idea such a thing is even possible. It feels like there's some great tension to be brewing in the background that we're being robbed of here, as well as another part of Goku's iconic look. With the end of the chapter comes one final reveal as well, and it's one that we as readers knew was coming, but are still excited to see – the reborn Piccolo in all his menacing glory. He stands out amongst the rest of the crowd easily enough even in 'disguise' (his turban hides his antennae at any rate, but you'd think the green skin and is arms would be a bit more of a dead giveaway to most folk), but ironically it's only Goku and Tenshinhan that recognize him immediately for who he is. It makes sense that Goku and Tenshinhan, who fought him directly, would recognize him the easiest – especially Goku, given all of his training the past few years has been to deal with the likes of him – but really, nobody else bats an eye at him? Kuririn I can forgive as he died without knowing what was going on and may have never actually seen a picture of Piccolo or anything after the fact, but the rest of the martial artists in attendance likely saw King Piccolo's doomsday broadcast, and we KNOW Yamcha did, so what gives? On the surface level, while this is strange and perhaps even a little infuriating, it's also really funny in retrospect as it perfectly highlights just how forgetful the human populace of Earth is in Dragon Ball. I guess in some ways, that's really not so different from our own, but I'd really like to think we wouldn't collectively forget the appearance of a large green slug-guy who tried to take over the world. Don't take that hope away from me, real-life humanity, it's one of the few I have left. 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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