Episode 76 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on August 26, 1987 and known in the English dub as True Colors of the Masked Man, closes Fortuneteller Baba's challenge with the tenderest moment of the whole arc. The fifth fighter, whom viewers already know to be Grandpa Gohan, finally takes off his mask in front of his grandson. It is a brief, tearful reunion, and it hands Goku the last clue he needs to complete the Dragon Ball hunt.
Summary
The masked man keeps slamming Goku into the ground by his tail. Bulma demands that Master Roshi step in, but he refuses: Gohan was never a reckless man, and if he is doing this, he has his reasons.
Far from the palace, meanwhile, Emperor Pilaf is testing his new battle suit while Shu and Mai watch the fight from a satellite, learning Goku's weak spot in the process. We also find out why the radar could not locate the last ball: they have it, locked in a container that blocks its signal.
Back at the palace, Goku has no intention of giving up. After yet another slam, his tail tears off and stays in his opponent's hands. It hurts, but with no weak spot left Goku gets back on his feet, furious and ready to keep going. At that point the stranger surrenders and removes his mask: it really is Grandpa Gohan. Goku runs to him, hugs him and bursts into tears, while Bulma, Yamcha and Puar get emotional too.
Bulma tells the old man about her adventures with the boy, from the first Dragon Ball hunt to the war against the Red Ribbon Army, and Gohan is glad to hear his grandson has found good friends. He explains that Baba's powers brought him back from the afterlife for just one day, and he has no wish to stay. After a final goodbye he vanishes. Baba keeps her word and uses her crystal ball to show where the last Dragon Ball is: aboard a red car on the move.
Our take
This is one of the best-loved episodes of the original series, and it is easy to see why. For seventy-five episodes Grandpa Gohan has been a memory, a Four-Star Ball kept with great care; here he becomes a living person, and for a moment Goku is once again the lonely little boy from Mount Paozu. Tears from a hero who usually meets everything with a grin are a rare sight, and they hit all the harder for it.
The most meaningful gesture is the torn-off tail. Gohan is not being cruel: he strips Goku of his weakness, and the freed boy proves he has outgrown his old teacher. There is an irony, though, that viewers will only grasp much later. That very tail, on full-moon nights, was what caused Gohan's death, and Goku only realizes it in Dragon Ball Z, when he sees Vegeta turn into a Great Ape.
Of the anime's additions, the Pilaf subplot breaks the mood a little but sets up the next episode; Bulma's story, on the other hand, becomes a long montage of memories that recaps the entire series so far and gently closes the first half of Dragon Ball.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 107 from page 11 and all of chapter 108 of Akira Toriyama's manga. It drew a 24.5% ratings share in Japan.
- In the manga Pilaf's battle suits only appear when they are used against Goku, and Bulma, Yamcha and Puar do not cry. Bulma's story is also much shorter, with no flashback montage.
- Goku loses his tail, but not for good: it grows back during the training journey told in the anime-original episodes that follow this arc.
Did you know? In the Japanese version Bulma's flashback montage plays over the song "Dragon Ball Densetsu" with no dialogue at all, while the English dub has Bulma narrating over the images.
Characters
- Goku
- Grandpa Gohan
- Fortuneteller Baba
- Master Roshi
- Bulma, Yamcha, Krillin, Puar and Upa
- Emperor Pilaf, Shu and Mai