Synopsis: The second match of the semi-finals is about to begin, but as the announcer talks about the tournament's grand prize, only Namu shows any interest in the money. He thinks back to the people of his village and how badly he needs the money to buy water for them all, while Bulma happily yells out to Goku that dinner's on him if he wins.
The announcer declares the match's start, and Goku wastes no time in trying out what he just saw Jackie Chun do. He moves quickly enough to leave an after-image and tries to catch Namu unaware with a kick, but Namu is able to see through it and jump into the air. Namu returns the favor by attempting to kick Goku, but Goku nimbly dodges out of the way as well. Goku is disappointed that his technique didn't work, but Yamcha and Jackie are amazed that he pulled it off after just seeing it once, and that Namu was unaffected by it. Namu renews his attack on Goku, and the two exchange blows for a bit until Goku is knocked down. Namu descends upon him, intending to throw him from the ring, but gets tripped by Goku's tail. Deciding to try a trick he himself came up with, Goku spins around rapidly, becoming a miniature twister and heading towards Namu. Namu is unable to defend against it and ends up on the defensive, constantly dodging, until he realizes he's now cornered at the ring's edge. He gives himself up as lost, only for Goku's spinning to slow to a stop before hitting Namu, falling over from how dizzy the spinning made him. Namu is so shocked by this turn of events that he almost falls out of the ring on his own, but recovers. He doesn't want to approach Goku too closely lest his tail trip him again, so he decides to make sure Goku is unconscious first. He leaps high into the air, and crosses his arms in front of him, aiming towards Goku as he falls, declaring this his Tenku-Jiken (or Heavenly Cross) technique. Will Goku manage to get out of the way in time? Review: While this is a really, really entertaining fight, I think just about everyone walks into it knowing how it's going to end ultimately. Namu has the better reason for fighting, a cause he's actually fighting for, but neither of those things are strong enough to defeat the plot armor of a shonen protagonist. Reality can be so cruel sometimes. But that's jumping ahead, as this chapter as it stands leaves the fight unfinished as of now. It more than makes up for that by upping the scale, and then some. Whereas much of Kuririn V.S. Jackie was about what we couldn't see, here the blows are shown in all their glory, whether that means the audience in attendance can see them the same way or not. Heck, outside of a few joking moments here and there, this is the first fight in the series that takes itself entirely seriously as a fight between martial artists. As much as I love the humor of Dragon Ball, even I can't lie, it's nice to finally get to a fight that actually feels like there's fighting going on. I'd be willing to bet this fight is what finally started to win people over back when it first came out as well, showing that Toriyama could do more than just jokes about super strong people, but actually demonstrating with them in combat. There's not really a whole lot else to take away from this particular chapter, other than it does continue to show off the character of Namu. Despite his steadfast dedication to his cause, he's rather easily thrown off his game whenever something unexpected happens or he thinks that he's lost. It's hard to tell if he's really that confident in himself as a fighter at all honestly, he's just a man on a mission to win. Again, it's just his bad luck that he got matched up against Goku of all people. As a final note, we get introduced to two different techniques here, Goku's unnamed spinning attack and Namu's Tenku-Jiken. This is the only time either of them will be seen that I can recall, which is a bit sad in the case of the Tenku-Jiken. It's kind of a neat technique really. Goku's spinning attack, I'm sort of surprised we haven't seen make a comeback in Super though, just as something really stupid for Goku to try. Who knows, maybe in the next movie. 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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