Synopsis: Goku awakens to find himself back at Kami's sanctuary, where Mr. Popo informs him he's been asleep for three days straight. The last thing Goku remembers is being hit by lightning, and Popo tells him his body seems to be quite sturdy. Goku is eager to get back ot the training, but Popo says it's too advanced for him at this time, so they'll be having him do something else instead. He takes Goku back to the teleporter, and says he'll be sending Goku into a forest where he must learn to move 'as quietly as the sky'. Goku instantly thinks there must be a strong guy there that he'll learn this from, but Popo declines to comment on that, and sends Goku on his way. Upon being transported into the forest, Goku immediately falls into a bottomless swamp, and only manages to save himself from drowning by firing a Kamehameha. Washing his clothes off in a river, Goku's nose then leads him to food, but when he tries to grab it off of a plate, he gets caught in a rope trap. Upon breaking free from it, he meets the hunter who set it, who takes the boy back to his family's house to warm up and dry off. The hunter introduces himself as Mousse, and soon introduces Goku to the rest of his family – his wife Eclair, and their nine children, Purin, Crepe, Donut, Jelly, Bisuke, Bavarois, Choco, Cookie, and Shuku. Mousse invites Goku to have dinner with them as he's sure his father-in-law will be back soon with lots of fish for them all to eat. Sure enough, the old man soon comes home, and is immediately mobbed by his loving grandchildren for attention. The man surmises Goku is a guest, and the family soon eats dinner, and as they watch Goku wolf down food, Mousse finally asks Goku why he was in the woods. Goku starts to explain about Kami, prompting all of the kids to wonder about Kami-sama's true nature and appearance. Goku then mentions that there should be someone really strong around here, and the kids figure he must be talking about Yaochun, a man that lives nearby who's said to be really strong and 'faster than lightning'. Goku asks for directions to Yaochun's house, and the family worries that if Goku fights Yaochun he'll die, but Goku says it's part of his training. The grandfather offers to take Goku halfway there on his way to go fishing the next day, so Goku spends the rest of the night playing with the kids. Back at Kame House, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Kuririn swim in the ocean for training, while Roshi sleeps on the beach. A short time later, Roshi turns down training the three of them, saying that he's already taught them as much as he possibly can about fighting, saying all he could teach them at this point is how to get girls. Roshi warns them that if things stay as they are, they'll never catch up to Goku. He encourages them to strike out on their own and train in the world just as Goku did before, and the three agree to do just that. Before they leave however, Kuririn wants to hear what Roshi has to say about getting girls, but before Roshi can explain, he catches Tenshinhan and Yamcha listening in as well. The next day, Goku heads out with the grandfather to find Yaochun. Goku is amazed to hear that the grandfather fishes all day every day and has done so for sixty years, providing for his family as well as some of the neighbors. When the road splits, the man wishes Goku luck and hopes he doesn't get hurt or trapped like yesterday, and Goku likewise wishes him luck in his fishing. Going further up the road, Goku soon finds a large man meditating near a waterfall, and figuring out that he must be Yaochun, challenges him to a fight. The man reluctantly agrees, saying he won't go easy on Goku even if he is a child, but to Goku's surprise, he finds the man's stance full of openings, and Goku is able to knock him down with just one punch. Yaochun begs Goku to spare him, and Goku asks if he really isn't strong enough or fast enough to dodge lightning, and the man says of course he isn't. Dejected, Goku walks back through the woods, wondering who it really was that Mr. Popo wanted him to meet here then. As Goku walks, he comes across the grandpa's fishing spot, and is caught by surprise, not having realized the old man was even there until he spoke. Goku asks him how he did that, and the old man just laughs saying Goku must be half asleep. He offers Goku a fishing pole to try fishing with, and coaches him through the proper calm and still technique to fish properly. The old man talks Goku through how to focus and not move lest he scare the fish, instructing him how to be 'as quiet as the sky'. Following his instructions, Goku is successful in catching a fish after noticing that when the old man does it, his presence becomes completely masked. The old man asks Goku if he met who he was supposed to earlier, and Goku responds uncertainly. Watching from the sanctuary, Mr. Popo says it seems that Goku still doesn't get it, but Kami isn't so sure that's the case, as they watch Goku succeed in catching another fish. Review: This episode very much continues the notions of the previous one, in that Goku is still trying to learn how to better utilize the skills he already has at his disposal rather than actually getting any stronger outright. After he got hit by lightning even after figuring out what it was he needed to do, Popo apparently decided that training was a bit too much for Goku at the moment, which is why he's come up with this new method. The new method being basically a combination of things we'd seen before – he's wanting Goku to again focus on not making wasted movements and sensing things around him, but this time he's sending Goku out into the world to learn from someone again, just as he did inadvertently with Chu-li and her bird. In this case however, Goku meets quite a few more people, and I mean a LOT. The Mousse family has NINE kids. I refuse to believe anyone, no matter how big of a Dragon Ball fan they proclaim to be, can actually remember all of their names, much less point out which one is which. That said, the family is really adorable, and it's nice to see Goku interact with such a large group of people that aren't fighters or masters or what have you, especially with so many of them being roughly his own age. I especially like the scene with Goku casually mentioning Kami and the whole family starts musing about what Kami must be like, and talking out how Kami must be even greater than their dad but surely isn't anywhere near as impressive as their mom. It's just so wholesome and fun. It's a good thing it's as endearing to watch as it is, because that takes up a good bulk of the episode. There's another cutaway back to the Kame House crew, and this one's longer than last episodes and does amount to more, but overall it's still a very small part of the overall story in this one. I do find it pretty hilarious that they continue to have Tenshinhan training with the group but not a Chaozu in sight, as well as Tenshinhan also trying to listen in on Roshi's pickup advice. They really, really didn't know what to do with him in filler scenes yet, and it shows. The idea of a strong guy living in the woods being who Goku thinks he needs to learn from is a fun one, though I think most people probably saw the inversion coming pretty much from the start. Goku's the only one who thought there would be a strong guy here for him to learn from, with Popo never suggesting any such thing. This is also immediately following the previous episode where Goku also learned a lesson from an unlikely source, so it's not too surprising that the trend continues here. Having him learn about stillness from an expert fisherman certainly makes a lot of sense as well, and is probably a little less forced than his learning to really 'listen' to things from a girl and her bird. The focus of Goku's training in these past two episodes has been very much about skill rather than strength, and it's definitely made these training episodes much more involved and interesting than anything we've seen since the Roshi training period. The characters thus far might not be as memorable, but I'd definitely say the training itself here is leagues beyond what we were given for filler leading up to the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The short scene of Goku playing with all of the kids and then sleeping in a big bedroom with the family is really sweet, it's nice to see Goku interacting with more people his own age that aren't fighters. Next Time: Everyone's always ready to jump Trunks for his time traveling, but they forget that Goku did it first.
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