Synopsis: Goku continues his solitary training in preparation for the next Tenkaichi Budokai, eventually finding himself tired and hungry in another area he's never been to before. He sees a family on an out of control vehicle and helps bring them to a stop before they can crash or fall off the mountain. The family thanks him gratefully, and when Goku asks why they were in such a hurry, the father explains that a monster called Inoshikacho, a large boar with a deer's antlers on it's head and a pair of butterfly wings on it's back, has shown up in their village. Their own house was destroyed by the creature, and nobody in the village was capable of stopping the beast's rampage. Goku asks if the creature is really that strong, and the man says their whole village is probably in shambles by now. Goku thinks this Inoshikacho sounds like the perfect opponent for him and asks for directions to their village. Meanwhile, back on Roshi's island, Yamcha and Kuririn continue their training by sparring while Roshi relaxes in a nearby chair. Bulma spots him looking through a photo album and asks him who the cute young man in a photograph is, with Roshi saying that it's him when he was younger. Another photo shows a young Roshi alongside another man he refers to as Crane, with Crane holding a small boar in his arms. Roshi explains that it's actually a rare creature called Inoshikacho that they found deep in the mountains, and though it was docile at first, it grew bigger and harder to control as it got older. Bulma asks what happened to the creature, and Roshi says he's not sure as they moved away from that area shortly after, though he's sure it's fully grown by now. Goku arrives in the village just in time to find the villagers hunting down Inoshikacho alongside a pair of martial artists wearing the same green and yellow outfits. The two fighters – a tall bald man with a third eye and a short pale child – make quick work of Inoshikacho, and by the next morning, the beast is tied up by it's feet and hanging from a tree. The villagers thank the fighters and pay them 100,000 zeni for their trouble and ask them to stay another night for a feast, but the tall fighter says they're in a hurry but will take Inoshikacho's body with them to dispose of it, and the short one says they'll take some corn on the cob as well. Later that night, Goku is using his tail to try and fish in a nearby lake but isn't having any luck. He smells something cooking and rushes over to find it, and to his surprise, he finds the two fighters cooking and eating the corn alongside a surprising third body – an alive Inoshikacho. Goku overhears the two fighters thanking Inoshikacho for putting on such a good act and that they'll call it quits after two or three more villages, and Goku approaches and asks them if they're all friends now. The tall fighter says he can't let Goku live now that he's heard their secret, and attacks Goku with quick attacks that Goku is able to dodge despite how hungry he is. The tall fighter asks Goku his name, and the small fighter feels like he's heard the name somewhere before. Another attack from the tall fighter causes a tree to fall on Goku, and he's certain that Goku will die if they leave him out there on his own. Back on Roshi's island, Bulma wakes up from a nightmare where she dreams of Goku being killed by Inoshikacho, causing her to worry about how Goku is doing out there, but Roshi doesn't seem too worried about his student, even cracking a joke that earns him a smack to the head. The next day, Goku awakens in an unfamiliar house where a girl named Tanmen. She says he was found under a huge tree, causing Goku to remember what he saw the night before. Tanmen is surprised since she heard that Inoshikacho was dead, and explains that this must mean the two fighters tricked everyone just to take their money. Goku tries to get out of bed and hunt them down but is too hungry to move, so Tanmen brings him a lot of food to help get him back on his feet. In another nearby village, the two fighters have let Inoshikacho loose once again and are watching as he destroys a field and chases farmers, thinking that they could even get 200 thousand zeni this time. As Goku heads out to search for the pair and Inoshikacho, he runs into the same couple again running away from their new village. Goku runs in the direction they were running from, determined to put a stop to them this time. By nightfall, the pair have once again “defeated” Inoshikacho and are just about to receive payment when Goku rushes in and says that they're a fraud. He reaches up and tickles the tied up Inoshikacho, causing it to laugh and reveal that it's alive, so that Goku can reveal what the two fighters have been up to. The tall fighter takes advantage of the situation and claims that Goku is the real trickster, causing the villagers to be unsure who to believe. The tall fighter says he'll prove his claims and picks up a burning torch to place under Inoshikacho. Goku objects and asks them how they could do such a thing to their friend, and as the fire starts to burn Inoshikacho, Goku angrily frees Inoshikacho to save it. This causes the villagers to believe the two fighters instead of Goku, though the small fighter now worries what's going to happen if they've truly made Inoshikacho mad. The angry villagers throw rocks and fire guns at Goku and Inoshikacho to drive them away, causing the beast to rampage once again. The two fighters decide this is their best chance to make a getaway, and Goku chases down Inoshikacho to stop it from rampaging. He picks up the creature and runs into the woods with it while the villagers chase after them quickly, with Goku saying he could never fight the villagers. It's only once they get into the woods that Goku notices how badly burned Inoshikacho's back is. As the next morning comes, Goku carries Inoshikacho back to Tanmen's house to get his burn treated. To his surprise however, he soon finds himself surrounded by the angry villagers who accuse him of tricking them. They open fire again, and just as Goku thinks he has no choice left but to fight, Tanmen and the village chief of her hometown run out and explain that Goku's telling the truth. Tanmen agrees to patch Inoshikacho up, and the creature seems much more docile now that people aren't trying to hurt or use it anymore. With everything settled, Goku wonders what happened to the two scam artists anyway, and Tanmen says she overheard them talking about the Tenkaichi Budokai. Goku says he'll be entering that tournament too and needs to keep fighting strong opponents so that he's ready, causing Inoshikacho to rush at him, allowing Goku to get in some training by fighting against him. Elsewhere, the two fighters have managed to get out of the area cleanly, with intentions of entering the Tenkaichi Budokai where they will surely meet Goku once again. As Goku leaves the village, it's revealed that Inoshikacho now lives in peace with the villagers and even helps them till a field. Review: This episode might be one of the more notorious instances of filler in the original anime series. Unlike much of the filler in DBZ, the filler in DB is generally regarded as less obtrusive and generally able to fit into the world of the franchise without creating too many problems. As I've already said with the last couple of episodes however, this batch of episodes doesn't really live up to that reputation very well, and this episode in some ways might be even harder to make work with the series proper than the last one. The biggest elephant in the room here are the early introduction of the characters of Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and even a cameo appearance by a young Tsuru-sennin. These are all characters that are going to be properly introduced to us in short order at the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, but for whatever reason, Toei decided to have them introduced to us here in a filler episode first. This is an unprecedentedly bizarre decision – I'm sure it can't be the only time, but off the top of my head? I'm struggling to think of any other time in any anime adaption of a manga that I've seen where they introduce a canon character in a filler episode preceding their actual debut. Easter eggs and teases of characters sure, but outright showing them the way they do Tenshinhan and Chaozu? That's just crazy. As we've only had them very briefly here, and we'll be dealing with them a lot more closely soon enough, I'll hold off on really saying much about the Crane students at this time, but I will say that one nice thing with this episode is that their personalities do feel about the same as when they'll be around later. There's also a weird moment where Chaozu comments about Goku's name seeming familiar, and I'm not really sure what that's supposed to be getting at. Has he heard Goku's name before as a result of him being runner-up at the last tournament, or does he just think it sounds similar to Gohan if Tsuru-sennin has talked about Roshi and his former students to them before? Or is it supposed to be an early hint about his psychic powers? Nothing is elaborated on further in this episode, so it's really hard to say what they had in mind with that line. The main crux of the episode beyond those two revolves around the scam they're running around Inoshikacho, a creature with a name that probably sounds very familiar to fans of Naruto. And it should, as the two sets of characters share a common source to their names – Ino means 'boar', Shika means 'deer', and Cho means 'Butterfly'. In the case of the Naruto characters this is expressed in Ino's personality; Shikamaru's family lands; and Choji's Butterfly Mode, as well as the collective trio name for their fathers, themselves, and even later on their own children being 'InoShikaCho'. In the case of Dragon Ball's Inoshikacho however, the name is even more obviously represented as that's exactly what he is, a Boar with the antlers of a Deer and the wings of a Butterfly. As another interesting tidbit, I was curious why this particular set of three completely different animals were represented in both series, as it felt like something that couldn't be a coincidence, and surprise, it's not – InoShikaCho also happens to be the name for a card combination in the hanafuda-based game of Koi-Koi, a game that anime fans might remember from pivotal scenes in Mamoru Hosoda's Summer Wars film. Big thanks to DanielSQ over on Twitter for letting me know about this connection, as I've actually never heard about it even once in all my years as an anime fan. Just goes to show, there's always more to learn. Anyway, Inoshikacho himself is a pretty curious creature, and not just because of the weird combo of animals in his makeup. From the first cutaway scene featuring Goku's friends, we learn that Inoshikacho isn't just some monster that Tenshinhan and Chaozu found, but rather an old pet of Roshi and Tsuru-sennin when they were younger themselves. This is one of a few curious moments where we get to see and learn a bit about their past together – and curiously enough, the youthful designs for them are anime original – but it also means that Inoshikacho has to be a hell of a lot older than we might have otherwise guessed. Don't forget that Roshi himself is like three centuries old at the start of the series, which means Inoshikacho is at least over 200 years old by this point. That is a hell of a long life for an animal like him! ...I guess, at any rate, it's probably kind of hard to determine the lifespan of a BoarDeerButterfly, come to think of it. Despite the problems the narrative of this episode presents to fitting within the series proper, it's a fun enough romp that's hard not to love regardless. Seeing Tenshinhan and Chaozu just scam village after village out of money and food is a treat, and a different and refreshing sort of villainous action compared to the sort we've seen plenty of by this point. The villagers also end up being pretty fun as well – none of them get names other than Tanmen, and they don't really get to establish any individual personalities, but damn if they don't turn hilariously blood thirsty as soon as they think Goku's the one that tried to trick them. They repeatedly fire guns at a small child for crying out loud! That's just hilariously brutal, even if we know Goku's never really in any danger from them. Overall, this episode might be one of the best out of this batch of filler stories, probably only being edged out by it's predecessor purely for it's gothic feel. If you want a fun filler episode that's tone feels more like the series as a whole though, this one is the clear winner thus far. Until next time! Favorite Scene: The villagers just going complete warzone on Goku. Next Time: Son Goku gets out-manned by a con-fox.
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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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