Episode 18 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on June 25, 1986 and known in the English dub as The Turtle Hermit Way, follows a full day at Master Roshi's school, from dawn to dusk. After the milk run come a field to plow by hand, a construction site, a swim with sharks and a swarm of bees. And at the end the master announces that from tomorrow they will do it all with a turtle shell on their backs.
Summary
Around the world, other fighters are preparing for the World Martial Arts Tournament in gyms, dojos and forests. Goku and Krillin, fresh from the milk delivery, collapse thinking the day is over, but Roshi gets them back on their feet: now comes the morning training. They must help a farmer plow his field, and when they pick up hoes the master stops them. They plow with their bare hands, because the point is to toughen their hands. The farmer compares them to a pair of tractors.
At breakfast Krillin overdoes the pepper, Launch sneezes and drives everyone out of the house with her machine gun, so the group ends up eating at a diner. Then comes study time, because Roshi says a martial artist must train the mind too, and after lunch an hour's nap in hammocks. The school's motto is simple: move well, learn well, eat well, rest well.
The afternoon begins at a construction site. The foreman is skeptical, but the boys dig and haul so fast that he ends up paying them like six men. Swinging his pickaxe, Krillin remembers the older students who bullied him at Orin Temple and vows to get even at the tournament.
When Goku demands to finally learn real moves, Roshi gets angry and points to a large boulder: he will teach them martial arts when they can move it. The old man barely budges it a few inches, but Goku, on a similar boulder, manages straight away and pushes it several meters. Roshi pretends he got the boulders mixed up and points to a much bigger one. Next come ten laps in a shark-infested lake and a reflex drill: tied to a tree, the boys must dodge bees from a hive the master smacks with his stick. By evening, covered in stings, they learn that from tomorrow the same routine comes with a 20-kilogram shell on their backs.
Our take
If the previous episode introduced Roshi's method, this one shows it in full, and the clock-driven structure, with each part of the day ticking by, sells the exhaustion well. The underlying idea is surprisingly healthy for a fighting series: work, study, food and sleep matter as much as combat.
The best moment is the boulder. In a few seconds the scene tells us three things: Goku is already stronger than his master realizes, Roshi is a skilled teacher with a showman's streak, and his real aim is to keep the boys under pressure, not to keep his word. The old man's face when Goku moves the rock is worth the episode on its own.
The bullying flashback gives Krillin a wound to heal, and therefore a reason to reach the tournament that differs from Goku's. The pepper gag and the suspicious "language" textbook are the era's comic toll, with mixed results.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 31 of Akira Toriyama's manga and drew a 22.8% ratings share in Japan.
- It was directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, who also directed the episode with the first Kamehameha.
- The Japanese title plays on the school's name, Kame-Sen-ryū, the "Turtle Hermit style".
Did you know? At the construction site Roshi asks for five men's wages for the two boys. When the head of Krillin's pickaxe lands right next to him, the foreman convinces himself and raises it to six.
Characters
- Goku
- Krillin
- Master Roshi
- Launch