Synopsis: Goku reaches the top of Karin Tower at last and manages to climb into the building at the top of it, though he's completely out of energy. He looks around and tries to find the holy water that's supposed to make him stronger, but a voice calls out to him, telling him it's in the main room and for him to come on up. Goku remembers that there was supposed to be a hermit living here and assumes the voice must be the hermit. Once he gets to the room, he asks the hermit for the water, but to his surprise all he sees is a cat holding a staff. The cat congratulates him on reaching the top, saying he did well to do it so quickly, especially at such a young age. Goku asks where the hermit is, and the cat says it's him, with the cat chuckling at Goku's confusion. Goku decides that it doesn't really matter, and asks him about the water that's supposed to make you way stronger. The cat says the holy water is indeed here and points to a flask on top of a podium in the middle of the room. The cat asks him why he seeks further strength when he must already be really strong, and Goku starts to explain, but the cat cuts him off and says he gets the feeling talking isn't Goku's strong suit so he doesn't have to say anything. Goku is confused, but the cat merely stares at him for a while before speaking again, saying that Goku needs to gather the Dragon Balls to revive Upa's father, but to do that he needs to defeat Taopaipai. Goku is shocked and asks the cat how he knew that, and the cat says that reading his mind was easy. The cat concedes that Goku has pure motives, and that he can try to drink the holy water. He asks Goku if he thinks he can drink it, and when Goku asks if it's hard because it tastes bad or something, the cat says that it's hard because he'll be doing his best to prevent Goku from drinking it. The cat then jabs at Goku with it's staff, forcing him to leap away from the podium. Goku says he's annoying and tries again to get the water, but the cat kicks him away. Goku calls him a liar for saying he could drink the water and then stopping him, but the cat insists that if Goku wants the water, he has to prove that he's worthy by beating him first. Goku quickly points in another direction, distracting the cat before he leaps for the water again, but the cat bashes him in the face with it's staff before he can get the flask. The cat asks Goku if he really thought such a cheap trick would work on an old hermit before he grabs the flask with the tip of his staff and goads Goku to come for it again. Now angry, Goku starts to go for the cat and the flask as quickly as he can, but every time the cat manages to dodge him. The cat praises Goku for doing so well and says he may well get the flask before his next life at this rate, but chides Goku for only reacting and not reading his opponents moves. Goku says that if he weren't starving then he'd catch the cat with no problem, a statement the cat finds very curious. He says Goku can eat and tosses him a solitary bean, at which Goku balks saying it takes way more than that to fill him up. The cat insists however, explaining that the bean is a Senzu bean, and that eating one of those will fill you up for ten days. Goku has his doubts, but he eats the bean and is surprised to feel full and hearty almost instantly. Goku says getting the flask will be easy now that he's full, but to his surprise the cat manages to keep dodging him faster than ever before. A short time later, Goku is collapsed on the floor panting, while the cat still has the flask. The cat asks Goku if he's tired already, but Goku asks a question of his own: is he the first one to ever climb up here? The cat says he's not the first, in fact someone else managed the same feat just about 300 years prior. Goku asks the cat how old it is in shock, and the cat says 800 something. Goku is amazed the cat is that old, and the cat chides him for being disrespectful before informing him that the other person that climbed the tower was none other than Goku's mentor. Goku asks him what he means, and the cat says he can tell by how Goku moves that his master is Muten Roshi. Goku is shocked as he realizes this must be how Roshi got so strong. He then further realizes this means the cat must be really famous and strong as well, and the cat thinks Goku must have finally seen fit to respect him a little more, and says that Goku should call him Master Karin. Goku asks Karin how long it took Roshi to take the flask from him and drink the water, to which the cat simply holds out three fingers. Goku interprets this as three minutes, but Karin corrects him – it took Roshi three years to do it. Review: Once Goku reaches the top of Karin's tower, we're slowly but surely introduced to a good few new concepts for the world of Dragon Ball, though some of them won't get further built upon until much, much later. The chapter also marks the introduction of Karin, the namesake for both the tower and the land that Goku is now in, though he doesn't reveal his name as such until towards the end of the chapter. Karin is an interesting addition to the background cast in a few different ways. For starters, he's the first animal person we get to meet that's actually really strong. Hell, he's pretty much the only animal person we'll ever meet that's this strong (though I should clarify, when I say 'animal person', I mean animal-type Earthling, excluding the likes of certain cat-like Gods of Destruction that we'll be talking about a long, long time from now). Karin is also Goku's first introduction to the realm of the Gods in a way, as Karin isn't any old hermit in the same way that Roshi is – he's actually a watcher of humanity. The series proper never really delves too far into it, but related information from Toriyama reveals that Karin was sent from the afterlife to Earth to serve as a sort of waypoint on the way to Kami-sama. This makes Karin's claim to divinity a little bold perhaps, but it still counts enough for him to be recognized as Goku's first step into a world beyond his own, something he'll be doing nigh constantly throughout the rest of his life, in more ways than one. What I'd say I find most interesting about Karin however is how he fits in with a gradual theme of growth that we're beginning to start seeing with Goku and his masters. I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but this is something I'm just now realizing that I'm afraid I'll forget later on, so bear with me for a moment. When Goku met and began training with Roshi, there was absolutely no doubt that Roshi was far stronger than him. By the end of his training, it's a little nebulous just how close to being stronger than his master Goku has become, but there's still at least a decent chance that Roshi edges him out. He has no foe to go against at this point. Now we come to Karin, who through this chapter we get to see is quite a few steps ahead of Goku. Jumping ahead of ourselves here, by the end of this, it'll be fairly safe to say that Goku has probably outdone Karin, at least in some capacity. He'll need that strength to deal with Taopaipai, who we can't really say for certain whether he's stronger than Karin or not at this time. Goku's next mentor will likewise be definitely stronger than Goku himself, by a wide, wide margin. Through his training there, Goku will come out of it stronger than that mentor without any question what-so-ever. That will end up serving him well as his opponent he's training to face there will turn out to be stronger than his mentor as well. After that, Goku's final mentor for a long, long time, will be stronger than Goku when we first meet him, but said mentor will state outright that the opponents Goku will be facing next are already far stronger than even he, so Goku's going to have to get far stronger than himself as well if he hopes to stand a chance against them. Remember what I said before about the series starting to take itself more seriously now? This is tied to that very same phenomenon, as well as being an excellent way to show how Goku improves over time – at a rapid pace, he's going to start outpacing not only his previous self, but even the very people he's training under. No wonder the power creep gets so bad later on. We're also introduced to the idea of the Senzu beans for the very first time, though their usage here in their introduction is a little different from how they're going to be slightly retconned into functioning later on. These are almost a staple of the franchise to the same degree as capsules and the Dragon Balls themselves though, so it's interesting to see their beginnings be as humble as 'eat one and be filled up for ten days'. Talk about a weight loss program, Karin's sitting on a goldmine here. The concept of the holy water being something Goku needs to drink to get stronger feels incredibly cheap though, doesn't it? After all of the harsh training we saw Goku go through back with Roshi, just drinking some water to get stronger seems like the lazy man (and writer's) way out. Hmm... I guess it's not really “just” drinking the water though, when Goku also has to get by Karin to drink it in the first place, a task that proves easier said than done. The cat gives him the runaround for most of this chapter, and that's before dropping the major lore bomb on us all at the end of the chapter. At long last, we know how Roshi managed to become the strongest person in the world. With that in mind, it seems like Goku's definitely going to be able to get stronger than we ever thought possible after all. There's just one little hang up – time. Goku might not know it, but we as the audience are aware that he's only got three days to go before Taopaipai comes back for the Dragon Ball he missed. Even without that knowledge, Goku knows he doesn't have three years to waste, but for us, coupled with that knowledge? Goku's in an even bigger time crunch than he can possibly imagine. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Goku learns that you should never trust a cat.
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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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