Episode 23 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on July 30, 1986 and known in the English dub as Monster Beast Giran, is Goku's debut in the tournament finals. His opponent is Giran, a monster with wings and a tail who is used to winning by any means necessary. Goku ends up trapped in sticky gum and one step from defeat, until something his friends dreaded happens: his tail grows back.
Summary
Goku and Giran step into the ring, but before they can begin a downpour hits and the match is postponed. The group takes shelter in a tournament diner, where Yamcha warns Goku that Giran has won tournaments everywhere and does not shy away from fighting dirty. Soon after, Giran himself walks in and orders milk. Four students from Orin Temple mock him, and he flattens them one after another with a single punch each. When Yamcha stops him from going further, Giran attacks him; Goku steps in and holds his own against the monster, until Jackie Chun reminds everyone that fighting outside the ring means disqualification.
The rain stops, but Goku does not show up. Giran declares himself the winner by forfeit, until Ranfan discovers that the boy has fallen asleep against a wall: he was nice and warm. The announcer drags him into the ring to the crowd's laughter.
Giran asks him to come closer to look at something in his hand and sucker-punches him into the wall. Goku gets up as if nothing happened, hits him in the stomach and throws him out of the ring by the tail, but Giran spreads his wings and flies back. Then he spits his Guru-Guru Gum on Goku, which wraps around him and pins him, and tosses him out. Goku saves himself by calling the Flying Nimbus. Giran protests that it is outside help; after some deliberation, the announcer allows an exception this one time only.
Goku is still stuck in the gum. As Giran moves in to hit him, the boy vanishes: he is hanging from the monster's arm by his tail, which has just grown back. Krillin did not even know Goku had a tail; Bulma, Oolong and Puar are terrified. With his restored strength Goku breaks free of the gum and kicks a hole in the wall. Giran waves a white flag. Goku is through to the semifinals, but his friends are already thinking about the next full moon.
Our take
Giran is the classic "dirty" opponent, but also one of the tournament's most successful: a kaiju-movie monster with a pro wrestler's tricks, and therefore a good test of Goku's naivety. The first half moves the action outside the ring and makes Giran hateful before the fight even starts. It works, although it stretches the pacing.
The real twist is the tail. For ten episodes it had been only a memory, after it was cut off at Pilaf's castle; now it returns at the worst possible moment, midway through the tournament with a full moon on the horizon. Toriyama uses it in two ways: as a weapon that gives Goku his strength back and as a threat hanging over the rest of the saga. The audience knows what could happen, and from here on every sunset brings a little anxiety.
The nap interlude is a treat too: Goku turning up late for the most important fight of his life because he was sleepy is perfectly in character.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapters 39 and 40 of Akira Toriyama's manga and drew a 24.9% ratings share in Japan, the highest of the whole saga.
- Giran's weapon is called Guru-Guru Gum, from guru-guru, the Japanese sound effect for something winding round and round.
- The Latin American Spanish dub spelled his name Guilan in the episode title.
Did you know? The Flying Nimbus is allowed only once. The rule matters in the final, when Goku is knocked out of the ring and can no longer call it.
Characters
- Goku
- Giran
- Krillin
- Yamcha and Puar
- Master Roshi / Jackie Chun
- Bulma and Oolong
- Ranfan and Nam