Synopsis: As Senbei works on the dragon radar, Goku asks him if he can really fix it. Midori assures him that her husband is a genius, but Senbei frets as the device is just too complicated for him to fix and he's unsure what to do now that his reputation as a genius is at stake. From over his shoulder, Turbo uses his telekinesis to immediately fix the device, and proudly proclaims that his daddy has already fixed it, much to Senbei's surprise when he hasn't even done anything yet. Blue arrives and gets out of Supaman's car and spots Senbei's airplane, but then spots the group of people around it, including Goku. Goku checks the dragon radar and it really does seem to be fixed, much to Senbei's misplaced delight. To Goku's confusion however, the radar shows that the three Dragon Balls that Blue took are right there, which could only mean... To their surprise, Blue appears out of nowhere and takes Arale hostage at knifepoint, telling everyone to do as he says or he'll kill her. Goku demands that Blue give him back the Dragon Balls, but Blue promptly freezes him in place with his psychic powers. Senbei has no idea what's going on, but Turbo explains that it seems to be telekinesis similar to his own. Midori asks Goku if Blue is his friend and Goku says that he's a bad guy. Blue takes the dragon radar from Goku, with Goku protesting that it's not Blue's, it not even his, causing Senbei to ask if the man is stealing it. Blue then tells everyone not to interfere if they value their lives and that he'll be taking their plane as well. He stores the Dragon Balls in the plane before turning around and saying he now has to kill Goku, striking the boy viciously in the face. Senbei is horrified, especially as Blue cuts down a nearby tree with a swipe of his hand and says he intends to impale Goku with it. Finally realizing that this is no game, Senbei tells Arale that he thinks 'that man' wants to wrestle. Arale is delighted and quickly runs towards Blue, launching a dropkick into his back that sends the man flying into the air at high speeds. Arale chases after him on the ground, eventually catching up to where she'd sent him flying, and leaps into the air to headbutt him in the groin, sending Blue flying far, far into the distance, where he can no longer be seen by Goku or the others. Turbo uses his own telekinesis to free Goku, and Goku asks Arale what happened to Blue. Arale said she sent him flying really, really far away, and Goku is amazed at how strong the girl is. Arale says that the Gatchans are really strong too, as well as another friend of hers named Obotchaman. Goku says that there really are a lot of people out there way stronger than him, which means he needs to train and grow even stronger. He remembers the Dragon Balls are in the plane and goes to get them, but discovers that Blue must have still had the radar in his hands when Arale sent him flying. Seeing that Goku is at a loss as to what to do next, Turbo asks if Goku would like him to make him a new radar. Goku and Senbei ask if he can really do that, and Turbo says it's simple since he got a good look at it before, he just needs to borrow some parts from his father's airplane. Using his telekinesis, Turbo floats pieces of the plane into the air and constructs a new radar, and as soon as Goku checks it, it looks and works just the same as the original one. Goku thanks Turbo while Senbei brags about how smart his boy is. Goku calls down kinto'un, but before leaving he tells Arale that she should enter the Tenkaichi Budokai next time there is one, though Arale doesn't seem to know what that is. As Goku leaves, Senbei asks again who Goku was anyway. Elsewhere, General Blue calls Red Ribbon HQ from a telephone booth and reports that he lost the Dragon Balls he was after, but that he has managed to take the enemy's radar from them. The person on the other end is excited and tells him to return to HQ immediately, but Blue says that it might take him some time, as he appears to be somewhere with a desert and a pyramid... Review: And so, the great Dragon Ball/Dr. Slump crossover comes to an end. Ultimately, it causes the threat of General Blue to end on a rather weak note admittedly, but it's at least a humorous one rather than the wet fart that was the manga end of Purple, and there was really no other way for this crossover to end and still feel natural to a degree, so...it is what it is, really. And hey, this chapter didn't really bring anything new to the table in regards to Slump, so you're all spared another primer this time around. The main gag in this chapter is the repeated references to the fact that Turbo is much smarter than his father, something that I think comes across well enough without knowledge of Slump, but almost definitely comes across even weirder without it. He's such a good boy though that he even lets his dad take credit for the first go-around at least, though it's the second one that's most impressive. How in the heck he was able to put together a new dragon radar from parts in an airplane is beyond me, though I guess we never really do find out what Bulma used to make it either...hmm. Oh yeah, and Turbo's radar? It's the radar you'll see throughout the rest of the franchise whenever it's time to look for Earth's Dragon Balls. They never get Bulma's back, and Goku seemingly never tells them about this little adventure either, so nobody's any the wiser to it either. Just another of one of those odd little factoids that people don't really talk about much in regards to the series. Blue taking Arale hostage is fun in two different ways. On the one hand, it's a gag right out of Dr. Slump, where early on especially people would constantly think Arale was just a little girl that wouldn't prove a threat at all, only for them to get their come-uppance at the end, exactly as Blue did. There's also Senbei's confused reaction to all of the proceedings as well. Dragon Ball is certainly a gag series, it's never not been a gag series on some level even as it grew more serious – but Dr. Slump is an entirely different kind of gag series. Even Dragon Ball at it's very start had a more rigid plot structure than what Dragon Ball did. If Dragon Ball were to be compared to...for lack of a better example, Adventure Time, a seemingly goofy series that still contains a lot of lore and world-building as it's story goes on (so I've been told anyway, I've yet to see it for myself to be honest), then Dr. Slump would be The Simpsons – characters rarely if ever age, things stay fairly constant and only change as needed to further the gags along and often revert to how things were at the start by the end of a story, with only major changes sticking as a way to change up the status quo somewhat. As such, Senbei is completely at a loss when the situation suddenly turns much more dire than anything he's really ever been used to. I also love that Goku invites Arale to the next Tenkaichi Budokai, as this not only brings the idea of another tournament back up for the first time in a while, it prompts the idea of a further crossover. Sadly we don't ever get Arale at the tournament, but to be fair, it wouldn't really work anyway. I mean, she'd have to win, and unfortunately, I don't think you'll ever quite catch up to the sheer, unbeatable power that is gag manga power, Goku. This crossover was short and sweet in the manga, but I want to step away from that slightly to finally talk about a big elephant in the room – yes, let's finally talk about THAT unfortunate filler scene with General Blue. The manga version of this crossover lasted three chapters, and the anime version likewise lasted three episodes. It's very rare for only one manga chapter to make up a whole episode, especially in the case of Dragon Ball, and this crossover is no exception as the anime decided to make this crossover an even bigger deal than it already was and include even more antics from familiar Dr. Slump faces for longtime fans of Toriyama. This includes more scenes of Taro actually doing his job as a member of the Penguin Village police (plus us actually seeing the other members of the police, who are all mainstays of Dr. Slump), more than a token cameo for King Nikochan, and even an extended appearance by Obotchaman. It's...the latter that presents an issue, sadly. It hasn't been that long, so I'm sure everyone recalls the jokes built around the fact that Blue isn't interested in women, and is thus assumed to be gay because of that and his overall posh nature. Well, the anime decided to make things more blatantly clear by actually showing Blue being attracted to a male character. Unfortunately, the male character they chose is Obotchaman, who has the appearance of being a normal little boy. That's right – Toei circa the 1980's decided their best gag at the expense of a seemingly gay character...was to make him also be a pedophile, because of course he is, why not. I...cannot even convey into words how messed up that is. The worst part of this is that, at least here in the west, more fans are familiar with the anime of Dragon Ball than they are the manga, so more people are aware of this version of events than the one without them, so this unfortunately becomes a mark against General Blue as a whole. And I don't really think that's fair – again, as a straight guy, I'm the last person who gets to judge whether or not Blue is an offensive gay stereotype just by his nature, but to also hold an anime-only gag, no matter how poorly done and offensive it is, against him, just feels wrong to me. If the anime version existed first then that would be one thing, but for Dragon Ball, the manga is the original take. I can't say we should pretend the anime version didn't happen, because that would be to ignore it's history, warts and all, but I don't think Blue should be judged entirely by that one scene that didn't even exist in the manga. As always though, I'd be curious to hear other people's thoughts on this. Dr. Slump, much like Dragon Ball, is a series that definitely shows it's age in the way a lot of it's humor is handled, and it's not always in the most flattering of ways when viewed through a modern lens. If you can deal with the occasional 'OOF' moment though, the series is an absolute gem that more people really need to experience for more than just this crossover, as it hardly gives you anything of what Dr. Slump is really like – and why would it? For Japanese audiences when these chapters first came out, Dr. Slump and it's characters were already well known and didn't need to be explained. If you're curious to experience Dr. Slump for yourself, there's sadly very little of it that's properly available in the US via the anime – outside of this crossover, you can get the first five movies on DVD from Discotek, or you can watch the entire second anime on Tubi (with admittedly very poor subtitles and quality). The entire manga however is available from Viz (physically or digitally), and if you have a Shonen Jump subscription, you don't even have to buy the volumes, you can just read it on their app (or read the first three chapters for free even if you DON'T have a subscription)! This would be my recommendation for the best way to experience the series for yourself. Until next time! N'cha! 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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