Synopsis: As a snowstorm begins to rage outside Muscle Tower, Goku's fight with Purple continues as the boy chases the ninja down once again. Purple tries to escape by throwing another smoke bomb, and when the smoke clears, Goku spots him crossing the water of the pond with skimming shoes. Purple is certain Goku can't catch him now, but Goku says if all he has to do is cross the water, it's easy. Purple tells him to just try as the water is full of piranhas, but Goku says he never said he'd swim and easily leaps across to the other side to join him.
Purple naturally freaks out, and Goku asks him if he's finally ready to fight for real or give up. Purple says he'll have to use his ultimate technique and whistles, confusing Goku. With a quick hand sign, Purple turns from one man into five, calling it the 'Ninja Split' technique. He taunts Goku, asking him to find out which one is the real him, and Goku is impressed -as far as he can tell, they all look real. Wasting no more time, one of the Purple clones tosses kunai at Goku, and Goku is certain he's the real one, but before he can get to him, another of the clones nearly cuts him in two with a sword. Goku decides that that must be the real one then, but a third clone fires a gun at him, forcing Goku to repel the bullet with nyoibo. As Gokus confusion over what's going on grows, Purple laughs and reveals the truth – they're all real, and the other 'clones' of him are actually his brothers, they're ninja quintuplets. Purple says that Goku was struggling against just one of them, so now that there's five, this fight is as good as over. Goku insists he wasn't struggling at all however, and scoffs at such a cheap trick. He grins as the ninja all rush him, and readies he nyoibo. As the first ninja slashes his sword, it goes right through Goku, revealing that he was just an after-image left behind by the real thing. Before they can do anything, Goku takes out two of the ninja, while the original Purple shouts that his idea was right, this kid has mastered the REAL split-image illusion! Unfortunately he shouts this out too late, as Goku has already taken out the third and fourth brother, leaving only himself and the original Purple. Purple turns to run again, with Goku scoffing and chasing after him. As Purple runs up the nearby stairs with Goku in hot pursuit, he stops at a dark jail cell and speaks to someone through the bars, telling the 'secret weapon' to get out here. Goku stops, confused, as a large man with a scarred face is seen through the bars. Review: As much fun as the previous two chapters were, the jokes with Purple are really starting to run out of steam by this point, and I think Toriyama must have realized that as he drew it since it ends on a note that will be taking us to something entirely new next time around. The gags with Purple in the previous chapters are great, but if he'd gone on much beyond this, he probably would have overstayed his welcome, especially now that it had turned into an actual fight. At least, as much as a fight as Purple was ever going to be, that is. There are multiple times in this chapter where you can see Goku, who was previously having fun with and at Purple's expense, is now eager for the fight to actually start at last. Try as he might though, every time Purple tries something and fails, he just turns around and runs away again. He really is like Oolong on steroids. It might be just my poor grasp of details coming into play, but I never really thought before about how this must be a different pond than the one they were at before, as that one didn't seem to have piranhas in it. I'd almost think Purple was trying to bluff Goku, but we see the hungry little fish popping out of the water, and even Goku would remember having seen Purple in the water shortly before, so I think we're supposed to take this threat at face value, little threat that it turns out to be. The fake ninja split technique, while fairly amusing, is basically the last gasp of energy left in Purple's potential as a threat. While him faking something like that rather than actually being capable of it is entirely fitting with his character, it's basically one no-trick pony performance too far. Toriyama must have thought the idea of the technique actually working had potential though, considering we'll be seeing a real version of the technique – just sans ninja trappings – later on in the series. I really enjoy Purple as a character, so it's a shame that his run basically ends on a bit of a sour note as far as his actually fighting Goku goes, but it is what it is. Let's remember him for the hilariously dumb jokes he gave us, rather than the hilarious ineffective fighter he truly was. As for the new threat teased at the end of the chapter, 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
September 2022
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