Episode 8 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on April 16, 1986 and known in the English dub as The Kamehameha Wave, is the one that introduces the Kamehameha. Master Roshi, until now a goofy old lecher, drops his shell and wipes out an entire blaze with a single blast. Then Goku, having seen the move exactly once, pulls it off himself.
Summary
Goku and Chi-Chi fly to Master Roshi's island on the Flying Nimbus to borrow the magic fan that can put out the flames on Fire Mountain. Chi-Chi refuses to believe that this little old man is the legendary Turtle Hermit and hits him with the blade on her helmet. Bandaged and a little offended, Roshi proves who he is by showing her his driver's license.
He is willing to help, on his own terms: in exchange he wants to touch Bulma's chest, and Goku agrees on her behalf without really understanding. The bigger problem is that the fan is gone. Roshi ruined it and threw it out long ago. To make up for it, he decides to fly to Fire Mountain himself on the back of a flying turtle.
At the castle, the Ox-King bows before his old master, who scolds him for the fearsome reputation he has built. Bulma, once told about the deal, agrees in a fury, on condition that Roshi keeps his side first. The old man strips off his shirt, bulks up, and fires the Kamehameha at the mountain. The flames vanish, but so do the mountain and the castle.
In the rubble, Bulma uses the Dragon Radar to find the Seven-Star Ball. Goku asks to learn the technique; Roshi explains that it took him fifty years, but the boy tries anyway and blows up their car. When the Ox-King mentions that Goku is the grandson of Gohan, Roshi's former student, the old master invites him to come and train. The Ox-King gives the group a new car. To settle the debt, Bulma forces Oolong to transform into her, and Chi-Chi gets Goku to promise he will marry her someday.
Our take
This is the episode where Dragon Ball shifts gears. Up to now the series was a comic adventure with the odd scuffle; here, for the first time, an attack changes the landscape. The staging works through contrast: Roshi is bony and clumsy, needs Goku's help just to climb onto a wall, and then becomes a mass of muscle for a few seconds. Director Yoshihiro Ueda lingers on the old man's transformation and the charge-up, so the blast really lands.
The second key moment is smaller but just as important: Goku copying the move after seeing it once. It is the first concrete proof of his talent, and Roshi notices immediately. The invitation to train sets up everything that follows with the World Martial Arts Tournament.
The humor is the brash 1980s kind and has aged poorly in places: the deal over Bulma's chest takes up a lot of screen time, and Oolong's transformation gag closes the episode. The better jokes are Roshi posing before the blast and the Ox-King knocking his master over in his rush to bow. Chi-Chi's marriage proposal plants a seed that only pays off years later.
Trivia
- Roshi's driver's license scene exists only in the anime; it is not in the manga.
- The episode adapts three chapters of Akira Toriyama's manga, 13 through 15, and drew a 24.9% ratings share in Japan.
- It is the first Kamehameha of the anime, though not every dub calls it that: the Latin American Spanish title of the episode renames it the "onda glaciar".
Did you know? Goku already knows Roshi trained his grandfather Gohan, but it is the Ox-King who tells Roshi that the boy is his student's grandson. That discovery is what convinces the old master to offer him training.
Characters
- Goku
- Bulma
- Master Roshi
- Chi-Chi
- Ox-King
- Oolong
- Yamcha and Puar