Synopsis: Goku is astounded to see that the intruder has a tail just like the one he used to have. The intruder thinks this means Goku finally recognizes him, but Goku says he still has no idea who he is. The intruder says it should be impossible for 'Kakarot' to forget who he is or his mission, unless... He asks Goku if he's ever taken a strong blow to the head, and Goku says he does have a scar on his head suggesting that he did hit it hard when he was really young, but he doesn't remember it. The intruder curses him saying this would explain everything, but Goku still doesn't understand what he means. Roshi interjects and tells Goku that his grandfather Gohan once told him about finding a baby in the woods, a baby with a tail that was too wild to be controlled. Eventually however, the baby fell in a gorge and hit it's head, and when it miraculously survived it's injury, it's disposition changed and it became as sweet as could be. While the intruder is disgusted at the story, Goku is surprised to realize that it must have been him. Bulma still doesn't get what's going on, and Goku asks the man again who he is and what he wants. The intruder warns Goku that if there's any trace of his former memories in there, he'll find a way to reveal them, because Kakarot's people need him back. As Kuririn gets out of the debris of Kame House's wall, the man begins explaining his connection to Goku at last. He says that Goku's real name is 'Kakarot', and that both of them are aliens known as Saiyans, and that their race is the most powerful in the universe, and compounds this by revealing that his name is Raditz, and that he is Goku's older brother. Everyone is taken aback by this shocking reveal, and Goku even denies that it's true. Kuririn asks what Goku's doing on Earth if he's really an alien, and Raditz tells them that as well: the Saiyans are a race of both warriors and entrepreneurs, and they find planets worth re-selling to other races and conquer them, wiping out all life on them and making them ready for their new inhabitants. Adult Saiyans are sent to take care of the stronger worlds, but that's only after years of battle, and Saiyan infants are thus sent to weaker worlds to start with and begin their training. Raditz says this planet should have been easy for Kakarot to conquer too, given that it has a nice big moon. Roshi and Kuririn think all of this makes Piccolo sound like a good guy in comparison, but Goku doesn't get what Raditz means about the moon. Raditz asks Goku if his brain is that badly damaged, saying that Saiyans only show their full strength at the full moon, prompting Goku's friends to remember his giant Oozaru form once more. Goku says he has no idea what Raditz is talking about, and Raditz at last notices Goku's lack of tail. Raditz accuses Goku of acting like an Earthling and becoming comfortable on this world, but Goku says he doesn't care if he is an alien or if Raditz is his brother, stating that everything he's just told him is wrong and he wants no part of it. He tells Raditz that his name is Son Goku, and for him to leave the planet immediately. Although Goku's friends back him up, Raditz says that he can'tleave, telling Goku something else about the Saiyans – their home planet, Vegeta, was destroyed by a collision with an asteroid, killing all Saiyans save for Raditz, his two partners, and Goku. Raditz even states that their parents were killed in the collision. Raditz states that the only reason any of them are alive is because they were out 'doing wrong' as Goku put it, and says that he and the others have found a planet that should fetch a nice price, but even they might have trouble clearing it on their own, which is where Kakarot comes in. Raditz tells Goku to picture the carnage, hoping to stir his Saiyan blood, but Goku says he'd rather die than be involved in something like that. Raditz thinks this is a shame, but switches gears, asking Goku if the small tailed child he sees is his offspring. Goku denies it, but Raditz doesn't believe him, and when Goku tells him to leave him alone, Raditz says that if his own brother won't help him then he'll have to make do with his nephew. As Raditz approaches Gohan, Goku tells him to step away or he'll kill him, but faster than Goku can react, Raditz knees him in the stomach, knocking him to the ground in pain. Shocked and powerless to do anything, Goku's friends watch as Raditz grabs Gohan who begins to cry. Raditz tells Goku that if he wants Gohan back alive, he'll kill a hundred humans and pile them on this beach before the next day is through, and he hopes that Goku listens as he'd hate to have to kill his only nephew. Review: I think it's safe to say that everything escalated rather quickly, didn't it? While I can't say that Goku's re-introduction is quite as bad as a first introduction for the character like it was for many US viewers, a lot of the weight of this reveal does get lost when it's your first taste of the franchise. For most fans, the idea that Goku is an alien isn't even a fact they have to accept, it's just how it is – he's always been an alien for lots of folk. For fans who had been with the character and the series from the very beginning, and who didn't have the benefit of hindsight, this was likely an extremely shocking reveal. Although, it might be somewhat of a natural conclusion as well. We've always known that Goku was odd, even by Dragon Ball's standards, and throughout all the strange things we've seen in the series, he's still been marked as different from any other character we've come across. Given some of the strange things that exist on Dragon Ball's Earth, standing out as an oddity is no easy feat either, but now it all starts to make a little more sense. The trade-off to this however, is that slowly but surely, many of the traits that were predominantly about Goku are going to start being attributed to his Saiyan nature instead of just being how he is. It won't go so far as to render Goku just like any old Saiyan, not by any means, but some of the features that always felt like his are certainly going to feel less unique moving forward. There's already three of them front and center in this very chapter. Firstly, Goku's always been hungry for battle, craving a good fight almost more than he craves food even. As Raditz explains it, the Saiyans are a warrior race, so it's easy to infer that they likely all share this same craving for battle. Secondly, and more obviously, there's Goku's long lost tail. It was a feature completely unique to him prior to this, but now that we've seen that his son has inherited that feature, it's pretty easy to see this one as an alien trait that all Saiyans share. And thirdly and related to that, there's the ability to turn into a gigantic ape monster at the full moon. It's been a long, long time since we've seen that in action – the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai, in fact – but it's a trait that's been remembered even beyond that, what with it being used as a way to show Goku's raw power coming out of him during the King Piccolo arc. If it worked that way for Goku, it's easy to imagine that as a trait of all the Saiyans as well – and easy to imagine how horrifying that must be. One Oozaru out of control was bad enough, but an entire race of them that are using that power on purpose? Thankfully the number of giant space werewolves is somewhat more limited than our overactive imaginations might lead us to believe however, as Raditz also drops the bombshell that the Saiyan race is all but extinct at this point, with only four known Saiyans to be left alive at this time. Everyone who's been a fan for some time now go ahead and feel free to chuckle at how quickly anime only material adds to this number. Discounting those however, this creates a believable enough reason why the Saiyans would suddenly want Goku back – he might be 'weak' by their standards, but when there's only a handful of you left in the first place, you tend to take what you can get. Naturally however, Goku has no interest in the offer of being a space pirate, and instead turns down his brother to the point of telling him to leave and never come back. Like all relatives we disagree with however, Raditz does anything but, and promptly takes Goku down a peg before taking his son and giving him an ultimatum. All of this is incrediby fresh territory for the character and the series as a whole. We've seen someone taken hostage to prevent Goku from acting a few times before, but that was always in cases where Goku had already proven to be too much for the other character to handle. This time however, it's Goku who can't hold a candle to his opponent, and the hostage is only taken after the fact. We've likewise never seen someone as intimately related to Goku as a family member taken hostage either, nor have we ever seen him ordered to do something such as he's been told to do now. The only part of this situation that we've been through before is Goku getting taken down with ease (Taopaipai did it first), but even that manages to feel relatively fresh with all of the surrounding details unique to it. It also cements Raditz as definitely one hell of a problem for Goku to contend with, as he's now shown no effort in taking him down on top of what he was capable of against Piccolo and Kuririn. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: An Impossible Team-Up!
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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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