Synopsis: With Goku's victory over Namu, it's official that the championship match will be between Goku and Jackie Chun. While Goku's friends all congratulate him on his victory, Yamcha in particular is sure he wouldn't even stand a chance against Goku now. Jackie remarks that even he can't be sure he'll win, so he'll have to stay on guard the entire time. Namu climbs back into the ring, looking surly at first, but he too congratulates Goku on his victory. The announcer says there'll be a ten minute intermission before the final match begins. During this time, Jackie catches Namu packing his things to leave. When he asks if Namu won't at least stay to watch the match, Namu says that while he wishes he could, he can't afford to hang around. He thinks about how hard it's going to be to return to the village emptyhanded, when Jackie tosses him something – a capsule. When Namu asks Jackie why he's giving him this, Jackie says that he doesn't need it – it's empty, but it could be filled with a large amount of something, like water perhaps. Namu is taken aback at how Jackie knows about his problem, but Jackie asks him to give him some credit for being perceptive: he is the invincible old Muten Roshi, after all. Namu is shocked at Jackie's confession, and Roshi quickly quiets him down, lest Yamcha and the others overhear him. Namu asks Roshi why he's going through with all of this, and Roshi confesses his reasoning at last. He had Goku and Kuririn enter the tournament so they could test their abilities, but much to his surprise throughout their training, they surpassed his hopes and then some. Goku especially has proven incredibly strong, so much so that he very well could win this tournament outright. Roshi fears that if either of them won the title of Strongest Under the Heavens, it'd go straight to their head and they'd feel like there was nothing else left for them to learn. Fearing the loss of their potential growth, Roshi decided to enter the tournament in disguise and stop them from winning, so that they'd learn that there's always someone out there stronger than you are. Namu then asks Roshi if he really is wearing a wig then, and Roshi confirms that the wig is glued to his head with some sort of glue so that it wouldn't come off so easily. Namu says he's honored to meet someone as renowned as Roshi, but that he must return the capsule as, without winning the tournament, he has no money with which to buy water to fill it. Roshi merely laughs however, and points to a nearby well, informing Namu that water is so plentiful in this area that anyone can just take as much as they'd like. Namu is amazed at such a thing, and as the announcer calls for the two finalists to return to the arena, he thanks Roshi profusely. Roshi at first tells him not to worry about it, but a thought occurs to him, and he asks Namu for a small favor. As Goku and 'Jackie' make their way back to the arena, Yamcha teases the latter about how awful it would be to lose to his own student. Jackie tells him once again that he's not Muten Roshi, but Yamcha says he can't be tricked anymore. Looking into the stands, Jackie points and asks Yamcha if he's Kame-sennin, who's that? To Yamcha's surprise when he looks, a man appearing to be the Turtle Hermit is watching from the stands! Yamcha reports this back to Goku and Kuririn, seemingly settling the matter – Muten Roshi is Muten Roshi and he's in the stands, and Jackie Chun is Jackie Chun and he'll be fighting Goku in the final match of the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai. As Namu removes his shades and fake beard, he bids farewell to Roshi and Goku. In the arena, the announcer asks Goku why he's so happy, and Goku says he's just excited to get to fight someone so strong. Roshi thinks to himself that he can't afford to let someone as innocent and pure as Goku be lead astray by arrogance, so he has to beat him here and now. As the two take their stances, Jackie tells Goku not to hold anything back, and Goku agrees. As the announcer declares the match begun, everyone watches as Jackie immediately dashes towards Goku. Review: At long last, the ruse of Jackie Chun is over, and thank Kami because I don't know how much more of this 'mystery' I could take a chapter at a time. I've been writing these reviews a few chapters at a time and even that has been excruciating on this topic, I can't imagine how this must've been for kids back when the chapters were coming out on a weekly basis. At any rate, despite all my complaints, I will say that now that it's revealed why Roshi is doing this, the ruse – while in-of-itself annoyingly fooling nobody – is actually well worth it. Roshi's reasoning basically paints this as one final lesson for his students, and it's definitely an important one for the Goku and the series as a whole. 'There's always someone better out there'. This is the mantra by which Goku lives his life moving forward, and it's a lesson that the story continues to hold true to this very day. Whether it's other fighters, demons, aliens, cyborgs, magical beings, gods, or anything and everything in-between, there is always someone else out there strong enough for Goku to actually be tested against. Roshi's actual power may be eclipsed fairly quickly into the series, but his teachings are the very heart and core of the franchise. It's also a little humorous that now, when the disguise that fooled nobody is finally revealed to be exactly that, now is when Yamcha is proven “wrong”, and the deception is finally complete. Only when it is outright said 'Okay, yeah, you got us' does the trick actually, in-story anyway, become credible. Huh. Maybe this was Toriyama's plan all along. Either way, it's certainly better than the unfulfilled gags of Lunch, so hey, I'll let this one slide. At least it's over now. It's also nice that everything works out in the end for Namu. I mentioned before that he was the only fighter shown to have an actual reason to enter the tournament and that it was a shame that he had to get matched up against the likes of Goku and his protagonist power. Hell, he's such a nice guy that he even congratulates Goku who just unknowingly doomed his village to death. Perhaps Toriyama felt this way too, because even he seems to have felt it was too mean-spirited to actually send Namu home without a way to save his people. It also speaks to the absurdity of the Dragon Ball world that Namu would both be aware of who Muten Roshi is and know what capsules are, but be blissfully unaware that water is so plentiful that you can just get however much you want in this area. Both Namu's plight and Roshi's reasoning come together to ultimately ask one central question: Should Goku actually win the tournament? It seems logical that of course he's going to win, he's the lead character, and he's constantly being shown to be strong enough to handle whatever comes his way. Up to this point, we've never truly seen him lose a fight, not even once. While he's never been arrogant about it before, there's every chance that something like being considered the best in the world would actually be disadvantageous to him at this point in his development, both as a fighter and as a person. At the same time though, Goku is the main character. It's him that we're supposed to root for more than any other, narratively speaking. So shouldn't we want to see him win, and believe in him that it'll be fine if he does? This is the biggest question in regards to characterization the series has yet dropped on us, and it shows how far the series has already come since the opening days of pee and genitalia jokes. The series has finally hit it's stride and found the balance of themes that are going to go on to make it arguably the most well known and popular anime in the world. 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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