Episode 120 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on July 27, 1988 and known in the English dub as Goku Strikes Back, is the rematch fans had been waiting on for a dozen episodes. The Goku who lost to King Piccolo is gone: after the Ultra Divine Water he is a different fighter, and the demon realizes it with the very first blow.
Summary
Brimming with confidence, King Piccolo announces that five seconds will be enough to get rid of the boy. Instead, Goku grabs him and hurls him straight through the walls of King Castle. Piccolo answers from the rubble with a volley of finger beams, but Goku dodges them with ease, while King Furry, alerted by one of his guards, rushes to watch the fight in disbelief. Tien, lying exhausted on the ground, can hardly believe his eyes.
The fight becomes more and more one-sided. Goku uses his speed to disorient his opponent, sweeps his legs and pounds him again and again; one punch sends Piccolo flying backward right on top of Piano, who is crushed to death. Meanwhile Yamcha pilots the plane toward the capital with Bulma and Launch aboard, as the TV shows the panic in West City.
Cornered, King Piccolo decides to unleash his full strength, something he had always avoided because it shortens his life. The ground shakes and what is left of the castle starts to crumble. Goku replies that he had not been going all out either, but the demon catches him with a devastating hit that drives him into a hole in the ground.
Sure he has won, Piccolo turns to Tien to settle things with him as well. But Goku bursts out of the earth and leaps into the air, hands already in position: he is about to fire a Kamehameha, to Tien's joy and the demon's dismay.
Our take
The appeal of this episode lies entirely in the reversal. In episode 109 Goku gave everything he had and lost; here the same attacks barely touch him, and the direction leans into that, showing the beams that once pushed him to the limit dodged almost lazily. It is a payoff built with patience, and the anime savors it by stretching the exchanges well beyond what the manga shows.
Smaller details give the scene weight: Piano's almost accidental death, flattened by his own master, and King Furry watching helplessly from his ruined palace. The ending, with Goku rising out of the crater, is a classic cliffhanger, but it works because by now we know exactly what he can do.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 155 from page 3, chapter 156 and the first seven pages of chapter 157 of Akira Toriyama's manga. It drew a 15.7% ratings share in Japan.
- In the manga Piccolo climbs out of the rubble and immediately attacks with an energy blast; the finger beams Goku dodges were added by the anime, and one of them vaporizes Drum's corpse.
- King Furry watching the fight and the scenes aboard Yamcha's plane are anime-only too. In the manga a second aircraft, carrying Oolong, Puar and Turtle, sets off to recover the bodies of Master Roshi and Chiaotzu, but in the anime they had already been found.
- In the manga Tien greets Goku's reappearance with shock; in the anime his reaction is pure elation.
Characters
- Goku
- Tien Shinhan
- King Piccolo
- Piano
- King Furry
- Bulma, Yamcha, Launch