Episode 29 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on September 10, 1986 and known in the English dub as The Roaming Lake, opens a new chapter of the series. The 21st World Martial Arts Tournament is over, the group splits up, and Goku sets off alone with Bulma's radar to find the four-star ball his grandfather left him. Before the Red Ribbon Army shows up, though, there is one loose end from the tournament: Nam's village is still dry.
Summary
Outside the arena, everyone decides where to go next. Krillin asks to stay with Master Roshi, who had hoped for some quiet time with Launch and is not thrilled. Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar head back to the city. Goku wants to look for the four-star ball, which to him is still a keepsake of Grandpa Gohan, and Bulma lends him the radar. Soon after we see Roshi and Krillin strolling around town, the old man glued to a lingerie shop window and the boy busy with an ice cream.
In Nam's village, the water bought with his prize money arrives, but it is barely enough. The river that came down from the mountains has run dry, and Nam's father recalls an old legend about a lake that wanders the world and stops wherever people suffer from drought. Nam heads upstream to find out what happened.
Goku, parched, dives into a small lake in the middle of the desert just as a pterodactyl snatches Nam. He rescues him by whacking the beast with his extending Power Pole, and the two continue together on the Flying Nimbus. Upstream the river is full and lined with greenery: someone has blocked it with a dam. It is the work of Giran's tribe, led by the winged monster Goku beat at the tournament, who are enjoying their private swimming pool. Nam pleads with them, then attacks and gets the worst of it; Goku knocks them all out. Giran admits the dam is made of his Guru-Guru gum and that even he could not break it. Goku does, with a Kamehameha.
The river flows back to the village, but the celebration is short-lived. A sandstorm sweeps the area, buries the riverbed again and leaves Bulma's car stuck in sand up to its wheels. When the wind dies down and all seems lost, something glitters on the horizon: the wandering lake of the legend has settled right next to the village. Goku recognizes the pond he swam in and resumes his journey.
Our take
This is a transitional episode, and it shows. Only the opening farewell comes from the manga, where Toriyama set it at night in the car on the way back from a restaurant; everything else is an anime-original adventure built to wrap up Nam's story, left hanging after the semifinal. The idea is a kind one: the boy who fought for water learns the prize money is not enough, and the answer comes from a legend rather than from fists.
It also works as an emotional bridge. The group saying goodbye, Krillin choosing to stay at Kame House, Goku flying off alone: it is the end of "school" and the start of the real journey, the one where the hero has to manage without a master. Giran's return, recast as a gang leader who is more mischievous than evil, is a small treat for anyone who followed the tournament.
The weakness is the structure. The wandering lake fixes everything by itself, Goku mostly watches in the finale, and the sandstorm feels like padding. But as a breather before the long war against the Red Ribbon Army, it does the job.
Trivia
- The episode adapts only the last pages of chapter 54 of Akira Toriyama's manga and drew a 25.2% ratings share in Japan.
- It is the only time the anime uses the song "Mystery Wonderland" (Fushigi Wonderland), which plays as Goku and Nam fly on the Nimbus.
- The English dub dropped the song and filled the scene with extra narration.
Did you know? Even though this episode opens the saga named after it, the Red Ribbon Army does not appear at all: it debuts in the next episode.
Characters
- Goku
- Nam and his father
- Giran and his tribe
- Krillin and Master Roshi
- Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar