Episode 37 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on November 5, 1986 and known in the English dub as Ninja Murasaki is Coming!, takes Goku to the fourth floor of Muscle Tower, the domain of Ninja Murasaki. General White's ninja does not fight in the open: he prefers to hide, set traps and strike from behind. The result is one of the funniest episodes of the saga, with a surprise ending that leaves Goku on the ground.
Summary
The fourth floor is pitch dark. Goku is walking along complaining that he cannot see a thing when a volley of throwing knives whizzes past him. The lights come on to reveal an artificial forest, complete with trees, a pond and even a little house. From the control room, White enjoys the show, recalling that Murasaki has beaten ninjas from every school.
The ninja's voice seems to come from everywhere, but Goku spots him right away. He knocks him down with a rock and flushes him out from behind a flag he has hidden under from the wrong side, and the duel soon turns into a series of games. Murasaki suggests hide-and-seek: Goku must count to thirty. The boy gets stuck halfway, opens his eyes, sees the ninja still busy hiding, and starts over. When he goes looking, all he finds in the house is a pot on the stove and a stash of dirty magazines. Then he notices a bamboo pipe sticking out of the pond: the ninja is breathing through it underwater. Goku pours boiling water from the teapot down the pipe, and Murasaki shoots out screaming with a scalded tongue.
The ninja switches games and challenges Goku to a race, scattering spikes across the ground. Goku steps on them barefoot, goes back to the house for a pair of sandals and catches up anyway, until Murasaki is out of breath. Next come weapons: sword against staff. Murasaki leaps to strike from above, Goku plants his pole in the ground and steps aside, and the ninja lands on it in the most painful way imaginable. Then Goku breaks his sword.
Humiliated, Murasaki proposes a bare-handed bout, like true fighters. Goku agrees and puts his staff away, but the ninja was hiding a boomerang shuriken behind his back. Goku dodges it once; on the way back, it hits him square on the back of the head and drops him.
Our take
After the robot that feels no pain, the tower's second guardian is its opposite: a weak, vain and dishonest enemy who relies entirely on tricks. The result is pure slapstick, almost an American cartoon, with traps that backfire on whoever set them and a Goku who wins every game without even realizing he is in danger.
The counting scene is the most revealing. Goku being unable to count to thirty is not just a gag: it reminds us how much of a child he still is, raised without schooling, and makes it all the more absurd that an entire army cannot stop him.
The ending flips the tone. The blow to the head comes precisely when Goku plays fair, and the episode closes with the hero down. It is an effective cliffhanger, even if viewers know full well it will not last.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 60 and the first part of chapter 61 of Akira Toriyama's manga and drew a 26.2% ratings share in Japan.
- Murasaki means "purple" in Japanese: like almost every Red Ribbon officer, he is named after a color.
- In Japanese Goku gets stuck at 18 and asks what comes next; the English dub moved the stumble to 25.
Did you know? General White is voiced by Tesshō Genda, who also voiced Spade in Toei's Fist of the North Star. One of the ninjas Murasaki beats in White's flashback looks a lot like him, and Funimation's dub even gives White the line "You are already dead."
Characters
- Goku
- Ninja Murasaki
- General White (on the monitors)
- Suno (in the village)