Synopsis: The announcer calls for the final first round fighters, Yamcha and Shen, to enter the ring. As Shen steps out, the audience is confused how someone so ordinary looking made it into the tournament, and Kuririn tells Yamcha that he got lucky matching against that guy. Yamcha agrees, and steps into the ring expecting an easy win. Even Bulma remarks that this time around, he's guaranteed to get past the first round.
Shen bows to Yamcha and wishes him good luck, and Yamcha returns the sentiment. Watching from the audience, Yajirobe thinks that Yamcha's actually got unlucky with this match-up, and even Goku seems concerned about Shen for some reason, confusing Kuririn. As the match starts, Yamcha offers Shen the first strike, and Shen goes into an awkward stance that makes the audience laugh. As Goku watches however, Shen runs at Yamcha, seemingly missing his attack, but his flailing legs as he falls down causing him to kick Yamcha hard in the stomach. Yamcha is embarrassed, but compliments Shen for the attack, saying that sometimes you can pull off by accident what you can't do on purpose. Yamcha says he's going to attack next, and asks Shen not to hold it against him. Deciding to just knock him from the ring right now, Yamcha goes in for a kick – only for Shen to duck out of the way, causing Yamcha's crotch to slam into the back of Shen's head. Yamcha falls to the floor in agony, as the audience laughs at Yamcha once again. As Shen asks for forgiveness, Yamcha angrily says that it was nothing, claiming to have trained every inch of his body. Shen says that's good – he's certain he's going to win this match, but he'd hate for it to be that way. Annoyed now, Yamcha asks Shen if he really thinks he can win against him. Shen says that he can, and Yamcha laughs, saying he'll give it his all in that case. Shen encourages him to do so, and asks if he should try attacking again then. Yamcha allows this, and Shen rushes in, hitting Yamcha hard with an elbow strike and knocking him down. Everyone is surprised, but nobody more than Yamcha, who struggles back onto his feet. Shen says that Yamcha's mistake was making assumptions based solely on his outward appearance, and as such he missed Shen's inner power and subtler movements. He cautions Yamcha that he'll never become a truly great martial artist if he carries on as he has been. That said, he claims he's telling Yamcha this because he sees the makings of just such a fighter inside of him. Roshi wonders who in the world this Shen really is, as Yajirobe's theory that Shen isn't ordinary is confirmed. Yamcha says that Shen has opened his eyes now, but that he doesn't care for the way he did it, calling him a sneak and a jerk. Because of that, Yamcha says he's going to win if only so he can put him in his place. Shen apologizes and says that he can't let that happen as he has to win, and Yamcha rushes him again in anger. Shen says they'll continue the 'lesson' for a bit longer then, and blocks Yamcha's attacks before kicking his feet out from under him. Shen chastises him, saying he left his legs wide open. Review: *sigh* Poor, unfortunate Yamcha. For three tournaments in a row now, he's matched against opponents who are so far out of his league that its all he can really do to stay in the ring practically. Against Jackie Chun, he ultimately didn't do even that. He fared better against Tenshinhan, at first anyway, but then that led to a broken leg that kept him completely out of the following arc, and now...well, there's a reason I said it was all downhill for Yamcha after his fight with Tenshinhan, and this is the first pit-stop on that journey. In a way, we really should have seen it coming even without the tease of Yajirobe losing to Shen, because there was really no way Toriyama was going to give him an easy win after how he'd been treated in the previous two tournaments. The only chance Yamcha would have had would have been to match against someone close to his skill and overcome them in the end, and naturally that didn't end up being the case. In another setup, I could have seen him matching well against Kuririn for a time, or maybe even having him fight Goku would have been interesting given their shared history together. But nope – Yamcha's gotta get the biggest embarrassment to date, because that's his lot in life now. As much as I hate how this turn of events once again bags on the poor guy however, the mystery of what's going on with Shen is an engaging one. At first, you could definitely see Yamcha's theory on him being correct, that Shen's a relatively skilled martial artist who's playing like he's weak so as to catch his opponents off guard. It wouldn't be that out there, as we've already seen someone try that very tactic back in the 21st, and I'm sure we all remember Ranfan (she's pretty hard to forget, all things considered). That theory very quickly doesn't seem to hold up though, as Shen seems to be going out of his way to try to teach Yamcha. That's a weird thing for someone just trying to be sneaky to do, and it suggests that there's still more to Shen than meets the eye, even now. Couple that with Goku's concern about him as well, and it seems like this guy might actually be more of a contender than we ever suspected. That said, the match isn't over yet, so there's still a chance Yamcha could pull this off in the end, if he gets serious. There's...there's always a chance, right? 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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