Episode 34 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on October 15, 1986 and known in the English dub as Cruel General Red, is where the anime catches up with the manga again. After four bridging episodes, Goku finally clashes with Colonel Silver over the five-star ball, and viewers get their first full look at the ruthless leader of the Red Ribbon Army, Commander Red.
Summary
Goku spends the night with the forest monkeys while a storm forces everyone to halt the search. In his tent, Colonel Silver reports by radio to Staff Officer Black, the boss's right-hand man: with the river in flood, the ball will wash up on the bank sooner or later, and the hunt resumes at dawn.
The next morning, two soldiers doze by the river grumbling about how pointless the search is, until Silver wakes them with a few gunshots. At that very moment Goku arrives and, radar in hand, finds the ball in under a minute. The two soldiers try to take it from him and are flattened. Then Silver steps in and blows up the Flying Nimbus with a rocket launcher. Furious, Goku takes him on: the colonel is a skilled boxer, but he cannot land a punch and ends up knocked out.
With no cloud left, Goku rummages through Silver's tent and finds some capsules. One releases a robot, another a plane: the robot takes the controls and flies him toward the nearest signal, up north.
At headquarters, news of the defeat arrives. Silver is brought before the leader, whom we finally see in full. The colonel asks for another chance, but there are no second chances in the Red Ribbon Army: he is dismissed and escorted out by the guards, and his fate is left hanging. Black notes that the boy is heading into General White's territory and warns him by radio.
In the northern mountains the cold is brutal. The robot freezes and the plane crashes into the snow. Goku, frozen stiff, passes out and turns into a block of ice. A little girl finds him and drags him away just minutes before White's soldiers arrive.
Our take
After all the buildup, the fight with Silver is very short, and that is fine. The point of the scene is not the fight but the gap between Goku and the soldiers: a colonel who could beat four boxers at once cannot even graze him. It is the pattern that will carry the whole saga, with ever stronger officers swept aside by a kid who does not even realize how powerful he has become.
The strongest scene is a different one. The Red Ribbon leader dismissing Silver in a few words, with no appeal, defines the army better than any battle. The anime is vaguer than the manga, where the firing squad is spelled out, but the idea still lands, and it is chilling.
The icy finale is a welcome change of scenery and sets up Suno, one of the sweetest characters of the saga. The loss of the Nimbus, on the other hand, weighs less than it should: attentive viewers already suspect it has not really been destroyed.
Trivia
- The episode adapts, with additions, chapters 55 and 56 of Akira Toriyama's manga and drew a 22.0% ratings share in Japan.
- In the manga Goku knocks Silver out with his tail and Red sentences him to the firing squad over the radio; in the anime Silver faces Red in person and his fate stays ambiguous.
- The dub title calls Red a general, but he is the commander-in-chief of the whole army.
Did you know? The Japanese title means roughly "The Merciless Red Ribbon": the adjective is not about Silver but about how the army treats those who fail.
Characters
- Goku
- Colonel Silver
- Commander Red and Staff Officer Black
- General White (by radio)
- The forest monkeys