Synopsis: Kuririn and Goku happily celebrate the former's victory, while hoping that Roshi saw it. They soon discover however that they can't see him anywhere in the crowd, and Bulma says they haven't seen him since a little while before the matches started. Kuririn worries that maybe he went home without watching them fight, but Goku swears he can still smell him somewhere nearby...
The announcer sends Goku and Kuririn back to the waiting room and calls out the next pair of fighters, Yamcha and Jackie Chun. Bulma is at first excited with the idea that maybe this Jackie Chun guy might be even cuter than Yamcha, but is soon disappointed that it's an old man instead. Yamcha ponders on how this guy is apparently strong enough to qualify for the tournament, but he's never heard of him before. As the fight begins and Yamcha enters a fighting stance, Jackie Chun doesn't do the same. Yamcha thinks he must be really confident in himself, and notes that the old man did end all of his preliminary matches very quickly. Deciding there's no choice but to attack first and see how the old man responds, Yamcha launches an assault on Chun, but the old man simply dodges every attack. He tells Yamcha that he can tell the youth has been through a lot of fights, but he's still making too many wasted movements, annoying the younger fighter. From the sidelines, Goku comments that this old timer is a really great fighter. Kuririn asks him if Yamcha's really strong too, and Goku says that when they fought before, he could barely see Yamcha move. In the crowd, Bulma and Oolong aren't as convinced that Yamcha's going to win, but Puar isn't worried so long as he still has 'that'. Left with no choice but to bring out the big guns, Yamcha uses the Rogafufuken, but Jackie leaps out of the way, dodging it entirely. He flips back to stand beside Yamcha, and offers him a 'gift' of a relaxing breeze, before waving his arm in the air so fast that a gust of wind sends Yamcha flying off the stage, and ringing him out. Jackie Chun asks Yamcha if the wind was soothing, while Yamcha is at a loss for words as to how he could lose. Goku is disappointed as well, but Kuririn is more worried about the fact that this means HE'LL have to fight the old man next. Review: The mystery as to who Jackie Chun is deepens, whoever could it be? I'm giving a lot of flack to this part of the story, and I should probably lighten up at least a little bit to be fair. This is a story originally aimed at extremely young kids, and while it's still not handled well, it's at least utilized a hell of a lot better than the Lunch reveal was. It also serves a loftier purpose, so it's a good thing that it's in here, it's just that the mystery as to what's going on is so incredibly weak that it's...it's just bad. I guess the real mystery though is WHY he's doing what he's doing, which while still a pretty easy guess, is at least something unknown enough that I can see it keeping children's attention and have them guessing 'why' rather than 'who' at least. The real surprise of the chapter, at least for first time readers, perhaps is the loss of Yamcha. Granted, we haven't exactly seen him win very many fights prior to this, but he was always shown at least to be a strong fighter. In the previous arc, he was really only outdone by Goku himself. Here though, he's definitely the weakest of at least our core group of fighting characters, and it's a shame to see the mighty – or at least adequate – fall so far. Hell, the worst part is that Bulma's already looking for a possible upgrade, something Oolong even calls her out on. Their love affair sure didn't last long, huh? Unfortunately, all of this narrative misfortune is only the beginning, as what we're witnessing is Yamcha slipping into his new status quo. And what is that status quo? Being the guy who's just impressive enough to hang with the craziness that the story is going to start throwing at us, but still completely ineffective at doing a single thing to affect any of it in any way, shape, or form. Oh sure, for a little while longer now, he'll continue to be an occasional mouthpiece for spouting information about various martial arts things, but even that role is soon going to be taken away from him and given to Roshi, who admittedly does fit it better, but still. This, my friend, is the end of the line for you in more ways than you'll ever know. And you know the worst part of this? It didn't really have to be this way. Him losing to Chun, sure, but immediately following this arc, he should have started training with Roshi to try and catch up to relevancy as soon as possible. It might not have made a ton of difference in the long run, but showing him with more motivation could only have helped his character in the long run. But alas. 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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