Episode 82 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on October 7, 1987 and known in the English dub as The Rampage of InoShikaCho, is a filler episode with an ace up its sleeve. On paper it is the story of a monster wrecking villages, but the two fighters who "defeat" it are a three-eyed man and a pale, eerie little boy: Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu, whom the anime introduces two episodes before their manga debut at the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament.
Summary
Out on the road, Goku spots a cart full of families careening downhill with broken brakes and stops it just in time. The refugees tell him they are fleeing Inoshikacho, a beast with the body of a boar, the antlers of a deer and the wings of a butterfly that has been flattening one village after another.
At Kame House, meanwhile, Krillin and Yamcha spar while Master Roshi tells Bulma about the creature, which he has known since it was a cub. Bulma worries so much that she even dreams the monster has killed Goku.
Goku reaches the village just in time to watch two strangers bring Inoshikacho down. The taller one has a third eye in the middle of his forehead; the smaller one looks like a white-faced doll. The grateful villagers shower them with money. That night, though, Goku finds the pair in the woods sitting around a campfire with the monster, alive and well: the whole thing is a con they repeat from town to town. The three-eyed fighter takes Goku on, is startled by the boy's speed, then slices through a tree and drops it right on top of him.
Goku wakes up in the care of Tanmen, a girl from the next village who found him unconscious. That is exactly where the trio strikes next. Goku tries to expose them by tickling the monster's "corpse", but the three-eyed fighter turns the tables: he ties the beast up, lights a fire under it and accuses Goku of being the real accomplice. Goku frees Inoshikacho and runs off carrying it, with the furious villagers in pursuit. In the chaos, the monster finally sees who actually cares about it and stands up for the boy.
In the end Tanmen sets the record straight, the truth comes out and Inoshikacho apologizes to everyone. It stays on in the village to plow the fields, while the two swindlers slip away.
Our take
As a standalone story this is one of the weaker fillers of the period, and viewers noticed: it is the least-watched episode of the whole saga. Its real value lies elsewhere. Introducing Tien and Chiaotzu as ruthless con artists, before the manga presents them as Crane School disciples, sets up their arrival at the tournament and gives Goku a score to settle with the three-eyed man.
There is a smart bit of characterization here too. This Tien is cold and merciless, willing to drop a tree on a child and set an animal on fire to protect his scam. That harshness is exactly what makes his slow redemption at the tournament land so well. Goku, by contrast, shows his usual instinctive empathy for everyone, monsters included.
Trivia
- The episode is entirely anime-original and adapts no manga chapters. It drew a 17.5% ratings share in Japan, the lowest of the Fortuneteller Baba Saga.
- In the manga, Tien and Chiaotzu first appear at the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament; in the anime, this is their first appearance. Their Japanese voices are already the familiar ones, Hirotaka Suzuoki and Hiroko Emori.
- The Crane Hermit also gets a fleeting first appearance at Kame House, in an old image showing him as a young man next to Master Roshi.
- One of the background tracks, a Launch theme written for the second movie but left unused, is heard here for the first time.
Did you know? The name Inoshikacho comes from Japanese hanafuda cards: "ino-shika-chō", boar, deer and butterfly, is one of the scoring combinations in the game Koi-Koi. That is why the monster mixes exactly those three animals.
Characters
- Goku
- Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu
- Inoshikacho
- Tanmen
- Master Roshi, Bulma, Krillin, Yamcha