Synopsis: Enraged by the death of Yamcha and the mocking of his passing at the hands of the Saiyans, Kuririn fires a large two-handed energy blast heading towards the Saiyans and Saibamen. Kuririn's friends leap out of the way and shield themselves, with Piccolo noting that while the attack is powerful, it's slow moving, basically giving anyone the chance to dodge if needed, as the Saibamen are already doing. At the last second before it hits however, Kuririn smirks, and alters the blast's trajectory, whipping it into the air above the enemies, and splitting it into six different energy blasts aimed at each one of their opponents. The blast hits five out of it's six marks, incinerating three of the Saibamen and hitting hard against the two Saiyans.
As the dust clears, Tenshinhan and Chaozu congratulate a panting Kuririn, who notes that one of them got away. As Gohan also marvels at Kuririn's attack, the surviving Saibamen suddenly leaps out and attacks him. Before it can get to Gohan however, Piccolo grabs it by the arm, striking it in the gut before hurling it into the air and finishing it off with an energy beam fired from his mouth. Kuririn and Tenshinhan are amazed at Piccolo's reaction speed and power, with Tenshinhan thinking they should enjoy him being on their side while it lasts. Gohan tries to thank Piccolo, but Gohan tells him not to misunderstand and think that he saved him – he just needed the exercise before the real fight begins. Emerging from the dust cloud next, Vegeta laughs and says that he hopes it will be a great battle. Seeing that both Saiyans survived without so much as a scratch, the Earthlings are horrified to realize just how tough these two Saiyans really are. Nappa asks to take on all five of them at once, and Vegeta obliges, with Nappa thanking him for letting him have all the fun. As Nappa's power rises, the Earth itself begins to shake, as everyone is horrified to realize just how powerful he is, with Chaozu even noting that his psychic powers don't seem to be affecting him at all. Nappa grins maliciously at them as his energy sparks, and Piccolo says for everyone to brace themselves. Review: This is another one of those chapters that eats up a pretty good chunk of it's pages to show only a few events rather than covering a bunch of ground, but as a result? My boy Kuririn gets a pretty good showing here. Not only does he get to once again reinforce how human and personable of a character he is, more so than really any of the other characters we routinely see, but he also gets to show off a neat new attack. The attack doesn't really have a name (at least not in-series – I'm sure guidebooks and games have given it an assortment of titles), and it's likely more of a generic energy blast combined with newer abilities like controlling an energy attacks trajectory after firing it (something we've already seen Goku do in the past), but in effect it definitely gets the job done for the most part. Only one of the Saibamen manages to dodge it, and the ones that it did hit got killed in one shot – move over Tenshinhan, this is way cooler than what you just did in your own fight. Actually, this coupled with other things coming up might actually go a long way towards suggesting that Kuririn has already surpassed Tenshinhan and may be the strongest non-alien fighter on Earth at this point. You love to see it, at least if you're a fanboy like I am. I also don't think we can really hold it against him that the attack did nothing to the Saiyans, because c'mon – did anyone really think it would, or that it would end the fight right then and there? Didn't think so. Piccolo saving Gohan is a nice moment as well, especially with him trying to explain it away as him just wanting to keep their forces (especially since they're already down a man) at their best for the fight still to come. Due to my knowledge of where everything goes, it's kind of hard for me to really judge how this moment would have hit for fans that don't already know the future direction for characters. It's definitely something I can't help but be curious about. The group realizing just how horrifying the Saiyans are in comparison to the Saibamen is a moment that both feels needed and unneeded all at once. Part of this can be explained away by all of them save for Piccolo and Gohan already experiencing that via the time travel filler at Kami's sanctuary, but even without that, there's the Saibamen's power levels themselves. Them being as strong as Raditz was and the two Saiyans referring to that level as 'weak' should have already cleared it up pretty well how far into a different league Nappa and Vegeta are, but I guess actively seeing them tank an attack that just killed Raditz-level opponents just grinds it in all the more brutally. Honestly though, I'd say Nappa's power shaking the entire Earth itself is more than ample enough to get that idea across...though that in of itself is a little weird. Remember, the Saiyans seem to look at changing your power level as something that is an alien concept to them. They know Namekians can do it, and they've surmised the Earthlings can do it to. The Saiyans don't “power up”. But if Nappa yelling, growing stronger, and causing the planet to shake with his power rising isn't “powering up”, then I don't know what is. It's one of those elements that I don't think Toriyama ever explained in a satisfactory way, at all, and it's a shame that it's as jarring as it is, because otherwise, this is a perfectly terrifying moment to leave the chapter hanging on. 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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