Episode 123 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on August 17, 1988 and known in the English dub as Lost and Found, opens the Piccolo Jr. Saga. King Piccolo is dead and the world can breathe again, but Shenron is gone too, and with him any hope of bringing Goku's friends back. And far from the celebrations, the demon's legacy is already hatching.
Summary
On the battlefield, Tien picks up Goku's Power Pole as Bulma, Yamcha and Launch arrive. Goku, barely conscious, is carried back to Korin Tower by Yajirobe. The whole planet celebrates its liberation, and at home Chi-Chi quietly suspects that Goku is the one who did it. Bulma, knowing full well that the dragon is dead, gathers up the Dragon Balls anyway, now nothing but stones.
Somewhere along a river, an elderly couple spots a large egg drifting by and takes it home, convinced it is a gift from the heavens. It is the egg King Piccolo spat out in his final moments.
At the tower, Korin treats Goku's wounds and is stunned to learn that Shenron has been killed. Those slain by Piccolo and his demons, he explains, cannot rest in the afterlife: without the Dragon Balls their souls are lost for good. There is one hope, though. The Dragon Balls were made by Kami, who lives in a palace somewhere above the tower, and the way up requires the Power Pole.
Goku heads back to the battle site to find it, but all he finds is the King, a swarm of reporters and a barrage of questions. So he flies to Fortuneteller Baba, who for once reads his fortune for free, since he did just save the world. The pole is at Kame House, where Launch has been using it as a broom handle. Goku grabs it and races back to the tower. Meanwhile, the creature born from the egg sets the old couple's house ablaze and swears revenge: Goku is his.
Our take
This is a transition episode, but an important one. After the relentless King Piccolo arc, the first half finally lets the series breathe: street parties, reporters, Kame House without its master. That empty house is what gives the episode its weight, because Goku's victory stays bittersweet as long as Krillin, Chiaotzu and Master Roshi remain dead.
The clever move is turning the Power Pole, Goku's companion since day one, into a key. It was never just a weapon: it is the bridge between Korin Tower and the sky, and Goku had been swinging it around without knowing. Toriyama quietly rewrites the series' own past here, and the anime adds the gag of Launch sweeping the floor with one of the most precious objects in the world.
Then there is Piccolo Jr.'s birth, handled with real irony: two kindly old folks taking in a demon's son as if he were a blessing. The fire at the end tells you exactly who he is and sets up everything still to come.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 161 from page 13 and the first twelve pages of chapter 162 of Akira Toriyama's manga. It drew a 14.2% ratings share in Japan.
- The worldwide celebrations with Chi-Chi and the Ox-King, the Kame House scene, the reporters surrounding the King and the couple who find the egg are all anime-only. In the manga, nobody is there when Goku returns to the battle site.
- In the manga Goku turns up at Baba's palace ready to beat her champions for a free fortune, only to learn that nobody is willing to fight him anymore.
- In the Japanese version Korin heals Goku with medicinal herbs that are never mentioned again. The Funimation dub turns them into a Senzu Bean.
Did you know? The egg floating down a river and found by a childless elderly couple is a parody of Momotarō, the Japanese folk tale about a boy born from a giant peach.
Characters
- Goku
- Piccolo Jr.
- Korin
- Yajirobe
- Tien Shinhan
- Bulma
- Yamcha
- Launch
- Fortuneteller Baba
- Chi-Chi