Episode 57 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on April 8, 1987 and known in the English dub as Arale vs. Blue, closes the Penguin Village detour with the fight its Japanese title promises. The Red Ribbon general takes the wrong girl hostage, freezes Goku in place and seems one step from victory, until someone tells Arale it is time to play.
Summary
At the Norimaki house, Dr. Senbei fiddles with Goku's Dragon Radar and gets nowhere. The one who actually fixes it, on the sly, is baby Turbo with his telekinetic powers; then he lets his father take the credit, which Senbei happily does. Meanwhile General Blue reaches the house looking for Senbei's plane and realizes he has found the right vehicle in the wrong place: Goku and Arale are there too.
The newly repaired radar shows the Dragon Balls just a few feet away. Arale hands Goku a marble, sure she has found them, and he explains they are much bigger. Blue ducks into the house and keeps switching hiding spots until he is discovered inside the fridge. Cornered, he grabs Arale and holds a knife to her throat. Senbei tries to warn him it is a terrible idea, and Arale proves it by licking the blade without batting an eye.
So Blue turns on Goku. He fights him, paralyzes him with his stare and snatches the radar, taunting him. Then he picks up a sharpened log to finish him off. That is when Senbei suggests Arale show the nice man how she plays tag. Arale bowls him over with a kick and finishes with a wrestling move that launches him past the horizon.
Goku gets the Dragon Balls back, but the radar has flown off with Blue. Turbo solves that too: he takes his father's plane apart and builds a brand-new radar out of it. Goku says goodbye to his new friends and leaves the village. Far away, Blue finds a phone booth and calls headquarters: he lost the Dragon Balls, but he has the radar in his hand. He is ordered to return at once, and, fighting back tears, he admits it will take him quite a while.
Our take
The whole appeal lies in the reversal. For weeks Blue has been the most dangerous enemy Goku has faced, and here he is beaten by a little girl who does not even realize she is fighting. It is a lesson in comic pecking order typical of Toriyama: in Penguin Village the rules of Dragon Ball do not apply, and Arale is the strongest of all because she does not care.
The knife-licking scene is perfect precisely because it is silent: Blue's face says everything. The closing phone call is great too, cutting the general down to size without killing him and setting up his return to headquarters, where something far worse than Arale awaits.
Turbo dismantling the plane is a lovely touch: it gets the hunt moving again and leaves Goku in debt to the world of Dr. Slump.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 83 of Akira Toriyama's manga, with original additions. It drew a 24.0% ratings share in Japan.
- In the anime Arale's finishing move hits Blue in the chest; in the manga the blow lands much lower.
- The Penguin Village police fighting the Nikochan aliens, Goku tracking the radar signal through the house and Blue hiding in the fridge are anime-only. In the manga the general grabs Arale as soon as Goku notices the Dragon Balls.
- Several of Shunsuke Kikuchi's cues from the Dr. Slump anime return here as well.
Did you know? With Goku paralyzed, Blue tells him in the English dub that there is nothing he possesses which cannot be taken away: a nod to Belloq, Indiana Jones's rival in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Characters
- Goku
- Arale Norimaki and the Gatchans
- Senbei, Midori and Turbo Norimaki
- General Blue
- Akane, Tsukutsun and the Penguin Village police