About. About that. The next round of Dragon Ball anime is coming in July, and there's a comically good chance that Cooler is in it. This was revealed, like, four hours ago.
apparently all i needed to become about 75% more endeared to Freeza/his family is to have three of them with the same naming scheme
He also has an ancestor named Chilled and an AU self named Frost. Theme naming is pretty great. Note: do not look up Chilled. His design is...regrettable.
Ch 330 it's just... like okay, i could totally deal with freeza coming back at some point, but if that some point is not even a chapter after everything is 'resolved'... i can't deal (Freeza and his Father Descend to Earth) Gohan apparently kept the battle outfit from Namek, because he's wearing it again. The mini-Piccolo one did get pretty wrecked, but I'm still a little sad that it's gone. He's on his way towards the source of the ki and runs into Krillin, who has gone back to the usual, outfit-wise. speaking of alt outfits, here's vegeta in a button-down and check out bulma's hair. that's an impressive perm she got Tien and Chiaotzu also arrive, and upon seeing Vegeta, Tien is ready to get into it with him. He also kind of gets on Yamcha's case for living under the same roof as him. Evidently both Vegeta and Yamcha are bumming around at Bulma's place. C'mon, Yamcha, Vegeta is patently unsuited for basically any normal Earth life, but you can do stuff! You understand how human society works! You can go out and live in the desert again and steal things from people! Anyway. That must be an interesting household dynamic, to say the least. Vegeta, snappishly, tells them to mask their power levels, because of course if it's Freeza and company, there will be scouters. He's slightly complimentary to Piccolo, though, who he seems to have at least a bit of respect for (unlike any of the humans) and who showed up unnoticed. lookin' good as always, my man! Last to arrive are Gohan and Krillin. Just in time, too, because very shortly thereafter the arthropod-looking spaceship shows up and lands, out of sight in the distance. (It kind of reminds me of the ohm in Nausicaa, anyway; I think it's the glassy dome protrusions on the outer edge that does it. Also the legs.) y-yessir Apparently sensing ki up-close is different from sensing it from a distance, because now Yamcha, Tien, and probably Chiaotzu (but we don't get his reaction) are freaking out at how intense it is. Tien asks if they actually fought someone like that; Yamcha gets real upset because he's realized that there's nothing they can do, and what's even the point of approaching? Piccolo and Vegeta are on the same wavelength at this point: Piccolo says the situation is hopeless, and Vegeta tells the group that the entire planet is done for. Freeza and dad step out onto and observe the little patch of Earth they can see from where they've landed. King Cold (yepppp) apparently has some... foreknowledge? Intel? About what's going to happen, because he asks if they're going to wait the three hours for "the super saiyan" to show up. Yep, Freeza says, and they're going to kill everyone on earth in that time. That's an upped time table compared to Vegeta's original one, which was what, a month? while i find your attitude a little bit annoying, i understand where you're coming from Freeza is telling the small squadron of men they brought to disperse and kill whatever earthlings they can find, when someone lands in front of them. It's not one of the usual squad, based on the shoes. now that's a look! SWORD SWORD SWORD SWORD Freeza and dad are a bit nonplussed that this person showed up out of nowhere and is challenging them. Freeza directs one of the alien henchpeople (who has a nice finlike crest and scales, as well as one of those hand cannons) to take care of him. "nah" With a single smack, the henchperson is flung back against the ship. The other ones rush in to avenge their fallen comrade, and our mysterious be-jacketed friend dispatches them all in very short order (using his sword!). In the distance, the ki-sensers all suddenly take notice; a third giant ki appeared, and a bunch of smaller ones just poofed away. Of course, they don't know what's happening, because they've been going on foot to where the ship landed. you certainly know a lot, don't you? buuhhhhh
(continued -- i gotta be more circumspect with caps, but it's haaard when there are so many good opportunities) it's too bad you weren't in color so we could see if your hair changed or not! but you certainly look the part: spiky aura, hair going up, no pupils This causes some consternation among the little party of people making their way to the ship. ... i'm sorry, gohan, you're gonna be disappointed :x Freeza shoots a beam at the super saiyan (?), who easily evades and returns fire before attacking with his sword (!). He cuts Freeza in half, vertically.
So apparently there stopped being title art pages? And so I completely missed that I read two chapters last time, because I read one page at a time (probably dumb, but it helps curb my tendency to just read the whole chapter without saying anything) and I'm used to having the title art tell me that I've reached a new chapter. The chapter that I read but didn't record was Ch 331, The Mysterious Boy. Whoops! Guess I'll have to be a little more careful with paying attention to the page numbers. Because of the title, I'm calling the mysterious boy... Mysterious Boy. Ch 332 in half! in half!! with a sword!!! (A Second Super Saiyan) in half!!! Right in front of his dad, too, which is pretty cold-blooded of Mysterious Boy. and then into many, many pieces. Which he then proceeds to blast all to hell, so the remaining bits rain down as charred scraps. All of this happens within perception of the group, and so they realize that there seems to be a super saiyan up there wrecking shop, but it doesn't seem to be Goku. of course this is too much for vegeta to take sitting down, as it were Everyone follows Vegeta's example, except those who can't and potentially Yamcha -- can he even fly? I've completely forgotten. King Cold seems upset for like a second, but then extreme pragmatism! wow, dude, your son just got destroyed not five seconds ago. king cold indeed But Mysterious Boy's not particularly interested. King Cold changes tack and asks to see Mysterious Boy's sword. He tosses it over and King Cold promptly tries to use it on Mysterious Boy, because of course it must be the source of his power and what allowed him to destroy Freeza so quickly and efficiently. be still my beating heart, my dude, could you be anymore of a badass He puts his palm on King Cold's general chest area and blasts the fuck out of him, too. He then blows up the body and the spaceship, too. He sheathes the sword and goes back to normal. He notices his audience of flying spectators, and rather than being surprised or startled or embarrassed or anything, he seems very happy. Mysterious Boy: :D :D Vegeta: >:[ Ch 333 (Son Goku Comes Home) With a little bit of discussion, everyone ends up following him. He brings out a fridge from a capsule (feels like it's been a long time since we've seen one of those in action; I guess the last time was on Namek, when Bulma set up a house?), full of drinks. Unspecific drinks, but at least some of them must be soft, because Gohan finds something to drink. Bulma asks if they've met somewhere before; nope! Gohan asks where he knows Goku from; Mysterious Boy doesn't actually personally know him, has only heard stories. How does he know he's gonna arrive in 3 hours? Can't say, sorry. Vegeta asks why he can't say, who he is, and where he got that power, and Mysterious Boy can't answer any of those either. Curiouser and curiouser! He did become a super saiyan back there, right? Yep, that's an affirmative. and here it is, folks: the best shirt vegeta will ever wear. ALSO WHAT THE HELL, VEGETA, AFTER I WAS SO SURE THAT WOULDN'T HAPPEN??? (even if it was mangled all to hell and back) Bulma notices the Capsule logo on his sleeve, and asks if he's an employee. Another no. We aren't given his name, but he is 17 years old, so I kind of feel that "Mysterious Teen" would be better, but ehhh, whatever. Bulma stops any more questions for the moment with the excuse that he just saved the Earth, they shouldn't pester him. There's some down time because there's probably still like 2 hours left before the 3 hours is up. Gohan has a chance to chat with Piccolo about why he didn't go with the other Namekians to their new planet. He thought it would be boring, so he thought that staying on Earth would be better. That's nice. Bulma thinks that Vegeta and Mysterious Boy have a similar feel about them. Krillin's not so sure. maybe he's surprised you're not in your battlesuit getup After three hours have passed, one of the little round pod ships comes crashing down! It's a bit of a distance from the party, so of course they all take off towards the crash site. hey there! ohisashiburi desu! Goku is surprised to see them all waiting for him, and when he is told that "this kid" told them where he'd be, he's like, "who?"
bulmas hair is still the true hero of dragon ball and oh man turns out I love Mysterious Boy. I had no idea that was a thing I did
There are still some doozies of names to come. (the worst part is I'll have to write them, seriously, every time. Toriyama is personally victimizing me)
Also mysterious boy is mysterious!!! ETA: Clearly Vegeta uses Karkarott because he cant actually prinounce earth language well.
Ch 334 waiting for the maintenance man and running stuff on the cluster and so I'm going to indulge in reading before noon! wonder if i'll feel different about stuff when it's still ante meridiem (The Boy From the Future) (WELL OKAY THEN IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO GIVE IT AWAY IN THE GODDAMN TITLE i swear. this series sometimes) Goku asks if it was Piccolo or Vegeta who defeated Freeza. Neither! It was that kid who somehow knew when and where you'd be showing up. Also he turned super saiyan. very different reactions from goku and vegeta (and check out THAT particular alt outfit) suspicious Mysterious Boy takes Goku a fair distance away from the rest to have a talk about something. you don't say "supposed to"? "discrepancy"? extremely suspicious Apparently, thanks to a fancy new technique that he learned when he was out in space, Goku actually would have been there in time if Mysterious Boy hadn't stepped in, despite the whole "three hours out from Earth" thing. It's called "shunkan idou" (="instantaneous transmission" or "movement") and he learned it on a planet called Yardrat (well, now all I'm thinking about is a yard just full of rats). well we already know you're from the future from the goddamn title, so this doesn't come as too much of a surprise. hello, Mysterious Future Boy! He asks Goku if he can transform at will; Goku confirms. Mysterious Boy asks him if he'll do it. Please. And Goku agrees. I guess he has a pretty impressive ki, because all the ki-sensers sit up and take notice. Vegeta says it's no wonder he could defeat Freeza. (Which I suppose he did, technically, but he should have done it more. Oh well.) super saiyan-off!! who's the best?? Mysterious Boy does, and then attacks Goku with his sword. (He does say "please excuse me" first, so he's a very polite Mysterious Boy from the Future. Someone taught him good manners.) However, he stops just short of actually making contact; Goku hasn't moved at all, because apparently he didn't sense any malicious intent. Mysterious Boy attacks again, this time promising to actually hit. Goku stops the blade with a single finger. And continues to stop it with a single finger as Mysterious Boy continues his advance. Finally, he stops and puts the sword away (which entails tossing it up and then letting it fall into the sheath on his back. My word.) stories, huh? from the future... haven't met him in person.... wonder what's up. how far did you come from? 20 years, as it turns out. Mysterious Boy takes Goku into his confidence and asks him not to share any of what he's about to learn. Goku says he can keep a secret. Can he? I'd be a little more wary, but Mysterious Boy takes him at his word. So if he comes from 20 years in the future, and is currently 17, that means... he must be born sometime roughly 3 years in the future. similar eyebrows!! similar eyebrows Goku is startled. can't imagine anyone fucking vegeta? yeah, makes sense
Ch 335 i think we can assume that vegeta didn't have much involvement in naming trunks (A Message of Terror) Besides admitting he's the spawn of Vegeta's loins, Trunks has some other important stuff to say about what's going to be happening in the future. It's the reason he came back, after all; he's not just here to make sure Goku knows that Vegeta's gonna father a child at some point within the next two years. Although that's a hard thought to get over. i was going to say "can't the earth catch a break??" but i guess. it does. a three-year break. that's not too bad. i'll probably be done with grad school in three years' time (please god let me be done by then) This time, the threat is homegrown (or maybe "homemade" would be better): they're cyborgs. (Or androids, if you prefer; I'm absolutely not gonna get into the whole cyborg v. android v. robot v. whatever debate.) The creator is a man named Doctor Gero, and he hails from an organization that Goku had some dealings with. blast from the fuckin' past, man. back then your hair was nowhere near as curvy as it is now. also you were tiny Anyway, despite Goku's defeat of the RRA, Doctor Gero managed to escape destruction and continued his research. (OH! He probably created Hacchan, who was very cute and carried around Goku in his shirt for a while to protect him from the cold. Man, that was adorable. What a tonal shift this series has gone through....) Unfortunately, it seems as though Doctor Gero didn't stick to creating adorable cyborgs/androids; he wanted to make the ultimate killing machines and probably use them to slaughter everyone and take over the earth. (Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a villain, but it just seems so fucking boring to me, killing everyone to take something over. Who would you talk to? What would you do??) Creating Ultimate Killing Machines has its dangers, though, and apparently two of his creations up and kill him. Even Trunks, who can deal with Freeza (the strongest being in the universe) and Freeza's Dad (even... stronger? the actual strongest being in the universe?), hasn't been able to defeat these cyborgs. But wait, there are like... somewhere in the realm of 8 other capable warriors, right? I mean. Goku the super saiyan is standing right there, and gathered in the distance, wondering what the hell is going on, are most of the rest of them. oh. :( no not gohan too D:> Why, if these cyborgs are so strong, is humanity not completely wiped out within the twenty years? I guess it's a combination of human ingenuity and survival instinct, Saiyan protection, and the cyborgs' desire to spread out the fun of killing. And, apropos of nothing, why isn't Goku either in the list of people who die in the battle or helping Trunks out in the future? that's what you get for gallivating around in space for a year!! SPACE ILLNESS eavesdropper Goku's upset, but mostly because he's going to die before he gets a chance to fight the cyborgs. Typical. Luckily, Trunks also didn't just travel back in time to give Goku bad news; he also brought some drugs from the future. If Goku takes them when he starts having symptoms (the illness is a "heart virus"), then he'll be okay. Trunks has some misgivings about making so many changes to the past, but the future is so bleak that he (and his mom) feel like it's worth it. Oh, and Bulma's his mom. still laughing at this panel two minutes later Trunks says that things just kind of happened, and lead to him. Indeed. He entreats Goku to keep this last part especially secrete, because if things get changed and he doesn't get born, that would make for a pretty interesting series of events. (Although... because he was able to come back, doesn't that mean it's going to happen no matter what, because all of this did happen in the past, before he was even conceived, and ... yeah, i don't want to think too hard about time travel.) Trunks has to go back home, but if he can, he'll come back in 3 years to help out with the fight. Goku wanders back over, wondering what he's going to say. He decides to go with "we didn't talk about anything important!" route, but Piccolo won't let him get away with it. have you seen his ears thank god. i trust piccolo to be able to do something like that much more than i trust goku to There's some skepticism about whether Trunks' info is good or not, but then they see him disappear in a strange vehicle, and decide that they should maybe listen and do some training in the three years until the cyborgs appear. * waves! *