Synopsis: Yamcha confirms with Baba that if they defeat her five fighters, she'll give them a divination for free, a task that he thinks sounds easy but Baba thinks it'll be impossible for them. Everyone agrees to the terms, though Upa and Puar ask I they can just watch, so Goku says just the three of him, Kuririn, and Yamcha will take care of her fighters, causing Baba to laugh at their over-confidence. Yamcha asks Baba what the rules are, and Baba says you lose if you beg for mercy or fall into the lake surrounding the arena. Kuririn decides to fight first and steps into the ring, boasting that he may even take all five fighters down himself. Baba calls for her first fighter, 'Dracula Man'. Kuririn is confused by his name, until a bat flies out of Baba's palace and promptly transforms into a more humanoid vampire form. Kuririn is freaked out but thinks he still has this in the bag, and launches a flying kick at Dracula Man as soon as Baba starts the match. Dracula Man avoids Kuririn's attack by leaping into the air before returning to his bat form. He flies around Kuririn, disorienting the smaller fighter, before eventually returning to his humanoid form, grabbing him from behind, and biting down on Kuririn's head and drinking his blood. Kuririn runs around the ring, trying to shake Dracula Man off, but only succeeds when he leaps backwards and tries to slam Dracula Man's head into the floor – Dracula Man leaps off, leaving Kuririn to slam his own head into the floor instead. Dracula Man compliments Kuririn for having 'good taste', and Baba asks the boy if he'd like to give up now, but Kuririn stands ready to fight. Unfortunately, his eagerness causes blood to spurt from the new holes in his head, and when he tries to calm himself down to staunch the bleeding, Goku and Yamcha snicker at how the blood makes it look like he has hair, making Kuririn get even more worked up and woozy. Dracula Man takes this opportunity to strike Kuririn with his knee, sending the young boy into the lake and ending the match. After Kuririn is saved by a quick blood transfusion from Baba's assistant ghost, Goku asks him how he could lose so easily, and Kuririn tells him it's his fault. Baba asks them who's next, and the group discusses it before ultimately asking if all five of them can fight after all, and if it would be okay if Upa and Puar fought at the same time since they're small. Baba asks Dracula Man what he thinks, and Dracula Man thinks it's fine. The match begins with Dracula Man rushing towards the pair, but he's warded off by Upa's stinky garlic breath. Dracula Man turns into a bat to try and evade the stench, choosing to go after Puar now instead. He transforms back into his humanoid form to bite Puar, but Puar turns into a porcupine, resulting in the vampire getting a mouthful of quills instead. As he writhes on the floor in pain, Dracula Man looks up to see Upa standing in a T-pose. He asks the boy what he's doing, and Upa says he's the vampire's worst enemy, a crucifix. Dracula Man freaks out and tries to flee in bat form, but Puar turns into a giant hand and slaps him into the water. Dracula Man is rung out, and Upa and Puar are declared the winners, as Kuririn snidely compliments them for a job well done. Review: I'm not really sure how much I like this chapter if I'm being honest. There's nothing outright bad in it, but I'm just not sure how much of it was really needed, at least as far as what presents itself here goes. There's definitely an argument to be had that the series needed a moment of levity following how dark the preceding chapters got (basically everything since Taopaipai's first appearance has been a continuous train of death, really), but I dunno, I'm just really not feeling a lot of this chapter. First of all, while it's nice to see Yamcha not be the narrative's butt for a change, it's a little sad that Kuririn gets an immediate loss here as well. It's his own fault for being super cocky – seriously, did you learn nothing from your loss at the Budokai, kid? - but it just feels unneeded in a way. We already saw him lose there, we saw him lose against Blue as well (which actually makes him being cocky about having done well in a previous fight a little weird come to think of it – he should already know well that there are tough people out there, even more so than Goku), so seeing him just immediately lose again here feels off to me. I guess that could be the Kuririn fan in me talking though, poor guy. I think a bigger part of it though is that I just find Dracula Man really underwhelming. There's a lot of fun potential for a vampire character in this series, but it sort of feels like Toriyama's heart really isn't in it, as it basically just reads like a big list of vampire tropes. And trust me – I'm about as far from a big fan of vampires as one can get, but even I well recognize everything Toriyama throws out here just as a given. So while seeing Puar and Upa “fight” is kinda fun, I'm a little thrown off by Upa just randomly having garlic breath. I do however absolutely love Upa standing with his arms out and saying he's a crucifix though. That's just dumb. The kind of dumb that's hilarious. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Chapter Boobs! Er, I mean, Chapter 100!
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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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