Episode 114 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on June 1, 1988 and known in the English dub as Conquest and Power, is a bridge episode with real weight to it. King Piccolo forces the King of the World to hand over his throne, while Goku, carried on Yajirobe's back, reaches the top of Korin Tower and hears the worst possible news: Master Roshi is dead too.
Summary
King Furry is fleeing King Castle by plane, but King Piccolo intercepts him in midair, kills the officer guarding him and takes him hostage. The demon wants the king to tell the world that power has changed hands. When the king refuses, Piccolo wipes out a huge part of the city with a single blast. Faced with so many deaths, the old ruler gives in, and King Piccolo declares himself the new master of the Earth. Little Suno is among the survivors in the rubble.
Elsewhere, Bulma places the bodies of Master Roshi and Chiaotzu in cold-storage capsules, as she already did with Krillin. The group tries to talk Tien into coming back and gathering the Dragon Balls again, but he explains that it would be pointless: once his wish was granted, Piccolo killed Shenron. The group heads back to Kame House, where for one moment they mistake Oolong, buried in a dirty magazine, for their old master. Tien, alone, works on the Mafuba (the Evil Containment Wave in the dub), but memories of his fallen friends keep breaking his focus.
At the foot of the tower, Upa and Bora wonder whether Goku can really win. Near the summit, Yajirobe daydreams about the feast waiting for him and nearly falls on the very last stretch. Korin already knows everything: in one of his jars, Yajirobe watches Piccolo dictating terms to the king. Yajirobe then gorges on Senzu Beans until his belly balloons, while Goku needs just one to be back at full strength.
Goku asks Korin for more training. The cat sage replies that he has nothing left to teach him, and tells him that Master Roshi died attempting the Mafuba. Goku remembers their first meeting and the training for the World Martial Arts Tournament, then tries to leave at once. Korin stops him: against an enemy like this, he would be throwing his life away. Goku says he does not care. Only then, reluctantly, does Korin mention the Ultra Divine Water.
Our take
The episode has the thankless job of picking up the pieces after Piccolo's victory, and it does so at a measured pace that leaves room for grief. The Kame House scene is the standout: Oolong's gag, which would be a throwaway joke anywhere else, turns wistful here, because for a split second everyone hoped to see Roshi again. Goku's flashbacks, added by the anime, give real weight to news that the manga handles in a few panels.
On the other side, King Piccolo shows what his victory actually means. There is no duel, just a city erased to bend an old man's will: the adventure villain becomes a tyrant, and placing Suno among the ruins brings the destruction down to a human scale.
The ending is neatly built. The "wish" of the original title belongs to Goku, who wants to get stronger whatever it costs; the "worry" belongs to Korin, who has an answer but fears giving it. It sets up the riskiest choice of the whole arc.
Trivia
- The episode adapts all of chapter 150 of Akira Toriyama's manga. It drew a 17.0% ratings share in Japan.
- Anime additions include Suno in the ruins, Upa and Bora's conversation, the Oolong mix-up at Kame House, Tien training while remembering his friends, and Goku's flashbacks of Master Roshi.
- In the manga, Bulma and the others only learn about the deaths of Roshi, Chiaotzu and Shenron later, when Tien contacts them while flying off to face Piccolo. The anime moves that discovery forward.
- Korin remarks that Piccolo's strength does not seem to be of this world. In hindsight it reads as foreshadowing: the alien origins of his race are revealed in Dragon Ball Z.
Characters
- Goku
- King Piccolo
- Yajirobe
- Korin
- King Furry
- Bulma
- Tien Shinhan
- Yamcha, Oolong
- Upa and Bora
- Suno