Episode 68 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on July 1, 1987 and also titled The Last Dragon Ball in the English dub, closes the Red Ribbon Army Saga. Goku breaks free of Black's Battle Jacket and single-handedly finishes off the organization that spent a whole saga hunting the Dragon Balls. When his friends arrive to rescue him, they find the war already over and just one question left: where is the seventh ball?
Summary
Yamcha's plane closes in on the base while Goku, still on the ground, dodges the robot's laser cannon at the last second. Black throws everything he has at him and launches a missile powerful enough to wipe out Goku along with the entire base, to the horror of the last remaining soldiers, who moments earlier had been celebrating his apparent victory. Goku kicks it back: Black dodges it by a hair and it explodes against a mountain. The blast can be seen all the way from his friends' plane.
Realizing he has no chance left, Black tries to flee. Goku will not let him: he grabs a flagpole, bends back like a slingshot and hurls himself at the robot, punching straight through it. The machine explodes with Black inside. Nothing is left of the dreaded Red Ribbon Army, and Goku now holds six Dragon Balls. When he switches on the radar, however, the seventh is nowhere to be seen.
His friends, who have landed in a nearby forest, are still working out a plan of attack when they spot the surviving soldiers running away. Puar flies over the base on a scouting run and finds no one, and then Goku joins them and tells them everything. Nobody can believe a boy took down such an army on his own. Master Roshi is just as impressed that Goku climbed Korin Tower, and admits Goku won by charging straight in, where he himself would have taken a different approach: perhaps the student has already surpassed him. Yamcha vows to train hard to beat Goku at the next tournament. Bulma promises to fix the radar, and Goku renews his own promise: he will use the Dragon Balls to bring Bora, Upa's father, back to life.
Our take
This is a finale that chooses not to tie up everything. The fight with Black is short, and rightly so: after Mercenary Tao and the assault on the base, the robot is more of a last hurdle than a real opponent. The flagpole strike, with Goku winding himself up like a rubber band, is a gorgeous, thoroughly cartoony image and the right way to close the series' military chapter.
The best part, though, is the reunion. His friends set off ready to die, and their astonishment pays off the tension of the previous two episodes. Roshi's reflection matters more than it seems: the master openly admits his student may already have outgrown him, a passing of the torch the series will not forget.
That leaves the seventh ball, invisible to the radar. It is a simple, effective hook, steering the story toward Fortuneteller Baba and one more small adventure before the next tournament.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 96 from page 5 and the first ten pages of chapter 97 of Akira Toriyama's manga and drew a 23.1% ratings share in Japan.
- The soldiers who celebrate and then flee are not in the manga, where the base is already deserted; Red's cat, wandering alone through the office after the battle, is an anime addition too.
- In the manga Goku collects the last two balls from the Wing 8 office; in the anime, with the office destroyed, he is already holding them while sitting outside.
- Yamcha talks about "next year's" tournament, but the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament will not be held for another three years.
Did you know? In Funimation's dub this is the only time Black is ever called by name, and he is the one who says it.
Characters
- Goku
- Staff Officer Black
- Master Roshi
- Bulma
- Krillin
- Yamcha
- Launch, Oolong and Puar