Episode 41 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on December 3, 1986 and known in the English dub as The Fall of Muscle Tower, wraps up the Muscle Tower story. Having beaten all its guardians, Goku takes on General White in person, a man with little muscle but plenty of tricks. The fight, however, will not be settled by Goku: it falls to the peaceful Android 8, finally pushed past his limit.
Summary
Back in the control room, Goku finds White convinced that the battle with Buyon has worn him out. Hatchan tries to step between them and persuade both to talk instead of fighting, but the general brushes him off with contempt. The fight is lopsided from the start: Goku kicks him in the shins, White hops around screaming, then resorts to the oldest tricks in the book, like "look over there". His punch to Goku only tickles. His one lucky break is the tail: White grabs it, Goku loses his strength and is slammed into the wall. But the boy recovers quickly and puts him on the floor.
Goku is about to finish him off when Hatchan stops him: if he did, he says, he would be no better than White. The general seizes the moment to surrender, or so it seems. He opens the cell door and releases the mayor of Jingle Village, an absent-minded old man with the look of a scientist. Nobody notices the gun White has slipped into his pocket.
As soon as the three let their guard down, White grabs the mayor and puts the gun to his head. Then he offers Hatchan a cruel bargain: the mayor goes free if the android kills Goku. Hatchan, shaken, does not know what to do. Goku tries to free the hostage and White shoots him: the bullet knocks him out. As the general takes aim for a second, final shot, Hatchan steps in and shields him.
For the first time the gentle giant loses his temper. His eyes turn white with rage, he advances on White, whose gun jams, and with one punch sends him flying out the window, beyond the tower and far into the snow. Goku opens his eyes and, first thing, says he is hungry.
Once outside, Hatchan has one more job: with a series of blows to the foundations he brings Muscle Tower crashing down. In the village, Suno and her parents welcome the mayor, Hatchan and Goku, who arrives snug inside his friend's coat.
Our take
It is the right ending for the tower arc, because it shifts the focus from Goku to Hatchan. Goku has already proved everything there was to prove; what remains to be seen is whether the gentle giant will find the courage to rebel against those who built him to do harm. The punch to White is the answer, and it is more moving than any Kamehameha.
As a villain, White is deliberately petty. He is not strong, not honorable and does not even have the dignity to lose well: he is the portrait of the cowardly officer, in charge only as long as he holds a weapon. That is exactly why his defeat feels so good.
The anime adds a lot compared to the manga: Hatchan stopping Goku, the blackmail, the tower's collapse. The most interesting addition is the first, because it foreshadows an important theme, anger that makes you like your enemies, which will return with far greater weight in the King Piccolo saga.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 66 of Akira Toriyama's manga and drew a 24.0% ratings share in Japan.
- In the manga Muscle Tower is never destroyed: the final collapse is an anime invention.
- The Blue Water dub titled it The Last Day of Muscle Tower!, closer to the Japanese.
Did you know? This episode too ended, in its original broadcast, with the contest for tickets to the premiere of the first Dragon Ball movie, released just over two weeks later.
Characters
- Goku
- Android 8 (Hatchan)
- General White
- The mayor of Jingle Village
- Suno and her parents