Episode 65 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on June 10, 1987 and known in the English dub as Confront the Red Ribbon Army, is the calm before the storm. Carrying four Dragon Balls, Goku heads straight for the Red Ribbon Army's headquarters, and Commander Red, watching the signal approach, assumes it is Mercenary Tao coming home. At Kame House, Goku's friends work out where he is going and refuse to let him go it alone.
Summary
The episode opens far from Goku. Colonel Violet, the only woman we see in the army's ranks, uses the Dragon Radar General Blue took from Goku to track another ball hidden in a stretch of wild jungle. Her divers recover it, but the squad is attacked by a giant crocodile and a local tribe. Violet does not hesitate: she abandons her men and escapes with the ball. Back at headquarters she hands it to Red, who rewards her with a payment far smaller than she had hoped.
Soon afterwards Staff Officer Black spots four Dragon Balls approaching on the radar. Both assume it is Tao returning to collect his fee, and Red, in excellent spirits, settles in to enjoy the moment. When Black talks about the day the army will rule the world, the commander stays oddly silent.
At Kame House, Bulma finishes a small camera drone to find Goku. Master Roshi promptly steers it over a beach to ogle the bathers, but the figure he catches undressing turns out to be a man. Back on course, the drone finds Goku, and Launch works out from his heading that he is flying straight to Red Ribbon headquarters. Bulma sends the drone ahead to be sure: the base's defenses open fire, it dodges missiles and flak until a laser brings it down, but not before it confirms their fears.
Roshi decides they have to help. Bulma rigs up a makeshift phone and calls Yamcha, who arrives in his plane with Oolong and Puar; Launch joins the expedition too. The only one missing is Krillin, whom Roshi sent swimming off to buy groceries. Over the final images runs a montage of the saga so far, and Goku finally sights the enemy base.
Our take
It is a transitional episode, but a well-built one, because it raises the tension from three directions. On one side is Red, getting ready to celebrate without knowing Tao is dead; on another are Goku's friends, who know how powerful the army is and are convinced he is flying to his death; in the middle is Goku, as serene as ever. The viewer knows more than anyone, and that is where the fun lies.
Violet is practically a new character: in the manga she appears in two panels, while the anime gives her a mission of her own and a cold, opportunistic personality that pays off in the next episodes. Red's silence at the mention of world domination is a smart little clue, since his real wish will only come out two episodes later.
Roshi's drone gags are pure Roshi, but the best part is watching the team come together: for once it is his friends rushing to Goku's aid, and not the other way around.
Trivia
- The episode adapts pages 3-13 of chapter 93 of Akira Toriyama's manga and drew a 25.8% ratings share in Japan.
- Red's round of golf, Violet's mission and the drone's run through the base defenses are anime-only: in the manga the drone is shot down by a single scout.
- The closing montage plays over the insert song catalogued by Kanzenshuu as With a Blazing Heart: Defeat the Red Ribbon Army. Funimation's dub added a narration on top of it that does not exist in the original, and the narrator even calls the villain "General Red".
Did you know? On the phone Yamcha says he heard from Bulma's father that she had left with Goku, even though a few episodes earlier he had watched them leave with his own eyes.
Characters
- Goku
- Bulma
- Master Roshi
- Launch, Oolong and Puar
- Yamcha
- Commander Red, Staff Officer Black and Colonel Violet