Synopsis: A storm rages as Gohan catches a large fish and heads back to a cave he's been staying in, stopping to grab some fruit along the way first, and even getting past a snake without getting scared by it. He falls out of a tree and injures himself slightly, and makes some medicinal paste by grinding up some leaves as he remembers his father doing for him once before. As he treats his wound, a pair of eyes ominously watches him from behind. Elsewhere, Yamcha is playing in a professional baseball game, though Puar notes that he doesn't seem to be enjoying it. Yamcha just can't get into it as it comes too easily to him, and he notes that he's a martial artist and is only really doing this because he needs the money – he'd much rather get back into the swing of things as a fighter again. The coach bribes Yamcha to get off the bench and back into the game with promise of a bonus, and the coach tries to convince the current batter to allow himself to get hit to load the bases. The player does so, causing a big fight to break out between both teams, something Yamcha's actually excited to get involved in. To his surprise however, Kuririn appears out of nowhere and tells him about what's happened. Yamcha immediately agrees to go with them, though awkwardness persists between Yamcha and Bulma, though Yamcha perks back up at the thought of training with Kami. On the Serpent Road, Goku finds that he still has a long, long way to go, and wonders if he'll even make it to the end by a year's end. As Gohan sleeps in the cave, the pair of eyes that had been watching him before begins eating all of the fruit and berries he'd gathered for food. As Gohan wakes up in the morning and tries to find the food, he instead finds a long-necked dinosaur. As Gohan tries to figure out how to deal with this new situation, the dinosaur starts to leave, only to fall to the ground. It's then that Gohan discovers it's wound, finding a large branch sticking out of it's flesh. Gohan warns the dinosaur that it's going to hurt, but manages to yank the branch free. Seeing how deep it was stuck in and that the wound is still bleeding, Gohan quickly prepares a larger version of the leaf paste he used to treat his own wound and applies it to the dinosaur. Leaving the dinosaur on it's own, Gohan heads out to get some more food for them both, only for the dinosaur to immediately eat the food that he gathered, forcing him to head out once again. As Gohan continues exploring and gathering however, the tail of another dinosaur swings through some nearby trees. As Bulma, Kuririn, and Yamcha fly in one of Bulma's airships, Yamcha is excited at the prospect of fighting again and getting stronger, though Bulma says there's currently only a slim chance of them winning. Yamcha isn't worried however, thinking that between Goku coming back stronger than ever alongside all of them training with Kami, as well as having Piccolo of all people on their side this time, that there's nothing they can't do. Yamcha's outlook even improves Bulma's mood, and Kuririn frustratingly notes that it looks like they're getting along okay after all. As he gathers more fruit, Gohan imagines how great it'll be to have a dinosaur friend as he keeps surviving in the wasteland. He thinks that he's already gotten a good bit stronger himself as well, realizing the kind of things that he's doing now are the sorts of things that he'd have been terrified of before. Returning to his dinosaur friend, Gohan finds it locked in combat with a gigantic meat-eating dinosaur – the same one that chased him before. Gohan yells for the carnivore to leave his friend alone, and even draws his sword to fight back. Though Gohan is successful in distracting the dinosaur at first, he is eventually knocked aside and unconscious, and though the carnivore can't find him afterwards, it simply turns back to the long-necked dinosaur. As Gohan wakes up again the next morning, he finds only bones where his friend was, and sadly realizes that he still has to get a lot stronger than he is now. Review: Two episodes in a row with Gohan making a new friend and losing them by the end - this sure is starting to be a trend for the poor kid, huh? Surely that kind of thing won't be happening to him again though. ...*cough* All joking aside, this episode actually doesn't focus nearly as much on the dinosaur as I always remember it doing. It's still a main focus of course, but unlike the previous episode which was pretty much entirely about Gohan and the robot bonding, this time around there's equal focus given to what's happening elsewhere, this time in the form of Kuririn and Bulma picking up Yamcha. And honestly, between the two storylines in this episode? I find the Yamcha material far more interesting and entertaining. Something that we never really saw come up in the previous material was any indication of what these characters do when they're not training or fighting. They've all reached adulthood now though, and adulthood brings with it more responsibilities and the need for money to get by – it sucks, but it's true in fiction usually just as it's true in real life. And in Yamcha's case, with he and Bulma on the rocks again, it definitely means his easier life is over, and he has money concerns now. In fact, the episode even shows that money concerns was the real reason he and Bulma 'broke up', as Yamcha didn't have any money to take her out on a date before, and thus 'stood her up' – something Bulma apparently took to mean he was after another girl, because of course that's what Bulma thinks. I think there's definitely an unhealthy air to their relationship that the series never really delves into the more we see of it to be honest. All of that aside though, the idea that Yamcha would play baseball to make money is as inspired as it is hilarious and out of nowhere. You might find it weird that Yamcha would gravitate to something like this as a career when there was never anything to suggest he was interested in the sport before, and you'd quickly be proven right as Yamcha ISN'T interested in the sport, at least not really. He just needs a way to make good money, and it turns out that being as strong as he is means being really, really good at hitting home runs. He even basically extorts his coach to get more money out of playing even though it's boring him to tears – Yamcha, you devious bastard of a genius you. Going back to the Bulma/Yamcha relationship for a moment, the episode also makes it clear that there's still an attraction there between the two of them, despite them being on the rocks at the moment, something that Kuririn is a little perturbed by. It's been hinted in the past that Kuririn might have a bit of a thing for Bulma, so one can't help but wonder if he was thinking of pursuing her himself now that she's single. That...could only have ended terribly, my friend. As for the titular storyline focusing on Gohan and the dinosaur...it's alright. It's cute, but it's certainly not as fleshed out as the one between Gohan and the robot, and it doesn't help that this episode comes immediately after that one either. It's weird, in a way I've always found it odd that this episode was the one that the original dub kept whereas it removed the previous one, but in some ways I think I can see why. The robot episode is certainly more fleshed out with what it does for Gohan's character, but this one is a little more fun and better paced, while also showing off a bit more of characters other than Gohan. Yamcha in particular probably needed this re-introduction since, well, for fans unfamiliar with the previous material, this is his FIRST introduction...and man does that both work for and against him as a character, especially considering where he's going in this story arc. Gohan finding out how tough he's already become is a treat though, as is seeing him remembering some times spent with his father and even realizing he'd learned something from him as well. So it's not at all that this episode's story for him is bad, it's just that it feels a bit repetitive when we've had two of them in a row. Until next time! Favorite Scene: Gohan imagining his new dino friend and himself going on adventures together is pretty cute. What kid DIDN'T want a dino friend after all? Next Time: A little of before, a little of after.
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
|