Sometimes I think that part of why I like Piccolo so much is I had an absentee father who was more concerned about me doing cool shit than with my personal happiness or safety. Like yeah he threw Gohan at a mountain and hits him constantly but dammit he was there.
Ch 178 please give Tien back his belt Thank you. If Tien grows extra arms again I may bail. changed my mind i'd rather have four-armed tien than twelve-eyed tien Oh thank god, he just duplicated himself instead of sprouting nine extra eyes on his head. (There wouldn't be room for them!) He's somehow made four of himself and they spread to the four corners of the "ring", from where they do a 4x combo beamshot. eyelasers are catching! Goku can't dodge the four simultaneous attacks, but isn't too badly off. Let me guess at least one of them: decreased attack power from splitting up? Having to keep track of multiple bodies? Too reliant on sight? I bet one of those at least will be one of the flaws. Ch 179 I can accept it when Kuririn does it, but you?? You have so much hair! (Yes I know it's probably not actually linked to being bald/shaven/whatever, but.... the correlation is awfully high up until this point!) Ah, so the first flaw as that his eyes are "too good", and therefore extra-sensitive to things like very bright flashes of light. Just thinking about it is making my eyes water. (What would happen if Tien needed glasses? Would he have a third lens for the third eye, or maybe just use regular glasses?) The second flaw is "fatal", unlike the first, which is guess is just inconvenient. Goku sweeps through the four Tiens like a tropical storm through unprotected islands and tosses them all out of the ring in a matter of moments. Now there's a sight you don't see everyday. Even Piccolo is shocked. I didn't think his eyes could get any larger, but I was mistaken. Goku kindly explains that splitting into four meant each of them was at 1/4 strength (and therefore quite a bit easier to deal with than a single full-strength Tien). Well, it probably wasn't Tien's match anyway, but I can't help feeling he should have not split up; Goku's shown a knack before this for finding advantages in apparent disadvantages, and despite Goku's superior speed, maybe he would have stood more of a chance had he remained singular. Oh well. Tien's out and Goku is moving on as a finalist. Ch 180 does he wear the one-shoulder number later on to show off his scar?? It's Shen/Kami's turn to fight Piccolo, and my question from earlier may get answered. Is it a physical can't, or some other kind? Ah. It seems to be more on an emotional "can't"; apparently Goku knows that Kami will die with Piccolo, and so Kami thinks that Goku won't be able to bring himself to do the thing when it needs doing. (And... considering that Piccolo's still brooding around and being very much alive at the beginning of Z, Kami may have a point.) Shen goes off to fight Piccolo, and right away it's no-holds-barred. Shen/Kami gets the first couple of strikes, but there's some quick retaliation on Piccolo's side, as well as confusion because this apparent human seems to know an awful lot of stuff, like his plans for world domination. Ominous (but ultimately ineffective) Shen/Kami hits Piccolo hard enough that he's fully submerged in the earth, but he travels underground and pops up several meters away. Kuririn makes an excellent audience surrogate and wonders how exactly they're doing the things they're doing while Shen/Kami and Piccolo have an angry staring contest. I wonder if Piccolo will lose his hat at some point during the budoukai and if people will then freak out (because it's okay that he's a green-skinned, pointy-eared, weird-limbed, eyebrowless person as long as he doesn't have antennae)
Ch 181 lessons learned: don't liveblog tired because you'll probably make grammatical errors and regret it the next day Piccolo can read minds, and both can speak... what I can only assume is the Namekian language? Not that we would know that at this point. Piccolo gets pretty upset that Kami showed up and shows off some very impressive fangs, which seem like they would get in the way of, uh, producing eggs. Except for the fact that Piccolo Sr. seemed extremely capable at doing so, I would make some hypotheses about Namekian morphologies and maybe reproductive/nonreproductive forms (e.g., possibly Piccolo is a representative of a nonreproductive form specializing in defense of the "colony"). God, what I wouldn't give to know more about Namekian biology. * takes off biology nerd glasses * Anyway, there's some fighting going on! No time for musing about science. Kami's got something planned: he takes a tiny bottle out of his pocket and I absolutely though it was poison for a hot second, but he sets it down on the ring instead of drinking it, so probably not poison. But how will it work if it's not a rice cooker? Kami uses a pretty intense mafuuba (the "fuu" actually does have a long vowel sound according to the furigana)... But Piccolo doesn't seem too worried about it? OH. Well shit! I guess it's because he developed a counter for it, which is (aptly) called reverse mafuuba. That's some good thinking. You must have been working really hard these past three years. Kami, being the stand-up dude he is, relinquishes the body (I guess thinking that Piccolo won't seal the poor guy in the bottle?) and tells Goku to kill Piccolo and not consider Kami when doing so. Kami gets trapped in the bottle. The person whose body he usurped is going to be very, very confused and probably sore when he comes to, but luckily he didn't get sucked in as well. Piccolo is very confident now because "with Kami gone... [he] has no weakness!" Ch 182 Nice nails. "Shen" (not sure if that's his actual name or a pseudonym adopted by Kami for the match) wakes up and is, in fact, very confused. He gets a nice round of applause and his son is very impressed by his feats in the ring. Not you too!! well, at least your tongue isn't quite so long. Goku reveals the truth about Kami/Piccolo Sr. :/ I feel you, but, you should, you know, kinda try to get used to it, for your own mental health if nothing else Eavesdropper! Piccolo's specifically here to fight Goku and get revenge and win and take over the world, where "an amazing demonic world awaits [them]!" And then it's almost time for the match to start, which will determine the fate of the world. No pressure or anything though! I'm always sad when he ditches the cloak-think, because I dig the shoulders. I guess a big ol' cape would get in the way of fighting, particularly if you're planning to go all-out, and it's very dramatic if you can whip it off and toss it aside when things get serious. Sidenote: lookit them ears Ch 183 As promised, Piccolo does seem to be going all-out. Also, Goku has no shoes on, which seems a bit... risky. Some toe protection would probably be good in a fight. Piccolo does his stretch maneuver again, gets thrown, and looks out of it... but it seems to have been a feint, because he catches Goku off-guard and uses a series of rapid energy-type attacks and slams Goku into the ring, breaking up the tiling. (Typesetter: couldn't make the text just a liiiiitle bigger? you had so much speech bubble to work with!) why do you do that. What's the point. Drama? Gonna get up when the count reaches nine again? Just playing around? (The next page says it's so Goku can study his moves, but you don't have to pretend to be knocked out for that.) So I was wrong, and the real serious fighting starts next chapter. Stop teasing me, manga! You can tell it's serious when we have this kind of background.
Ch 184 please please i'm already dead toriyama will I ever not laugh at eyelasers? *.* zzzap! The Serious Fighting supposedly has started now, but I won't fall for that again! I'm not gonna trust it until I see someone's pants get shredded. That's usually a good indicator of Serious Fighting. (If this is Serious Fighting, it seems to involve a lot of hand-holding, which might be a bit awkward with the finger-number mismatch and also Piccolo's frickin talons.) They disengage and Goku gets real speedy, but Piccolo still gets him with an elbow right to the face. Maybe those big ears are useful for picking up the sounds of speedy adversaries. (Although, to be fair, pretty much everyone has large-to-ridiculous ears; Piccolo's are just pointy, so they have that extra something.) Oh man, I should have been keeping track of what architecture got destroyed this time around at the Budoukai, but I forgot! dang. This particular bit of architecture was broken by Goku's body after the elbow to the face, but Goku recovers quickly and gets behind Piccolo for an impressive kick to the head. This makes Piccolo very angry. Very unsporting. Piccolo produces a very large energy attack, which Goku manages to deflect away from the crowd (I think this may be a sporting event better watched on TV, from a safe distance). Now everyone's pissed for various reasons: Piccolo because the attack didn't do much to Goku and Goku because Piccolo is being pretty unsporting. the what now Ch 185 Goku's juuuust about ready to show us a super cool new move (or so I assume) but Roshi reminds him that if Piccolo dies, Kami does as well. Dude! We heard from the man himself, he's prepared for that fate! He wants the world to be safe! Just do the dang deed! (lol I say that but I absolutely couldn't just do it either) Piccolo then mocks Goku for being so emotional and weak and threatens to kill everyone at the ring. As if that wasn't already a possibility before, the deflected energy attack made a mushroom cloud, you can't tell me that wouldn't have harmed any of them had it hit the immediate area. this panel was in reaction to Piccolo laughing maniacally and I had to include it because I also thought "knock it off!" Piccolo, however, does not care in the slightest that he's going to hurt innocent people and seems to be charging up some especially devastating attack. I.. hmm. I guess it's really not necessarily obvious that if Kami dies, the dragon balls won't work. I would say that given your current information, this is a reasonable assumption to make. In any case, Goku takes it as permission to go all-out. Yes, that's true! But you're working on outdated intel, my man. The price you pay for spending three years presumably in isolation training. The two attacks meet and Piccolo's is sent back towards him. It seems pretty bad, but he manages to survive. hell yeah shredded pants I'm going to give this my official Serious Fighting seal of approval * stamps * Ch 186 Piccolo says he can never forgive this, but I think he probably does. It's just a heat-of-the-moment thing. OH ALSO AT SOME POINT HE LOST HIS HAT??! Dang, I missed it! Which reminds me: isn't it uncomfortable having the antennae tucked up inside the hat? Like when I see cats in hats, I feel bad for them because their ears get all squished in there. Piccolo's antennae give me the same reaction whenever I remember that they still exist even when covered by the hat. Speaking of cats, whether in hats or not, this one's outta the bag. Unsurprisingly, there's a panic and most everyone vacates the area. The only ones left are the usual members of Team Goku and Announcer, who hops over the wall to hide with Bulma and Lunch and the shapeshifters, but continues his commentary because he's just That Much of a Professional. The panic was probably a good thing, because it means that there's less potential for innocents getting hurt. Piccolo turns giant-sized, which startles both me and Goku. Thankfully his clothes grow with him or else we may have had a lesson in Namekian biology that no one wants. Bad jokes aside.... he is very, very large now. Kind of insanely big. Like, how do you even begin to deal with this big. Tien offers to help. Goku says no. because that's really what we should be focusing on right now!!! (plus visual reference for Giant Piccolo) and that's the frickin end of the chapter!! Man, dude knows how to leave us hanging at tense moments and wanting to see what happens next.
Ch 187 some of these color pages make me wonder if he just... ran out of copics and was like "ehh, yellow is close enough to orange, it's fine" Color pages! Piccolo's outfit is a very nice contrast-y purple with blue accents. Goku kicks the back of Large!Piccolo's knee, which once again makes me kind of shrivel up and wither away to nothing. It's a pretty good move, though, and Piccolo topples over. this is extremely implausible extremely implausible! but what's the point? I guess the point is just to get even more fucking huge, which Piccolo does. and then everything takes a turn for the truly horrible. Spoiler: don't do it goku! too late Goku gets coughed up pretty shortly thereafter, having retrieved the Kami-bottle. Good thing it didn't get bigger too, or else Goku might have had a tough time getting it out. He tosses it at Tien, who uncorks it and Kami pops out. It would be a very disconcerting experience, being sealed in a tiny bottle and then released. Poor guy. Goku's very pleased at his success, which makes me think there may have actually been some planning involved. Good job, Goku! Ch 188 Well, last chapter was a harrowing experience. Hopefully there's no inadvertent vore this time. you know what? neither did i The people watching have lost track of what's going on because of extremely high speeds, but it's fine because they're not missing much, just these two punching each other in the face. FEET KAMEHAMEHA awww hell yeah actually using those antennae for something The antennae attack had a bit of a paralysis kind of status effect, and Piccolo takes full advantage of Goku being momentarily weakened, and it looks pretty bad for him... but Kami steps in and blocks Piccolo's attack. He urges Goku to work with him so they can take out Piccolo, but. Well. This is Goku we're talking about. This is his match, and it's getting too exciting for anyone to do anything like help out. Goku offers Piccolo a free hit to make up for the one that Kami blocked. well good, wouldn't want this to be an unfair fight or anything
Ch 189 .... feels like we might be getting awfully close to the end of this arc hhmmmmmmmm. hmm. but has he really? really? But it doesn't matter anyway because Goku's the only one strong enough; not even Kami stands a chance. * squints * are you just saying that to put Goku at ease about you dying, or do you actually believe it, or am I mistaken about how things work? Or a combination of some of the above? Goku promises. Piccolo gets fuckin' pissed that Goku's so confident. (╬ಠิ益ಠิ) Piccolo makes a homing energy ball attack which follows Goku all over the ring, and Piccolo makes some very bold assertions about it following Goku to the ends of the earth. But it doesn't have a chance to. Hmmmm maybe an unerring homing beam was a bad idea when your opponent can move faster than the human eye can track Piccolo gets blasted by his own attack (what dramatic irony!) and is even more shredded than before. The left pant leg is looking pretty ragged, and the right leg has just become shorts. Also the single remaining sleeve looks like it might give up the ghost at any moment. Also, he actually seems to be bleeding, which I don't remember really happening before now. His right arm might be out of commission. Hoo shit man! Unattached is basically as out of commission as you can get! (Now, much like with Goku's tail, I want to know what happens to the old arm. It feels bad to just leave it lying there to decompose....) But he sprouts a new one and it's all wet and goopy. Gross! And taxing. It seems really, really hard and maybe painful to make a new limb. Piccolo has reached new echelons of fury at being hoisted by his own petard, as it were, and seems to be preparing for something especially destructive. Goku tells everyone to GTFO. Ch 190 People are not getting TFO, despite repeated entreaties from Goku, and Piccolo's nearly ready to do whatever he's going to do. Tien, my dude! You're no slouch! He makes a big ol' hole in the ground for everyone to hunker down in. (Lunch boots Kami into the hole, which is pretty fantastic.) Piccolo goes nuclear. Almost literally. And is very pleased about it. But he didn't actually do it. Goku withstood it. And now he's sure he can win.
Wow I can't fucking tell right from left jfc just bury me in a kikouhou hole until I learn what side goes where Eta how did I manage to get through elementary school much less college
Ch 191 holy shit that's a lot of chapters! Well, chapter so far has been just a festival of Piccolo getting fucking beat all to hell. Just fucking wrecked. First with bodily attacks (including one of those terrible fists-to-the-stomach which are basically as bad as knee attacks for me) and then a massive kamehameha. yeah, it's not looking good for him. Then Goku wants Announcer to count, and I had honestly forgotten that it was that kind of match. Announcer asks if Goku's sure Piccolo's not dead (because to be honest he looks kind of dead), but we know he's not because Kami is still alive and kicking. As the count approaches 10, people are getting excited, although it's not necessarily like Piccolo would just give up after ten if he came around. But ten never comes, because the GOOFIEST mouthlaser but a decidedly ungoofy effect. holy shit. that's a laser straight through his chest, that's a pretty fucking big deal. There's important tissue there: big muscles in the chest and back, ribs, lung, not to mention all of the blood and lymphatic vessels and nerves.... Ch 192 I'm still reeling. Goku's doing not so great and there's a lot of blood. This sucks, man, I don't think there's been injuries of this severity and... tone?.... up until this point. :( Like, it was a fairly unsurprising development (think you've won and time's almost up but WAIT the big bad isn't actually defeated!), but we haven't really seen Goku this kind of incapacitated, I don't think. I can't quite explain why I feel like it differs from, for example, the fight against Piccolo Sr. where his limbs got disabled, but... yeah. Feels different. Maybe because it's a fairly explicit wound. Obviously it's not rendered in hugely gory detail or anything, but it's MUCH more definitive an injury than we've usually seen. Anyway, shit sucks and Piccolo is (in comparison) doing pretty well. one could say the same thing about you Piccolo stomps on Goku, which is just... like. Hmmm. If you're going to kill him, just kill him, don't torment him, I guess. (Not that I want him to get killed, and I don't think he will be, but... Causing pain for causing pain's sake does rub me the wrong way.) Obviously Tien and Kuririn and Yamcha try to jump in, but Piccolo wards them off with a swipe of energy that tears up the ground and looks pretty deadly. He did, but people usually don't do well with a hole that's like at least four inches in diameter through their chests. Someone get this guy a senzu or take him to a hospital or or or something. (Would a senzu heal this kind of wound, fill it up with new, healthy tissue?) But what can you do at this point, Goku? You're in a bad way and Piccolo's not in top form himself, but I'd say he's better off than you. Well, not too much. Goku manages one attack and then Piccolo fucking breaks his goddamn legs, like, PLEASE can this bit end soon. Kami tells Tien to kill him because Piccolo's preparing his final attack, and this is the only way to stop him. Putting aside the whole "Shenlong won't work without Kami, at least to my understanding" thing, won't bringing back Kami just bring back Piccolo as well? Later on, bringing Piccolo back to life brings Kami back (sorry spoilers), so I can only assume it would work the other way around as well. Goku has other plans, though. I have a lot of faith in you but. right now? Right now, I'm just not seeing how (barring senzu miracle, which could happen, although it feels a bit... unsporting? for this kind of competition, and that makes me wonder if Goku might refuse it or has some other method in mind.) Piccolo's finished his prep and performs his final attack from his position up in the sky, and it's looking pretty bleak. Ch 193 The ring and the surrounding area is just absolutely devastated by this point, so one more major attack hardly makes much of a difference. We have not seen yet whether or not Goku was hit/did something/etc., so there's gonna be some sort of reveal. Not sure what it will be. Now I know I've said this before and I said I wasn't going to say it again, but just one more time: don't celebrate until you confirm the kill! You found some ash and assumed it was him, but that's not necessarily confirmation! You could be missing something if you don't at least take a cursory look around! BOOYAH. what'd ya girl tell you. you make an absolute idiot out of yourself if you do that shit too early! now you just look like a dumb asshole! Oh hey, it's the bopping around in the air skill! Did he just master it out of necessity, or was it in his arsenal this whole time? Whatever the case, Goku is just rocketing head-first straight at Piccolo and just fuckin' headbutts him. Piccolo lands out of the ring, and I find it pretty incredible that no one has set foot outside it yet. Announcer confirms that Piccolo is indeed out of the ring, and declares Goku the winner. Everyone gets super fucking hyped at this point and rush towards the collapsed Goku, as though Goku winning through ring-out means jack shit about what Piccolo's going to do??? Jesus, that was a hard set of chapters to get through. I am pretty legitimately worn out after reading them.
Ch 194 it's time for... medical attention! Or some magic healing beans. I'm fine with either. who the fuck WHAT THE FUCK WHY ARE YOU EVEN STILL HERE HOW DID YOU BREATHE UNDER THERE GODDAMNIT Goku is, as I may have intimated in the previous section, not doing super great right now. oh you're useful after all. okay. Goku's perked right up in no time and celebrates winning by shouting "BANZAI" in the sky. Meanwhile, people are checkin' out Piccolo and Kami's got some bad intentions vis-a-vis finishing Piccolo off. Goku sees this and intervenes, which, no big surprises there; he seems pretty fond of Kami. (And also maybe relishes the opportunity to have more fights in the future, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt while we can.) Kami's Argument: he's evil and is just going to do this again so we should end him here, also just bring me back with wishes Goku's Argument: if he does I'll stop him again and besides Goku: *gets up in God's face and calls him a liar * :/ that's a pretty shitty way to feel Roshi steps up to remind Kami that the dragon balls were used multiple times for good and peace-restoration, and that none of this would have come about if not for him creating them and there're some nice snapshots of past happenings and a cool splash page of Shenlong. Kami goes "Ha!" and makes a new outfit for Goku because the last one was on its way to ragdom. I have never seen any of the create anything besides clothes (as far as I can remember).... It's very useful for things like this, being able to create clothes. I wish I could do it. Goku gets a senzu from Yajirobe (keeper of the senzus) and to no one's surprise but the people who know him best, he feeds it to Piccolo. welp. Off he goes! To brood on weird rock formations, probably. (There's something very amusing to me about him getting the hell out of there but still trying for some intimidation.) Goku gets an offer to be God but refuses and takes off on kinto'un with Chichi. Honeymoon time! I hope they go somewhere nice. Maybe stop by and visit her dad before heading off to, I dunno, it's not like tropical islands seem particularly special here? Maybe somewhere private to actually get to know each other. * fucks off for like 4+ years * And I suppose that's the end of Dragon Ball before we jump into Z (although they're not actually broken up that way in the repository I'm reading from, now starts some pretty wild shit that heralds a definite tonal change, although there were certainly... hmm... signs? portents? inklings? of some of the ways things often go down in the earlier material. Wow, that was an incredibly run-on sentence.) I will say, despite some things that made me upset or uncomfortable or just sigh heavily, I really enjoyed reading this part of the manga, and not just because it gave me some background for the stuff I've already seen. It was a fun ride and I'm glad I experienced it. There was uhhh certainly Some Shit, but most of the time I wanted to read the next chapter and see what happened. (The Red Ribbon Army bit was probably the most... draggy one, especially the tower part, but it was more than made up for by Karin and all that later on.) Small Goku was very endearing and I appreciate Yamcha and Tien and the rest a lot more, having seen their origins. (Although it also makes me feel a bit sad with how... I'm not going to say irrelevant, necessarily, but certainly not as front-and-center they get later on. Like, I actually liked Yamcha a lot! And Tien as well!) I'm feeling very melancholy about having finished this bit. Melancholy might be too sad a word, I'm also happy to have read it and satisfied with this conclusion and most of it as a whole, but there's some sadness about having finished this bit.
THAT BEING SAID I DO INTEND TO KEEP GOING! Caveat: As is probably obvious by now, I know at least some/most of what's going to be happening next for... quite a while. So the reactions will not be my immediate raw first-time feelings about things. I mean, there was already at least some of that this time around (Piccolo not being killed, what the whole Kami/Piccolo thing is, how the dragon balls work, etc., etc.) But obviously most of it was a new experience. So that might be off-putting! And I get that. But I would like to continue anyway, mostly because I'm having too much fun doing this to just stop, and also I thought it would be interesting/enlightening to experience it again in a new form and possibly have different reactions from the first time around, especially given knowledge of things that happen later on. Some general housekeeping: I'm probably gonna cave to the more "canon" spellings of Krillin and Puar (and maybe some other names, but those are the main ones I've thought of). I'll probably continue that trend with any new names I come across as well, just to make things a bit more... standard, I guess. I may also start including chapter titles, but I'm not sure. I'm very fond of using the first one to express whatever sentiments I have right at the beginning of the chunk of chapters I'm reading. I could always do that in a different way, though.... And chapter titles might be informative, especially if there's some numbering discrepancies of split DB/DBZ versus nonsplit. Anyway, thanks for reading with me so far. :>
Ch 195 I can't do it, man, I just can't do it (The Mysterious Warrior from Space) Yeah these fucking chapter titles just give so much away. I think I will include them.... just for reference. First order of business: what the FUCK is UP with these people's skulls. LOOK AT THIS. LOOK AT HIS HEAD. IT'S SO FUCKING LONG. JFC. and that widow's peak, good lord. Anyway, it's a peaceful day at the emu (?) or cassowary (???) ranch. This farmer has a chevrolet truck and is just pitchin' away at a pile of hay. See, look at that bird. Obviously flightless, got that kind of crest going on, I think it's a cassowary. And there's a bunch of them. I wonder if cassowary meat is popular on DB earth? Oh, also something crazy just plummeted to earth and this farmer is obviously going to hop in his trusty Chevy and go check it out. Unfortunately it's nothing cool like a meteor or a piece of a space station, it's just a swole dude in a tennis ball with way too much hair. why does everyone in db have canckles who's this asshole and why does he not have any pants on?? (spoiler: raditz and I don't know. just likes it that way I guess.) Mystery Buff Spaceman (MBS) makes some snap judgements about Earth because the farmer (with a shotgun) has a "power level" of only 5. He sees this using a fancy device that sits on his ear with a screen in front of his eye. I find it stupidly cool for some dumb reason. The farmer shoots him, but MBS catches the shell (or bullet or whatever, I'm not super up on gun terminology) and then flicks it at the farmer, ending his career in the manga for good. :( Poor guy. Poor cassowaries. He was a valuable member of his community and he was offed without a second thought. MSB gets wind of a powerful person close by (4880... somethings. Kliks? Miles? Kilometers? Something else? We aren't informed) and goes zooming off. Flying is just part of the standard package nowadays. * brooding on some weird rock formation somewhere* Piccolo's looking good in his stole, as always, and has spent his time gainfully in the wilderness, probably training and eating butterflies and stuff. (Actually, do Namekians eat at all? Have we ever seen one consume something? I just realized I can't remember anything like that ever happening. Oh wait, Piccolo ate a senzu bean literally one chapter ago. But it was under duress, maybe it doesn't count.... They do have some pretty formidable teeth, and one has to assume that those kinds of structures evolve to aid in mastication and therefore consumption of some sort of nutrient-rich material....) His standing-with-his-arms-folded is interrupted by a major powerful being approaching quickly, and MSB arrives and is disappointed that Piccolo is Piccolo, and not the person/thing he's searching for ("Kakarrot", which is, hoo boy, quite a name). Piccolo has a power level of 322, which is "nothing compared to [MSB]", and Piccolo demonstrates it by blasting him for 0 damage. I think if he had a choice it would be a "not a lot", or at most a "maybe a bit if it's not directed right at me in a deadly use of force kind of way" But before MSB can make good on his show of strength, his eyepiece picks up on an even larger power further away, and he's not made of time, so he leaves Piccolo behind to go investigate. (Made of time... well, now I'm thinking about Aradia and homestuck classpects, so of course at some point I'm probably going to be thinking about assigning them to DB characters. dumb brain.) There is... just a whole lot going on in this panel. We are presented with some challenging ideas. But it certainly seems like this "Kakarrot" he's looking for is Goku by another name, which, to be honest, I think most people probably saw coming. So! First chapter of a new and exciting world is just jam-packed with action. And cassowaries.
The cassowary farm just reminds me of how California has fucking ostrich farms because of some ill-thought scheme to corner the ostrich egg market. This sort of thing is also why California has eucalyptus trees everywhere. Ill-thought schemes.
Or the time Jefferson Davis had hundreds of camels imported for use by the US Army, only for them to eventually be set loose in the Arizona desert.
Similarly, one of the islands in the "archipelago" where my parents live has a bunch of exotics because the owner of the islands brought them over for big game hunting (on a... super tiny island, less than 600 acres). Hunting was then banned because the shots can reach San Juan Island, where there are a lot of people, so now there's just... exotic ungulates roaming the island. (It's Spieden Island if anyone's interested.)
Ch 196 I wish 200 had been the start of this arc (Kakarrot) I guess I have to revise my opinions on the evolution of Namekian teeth. Maybe for defense? Or possibly holdovers from a time where they did need to eat. Iunno, I should probably stop trying to make things fit into my view of how things work and just roll with it. What a look! Bulma's visiting the Kame House for the first time in a while. Yamcha's... not with Bulma, apparently, and Lunch is gone, pursuing Tien (which explains why I had no idea who she was). Any particular reason they changed her hair color for the anime? Maybe the aqua color stands out more or something? I kinda like the purple (lightish purples are my favorite colors so I'm biased.) Goku shows up with a kid in tow (also for the first time in a while)! BABY! heck. Gohan is very cute. Yeah, it's a bit of a shocker, but he did get married and all. SO I WAS HAVING AN ARGUMENT WITH MY HUSBAND ABOUT GOHAN'S AGE AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS AND HERE IS THE PROOF THAT I WAS RIGHT (course there's always the possibility that he is misreporting his own age a la his dad) Apparently there STILL hasn't been a reveal about transformations (and Gohan's never seen a full moon, because "[they] go to bed early at [their] place". There's a bit of conversation about how Chichi won't let Goku train Gohan because there's no need for martial arts anymore and he should study, and also about the 4-star ball on Gohan's hat. (I am disappointed it's not a cat-ears hat like that one baby had on but this one matches his outfit quite nicely.) Goku has a couple other dragon balls as well, just for kicks, back at his place. Then there is an extremely jarring tonal shift where suddenly Goku picks up on something wildly powerful approaching and in like a page MBS shows up, tells Goku he looks just like dad, and asks why he hasn't killed everyone yet. Also calls him Kakarrot. Krillin tries to shoo him off (and calls him a drunk!) but MBS just whaps him with his tail (! which he has, and although I knew it was there, I forgot about it because he had it wrapped up like a belt). The tail reveal causes a lot of consternation among Goku and the rest of them. Ch 197 (Tails of Future Not-Quite-Past) (jesus christ) my sweet boy MBS is pissed because Goku hasn't a) killed all life (intelligent life?) on earth and b) hasn't figured out who he is. Goku reveals that he did hit his head a tiny child, and Roshi reveals that Son Gohan Sr. told him that he found a very violent baby that was unmanageable until he fell down a ravine and hit his head, almost dying. There are some... I dunno, kinda unfortunate implications here, but whatever. Krillin's okay, by the way. That's a lot to have dumped on you all at once. Especially by this big, screaming, powerful dude in armor and a speedo. Name reveal + are you sure you're not related to Vegeta instead? That widow's peak, man... Krillin asks the obvious question: What the hell is he doing on earth and not out in space somewhere? Raditz graciously explains that Saiyans are kinda shit people and go around taking over planet so they can engage in galactic capitalism. Also, they're more powerful when there's a moon (would more moons mean more power, I wonder?). Roshi, Bulma, and Krillin know what that's all about, but Goku has no clue. I would like to know why you're a race few in number. Because you go around taking over planets and maybe a bunch die in the attempts? Or maybe it's real tough to raise Saiyan babies, so not many people did it? Raditz reveals there are only four left, and he wants Goku to come along and help take over a tough planet because 3 Saiyans might not be enough, but 4 would be just * kisses fingers * perfect for the job. (Now, the question is did I just miss this when watching the anime, or was it not communicated as well/at all? Because I can't remember having any idea what Raditz' motivation was for even coming to earth in the first place.) D: D: D: Raditz very casually kicks Goku and lays him out (it looks real bad, made me wince) and grabs Gohan. If Goku doesn't kill 100 humans in 24 hours... Raditz will kill Gohan. Right at this second, things are looking pretty grim; Raditz is just too powerful, and has Gohan in his possession. poor gohan :(
I read a headcanon somewhere that namekian teeth could be for piercing succulents in times of drought. I thought that was as good an explanation as any!
Spoiler: Bulma's Hair Bulma's hair colour is completely arbitrary based on what medium you're watching, who painted the animation cells, and what Akira Toriyama had for breakfast that day. It's purple here, anywhere between green/aqua/cyan in the anime (again varied based on who did the pigments, how the colors were mixed etc). The movie Path to Power is kind of a remake of the first half of Dragon Ball, and she's got purple hair there, and it's blonde at least once in a sidebar thing in Shonen Jump. In the new series it's blue. None of this is ever addressed or acknowledged in any way. I assume that as a fashionable billionaire she just, y'know, dyes it. But also I like the idea that it's her one weird power in a land of aliens and superhumans.
