Synopsis: The old man the turtle brought introduces himself to Goku and Bulma as Kamesennin, aka the 'Turtle Hermit'. He asks if both of them helped his friend, but the turtle says that only Goku did, so Kamesennin wants to reward him greatly. He first tries to call down an immortal phoenix to grant Goku immortality, but when it doesn't arrive, the turtle has to remind him of the legendary bird's demise. So the old timer is forced to settle with a second choice, and calls down the kinto'un, a magical flying cloud that only those pure of heart can ride – a feat he tries to prove himself by jumping onto it, only to promptly fall through it onto his butt. Goku fares better however, and is soon zooming around the sky, getting used to his new plaything.
Impressed with the cloud, Bulma insists that she should get a reward as well, something the turtle isn't necessary, but Bulma reminds him of the salt water she gave him earlier. For his part, Kamesennin says he could give her something, but first she'd have to show him her panties. The turtle chastises him, saying this must be why the cloud rejected him, but while the two argue, Bulma has already made up her mind. She quickly lifts her shirt and unwittingly shows the old man far more than she'd intended (ie she's naked down there, a result of Goku removing her underwear back in chapter 2). The old man is more than pleased with this showing, and is trying to come up with an appropriate gift to give her when Bulma notices the orb on the necklace around his neck. Quickly calling Goku back down, they're both thrilled to discover that they've found the three-star Dragon Ball! It seems Kamesennin had fished it out of the water over a hundred years ago, but had no idea of it's true value. Now that it seemed to be worth something, he wasn't sure about giving it to them. By flashing him a few more times, Bulma is able to convince him to part with his necklace. With the old man and turtle leaving back whence they came, Goku and Bulma prepare to set out on the road once again. First though, Bulma wants to finally change out of her pajamas, leaving Goku outside on kinto'un while she makes a horrifying discovery. As she realizes she was naked when she flashed the old man, Goku mistakes her terror for fear of dying without 'those parts', inadvertently revealing his part in her misfortune. Enraged, Bulma shoots him. Repeatedly. Later that day, Goku and Bulma set out once more, with Bulma on her bike and Goku on his kinto'un. Three days later, they're getting close to a village that Bulma is sure must be the location of the next Dragon Ball. Once they arrive however, the whole place seems to be deserted, but Goku's sure he can sense the presence of someone... Review: Alright. Let's talk about Kamesennin. If you've been into anime for any amount of time, you've probably run across at least one perverted old man character. There's even a good chance that the character happened to be a mentor figure for the main character. Well, the Turtle Hermit is the forefather of them all (though I can't say with absolute certainty that he himself wasn't pre-dated by another similar character). I've said before that if pervy humor isn't your cup of tea, then early Dragon Ball might be a bit of a challenge, and if that's the case, few characters will challenge you as much as this one. Thankfully though, as the series goes on, we'll see that he's far from one-note. No, despite being one of the more polarizing characters in one way, he also manages to be one of the most fleshed out, human characters of the cast in other ways. I'll talk more about those shades of Kamesennin as we get to them though. For now, let's focus on his dirty side. I've mentioned previously that I'm a fan of pervy humor. I can't help it, I just am. I do recognize that there is both a good way and a bad way to go about it though, and...frankly, Kamesennin will prove to be a mixed bag in terms of that as time goes on. He's certainly the sort of character that, no matter how funny he is on paper, would be completely unforgivable if he were a real person, and that's just thinking of some of his more tame antics. There are definitely times where the character is going to push the envelope of what's tasteful and what's not, and that's just within the pages of the original manga itself. So yeah, he's a complicated old coot. It is somewhat ironic however that he was technically introduced last chapter only to get really revealed in this one, when even this first appearance still doesn't reveal all there is to know about him. The gag with Kamesennin trying to call down an immortal phoenix that has already dead is a great one. I guess it's just a bird that grants immortality rather than being immortal itself. Still seems a little bit like a ripoff, really. I haven't talked a lot about Dragon Ball's Journey to the West influences, and that's mostly because 1) there are other places like Kanzenshuu and MistareFusion's Dragon Ball Dissection that cover it far better than I ever could, and 2) I don't know a lot more than the basics about it myself, but it is worth noting that like his extending staff the nyoibo, Goku's new kinto'un cloud is right out of that story as well. Again, for more info on that kind of thing, hit up Kanzenshuu. Now that said, I think the part about the cloud only letting people who are pure of heart ride it is Toriyama original. It's hard to imagine the mischievous Monkey King Son Wukong counting as pure of heart. How someone might feel about perverted humor aside, especially perverted humor that involves a sixteen-year-old girl showing an old man and a turtle her vagina, this gag is actually pure genius, and a perfect showing of the sort of thing Toriyama excels at. I mean, think about it – it was back at the end of chapter 2 that Goku took off Bulma's underwear. It wasn't brought up at all in chapter 3. Now in chapter 4, it's suddenly both an important plot point and a further pay off for a joke that you might have thought was already finished. It's. Freakin'. Amazing. Also, shout out to anyone else for whom Bulma's butt was one of your very first sightings of anime nudity. Ah, youth. And so, that about sums up this one as well. 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
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