Episode 121 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on August 3, 1988 and known in the English dub as The Biggest Crisis, is where Goku's fight with King Piccolo stops being a walkover. Goku is stronger, but one cheap shot to his leg throws everything back into doubt, and by the end of the episode the demon has erased an entire city.
Summary
Goku bursts out of the ground and fires his Kamehameha. King Piccolo braces to block it, but Goku bends the wave in midair and hits him in the back. The fight resumes at full fury with the boy still in control, while news that someone is standing up to the demon spreads everywhere: it reaches Kame House and a hospital where Suno and Android 8 are tending the wounded. Yamcha, Bulma and Launch are still flying toward the capital.
Knocked onto a house near the castle, Piccolo turns to trickery. He throws a brick to distract Goku and, while the boy guards, fires a beam into his right leg. Wounded in the knee, Goku refuses to give in: he leans on his Power Pole like a crutch and still manages to catch the demon square on the chin.
Growing pale, Piccolo gathers all his energy. A hail of beams knocks the Power Pole out of Goku's hands, then he unleashes the Explosive Demon Wave (Bakuriki Maha), a blast that wipes out King Castle and the entire capital. King Furry barely escapes aboard a plane. The demon believes he has won, but at the last instant Tien grabbed Goku and flew him out of range, using up the last of his strength.
As Piccolo starts charging a second blast, Goku seizes the opening and attacks. Without his leg to push off, though, the blow is too weak: the demon shrugs it off and hits him with a point-blank discharge that gouges out a huge crater. Just when it seems over, Goku rises out of the pit on his Flying Nimbus.
Our take
After an episode of near-total dominance, this one restores the balance, which is exactly what the fight needed. King Piccolo does not win through strength but through dirty tactics, and the brick thrown to distract Goku, an anime addition, captures the character neatly. The knee wound becomes the real engine of the tension: from here on, every move Goku makes carries the weight of that leg.
The Explosive Demon Wave is the episode's biggest shock. Watching the capital vanish in a flash reminds viewers how dangerous the demon is, and Tien's rescue restores dignity to a character who had been a mere spectator in the previous episode. The friendship between the two Tournament rivals, born of respect, becomes something concrete here.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 157 from page 8, chapter 158 and the first twelve pages of chapter 159 of Akira Toriyama's manga. It drew a 15.7% ratings share in Japan.
- In the manga Piccolo throws no brick: he simply fires the beam that injures Goku's leg.
- The scenes of people following the news at Kame House and at the hospital, including Android 8 shielding Suno from the shockwave, are anime-only, as is Launch offering Bulma a banana on the plane.
- The episode was directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with animation direction by Mitsuo Shindō. The script is by Keiji Terui, who wrote three consecutive episodes, from 119 to 121.
Characters
- Goku
- Tien Shinhan
- King Piccolo
- King Furry
- Bulma, Yamcha, Launch
- Suno, Android 8