Synopsis: Still on the trail of the last remaining Dragon Ball they need, Oolong finally asks Bulma what it is she wants to wish for anyway. After she boldly proclaims her intent to wish for the world's greatest boyfriend, Oolong is mortified that he's been constantly in danger for something like that. Unbeknownst to them, they're being watched from atop a giant mushroom by a new threat, a female soldier who radios in to her boss that a single car has just passed through. Her boss, Pilaf, tells her that car has to be the one and they should begin the operation. The lady complies by signaling another soldier named Shu, telling him that car has the Dragon Balls in it.
Oolong and Bulma are still arguing while driving when something suddenly hits the car and explodes, wrecking the vehicle and sending them all flying out of it. As soon as they hit the ground, a robot suit lands in front of them and picks through the wreckage of the car, taking a suitcase that Bulma had stored her five Dragon Balls in. The pilot, Shu a dog man, thanks them for the Dragon Balls before leaving with the suitcase. Bulma wastes no time telling Goku to go get them back, and he calls down kinto'un to give chase. By the time he finds the robot suit however, it's already been abandoned and stands there empty, leaving Goku to think it's dead. Back at the wreck, Bulma figures she shouldn't be surprised that someone other than her was able to find out about the Dragon Balls. Oolong suggests they should just give up on them and he'll be her boyfriend, but Bulma vetoes that idea right away. When Goku returns without the Dragon Balls, Bulma is horrified at the idea that they've lost them all and whoever took theirs probably has all seven now, but Goku reveals he still has his ball, the four-star, in a bag on his belt. Bulma thinks there might be hope yet if they can chase after the thieves in another car, but she then remembers that all of her capsules were also in the suitcase, leaving them stranded. Watching from nearby, Yamcha realizes that if he wants to steal the Dragon Balls for himself, he has no choice but to help them out for now. Bulma is thrilled to be joined by her hunk at last, and tries to cozy up to a terrified Yamcha as they pursue the thieves. Back at their hideout, Pilaf, a short gremlin like man, is annoyed that his minions didn't count the Dragon Balls before taking them as he's still one short. He's certain the group they stole them from should be heading their way to get them back tough, so soon enough he'll be able to make his wish for world domination! Sooner than he realized in fact, as the lady thief named Mai notices them on their radar. Goku and the others arrive at the Pilaf hideout, a massive castle, and get inside rather easily. In fact, they soon find arrows on the floor that should be pointing towards something, so they follow along, eventually reaching...a dead end? They end up trapped in a room as the passageway they just came from is closed off suddenly by a brick wall. In the control room, Pilaf marvels at how there actually are people that stupid out there. Review: Six Dragon Balls down and only one more to go could only mean one possible thing – it's time to begin wrapping up the storyline of the very first hunt for the Dragon Balls. Throughout the journey so far, Goku and Bulma have never once run across someone else who actually knows about the Dragon Balls. Everyone they've gotten a ball from has had no idea what it really was, and thus no interest in using them to make a wish. Even Yamcha, who's been following them entirely out of his own goal of making a wish, only knows about them because he listened in and overheard Goku and Oolong talking about them. That's where the Pilaf gang is different. For the first time in this journey, someone is after our heroes specifically for their Dragon Balls, and that makes them the hunted rather than the hunter. ...For about five pages before their Dragon Balls are stolen and they once again become the hunters, but hey, it's still a change of pace. While his henchmen are at least there for a good chunk of the chapter, Pilaf and his crew don't really get much of their personalities shown off until the next chapter, so I'll wait until then to really talk about them. For now though it's worth noting a little bit of an inconsistency you may have noticed when I'm talking about them. For the woman, her name is never outright stated in this chapter as Mai, and for the dog guy, his name is actually listed as Soba. Via Kanzenshuu, there's a whole debacle where Toriyama was asked for names for the characters for the anime version and forgot that he'd already named the dog Soba, so he named him Shu, a name that would stick with the character for the rest of the franchise. Likewise, he finally named the woman Mai. I'm not entirely sure at what point in the manga her name and his new name is finally mentioned, but for the sake of consistency, I'll be sticking with using both their names as is going forward. This is pretty much the only time in the franchise's history that a character's name (or lack of names) is as muddied as this, so bear with me folks. Goku thinking that the robot suit itself is what stole the Dragon Balls and assuming that it's dead when it's not moving is a nice callback to how he acted towards Bulma's car at in the very first chapter of the series. It's been a while since we've seen him be quite this oblivious about technology, but to be fair, a robot suit is a far cry from a regular vehicle or housing. You can't really blame him too much in this case for being naïve. Bulma finally gets her wish – just not her Dragon Ball wish – and gets to hang all over Yamcha, or at least she would if the poor guy wasn't having a panic attack just from her being close. When she rubs her face up against his, it practically causes them to have a wreck. Really though, it's Yamcha's own fault when you get down to it, because without him realizing it, he's already started to mature into a more friendly, caring character. Throughout the past so many chapters, he's continued to follow after the group and say that his only goal is getting the Dragon Balls. Is it really though? We've already seen him help them out once, and he's also remarked about enjoying seeing Goku beat up other people who deserved it, so it's pretty arguable that he's started to warm up to the group. For further proof of this, one doesn't have to look any further than his helping them out again in this chapter. Helping them out against the Bunny Mob is one thing, since the hunt for the Dragon Balls would've ended then and there if he hadn't intervened. Here though, if the Dragon Balls were really all he wanted, why doesn't he just give chase to Shu when he steals them? Nope, Yamcha's turning into a good boy. Either that or he's stupid. Maybe both. Himbo-cha. ...Okay, I'll stop. The one thing I do want to touch on with Pilaf is the wish he wants to make. While Bulma and Yamcha's wishes are both far from selfless, their desires wouldn't affect the world at large in any real way. Pilaf though desires world domination, a goal that Puar floated as a possible wish for Yamcha so many chapters ago. Given how all of our main cast are, frankly, kind of terrible people in one way or another, it makes sense to set them up against someone truly despicable, or at least has a grandiose goal in mind, as their final foes for this arc. As far as them falling for 'arrows on the floor' goes? They're all stupid. Even Himbo-cha. 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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