Synopsis: Gohan continues his training with Piccolo, but no matter how hard he tries, Piccolo is able to block or evade every one of his attacks. Piccolo tells him not to try to see him but to feel his presence, but Gohan complains that that doesn't make much sense. Piccolo blasts him with eye beams saying that if he has time to complain then he has time to train, reminding Gohan that they only have six months left now until the Saiyans arrive. As such, he tells Gohan that any moment he's not eating or sleeping will be spent fighting Piccolo. Gohan thinks that sounds crazy, but Piccolo says all he has to do is get stronger than himself, his father, and the Saiyans on their way to Earth. He attacks Gohan again, telling the boy that he's just itching to kill him if he lets down his guard. In the afterlife, Goku continues running down the Serpent Road and eventually slows down to catch his breath. He wonders if he's even going to find Kaio-sama before the whole year's up, when he suddenly realizes that he's come to the end of the Road at last! The only problem however is that he doesn't see Kaio-sama there, or anyone or anything else for that matter. Looking up, Goku sees a small round shape floating high in the sky above him, so he leaps up to get a better look at it, finding a small planet with a house and road on it. Goku is excited, thinking this must be Kaio-sama's place for sure, when he suddenly finds himself dragged violently to the ground of the small planet. Goku struggles back to his feet on the small planet, finding that his whole body feels like it's made of lead or something. He soon spots a small monkey watching him and assumes that this must be Kaio-sama. He introduces himself to the monkey and asks for training, and when the monkey begins prancing around and making noise, Goku imitates him, under the impression that this must be Kaio-sama's style of training. As Goku does this, he's spotted by a short, catfish like man who is confused to see someone imitating his monkey. Goku asks the man who he is, and the man pretends to be warding off the bites of flies, saying that there's always so many of them around. He reveals that he is the 'Lord of Worlds', AKA Kaio-sama, causing a surprised Goku to ask who the monkey is then. Kaio-sama explains that that's his pet, Bubbles, before going on to chastise Goku for not laughing at his joke, comparing 'Lord of the Flies' to 'Lord of Worlds'. Goku doesn't get it and Kaio-sama assumes he's just too nervous to laugh, so he hits Goku with another joke about wearing shoes to cover pig's feet. Though Kaio-sama laughs at his own joke, Goku still doesn't get it, so Kaio-sama tells him that there's nothing he can teach him if he doesn't understand a joke as good as that one. Goku fakes a loud laugh, pleasing Kaio-sama, who agrees to train Goku after all if he can pass his test – make him laugh. Goku objects saying that he's not a comedian, but Kaio-sama tells him it's the only way he'll train him, and warns Goku that he's sophisticated so he only laughs at good jokes. Goku struggles to think of anything, saying that he doesn't even know what comedians read other than maybe comic books, and the wordplay between 'comedian' and 'comic' causes Kaio-sama to double over with laughter. Kaio-sama says he'll train Goku to become the best comic in all the worlds, but Goku says he came here to learn martial arts. Kaio-sama says he should have said that in the first place then, and tells Goku to attack him so he can see what level he's at. Goku says he'd love to but he's still struggling to move, causing Kaio-sama to ask if he's from Earth. When Goku says he is, Kaio-sama explains that the gravity on his planet is ten times that of Earth's, so it's no wonder Goku is struggling to move. He tells Goku to jump as high as he can, and although Goku gets high off the ground, he laments that he can't jump nearly as high as he usually does. Kaio-sama however is impressed that he's able to jump as high as that in gravity much stronger than what he's used to, and thinks that Goku is going to be a very interesting student indeed. Review: The chapter opens with Gohan and Piccolo's training (which you might recognize as already having been adapted into the end of the previous anime episode), but the real story of this chapter is Goku finally reaching the end of Serpent Road. It might seem like it's taken some time to get here, but remember, those extra story beats for himself and the others only existed in the anime. In the manga, this is only the fifth chapter since he started running down Serpent Road, and pretty much all of it happened off-screen. In the manga's version of events, Goku doesn't run into any problems along the way. On the one hand, I can see how this would be preferable in some ways, as the idea of running down a really, really, REALLY long road that takes six months to get down would be challenging enough in it's own right. It also makes it perfectly understandable that we don't see much of it, because there wouldn't really be anything to see – just Goku running. At the same time though, that basically shoehorns Goku out of the story entirely, and also wastes the setup that Toriyama himself brought up (the idea that falling off the road and through the clouds leads to Hell). So Goku not having any story here feels off as well. Ideally, I've always liked to think that at least the part of him falling to Hell happens, though nowadays even that notion has gotten a little more complicated thanks to newer material showing us a Hell that doesn't 100% fit with the version the anime gave us. Either way though, with Goku finally reaching Kaio-sama's, we're treated to a whole new location and even better, a brand new character dynamic at last too. Kaio-sama's tiny planet is funny enough on it's own – of course a God as high leveled as a 'Lord of Worlds' would have a world all to themselves, but it being this tiny little thing barely big enough to do anything with is great – but even this tiny planet comes with a big cost in terms of it's gravity. I'll touch more on that in the next review, but for now it's already an interesting and unexpected twist. As for Kaio-sama himself? Oh man. What's NOT to love about this guy? He's basically a living dad joke, and if you're a fan of humor so bad that it's funny (sometimes at least) like I am, then this character is a godsend. I won't lie, there's a decent chance that this character might have influenced my own comedic process given how often I do the same thing he does with Lord of the Flies – reference one thing in a way that's barely connected to something else and expect it to be funny – though I'd like to think that I'm much, much better at it. Don't we all, though. His personality and appearance both make Kaio-sama seem like he's not this great martial arts master that Goku has been told he was, but people not being what we expect them to be is already old hat by this point in Dragon Ball, so it's probably not much of a surprise that there's more to this guy than first appears. Will his training be enough to make Goku stronger though? Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The end of training draws near...!
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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
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