Episode 61 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on May 6, 1987 and known in the English dub as Korin Tower, takes Goku to the top of the tower. Waiting for him is not a majestic god but a small white cat with a staff, Korin, who guards the Sacred Water and has no intention of handing it over. So begins one of the most original training sessions in the series.
Summary
After his long climb Goku finally sees the top and enters the tower through an opening in the floor. The first room holds three pots. In the first, the water shows Bulma making breakfast at Kame House and burning her finger; in the second, Goku sees again the day Chi-Chi gave him flowers by the lake. Out of the third comes a giant red centipede that coils around him and squeezes, while faces flash before his eyes: his friends, Mercenary Tao, Bora and Upa, and then people he has yet to meet, Grandpa Gohan among them. A voice explains that he has seen his present, past and future, and tells him to come upstairs.
On the floor above Goku finds Korin, who introduces himself as a sort of cat god. Asked for the water, he answers with a riddle: if you think it exists, it does; if you think it does not, it does not. Then, after a long silence, he refuses. He reads Goku's mind and learns his goal, to beat Tao and bring Bora back, and is glad the boy means no harm. The bottle sits right there on a statue; all Goku has to do is take it. But every time he tries, Korin knocks him down with his staff. The rules are simple: the water is his if he can snatch it from the cat. The chase lasts all day and Goku never even touches the bottle. Korin advises him to learn to read his opponent's movements.
In town, meanwhile, a poster celebrates Tao's twentieth anniversary as an assassin. A guard shoots at him from behind; he kicks a shoe into the air, deflects the bullet and kills the second man. At his luxury hotel he orders raw eggs for dessert and cooks them in the bathtub after boiling the water with sheer energy.
As a storm breaks over the tower, at Kame House Master Roshi steps out into the rain, powers up and splits the sea with a beam fired from his finger. At the summit an exhausted Goku asks whether anyone has ever succeeded. Just one, 300 years ago, says Korin, who is a little over 800 himself: it was Goku's own teacher, recognizable by his style. How long did it take him? Three, says the cat, raising his fingers. Three minutes? No: three years.
Our take
This is a transitional episode, but it has a flavor all its own. The tower seemed to promise a solemn deity, and instead Akira Toriyama puts a lazy, mischievous cat at the top. The contrast is funny, yet Korin quickly proves to be a serious teacher who instructs without explaining.
The visions in the pots are an anime addition that only half works: evocative, if a little muddled. Roshi's scene in the rain is more effective, reminding viewers who the old master really is just as Korin reveals his feat. The three-year punchline is perfect: it raises the stakes and sets up Goku's challenge.
Trivia
- The episode adapts the last page of chapter 87 and chapter 88 of the manga. It drew a 24.8% ratings share in Japan.
- In the manga Goku has no visions in the pots, it does not rain and Roshi does not train on the beach. The sniper and Tao's hotel scene are also anime-only.
- The episode's Japanese title calls the cat Karin, his original name; Funimation's English dub uses Korin.
Did you know? In the Japanese version Tao lets his egg cook for twelve minutes before eating it; the English dub cuts that down to five.
Characters
- Goku
- Korin
- Mercenary Tao
- Master Roshi
- Bulma and Krillin
- Upa