Dragon Ball Episode 134: Trouble at the Tenkaichi Tournament

Dragon Ball Episode 134: in the prelims, Goku drops King Chapa with a single chop, but Chiaotzu is crushed by Mercenary Tao, back from the dead as a cyborg.

Updated on October 19, 20264 min read

Episode 134 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on November 16, 1988 and known in the English dub as Preliminary Peril, opens the qualifying rounds of the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. The original title promises a turbulent tournament, and the episode delivers: a mysterious girl who seems to know Goku, a masked man lurking among the entrants and, above all, the return of an old enemy everyone thought was dead.

Summary

Goku and Tien agree to keep quiet about King Piccolo's heir being among the competitors, and when Chiaotzu tries to raise the subject telepathically, Tien shuts him down. Outside, Oolong and Puar turn into birds to get past the crowd and fly in to say hello.

In the preliminary hall, a pretty young woman walks up with a smile and taps Goku on the shoulder. He has no idea who she is, and she storms off without giving her name. Krillin starts to suspect that his friend spent three years chasing girls instead of training. Among the entrants there is also a heavyset man hiding behind a mask, who seems determined to stay out of Goku's sight.

To keep the friends from facing each other in the prelims, Chiaotzu uses his psychic powers to rig the draw, sending each of them into a different block. Goku fights first, and everyone stops to watch, including the mysterious girl and Ma Junior. His opponent is King Chapa, whom he already beat three years earlier. Chapa takes his stance while Goku just stands there, his mind completely clear. When Chapa charges, Goku vanishes; the king looks up at the sky, expecting the same jump as last time, and is knocked out by the lightest of chops.

The prelims roll on. The girl and the masked man both prove very strong, and Tien, Krillin and Yamcha win without breaking a sweat. Only Chiaotzu loses, and brutally. His opponent is Mercenary Tao, the assassin Goku defeated during the Red Ribbon Army days. Tao survived the blast of his own grenade and spent a fortune having himself rebuilt as a cyborg. Now he wants revenge on Goku, and on Tien, whom he considers a traitor to the Crane School.

Our take

This is a transitional episode, but it plants plenty of seeds for what follows. The bout with King Chapa is the perfect showcase for the new Goku: no flashy technique, just a calm young man who moves faster than his opponent can see. After the episodes spent chasing a blindfolded Mr. Popo, seeing the clear mind pay off is satisfying for the audience too.

The mysterious girl is one of the saga's more charming puzzles, and longtime fans can already guess who she is; the answer comes in episode 137, when Chi-Chi's name resurfaces. Tao's return, on the other hand, changes the mood in an instant. He was one of the most serious threats of the early series, and finding him half machine, bitter and willing to maul Chiaotzu raises the stakes before the main event has even begun.

Trivia

  • The episode adapts chapter 167 and the first three pages of chapter 168 of Akira Toriyama's manga. It drew a 17.3% ratings share in Japan.
  • It was written by Takao Koyama and directed by Kazuhisa Takenouchi, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation supervisor.
  • Chiaotzu's telepathic warning about Ma Junior, the crowd outside with Oolong and Puar turning into birds, and the masked man already taking part in the prelims are anime-only. In the manga, he only shows up later.
  • King Chapa boasts that he survived Tambourine, when in fact he was killed and then revived by the Dragon Balls.
  • This is the second time Chiaotzu rigs a tournament draw, just as he did three years earlier. While his friends celebrate, he flashes a victory sign at the audience.
  • In the Funimation dub, Cynthia Cranz replaces Laura Bailey as the voice of the now grown-up Chi-Chi.

Did you know? In the previews shown at the end of the two previous episodes, Ma Junior's turban had two pointed flaps at the back, as in his first manga appearance. Here they have been removed, except in a single shot.

Characters