Episode 27 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on August 27, 1986 and known in the English dub as Number One Under the Moon?, is Goku's toughest stretch of the final. Jackie Chun pulls out the strangest techniques in his repertoire, from hypnosis to an electric blast he has used only once before. Then, as the sun sets, the thing Bulma and the others have dreaded since the tail grew back happens: the full moon rises.
Summary
The fight drags on and the sun is going down. Jackie starts waving his hands hypnotically and chanting a sort of lullaby until Goku collapses, fast asleep. This is the Yoiko Min-Min Ken; the announcer remarks that it looks more like hypnotism than martial arts, but starts the count anyway. At nine Bulma has an idea and yells that dinner is ready. The boy springs to his feet and runs around asking where the food is.
To finish quickly and go eat, Goku uses his rock-paper-scissors attack: rock, scissors, paper. Jackie blocks everything and says he has seen that technique before, which surprises Goku, who thought it was his grandfather's secret. On the second try he calls out "paper" but strikes with a closed fist, and Jackie hits the floor, furious at being tricked.
Now the old man gets serious. He explains that he will use a technique he has used only once in his life, against Son Gohan, Goku's grandfather. He focuses, his hands begin to flash, and he unleashes the Bankoku Bikkuri Shō: an electric current that engulfs Goku, lifts him off the ground and paralyzes him. Jackie urges him to give up, and Krillin and Yamcha beg him to do the same. Goku is about to concede when his eyes meet the full moon.
Within moments he turns into the Great Ape. The crowd flees in panic as the monster wrecks the arena, and Yamcha explains that this is no technique: Goku transforms like this when he looks at the moon. Jackie, who cannot run without losing by ring-out, realizes there is only one way to stop him. He throws off his jacket, bulks up as he did at Fire Mountain and fires the Kamehameha at maximum power. When the smoke clears the ape is gone, and Goku's friends fear the old man has killed him.
Our take
This is the episode where the final stops being a party and turns serious. The first half still has the playful tone of earlier episodes, with the hypnosis and Bulma's dinner call, but the Bankoku Bikkuri Shō changes the register: for the first time the master uses something on Goku that could really hurt him. And by naming Son Gohan, the story ties the tournament to the boy's past.
The transformation has been carefully set up, from the tail growing back against Giran to the sunset light fading episode after episode. Seeing the Great Ape again after Pilaf's castle, this time in front of the tournament crowd, hits hard. And the full-power Kamehameha ends the episode on one of early Dragon Ball's most effective cliffhangers.
The rock-paper-scissors trick is a little gem: Goku, who usually has no guile at all, pulls off a ruse worthy of Krillin.
Trivia
- The episode adapts the second half of chapter 49 and chapters 50 and 51 of Akira Toriyama's manga, and drew a 22.3% ratings share in Japan.
- The name of the electric attack, Bankoku Bikkuri Shō, roughly means "palm strike that astonishes all nations".
- Goku's rock-paper-scissors technique is called Jan-Ken, after the Japanese name of the game.
Did you know? Jackie knows Goku's rock-paper-scissors attack because it was the technique of Grandpa Gohan, his former student. It is one more throwaway clue to his real identity, and Goku misses it.
Characters
- Goku
- Master Roshi / Jackie Chun
- Bulma
- Krillin
- Yamcha and Puar
- Oolong