Synopsis: The announcer remarks how surprising it is that Yamcha is seemingly powerless against Shen, but Yajirobe isn't surprised at all. Yamcha tries again to hit Shen, but Shen blocks him and hits him with a punch of his own. Shen chastises him, cautioning Yamcha against making so many wasteful movements that leave himself open to a counterattack. Kuririn can't believe how outclassed Yamcha is, and as Bulma shouts for him to get his act together and win already, Roshi says there's no chance of that – his opponent is simply too strong. Yamcha leaps into a flying kick aimed at Shen, but Shen quickly moves out of the way and kicks Yamcha in the small of the back himself. As Shen warns him not to jump without a reason, Goku starts to suspect Shen's true nature. Getting back to his feet, Yamcha says he feels like an infant up against Shen. Shen says that's not the case at all, praising Yamcha as actually being quite good, enough to impress him even. Shen says he's stronger than Yamcha right now, but if Yamcha keeps training, he'll probably catch up to him in no time. Shen further confesses to Yamcha that he's not actually human. Yamcha laughs and asks if he's an alien perhaps? All Shen can say for sure is that this isn't his actual appearance, and that he's just borrowing the body Yamcha sees by putting his soul into it. Goku and Kuririn are confused by what they're hearing, but Yamcha laughs it off as nonsense, deciding to focus on the reality that he could really lose this match. Left with no other choice, Yamcha decides to use a technique he'd been hoping to save for later in the tournament. Focusing all of his energy into one hand, Yamcha forms a small ball of energy, the Sokidan (or Spinning Chi Bullet), and throws it at Shen. Shen barely manages to dodge it, and Yamcha re-directs it with hand motions, causing it to chase after Shen and crash into the ground where he had just been a moment before. Yamcha curses Shen's speed, and Shen is actually surprised, not ever having expected something like that from Yamcha. Yamcha says it's too soon to praise him however, and motions with his hands again, causing the energy ball to suddenly reappear, bursting out of the ground and slamming into Shen's chin from below, knocking him backwards and knocking off his glasses as well. Everyone is surprised, and it looks like Yamcha may have just won after all, but before Shen hits the ground, he rebounds off of it and dashes towards Yamcha quicker than the latter can react, slamming him hard in the chest with an elbow strike. Yamcha stumbles backwards in pain, ultimately falling out of the ring, earning Shen the victory. As Yamcha crawls back into the ring and Shen picks up his glasses, Goku finally figures it out – 'Shen', from 'Shenlong', meaning that Shen is actually Kami-sama! 'Shen' praises Yamcha for that last attack, saying that his only mistake was becoming over confident after landing it, thus leading to his defeat. Noticing some blood from his lip, Shen worries that he's damaged this borrowed body. Yamcha says he lost a total defeat if that's all the damage he took from taking on the Sokidan head on, and asks Shen if he won't tell him who he really is. 'Shen' says that's a pleasure that will have to wait for another time, and winks to Goku as he leaves the ring. Review: While this chapter does bring our worst fears for Yamcha to light – that he's destined to never get past round one of these damned tournaments – it actually goes a pretty good bit out of it's way to try to alleviate some of the damage being done to his credibility as a fighter. While everyone is becoming convinced at this point that Yamcha doesn't stand a chance in Hell (even his own master is writing him off at this point, poor guy), 'Shen' is actually taking every chance he gets to build him up. And yeah, before moving on, let's go ahead and rip off that bandage and call him Kami-sama, now that the secret has been revealed. Just as in last chapter, all throughout the fight, Kami keeps telling Yamcha what he's doing wrong, in an effort to get him to learn from his mistakes as they go along. This culminates in him confessing that he's actually pretty impressed with how far Yamcha has come on his own (let's not forget that at this point, Yamcha has trained with Karin just as Goku had before, so he's far more capable now than we're really getting to see on display in this fight), and tells him that he sees the making of a much better fighter within him. Think about that for a second – literal God has come down to Earth for some other agenda, and he takes time out of his busy schedule (okay, I'll tone down the sarcasm there) to talk to Yamcha about how well he's doing against him. This is an entity that seemingly has only ever trained two people before, Mr. Popo and now Goku, and he's telling Yamcha that he's actually pretty good. I suppose you could make the argument that he's just being nice, but even with what we know of Kami so far, that really doesn't seem like the kind of thing he'd do. Yamcha then makes an even better impression by whipping out his own special move, the Sokidan, and it's actually a pretty awesome move. It's a small energy ball, sure, but it certainly sets itself apart from the likes of the Kamehameha and Dodonpa far better than most later energy attacks will. It's a shame too, as I think this is the only time barring filler that we ever get to see Yamcha use it. It moves fast enough to catch up with Kami who was practically running circles around Yamcha prior to that, so it definitely has speed on it's side if not power. It makes such an impression against Kami in the end that it's after getting hit with it that Kami decides he needs to end the fight right then and there, not trying to teach Yamcha any further. If landing a solid blow against God that, while it doesn't do much against him, it does make him want to take you out now before you pull any other tricks out of your hat isn't impressive, than I don't know what is. That said, is all of this really enough to repair Yamcha's damaged reputation at this point? Well...sadly, no, not really. It's nice that we get something to put in his win column again after so long, even if it's not an actual win in a fight, but it's really too little too late, even at this point. We've already seen Yamcha sit out entire arcs, and lose in the first round of all three tournaments, as well as lose almost every other fight he's been put in as well. And when you're already a fan and know where the rest of the series is going for him? Kami's words don't hold enough weight to counter-balance what's coming. Yamcha's fate is still going nowhere but downhill. While most of the chapter is focused on Yamcha's fight however, we do naturally get a bit coming from Kami on the other side as well. When he confesses to Yamcha that he's not who he appears to be, there's an interesting guess on Yamcha's part that he might be an alien. Even Kami doesn't really shoot that idea down entirely (curious, that), but he does clarify that he's put his soul into this other man's body. That's...not creepy or skeevy at all. I mean, holy crap Kami, did you ask the guy for permission first, or did you just shove your soul on top of his and tell it to be quiet while you take care of some business? That doesn't sound unethical at all, does it? This also raises the question of just why Kami has come down to Earth at all, and why he's choosing to take part in the tournament. The whole purpose of his training Goku was so that Goku could take care of the new Piccolo in the same manner he did with King Piccolo before him, so what game could Kami possibly be playing here? 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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