Episode 17 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on June 18, 1986 and known in the English dub as Milk Delivery, is where the training really begins. Master Roshi's first exercise sounds like a joke: deliver milk. Except the route covers half the island, with endless stairs, ravines, deserts, rivers and dinosaurs. And at the top of it all, Goku hears about the World Martial Arts Tournament for the first time.
Summary
The alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. Roshi goes to wake Goku, who sleeps in Launch's bed because there are not enough futons, but under the covers he finds her blonde self. Woken with a start, she shoots at Goku, who answers with a kick that sends her back to sleep.
Before they set out, Roshi lays out the philosophy of his school: they are not training to win fights or impress girls, but to live healthy, cheerful lives and be ready to stand up to anyone who threatens them or innocent people. Krillin nods; Goku does not understand a word, so the master sums it up: train as hard as you can and enjoy life. Now Goku gets it.
The first stop is the milkman's house, where he is amazed they want to make the rounds on foot. Each boy takes a crate of bottles. The first two kilometers are done skipping, the next stretch zig-zagging between trees; when Krillin tries to cut straight through, he finds the master waiting for him and has to go back. Then comes a towering staircase up to a temple on top of a rock spire. During a break, Roshi reveals that Grandpa Gohan and the Ox-King delivered milk the same way when they were his students, and Goku sets off again with fresh energy.
At the top, the temple's monk greets the group. Roshi tells him that if the boys work hard, in eight months they could enter the World Martial Arts Tournament. Goku has never heard of it, so Krillin explains that the best martial artists in the world gather there to decide who is number one "under the heavens". The master makes clear that the goal is not to win but to use the tournament as motivation. Meanwhile, in the city, Yamcha defeats the fighters of a dojo one after another with his Wolf Fang Fist, thinking of Goku.
The route continues across a log bridging a ravine, through a desert, over a raging river and down a path where a dinosaur gives chase. Back home and exhausted, the boys learn that this was only their early-morning training, to be repeated every day for eight months. Next up: the morning session.
Our take
Here Dragon Ball lands on one of its most imitated templates: training that does not look like training. Roshi does not teach moves; he puts the boys to work like delivery boys, and viewers only grasp the point later. The idea owes a lot to the Hong Kong kung fu films Toriyama loved, and plenty of fighting manga would borrow it.
The episode also gives Goku a goal that is not the Dragon Balls. The tournament is a clear horizon, with a date and opponents, and it changes the pace of the series. The temple scene works precisely because Goku knows nothing: we learn what the tournament is alongside him.
The weaker part is the Yamcha dojo scene, added by the anime to remind us that he is getting ready too. It serves the plot but breaks the rhythm of what is otherwise one long, breathless run.
Trivia
- The episode adapts a single chapter of Akira Toriyama's manga, number 30, and drew a 22.6% ratings share in Japan.
- The tournament's Japanese name, Tenka'ichi Budōkai, roughly means "martial arts gathering of the number one under the heavens".
- The island's milkman, like many people in Toriyama's world, is an anthropomorphic animal: a cow.
Did you know? When Goku greets the monk with a gruff "ossu", Roshi whacks him on the head and makes him say the politer "ohayō gozaimasu". It is one of the master's first lessons in manners.
Characters
- Goku
- Krillin
- Master Roshi
- Launch
- Yamcha and Puar
- Bulma and Oolong