Synopsis: The Red Ribbon Army continues to track the Dragon Ball that Colonel Silver was after as it moves away from his location, and Commander Red orders them to contact Silver about it immediately. At the rate things are going, he's sure he'll be ruling the world very soon indeed. Having finished with the shopkeep, Silver moves out. Meanwhile, Goku continues pursuing Pilaf to get back what he thinks is the four-star Dragon Ball from them, but he notices something strange on his radar – even though he's right behind him, it shows that he's moving away from the Dragon Ball currently. Goku thinks the radar must be broken after all, but now that he knows where the ball is, all he has to do is take it back from them. Inside the ship however, Pilaf and crew have realized they were tricked when the glass orb they thought was a Dragon Ball is broken. Already enraged by this, Pilaf is further angered when he sees Goku peeking in through one of the airship's window and opens it to give the boy a piece of his mind, resulting in Pilaf being sucked outside by the air pressure. Goku chases after Pilaf on kinto'un and tells Pilaf he'll save him if he gives him back the Dragon Ball, and Pilaf starts to tell him it was a fake, but stops short to instead beg Goku to save him. Goku catches him and takes him back to the airship to make him fulfill his promise. Pilaf orders Shu and Mai to put the fake Dragon Ball back together while he stalls Goku, and once it's “fixed”, they hand it over to Goku, instructing him to be careful with it, especially once Goku notices the cracks. With that taken care of, Pilaf and crew fly off in their airship to look for the real Dragon Ball, and in the process cause Goku to drop the fake. Goku chases after it on kinto'un, but the ball breaks as soon as he catches it, confusing Goku greatly. Elsewhere, back at Mt. Frypan, a reformed Gyu-mao lives in peace with the villagers rather than terrorizing them. His daughter, Chi Chi, dreams of the day that Goku will come back to see her again. Seeing his daughter despair, Gyu-mao has a local psychic divine where Goku is, but the old lady gets distracted by an ant coming for her lunch, causing the father/daughter pair to misinterpret her saying “he's coming closer”. Chi Chi is sure that Goku is coming to take her as his bride, and though Gyu-mao thinks it might still be too soon for that, he readily agrees to prepare the wedding immediately. As Gyu-mao announces happily to the villagers that his daughter will be getting married, Colonel Silver and his men chase after the bird with the Dragon Ball in the air. The bird is eaten by a pterodactyl before they can get to it however, and the pterodactyl is in killed by Gyu-mao with a boulder. Gyu-mao carts off the pterodactyl intending to serve it as dinner for the wedding, and before Silver and his men can chase after the now ingested Dragon Ball, they quickly go into hiding from a strange approaching airship. Mai tells Pilaf that things have gotten worse as there's no way they can take on someone like Gyu-mao, but Pilaf refuses to give up, though he is terrified of Gyu-mao's reputation. The villagers prepare whole-heartedly for the wedding much to Gyu-mao's delight, though they soon spot Pilaf's airship. Pilaf orders them to attack but Mai stops him when they see everyone waving and holding a banner welcoming Goku. At first Pilaf is annoyed that they'd ever think they were Goku, but then he grins, coming up with a plan. Gyu-mao hurriedly searches for Chi Chi to tell her the good news, but can't find her. The old psychic lady tells him that Chi Chi went to a nearby hillside to pick flowers, and Gyu-mao is pleased at how lady-like his daughter has become. Back in the airship, Pilaf has Mai make a Goku mask and orders Shu to put it on and pretend to be Goku so they can trick everyone there. Shu doesn't think it will work, but Pilaf thinks it's the perfect plan. Gyu-mao rushes out to meet Goku, as do all of the villagers, while Pilaf and crew are confused by all of this 'wedding' talk. Gyu-mao wonders who the other two are, and Pilaf and Mai introduce themselves as Goku's 'friends'. Goku, searching for where Pilaf and crew have gone, starts to get hungry. He makes a pitstop to eat some apples from a tree and ends up running into Chi Chi. Chi Chi thinks Goku must have come here for her after all, though Goku continues to not understand what marriage is. The two eat apples together, while back at the village, Shu secretly protests to Pilaf that he can't marry someone he's never met before. Pilaf orders him to play along until they can get the Dragon Ball. Gyu-mao apologizes for Chi Chi being so late, and Pilaf orders Shu to say that he's hungry so that they can get out of here soon. Gyu-mao agrees that they can start the banquet now while they wait for Chi Chi, and the villagers bring in a ton of food, including the cooked pterodactyl. Gyu-mao tells Goku not to hold back but Shu tells Pilaf that he doesn't think he can eat that much. Gyu-mao overhears and misunderstands, and tells Goku to eat some of the pterodactyl instead. He tells Goku not to be shy and ask for whatever he wants, before patting Shu on the back and sending him flying, knocking the Goku mask off of his head. Pilaf quickly distracts Gyu-mao so they can put the Goku mask back on Shu's head, but all of the villagers see what happened. Before anything can be said however, the banquet hall is suddenly attacked by tanks. Gyu-mao says he doesn't know who's doing this but vows that they'll pay, and Pilaf says this is the perfect opportunity to take the Dragon Ball for themselves. Gyu-mao storms outside and fights the Red Ribbon Army tanks, and Silver's men worry this might be too much for them to handle. Silver however grabs a big gun and shoots Gyu-mao in the face with it, blinding him with the gunk that explodes out of the bullet. A tank then shoots a giant net, capturing Gyu-mao on the ground. With Gyu-mao incapacitated, Silver orders his men to begin searching the village. Back at the banquet hall, Pilaf crawls out of the pterodactyl with the Dragon Ball in hand and starts to flee the Red Ribbon Army's advance. They barely manage to escape back into the airship with the Dragon Ball in their grasp. Meanwhile, Goku and Chi Chi continue to spend time together, but Goku falls asleep as Chi Chi talks. The pair soon notice smoke coming from Chi Chi's village, and Goku recognizes the Pilaf airship as it starts to rise into the air. He tells Goku to hop onto kinto'un, and the two race back to the village, unaware of what's happened there. Review: The search for the six-star Dragon Ball continues to be a far more frantic affair in the anime version of events than it was in the manga, and while there's something to be said for over-complicating things perhaps, I'd be lying if I said I didn't prefer the anime on this account. None of the Dragon Balls that we actually got to see get hunted down in the first search were that easy to acquire, so it just seems more fitting for even the first one to be more of an ordeal this go around as well. It's also commendable in a way that this expanded version of the story both manages to tie in the previous search by way of including Pilaf, but also giving time for Gyu-mao and Chi Chi to shine a little more. That is, in effect, a bit of a double-edged sword though, but like so many things I bring up here, that's discussion for another time. For now though, it's nice enough to see some familiar faces again. The Pilaf gang taking advantage of Goku's naivety is perfectly on point for both them and Goku himself. It makes perfect sense for them to try and deceive Goku with the broken fake, though to Goku's credit, even he starts to wonder if something was wrong from the very second he sees the cracks. At least, as much as Goku ever would wonder about something like that anyway. It also sets it up perfectly for them to try and take advantage of Goku in a different way once they realize Gyu-mao and everyone is expecting the boy's arrival. Putting a fake Goku head on Shu and expecting people who know him (because let's not forget, the Pilaf gang has no way of knowing that it's only Gyu-mao out of the entire village present that has met him before) to fall for it is so hilariously dumb that it's only made even better by it working entirely. Gyu-mao, I...I have so many questions for you. The frantic Dragon Ball search is made better by how all-over-the place it ends up as well. In the course of less than a minute, it goes from chasing a bird, to now it's in a pterodactyl's stomach, to now it's in a dead, cooked pterodactyl's stomach that's in the care of Gyu-mao, the 'demon king'. The fact that even Silver is a little worried about dealing with someone like him says it all, and while Gyu-mao never does quite live up to his potential as a threat, it's still pretty impressive that Silver and his men are able to deal with him without too much trouble overall – again, it's certainly a more impressive first outting for them than what they received in the manga. Overall this changed opening act is definitely giving more meat for us to chew on than what their corresponding chapters did, but can it stick the landing? Let's hope so. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The disguised Shu actually managing to trick Gyu-mao into thinking he's Goku is priceless. Next Time: I wonder if Pilaf bought his airship from the same place Wonder Woman got her plane?
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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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