Episode 14 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on May 28, 1986 and known in the English dub as Goku's Rival, opens the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament Saga. With the Dragon Ball hunt behind him, Goku shows up at Master Roshi's to become his student, only to learn that training comes at an awkward price. It is also the episode that introduces the boy who will become his best friend: Krillin.
Summary
After parting ways with Bulma and the others, Goku flies the Flying Nimbus toward Master Roshi's house, stopping at his old mountain home to pick up a futon because he plans to move in. Meanwhile Yamcha's overloaded plane crashes in a jungle. With no capsules left, the group sets off on foot and ends up in a desert, walking south instead of north. Nearby, a strange bald boy is running through the area, knocking down trees and shouting that he will get stronger.
At Kame House, Roshi is glued to an aerobics video. Goku empties the fridge, a week of groceries gone in minutes, and announces he is ready to train. The old man agrees, but wants payment: a "pichi-pichi gal", a cute young woman. Goku has no idea what that means. His first attempt is a gigantic, muscle-bound woman. After a lesson in feminine beauty using two photographs, his second find is a gorgeous girl who turns out, on closer inspection, to be a mermaid. Roshi tries his luck anyway and gets punched.
Then a rowboat approaches. The bald boy leaps ashore, lands head-first in the sand and introduces himself: his name is Krillin, he comes from a village far to the east, and he wants to train under the great Master Roshi. To make his case he has brought an adult magazine, which the old man studies very carefully. Krillin looks down on Goku and lectures him that martial artists shave their heads to discipline the mind, only for Roshi to point out that he is simply bald. The master sends the two boys off to find a girl together, but when Krillin tries to climb onto the Nimbus he falls straight through: his heart is not pure. Cornered, he admits he wants to get strong to impress girls, then produces a whole bundle of magazines to win his teacher over.
Our take
After the full-moon night at Pilaf's castle, the series restarts in a lower, almost purely comic key. It makes sense: with the hunt over, Dragon Ball becomes a coming-of-age story and needs an episode to rearrange the board. Roshi goes from supporting player to mentor, Kame House becomes Goku's new home, and above all Goku finally gets someone his own age.
Krillin is set up as the anti-Goku. Goku is pure, strong and clueless; Krillin is sly, boastful, interested in girls and just dishonest enough. The Nimbus rejecting him spells it out. Yet the character clicks right away, because his pettiness is that of an insecure kid rather than a villain. The Japanese title, with its question mark after "rival", points the right way: he will be a friend, not an enemy.
The anime adds a lot to the manga. Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar's trek through the wilderness does not exist in the comic and keeps characters on screen who would otherwise vanish for weeks. The girl-chasing gags are the most dated part of the episode: the mermaid and the bodybuilder still get a smile, Roshi's demands much less so.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapters 24 and 25 of Akira Toriyama's manga and drew a 22.2% ratings share in Japan.
- In the anime Krillin already appears in the first half, training as he runs through the jungle and the desert; in the manga he first shows up when he lands on the island.
- The Funimation dub, which aired in the United States in 2001, shortened the title to Goku's Rival.
Did you know? When Roshi asks what happened to his tail, Goku says he has no idea: it just came off. The line seems like a throwaway, but the tail will be back at the center of the saga much sooner than expected.
Characters
- Goku
- Krillin
- Master Roshi
- Bulma
- Yamcha and Puar
- Oolong