Synopsis: The announcer calls for one more round of applause for the victorious Jackie Chun, as he presents him with the prize money of 500,000 zeni. Jackie accepts his prize and walks back into the waiting room area, where Goku and Kuririn are waiting to congratulate him as well. Jackie tells them both that they did very well too, and leaves, wishing them good health until next time. Kuririn hopes that Roshi watched the whole tournament like he said he would, and Goku and Kuririn head off to try and find him, with Goku walking feebly from hunger. Hiding in a bush and waiting for them to leave first, Roshi painfully rips off his Jackie Chun wig and changes back into the clothes everyone saw him wearing earlier. He can't believe he's gone through so much trouble for his students, but seeing how they've grown, he thinks it was worth it. Elsewhere, Goku and Kuririn have met up with Bulma and the others, and are looking everywhere for Roshi. When he eventually walks up to them on his own, Bulma asks him where he's been, and he explains that he was watching the fights from further in the back and just now got back from the bathroom. Kuririn is excited to know if Roshi saw them both fight, and Roshi tells them how proud of them he is. Kuririn thinks that Goku was so close to winning the whole thing that if it hadn't been for how hungry he was getting he would have, but Goku says he's pretty sure he would have lost anyway because of how good Jackie Chun was. Roshi tells them that Goku is right – as good as they are now, there's always someone else out there who's better, so they can't be satisfied staying like they are now. They have to keep pushing further, their true training is only just now beginning. When Goku and Kuririn readily agree, Roshi wonders if he could have just told them this in the first place and saved himself the trouble... Roshi then says that he'll treat them to dinner as a reward for how well they did today, an idea that really excites a ravenous Goku. He even invites Yamcha and the others to join them, and they agree though Bulma warns him that he better not be planning to ask for something perverted in return later. At a nearby restaurant, Goku eats enough food that Yamcha is sure would have fed about fifty other people, and ends up costing Roshi 470,000 zeni, almost his entire tournament winnings. Later that night, everyone loads up in a car and Yamcha asks Goku and Kuririn if they're going to continue training as soon as they get back. Kuririn says yes, but Roshi insists that he's already taught them everything he can, and says they should make their own paths now. Goku decides that this is the perfect time for him to look for his grandpa's Dragon Ball then. Kuririn doesn't know what that is, and Goku simply explains that it's the only thing his grandpa left him, and searching for it should be a great way to get into more fights, a notion Oolong wants no part of. When Roshi asks Kuririn what he's going to do then, Kuririn says he'll stay with Roshi for a bit longer, and Roshi mentally scoffs – he'd wanted to have the place to himself with Lunch. Yamcha offers to take everyone the rest of the way back to Roshi's place, but Goku asks if his stuff is in Roshi's suitcase. Roshi says it is, so Goku pulls out his nyoibo and his bag, saying he'll just set out from here. He calls kinto'un down and hops onto it, readying to leave, but is stopped by Kuririn who offers to go along with him after Oolong tells him that searching for the Dragon Balls is tough. Goku turns him down however as Kuririn can't ride kinto'un. Bulma asks Goku if he knows how to work the radar she gave him, and Goku says he does. He waves goodbye to his friends as he sets off into the wide world once again, this time all on his own. Meanwhile, Yamcha and the others have to resort to driving all the way back to Roshi's place, due to Bulma having lost the airplane capsule. Oops! Review: And so, much like the end of the previous arc, we close this one out with a bit of a cooldown chapter before we move on to the next big thing. Honestly, that's always been something I've liked about Dragon Ball. There's a lot of merit in giving your characters at least a slight rest before you send them charging off right into the next thing, and it's something I wish more series would do nowadays, honestly. That said, it does leave me without much to talk about that I haven't already talked about throughout the course of this arc, so I'll be brief. Bulma asking Roshi where he's been this whole time only for him to give the lamest explanation possible and everyone buying it is about par for the course at this point, I think. As smart as Bulma is, even she can't pierce the masterful deception that is Jackie Chun. I do love Goku and Kuririn just immediately accepting Roshi's speech about continuing to train however, making him wonder if he really even had to go through with all of this after all. It's hard to say with Goku honestly, as I posited before that even if he'd won, he had to try just hard enough to get it that he may have still realized there was further he could go. In that situation, it's likely that that lesson would have also filtered down to Kuririn, who lost to Chun and also wouldn't want to continue lagging behind Goku. Overall though, I think it's good that Roshi erred on the side of caution and entered the tournament himself, just to be sure. And let's be honest – Goku may have lost the tournament, but he got to spend the prize money exactly how he would have even if he'd been crowned champion, so can we really say he lost at all at the end of the day? As the story moves into it's next phase, we're once again temporarily ditching characters that aren't going to be needed for it. In multiple ways, this is Toriyama's greatest weakness as an author. He creates characters for one exact purpose, and once that purpose is served, they're either completely removed from the story over time, or they're left to languish on the sidelines, not really accomplishing any more than continuing to exist. On the one hand, it's commendable that at certain points, he realizes this and just scales the cast down to what's needed, a trait he doesn't utilize the greatest in his modern writing sadly. On the other hand though, he's created so many really great characters that it's sad to see some of them not continue to get utilized. We were only just introduced to Kuririn for example. It would've been nice for a big reveal to show that he now is capable of riding kinto'un, or for Bulma to give him a vehicle capsule of some sort, so that he could go on Goku's journey with him. But nope – Goku's going to be going through a good chunk of this next arc solo. That's not all bad though. We've seen pretty well what an oddball Goku is around others, but that's just it – he's always been around other main characters. This is going to be the first time we'll be seeing him set off on his own, so that in-of-itself should prove interesting. 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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