Synopsis: As they begin their training, Piccolo thinks that Gohan at least looks more capable than when he last left him, and challenges the boy to come at him as best as he can. Gohan leaps in to attack Piccolo, but Piccolo is easily able to dodge all of his attacks and knock him away. He has Gohan repeat the effort but it ends the same way, and Piccolo tells Gohan not to watch for his movements but to feel them. Gohan thinks that's easier said than done, and Piccolo hits him with eye beams, telling him that if he has time to whine then he has time to fight, further saying that every moment Gohan isn't eating or sleeping now, he'll be fighting Piccolo. Gohan thinks he'll die at that rate, but Piccolo tells him to get stronger than – stronger than him, stronger than his father, and stronger than the Saiyans. In the afterlife, Goku continues to run the Serpent Road which still doesn't have an end in sight. Up on Kami's sanctuary, Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Yajirobe all continue their training as well, though Yajirobe slacks off a lot in comparison to the others. Kami and Popo approach the group, and Kuririn asks them how long it'll be before the pair trains them personally. Yamcha likewise says it's been two months since they arrived and they still haven't received any of the training Goku did, and when Kuririn requests that they receive the same regiment, Kami insists that he taught Goku nothing. The group wants to know exactly what Goku did while he was up here however so they can get stronger, and Popo insists that to do that, they must know themselves and know their enemies – everything after that should come naturally. The group doesn't understand and continue to press Popo, who eventually takes them to the time room where Goku trained once before. Popo explains the room to the group as well as explaining that Goku trained here once before too, but Yajirobe bows out, deciding to eat instead. Kuririn, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu all focus as instructed, and soon find themselves in a delapidated city that they don't recognize – in fact, it doesn't even appear to be Earth that they can tell. A skeleton soon falls to the ground near them, and they recognize from it's tail and armor that it's a dead Saiyan. The group explores the area, seeing the remains of many other Saiyans, with Kuririn surmising that some kind of battle happened here. Tenshinhan and Yamcha are eager to test out their powers on any survivors, and unbeknownst to them, a pair of Saiyan survivors are already watching them. One Saiyan scans the group with his scouter, determining that the four of them together only add up to a power level of 1,507. The two Saiyans think they can waste some time with the group, and disappear. The group continues to wander around, not finding anything or anyone to talk to. Kuririn says that if this really is the Saiyan's planet than they shouldn't take them lightly. Chaozu wanders over to look at something in a window, and is taken by surprise when one of the Saiyans grabs him by the head. Tenshinhan immediately tries to help, but the second Saiyan attacks him before he can move. The Saiyan holding him easily kills Chaozu before their eyes, tossing his body aside like a ragdoll. Enraged, Tenshinhan rushes the pair of Saiyans, but quickly finds himself unable to do anything to them either. Tenshinhan gets grabbed by one of the pair as well, and Yamcha throws his Sokidan in an attempt to save him. Tenshinhan is able to use the distraction to get away, but the blast doesn't do a thing to the Saiyans, much to Yamcha's horror. Starting to realize what they're up against, Tenshinhan, Yamcha, and Kuririn all fire a Kikoho, Sokidan, and Kamehameha at the pair of Saiyans, hoping to take them down. A large break in the ground appears as the dust clears, and the group wonders if they really managed to take the Saiyans down in the end. Suddenly however, they hear the voices of the Saiyans laughing from somewhere, before one of them leaps from the hole before disappearing before their eyes. Distracted by the first Saiyan, the second one reaches up and drags Kuririn through the ground, and Yamcha and Tenshinhan are forced to listen as Kuririn is beaten before seeing him get killed before their eyes by a reappearing Saiyan. The two Saiyans challenge Yamcha and Tenshinhan to keep fighting as they're curious to see who the third to die will be, and the pair put everything they have into a final, large Sokidan, and a Shishin no Ken/Kikoho combo technique respectively. The attacks cause much of the building they're in to crumble and trap the Saiyans, before hitting them both full force. Yamcha and Tenshinhan, drained of all energy, are once again certain that they've finished off these Saiyans and avenged their friends, but now realize what truly horrific powers the Saiyans wield. Before they can escape however, the two Saiyans appear once more, proving to still be alive after all, and finish them both off with quick energy blasts. The group all awaken back in the time room with Kami, Popo, and Yajirobe watching on. Kuririn is happy that they're all still alive, and Yajirobe says they've all just been standing there in a circle this whole time anyway. Popo explains that their bodies remained here but their minds went on a journey so that they could learn what Kami was trying to impart to them. Yajirobe asks how fighting the Saiyans went, and the group admit that they've severely overestimated their own powers while underestimating the Saiyans. Kami further explains that the Saiyans they just fought were nowhere near as strong as the ones on their way here now, and asks if they feel like running now. The group is scared naturally, but they all agree to keep training and get strong enough to fight even the Saiyans on their way now. Down on Earth, Gohan and Piccolo's own training continues, with Gohan slowly learning how to perceive Piccolo's movements and dodge them. Up on the Serpent Road, Goku continues running, while out in space, the two Saiyans even stronger than any that our heroes have yet encountered, continue their way towards the Earth. Review: After multiple episodes focusing on what Goku and Gohan are doing, it's finally time for the anime filler machine to shine a spotlight on the other characters again...and in true Dragon Ball Z fashion, it uh, it doesn't go so well for them comparatively. See, the whole idea of these filler episodes are to help flesh out what happens to the characters between when we last saw them in action and when we'll be seeing them in action again. We know Goku's going to have to get a lot stronger, because he's the lead character who we fully expect to come back in and save the day – he can't do that if he doesn't improve. We know we're going to have to see Gohan come into his own – he can't do that if he doesn't go through a LOT of growth compared to how he was when we first met him. Piccolo is likewise going through a growing period, designed to change him from an opposing force into one that as at least allied with our heroes. For the rest of those heroes though, there are no lofty expectations for what they're going to be doing. And for fans who are already familiar with the series, that know where they're going next, there's not really much in the way to build them up to either. So all that's left to them is to grow stronger. It's likely one of the reasons their training is covered the least in the manga as well, along with the fact that their training is training we already partially saw prior with Goku. It's all a bit of a shame really too, because these are characters we've had the longest. Every single one of these characters, even freakin' Chaozu, we've had around for a good bit longer than we've had Piccolo and especially longer than we've had Gohan, but the story is already doing everything in it's power to sideline them. As much as I love Dragon Ball, this is definitely one of it's weakest aspects, and it's something that I feel like the next generation of manga artists, like Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto) and Eiichiro Oda (One Piece) definitely learned from to varying degrees, as they all endeavor to do at least a little better with their supporting casts. My issues with where this is leaving and leading the remaining Earthling heroes aside however, this episode still manages to be an entertaining enough ride just on it's own. There's a great horror aesthetic to the proceedings that we don't get a lot in the franchise, with only really one notable exception in the future I can think of that outdoes even this one (and it's canon to boot). The lesson our heroes learn here is an important one as well – they seem to be banking on their training making them strong enough to handle the Saiyans, especially with the likes of Goku, Gohan, and even Piccolo joining them as well. As a result, they're both thinking too much of themselves (or at least what they can become) while also thinking too little of the Saiyans. This is an understandable enough mistake for them to make, as out of the four of them, only Kuririn has seen a Saiyan in action. Even then, all he saw was the bare minimum – he got smacked aside by Raditz, saw Goku go through the same, and then only saw the aftermath of Goku and Piccolo's fight with the Saiyan. None of them truly have any idea what they're actually in for beyond the vague notion of 'the enemy is strong'. They needed to learn just HOW strong these Saiyans are going to be and just HOW outclassed they are at the moment if they're ever going to take their training seriously enough to have even the slightest hope of improving enough. This is sadly basically the lot that the supporting cast has been thrown to now however, in that they're always going to be one step behind what Goku and other characters are offered in terms of improvement. Goku trained at Karin's during the Red Ribbon arc; the other heroes don't do so until after King Piccolo. Likewise, Goku trained at Kami's after King Piccolo; our heroes are only now doing so in preparation for the Saiyans. This one step behind nature of their improvement was always going to leave them lagging behind even more than anything else unfortunately, and it's going to end up showing in their overall performance as well. Again, this is something that I feel like later authors who grew up on Dragon Ball improved with – they learned to take characters down different but equivalent paths for improvement rather than leaving them to go down the same path as the main hero just at a later date. All of that said however, if someone was coming to this episode completely blind without any of the knowledge of where it's all going, I think they'd enjoy it far more than an older, somewhat jaded on the state of things fan would, as it really does make it's point brutally clear to our heroes – it's time to put all their efforts in. Until next time! Favorite Scene: Everything with the past Saiyans is like something from a horror movie, but I especially like when one grabs Kuririn from underground and drags him down. Next Time: Everyone's a comedian, even the Gods.
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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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