The seventh episode of Dragon Ball, first aired in Japan on April 9, 1986, takes the group to Fire Mountain, a peak wrapped in flames, and introduces Chi-Chi, the little girl who will one day become Goku's wife. The Japanese title means "Gyumao of Mt. Frypan"; Funimation's dub called it "The Ox King on Fire Mountain".
Recap
Oolong drives the car Yamcha gave them toward the next Dragon Ball. The heat is unbearable: Mt. Frypan, once a cold mountain, caught fire ten years ago and has been burning ever since. At the top lives the Ox-King, a giant who, rumor has it, kills anyone who comes near his treasure-filled castle. Goku sees the glow on the horizon and takes it for a sunset.
Meanwhile Mai and Shu return to Pilaf's castle empty-handed and are punished with an electric shock that ends up zapping the emperor too. Yamcha and Puar, still on the group's trail, witness something incredible: a little girl running from a dinosaur slices off its head with the blade on her helmet and vaporizes it with a beam. When she turns on them as well, Yamcha knocks her out.
Goku tries to reach the castle on the Flying Nimbus, but the flames set his tail on fire and he has to dive into a lake. The Ox-King finds Bulma and Oolong, takes them for thieves and charges at Goku with his axe. The boy circles him on the Nimbus until the giant is too dizzy to stand. The cloud changes everything: the Ox-King realizes Goku knows Master Roshi, then recognizes the Power Pole and discovers he is facing the grandson of Son Gohan, his old training partner.
The Ox-King asks for help. Only Roshi's magic fan can put out the fire, but his daughter Chi-Chi, who left the day before to fetch it, has not come back. If Goku finds her and brings the fan, he can have the Dragon Ball kept in the castle, and he can marry the girl as well. Goku agrees without really understanding that last part.
Yamcha and Puar recognize Chi-Chi from her photo as the girl they just knocked out. They rush to revive her, and Yamcha, panicking, swears he loves her before vanishing when Goku arrives. Chi-Chi climbs onto the Nimbus by grabbing Goku's tail, and he instantly loses all his strength. Yamcha, hiding nearby, has just discovered his rival's weak spot. In mid-flight Goku checks in his usual way that Chi-Chi is a girl, and she shoves him off the cloud, though by now she has a crush on him. After asking a dolphin for directions, the two reach Master Roshi's island.
Our review
Journey to the West has never been felt more strongly than in this episode. The Ox-King is Toriyama's take on the Bull Demon King, Gyūmaō in Japanese, and a burning mountain that only a magic fan can extinguish echoes one of the Chinese novel's most famous episodes. Here, though, the terrifying demon turns out to be a big softie worried sick about his daughter.
Chi-Chi makes a strong debut. She is a fighter, armed with a helmet that packs a blade and a laser, and at the same time sweet and vain. The fact that she can ride the Flying Nimbus, the first person besides Goku to do so, says a lot: she is pure of heart. She is also the first character to show romantic interest in Goku, a promise the series would keep many years later.
The episode, directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, adds plenty to the manga: Mai and Shu's punishment, the burnt tail and above all the fight between Goku and the Ox-King, which does not exist in the comic, where the giant immediately asks who gave Goku the cloud. And the discovery of Goku's weakness lays the groundwork for the whole finale of the saga.
Trivia
- The episode drew a 24.9% share in Japan.
- According to the Ox-King, Son Gohan was Master Roshi's best student, and he was the second best.
- As Oolong explains on the drive, the mountain used to be a cold place: the fire that broke out ten years earlier changed the climate of the whole region.
Did you know? In Japanese, the Ox-King is voiced by Daisuke Gōri, the same actor who plays Roshi's turtle.