Synopsis: In a small village, a strange ceremony is held before a large statue of a demon. Nearby, Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu camp out for the night, with Kuririn wondering if Karin Tower really exists. Tenshinhan says it must because Goku himself said that he trained there and that he got much stronger from doing so, and Kuririn wonders if he can climb it as well. Yamcha says he'll have to, they'll all have to, if they want to catch up to Goku. Tenshinhan says they should look for a house in the area tomorrow to ask for directions to the tower, and the group goes to sleep. Later that night, Kuririn wakes up to find Tenshinhan awake and staring at the sky. The others wake up as well, as Tenshinhan says that he can hear the sound of drums and people singing and shouting. None of the others can hear it, but Chaozu becomes transfixed by a vision, and tells them all that something terrible is going to happen. Kuririn tells Chaozu not to scare them like that, and he and Yamcha go back to sleep, as Tenshinhan and Chaozu continue to be concerned. Up on Kami's sanctuary, Goku awakens for another day of training, and Mr. Popo says that he'll be Goku's opponent again today. Goku says he won't lose as easily today, but Popo tells him they won't be fighting – instead, they'll be playing tag. Popo covers his eyes with a blindfold and tells Goku to run and hide wherever he wants and Popo will try to find him. Goku thinks this will be easy, but quickly finds that he's unable to get away from Popo, who is sensing his ki wherever the boy goes. Kuririn and the others approach a mountain village, with Kuririn especially hoping to find a hot meal and maybe even a cute girl there, but Yamcha tells him not to get his hopes up. The group soon runs into another group wearing demon masks and wielding pitchforks, but are surprised when one of them turns out to be a cute girl. The villagers all take off their masks and prove to be friendly, asking if the group has come for the festival and inviting them to the village to celebrate with them. The girl explains to Kuririn that the village comes together to express gratitude to their mountain god once a year, and points to a nearby mountain as the location of their mountain god. As the group continues to get shown around, Kuririn introduces himself to the girl who likewise introduces herself as Mint. Before Kuririn can get any closer to her however, a large flock of birds suddenly flies overhead, and Chaozu again feels uneasy. Up at Kami's sanctuary, Goku continues to try to outrun a pursuing Mr. Popo, but to no avail as he is once again caught by him. Goku asks Popo how he always knows where he is, and Popo says that he could sense Goku's ki. They then switch places, with Goku wearing the blindfold and trying to find Popo, but Goku proves unable to follow Popo's ki the same way that Popo was his. Popo explains that while Goku can't conceal his ki, Popo can, and this is another skill that Goku needs to master. Back in the village, the celebration continues with lots of food, and even a small fighting ring where fighters are able to show off their skills if they wish. Yamcha asks Mint for directions to Karin Tower, but she's never heard of it, saying that maybe her grandfather would know more. Chaozu continues to stare at the mountain with concern, and Tenshinhan asks him what's the matter, but Chaozu isn't sure. As a man named Paoru is declared the village's strongest for the fifth year running, Mint introduces Kuririn's group to her grandfather, who insists they all sit and celebrate with them before talking. The group does, and though Kuririn at first objects to a drink that's handed to him, he downs it when being told that it's just juice – however, he still ends up drunk. Mint asks the inebriated Kuririn if he does martial arts as well, and he says that he does, while Tenshinhan catches Paoru giving him the stink eye. Paoru challenges Tenshinhan to a fight, and Mint's grandfather says he'll tell them whatever they want to know if they actually manage to beat Paoru. A drunken Kuririn insists on fighting instead however, and although Paoru thinks it laughable, agrees. Mint tells her brother to do his best, and Kuririn is shocked to hear that he and Mint are siblings. Paoru thinks Kuririn has left himself wide open, and Kuririn is somewhat off his game due to being drunk, but he still manages to dodge pretty much all of Paoru's blows, even while growing dizzier and dizzier throughout. Seeing Mint watching him however, Kuririn gets a second wind and defeats Paoru almost by accident. Paoru is shocked, but congratulates Kuririn on his victory, though he's confused when Kuririn refers to him as 'brother'. As Yamcha starts to ask Mint's grandfather about Karin Tower, the village's animals start to go nuts, and Chaozu loudly proclaims that the mountain is going to explode soon. The villagers are shocked and outraged to hear such a thing said about their guardian deity, on the day of their festival no less, but Chaozu insists it's about to happen. Much to their horror, the ground begins to shake, and Kuririn has to save Mint and Paoru from a falling statue of the mountain god as the mountain erupts, proving itself to be a volcano. Mint's grandfather says they must have angered the god in some way and says they all need to pray hard to be spared his wrath, as lava begins to pour down the mountain towards the village. Kuririn tells the villagers they need to get out fast, and Tenshinhan says he'll stop the lava, thinking this is the perfect chance to train. Yamcha tells him it's a crazy idea, but Tenshinhan says that Goku could probably do it, so he'll have to do the same if he wants to catch up to him. Yamcha, Kuririn, and Chaozu agree in the end, and rush off with him to try to find some way to stop the lava's advance. Review: What do you know, I was wrong – they COULDN'T get through an episode without showing Goku at least once. Thankfully, as it is once again just a new variation on the same theme, Goku's part of this episode is very much the B plot as opposed to the A as it was before. As such, there's not really much for me to comment on with him, though one thing I do want to draw attention to is the exact nature of Popo's lesson this time. It was somewhat alluded to before, but here Popo straight up says that one of the things he needs Goku to learn how to do is mask his own energy, making himself harder or impossible to sense. This is something we'll see done pretty constantly by our heroes in future arcs, and something that becomes so second nature to them that it actually kind of bites them in the butt in an even further arc, so it's interesting to see it's humble beginnings here. The main crux of the episode however is with Kuririn and the others going to the mountain village. The group is still trying to find their way to Karin Tower, and only stop at this village initially to ask for directions, but leave it to Kuririn to find a reason to want to stay around a little bit longer. It's been a long time since it really came up, but Kuririn's goal in life is basically still the same thing that it was when we were first introduced to him. He didn't exactly get into martial arts for purely altruistic reasons, he got into them because he thought they'd help him impress girls. So far, the series hasn't really given him much in the way to see if that's worked for him or not. The only girls he's been around really have been Lunch and Bulma, who are both older than him. One's also potentially scary, while the other is definitely scary and also in an off-again, on-again relationship. He's always been training at Kame House otherwise, or at the tournaments, or most recently...well, dead. Here however, he's finally able to meet a girl that's seemingly his own age, and he's gonna do his best to try to appeal to her if he can. Kuririn's romantic longings are only part of what's going on here however, with much more emphasis being placed on the collective desire of the group to get stronger and keep up with Goku, as well as the impending doom that Chaozu keeps sensing. Chaozu's premonitions end up turning true when the mountain the village keeps worshipping turns out to actually be a dormant volcano. Well, dormant until now anyway. This actually makes for a pretty good problem for our heroes to have to deal with, because it's an extremely strong force of nature that normally would be far beyond the capabilities of martial artists to deal with, but without making it a new character that we'd be left wondering how Goku would deal with them if he were here. There's also another factor to this that will get brought up more next episode, but it's already teased a bit here with the villagers disbelief that someone would dare suggest something bad about their god. Ahh, religion. Until next time! Favorite Scene: Kuririn's drunken moments are pretty great, especially his fight with Paozu. Next Time: Despite it being a pretty good match for them, you never see the volcano playable in any fighting games, SMH.
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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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