Synopsis: Goku wakes up after being knocked out by an attack in Hell, to find himself being chastised by a large blue oni for trying to take one of Enma's fruits. Goku asks if he can't eat even one of them, and the oni denies him this, saying that only Enma is allowed to eat those. Goku says that he's really hungry, and a second red oni shows up and thinks that's just ridiculous – he's dead, how can he be hungry? Goku introduces himself to the oni and asks them if either of them is Kaio-sama, and the oni ask him where he thinks he is. Goku is disappointed to find out that he's in Hell and must have fallen off of the Serpent Road. Back on Earth, Lunch scowls angrily at the tall Karin Tower and yells up to Tenshinhan that she's not giving up, as Tenshinhan and Chaozu climb their way up the tower again to reach Karin before heading up to Kami's Sanctuary. Down below, Lunch begins digging through a teepee for anything worth stealing, and is eventually found by a returning Bora. Bora tells her to leave, but Lunch tries to force her to hand over anything of value he has. An older Upa steps forward, and Lunch fires her gun at him, but misses. As Bora tries to hold her back, a tassle on his armband causes her to sneeze, reverting her once again to the calmer blue-haired Lunch. In Hell, Goku continuously leaps into the air to try to get back up to the Serpent Road. The oni (Goz and Mez) think they can have some fun with him and argue about who's going to get to torture him first. After Goz wins at rock-paper-scissors, the blue oni walks over to Goku and offers to help him reach the Serpent Road, picking him up by the head and throwing him high into the air. Much to the oni's surprise, Goku is fine upon landing, and asks if Goz isn't very strong as Goku still didn't reach the bottom of the clouds. Goz angrily says he's the second strongest oni after Enma himself, causing Goku to wonder if Kami was right and that Enma isn't that strong after all. Angered further, Goz challenges Goku to a test of strength, saying that if he wins, he'll help Goku get back to the Serpent Road for real – if he loses however, Goku forfeits his body. Goz draws a circle in the sand and prepares to fight Goku sumo-style, even rushing Goku before he thinks Goku is ready, but Goku succeeds in stopping him from pushing him out of the ring. Goku compliments Goz as being better than he thought, but Goku still manages to knock Goz out of the ring with the wind pressure from a quick palm strike. Defeated, Goz takes Goku to a large see-saw and has Goku stand on one end of it while he jumps onto the other end, launching Goku high into the air. Goku has to launch a Kamehameha at the end to propel himself further but succeeds in touching the clouds at last...only to hit his head against their hard underside before crashing back down into a pond of blood. Mez continues his duties in Hell before spotting Goku continuing to try to break through the bottom of the clouds above Hell, angrily stomping over to take his turn 'torturing' Goku. The pair tells Goku that nobody has ever broken through the clouds the way he's trying to, but Mez promises to show him a secret way to get back up there if Goku can catch him as he runs around Hell. Goku thinks this sounds easy and agrees, though Mez warns him that he's the fastest oni after Enma himself. Back on Earth, Gohan continues his wilderness survival by outrunning and tormenting a poor sabretooth. Goku's chase in Hell begins, with Mez quickly proving to be a lot faster than Goku expected, though Goku is likewise able to keep up and almost catch Mez a few times much to the oni's surprise. Mez continues to have fun with the race and even offers for Goku to stay in Hell and they can do this every day, but Goku says he has to get to Kaio-sama's. Eventually Goku asks if they can stop for a moment and rest, and asks again if he can eat one of Enma's fruits from the nearby tree. Mez tells him no again, saying that it's said someone who eats one can avoid hunger for a hundred days and even gets a power boost to boot. Much to Mez's chagrin, Goku rushes over to grab one, and as Mez chases him, Goku eventually turns around and catches Mez. Defeated and with no choice now, Goz and Mez show Goku a hidden stairway that will lead back to the Serpent Road. As he leaves, Goku taunts the pair by revealing that he grabbed one of Enma's fruit and eats it as he goes up the stairs. Goku is happy to get back to the Serpent Road, but soon finds that the path actually leads to the inside of Enma's desk – Goku is now back at the very start of the Serpent Road! He rushes to get started down the path again, though he notices that running it seems to be a little easier now than it was before. Review: This episode is definitely one of the most fun ones in early DBZ's filler additions, as well as one of it's most memorable, so it's probably little surprise that so much of what it brings to the table effected the anime to varying degrees long past it's initial airing. And yes, I broke my own rule about not referring to characters by name until they're stated once I realized the oni are never named in episode – I will accept my lambasting at a later time. In the manga, the Serpent Road is kind of a red herring. It's implied to be this great challenge that Goku has to overcome, and presumably it is indeed a challenge...but presume is all we can really do. It's not really shown. Most of Goku's running down the road is going to be presented as something that happens off-screen and something that didn't give him anything to do but run. That's challenging enough given it's length, but there's not really any story potential there. Realizing this and no doubt wanting to at least do something with their lead character before his eventual return to life, Toei seized upon a stray comment in a previous chapter and decided to send Goku to Hell – literally. This is something that doesn't happen at all in the manga, and as a result, we never do get to see what Hell is like in it. As a result, it's the anime's interpretation of Hell as shown here that basically takes over for the entire franchise's original run, and it would remain the official look of Dragon Ball's Hell all the way until 2015, when a new story from Toriyama would finally show us his vision of Hell, at least in part. But that's a long, long way's off from being covered, so for now let's just focus on this version of Hell. And surprisingly, the Dragon Ball version of Hell is somewhat chill. Sure, there's ponds of blood, a mountain of needles, and a pair of oni to torture you, but all things told it certainly doesn't seem like the worst place imaginable. In fact, as we'll later see, one of the biggest problems in it might be becoming bored, though that in-of-itself is something that requires a change from what's presented to us at this point – again, more to discuss at a later date. For now, Hell is presented to us as a place that bad souls go to, and like most people in the afterlife, the bad people have their bodies taken away and are reduced to little cloud puff ball souls instead. It was shown previously that Goku getting to keep his body was an exception to the norm, and that exception is what makes him so valuable to the bored oni – how fun can it really be to torture clouds, after all? Goz and Mez's various 'torture' methods for Goku are likewise pretty simplistic and childish, fitting with Toriyama's wry sense of humor – sure, Hell's torture can involve sumo, seesaws, and a foot race, why not? The oni pair also inadvertently serve to prove Kami's words about Enma not being the best person for Goku to train under, as he's already more than up to par against these oni, likewise showing that there wouldn't be much left for him to learn from Enma either. It does sort of make one wonder how Enma really was able to overpower Raditz, but I've always assumed that the taking away of a person's body is rather immediate, meaning all Enma had to contend with was a foul-mouthed little soul cloud – not exactly the hardest to punt down into Hell. Almost is a little surprising that Raditz isn't shown in Hell though, even if it is in cloud form – if this filler had been done far later in DBZ's run, there's almost a decent chance that would have happened. By the time we do see Hell again though, Raditz is going to be long, long forgotten. Poor guy. Overall, the episode is pretty fun, but I'd say it's the concepts that it brings to the table that are the real standout star of it, as the episode itself is a little underwhelming in some ways. None of the action is hard hitting, none of the jokes are going to make you bust a gut – it just sort of meanders it's way through it's setting after a while. That said though, it's still great to actually see Hell, and it's nice to see it presented in an unexpected way. Most of all, it's just nice to see payoff to Toriyama's off-handed remark about falling through the clouds leading to Hell. I mean c'mon, why bring it up if we weren't actually going to see it happen? Until next time! Favorite Scene: It's unrelated to the plot of the episode at large, but I really like seeing Upa and Bora again to be honest. Next Time: Princess Snake was absolutely horny on main for Goku.
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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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