Episode 69 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on July 8, 1987 and known in the English dub as Who is Fortuneteller Baba?, opens the Fortuneteller Baba Saga. With the Red Ribbon Army gone, Goku is one Dragon Ball away from bringing Bora back to life, but the radar simply won't show it. His last hope is an old seer with remarkable powers, and she does not work for free.
Summary
Back at Kame House, Bulma takes the radar apart and finds nothing wrong with it. If the seventh ball isn't showing up, something must be hiding it, perhaps the belly of an animal that swallowed it. In the Japanese version Yamcha crudely points out that the animal will have to pass it eventually, and Krillin wonders whether the ball would still work afterward. Master Roshi, busy trimming his nose hair, offers the only real solution: ask Fortuneteller Baba, a clairvoyant who can find anything.
Goku sets off with Yamcha, Krillin and Puar in a capsule plane, while Roshi stays home with Launch and Oolong wants nothing to do with it. During a refueling stop in a small town, Goku notices his pants are torn: his gi has been through one battle too many. Yamcha takes him to a tailor, who parades him through a string of ridiculous outfits before agreeing to sew an exact copy of his old one on short notice.
While they wait, Goku hops on the Flying Nimbus and heads back to Korin's sacred land to pick up Upa, who has been living alone since his father died. The boy is scared to leave home, but Goku reassures him: they will come back with all seven balls and Bora will open his eyes again. New clothes in hand, the group takes off once more and pushes through a sandstorm before reaching the seer's palace.
They are greeted by a small pink ghost with an unsettling grin, Baba's assistant. A gang of burly toughs goes in ahead of them and stumbles back out moments later, badly beaten. When their turn finally comes, Baba floats in on her crystal ball: a tiny old woman in a pointed witch's hat. A fortune costs ten million zeni, money none of them has. There is another way to pay, though: defeat her five fighters. Goku agrees without a second thought.
Our take
After the military epic of the Red Ribbon Army, the series shifts gears noticeably. The Baba Saga is a lighter interlude, almost a folk tale, complete with a monster castle and a witch who sells prophecies. This first episode is there to set the stage, and it takes its time, maybe too much: the journey fills most of the runtime and the real hook only arrives in the last few minutes.
The Upa detour, however, works beautifully. Picking him up isn't strictly needed for the plot, but it reminds viewers why Goku is chasing the Dragon Balls at all: not for a wish of his own, but to keep a promise made to a boy left alone. It is the same generous Goku who closed the previous saga, and the scene gives the whole arc its emotional core.
Baba herself lands from her very first shot: greedy, theatrical and surrounded by oddball creatures. The five-fighter rule turns the hunt for the ball into a miniature tournament, the format Akira Toriyama always handled best, and hints at the appetite for fighting that will steer the series toward the next World Martial Arts Tournament.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 97 of the manga from page 11 onward, plus all of chapter 98. It drew a 23.3% ratings share in Japan.
- The refueling stop is anime-only: in the manga Goku discovers his ruined gi while the group is still in the air. The tailor's name, Ford, is also only given in the anime.
- The sandstorm is another addition. In the manga the group reaches the palace without incident.
- Baba's ghostly assistant is called Obake in Japanese, which is simply the word for a ghost or spirit. The Funimation dub calls him the Ghost Usher.
- In the dub's production order, this episode marks the debut of Linda Young as Baba.
Did you know? The Funimation dub replaced Yamcha's bathroom joke about the swallowed ball with a much tamer line in which he just calls the radar junk.
Characters
- Goku
- Fortuneteller Baba
- Upa
- Yamcha and Puar
- Krillin
- Bulma
- Master Roshi