Synopsis: Despite Goku's best efforts using the Basho Fan, the fire engulfing Gyumao's castle refuses to go out. Urunai Baba suddenly reappears, and tells Goku that it's no use, as these fires seem to be coming from the Eightfold Furnace, and as such the Fan will actually just make the fires worse. Using her crystal ball, Baba shows Goku and Chi Chi the Eightfold Furnace (which is shaped like an octagon), and explains that the Fan was originally used to fan it's flames. Goku asks how they can put the fire out then, and Baba says their only choice is to climb Mt. Gogyo and ask the Furnace's caretaker to put it out for them. Baba then reveals that Mt. Gogyo is on the exact opposite side of the world, prompting Goku and Chi Chi to rush quickly off on kinto'un, but Baba cautions them further, stating that the peak of the mountain leads to the next world where people's spirits go when they die, and says that no living person has ever made it there. She also warns them that evil spirits lurk at the base of the mountain, so even on their way up there, they'll surely come under attack. As Baba uses a megaphone to inform Gyumao of what's going on, he worries about his daughter and his new son. At Mt. Gogyo, Goku forces open the large gates to the mountain's base, and soon finds a long road surrounded by large rock spikes on all sides. The pair run along the road, eventually running across a long chasm in the middle of it. Goku tries calling for kinto'un but gets no response, leaving Goku no choice. He leaps across the chasm, easily making it to the other side, but Chi Chi's not sure she can do the same. She jumps, but bats suddenly attack, causing her to almost fall onto the spikes, but Goku saves her at the last second and pulls her back up onto the road. Running further down the road, the pair next comes across a bizarre fog, from which five shadowed warriors step out and tell them to leave. Goku refuses, but every time he tries to attack the warriors, they instantly disappear. Goku tries to get the drop on them with an afterimage, but soon finds himself cornered in mid-air, barely managing to dodge, receiving a cut on his cheek from it's sword, and almost falling onto the spikes below. Flipping back onto the road, Goku notes how good these fighters are, and decides to try a Kamehameha on them next. The blast envelopes the warriors, seeming to blow them away but causing rock debris to fly towards him and Chi Chi. As Goku tries to knock the rocks away, they fly back and form a large stone warrior. Goku realizes that they're getting nowhere fast at this rate, and pulls out the Basho Fan to try blowing away the stone warrior. The wind from the fan seems to work, but before Goku and Chi Chi can get much further down the road, lightning envelops the end of the road before them, and a humongous dragon suddenly appears. Before Goku can do anything, a large group of shadow warriors again appears behind them, forcing them forward towards the dragon by firing arrows at them. As Goku and Chi Chi run towards certain death, Chi Chi slips off of the road and falls to a lower one that seems to lead to a large field of flowers, a seemingly much safer route to take. The shadow warriors smile and disappear as Chi Chi points out this path to Goku just as the dragon comes towards them. Goku notices that the cut on his cheek is gone however, as is a similar injury he got from the arrows. He closes his eyes and tries to see things with his mind's eye, and as Chi Chi begs Goku to come with her down this other path, Goku tells her to trust him and stands his ground. Chi Chi moves to stand beside him, trusting in Goku, and as the dragon swipes it's tail at them, Goku leaps into the air and fires an energy blast that sends them flying into the dragon's mouth. Rather than being eaten however, the pair finds themselves flying through the air, as a voice remarks in shock that Mt. Gogyo is receiving its very first living visitors. Goku and Chi Chi find themselves back on the road, as Goku explains that everything they saw before now was an illusion designed to trick them, and they proceed further into the mountain. Back at his castle, Gyumao continues to run around with the wedding dress tucked under his arm, as at Mt. Gogyo, Goku and Chi Chi finally find their way to the Eightfold Furnace. Goku calls out for the caretaker to come talk to them, but soon receives a surprise, as out steps Grandpa Gohan. After recognizing Goku, Gohan is overjoyed to see his grandson as an adult, and as the two reconnect, Goku remembers that this place is supposed to be connected to the afterlife and Gohan wonders how he managed to get here while alive. Gohan asks Goku who the lady with him is, and Goku introduces Chi Chi as Gyumao's daughter and his wife. Gohan asks how Gyumao is and Goku explains what's going on, and Goku asks Gohan to help them with the fire, but Gohan explains that he's just helping out here, explaining that the caretaker is someone else. A woman's voice calls out and a gigantic figure appears behind the furnace, and Gohan introduces her as Annin, the caretaker of the Eightfold Furnace. Gohan explains to Annin that his grandson has come to see her, and the giant woman steps forward before shrinking down to normal human size and eating noodles. Goku asks Annin to put out the flames for a while, and Gohan and Annin theorize that there may be a hole in the Furnace if fire from it is reaching the exact opposite side of the world. That said however, they refuse to put out the fire, stating that if it does go out, both this world and the next will become like hell. Review: So after everything leading up to the Basho Fan turns out to be wasted time for our pair, you might be left wondering exactly where the story could go next now that all of that failed to work? The answer turns out to be surprisingly simple – go to the source of the fire itself. Yeah, it's a little weird that up until now, nobody questioned exactly why this fire had broken out like it had once before, just like it's a little weird that even the suggestion of using the Dragon Balls to put it out never comes up. Once we learn the fire's supernatural origins as well, I also can't help but be left wondering why Roshi's Kamehameha succeeded in putting it out all these years ago either. I mean, it seems like a pretty safe assumption that that fire was also caused by the Eightfold Furnace, right? Maybe Roshi's attack only put out the fire above ground, and it was always smoldering down below and just took this long to kick back up again, or...something. The story's not really concerned with the exact mechanics as to how this all works either, so it's probably best that we don't dwell on it too long either. Where the story does go is pretty interesting however, albeit in a way that's a little disappointing for any fan familiar with where the franchise will be going next. Without spoiling too much, let's just say that all of this talk about Mt. Gogyo and the Eightfold Furnace being related to the afterlife (something that will get fleshed out even further in the following episode), as well as it's caretaker, is going to ultimately amount to nothing as Toriyama is going to have his own take on such ideas in the very near future. In fact, without checking dates between these episodes airing and manga chapter dates for comparison, I can't say for certain, but there's a pretty good chance Toriyama's take had already been revealed in the manga by this point, as certain parts are exceptionally similar in some basic ways. The most notable of these are a long, treacherous road in the afterlife leading to some ultimate goal at the end of it – that's going to sound very, very familiar, very, very soon. The impending unimportance of this material aside however, this episode does manage to make itself entertaining enough, with the mountain throwing anything and everything it seemingly can at Goku and Chi Chi to try to stop their progress. About the only thing missing here is a snowstorm, but we already had that back at Mt. Misogyny. The shadow warriors in particular are pretty interesting, but in effect they don't really achieve anything more than any of the other illusions, though I do like things ultimately being taken care of by Goku utilizing some more of the training he received from at Kami's sanctuary. The big surprise at the end of the episode is the return of Grandpa Gohan, and it's this element that most makes me sad that this really is filler that's incompatible with the series at large. As far as the canon material goes, the fight at Baba's palace was the first and only time we ever get to see Grandpa Gohan. Even going by filler material, this is pretty much the only non-flashback appearance of him as well. It's a shame, because I really like the idea of him getting to see Goku at least one or two more times, to see how much his life has changed at various points. This time feels particularly meaningful, given that Goku has only recently gone through a great change in build, and that he's found someone to spend his life with as well. Dragon Ball being Dragon Ball of course, it doesn't linger on that for long, though at least this time it has an excuse, what with Gyumao about to burn alive and all. From Gohan's reveal comes the even bigger reveal (literally and figuratively) of Annin, as well as the idea that the furnace can't be put out. We aren't given real details as to why yet, just a vague mention that 'both worlds will be sent to hell', but given how much of this arc has already been 'one step forward, two steps back', it's fitting that something as seemingly helpful as running into Gohan again actually doesn't help at all. But what in the world could possibly be so bad about putting out some giant furnace, you might ask? Well... Until next time! Favorite Scene: It's a small moment as the plot quickly gets moving again, but I love an older Goku getting to meet Grandpa Gohan one more time, as well as introducing Chi Chi to him. Next Time: Married at last, and how...sweet it is...well, we'll talk about that soon enough.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories
All
|