Episode 79 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on September 16, 1987 and known in the English dub as Terror and Plague, is the first of five anime-original episodes devoted to Goku's training journey. The manga skips those three years entirely; here the boy, alone and on foot, stumbles on a village oppressed by two brothers straight out of Journey to the West, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, and their gourd that sucks people in.
Summary
Goku is hiking through the mountains, still wearing Shu's ninja outfit, when he spots a girl named Chao in trouble with a tiger-faced bandit. Chao had offered him money to come and defend her village, but the thief pocketed the cash and now wants to eat her too. Goku knocks him out in seconds. Chao asks for his help: her village is at the mercy of Kinkaku and Ginkaku, who demand endless banquets and leave the villagers starving. Goku agrees, convinced this is exactly the kind of experience Master Roshi had in mind.
In the village a grim roll call is underway. The brothers call out the villagers one by one, and anyone who fails to answer in time ends up inside a magic gourd that swallows people and dissolves them in the liquid at the bottom. Next up is a two-week-old baby who obviously cannot answer. Disgusted, Goku steps forward and challenges the pair. He beats them easily, first one and then the other, but the brothers still manage to suck him into the gourd.
Inside, Goku keeps from falling into the liquid by bracing his Power Pole against the walls. Convinced he has dissolved, one of the brothers helps himself to a drink, but soon the boy breaks out and seizes the gourd. Then he turns the game around, calling their names faster and faster until they can no longer keep up and get sucked in themselves. They beg for mercy and Goku lets them out, but the gourd stays with the village. From that day on the two bullies work the fields under the threat of being sealed away again. Goku says goodbye and gets back on the road.
Our take
The choice of villains is what makes this filler worth a look. Dragon Ball began as a loose retelling of Journey to the West, the source of Goku's name, staff and cloud. In the novel, Kinkaku and Ginkaku are demon kings with gold and silver horns who own a gourd able to trap anyone who answers when called. Toei's writers go back to the source and adapt it with a wink, turning the curse into a schoolroom roll call.
The episode also deserves credit for showing a different Goku. For the first time since the series began, there are no friends by his side, no Dragon Balls to hunt and no specific enemy to beat: he is a wandering hero who helps whoever he meets, and his sense of justice surfaces naturally when the baby is in danger.
Its limits are the usual filler ones. Kinkaku and Ginkaku are never a real threat, the gourd trap lasts a few minutes and the solution is predictable. But the fairy-tale tone and the good-natured ending, with the bullies sentenced to farm work, make it an enjoyable half hour, almost a folk tale in miniature.
Trivia
- The episode is entirely anime-original, with no manga chapters behind it. It drew a 23.9% ratings share in Japan, higher than the two manga-based episodes before it.
- Together with episode 80, it is the only episode of the series featuring no recurring character other than Goku.
- The tiger thief, voiced in Japanese by Tesshō Genda, is dressed just like the bear thief from the earliest episodes.
- In the original, the liquid in the gourd is sake, which the brothers drink for pleasure. The Funimation dub turned it into a potion to avoid the alcohol reference and renamed the brothers Terror and Plague.
Did you know? The anime flips the novel's gourd rule: in Journey to the West you are sucked in for answering to your name, while here you are sucked in for failing to answer the roll call.
Characters
- Goku
- Chao
- Kinkaku and Ginkaku (Terror and Plague in the dub)
- The tiger thief
- The village elder and Chao's father