Episode 9 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on April 23, 1986 and known in the English dub as Boss Rabbit's Magic Touch, is a comic detour before the final showdown with Pilaf. Goku, Bulma and Oolong stop for gas in a small town terrorized by thugs in bunny ears, led by a boss with an absurd power: anyone who touches him turns into a carrot.
Summary
On the way to the last Dragon Ball, the group crosses a desert dotted with giant mushrooms, with Yamcha and Puar still on their tail. Fuel is running low, and Bulma and Oolong argue over who was supposed to fill up. Luckily, a small town appears.
The locals, however, flee in terror at the sight of Bulma. The gas attendant refuses payment and a shopkeeper hands her five capsules for free; she assumes it is the power of her good looks. The truth comes out in a clothing store: the bunny ears from the costume she is still wearing are the symbol of the Rabbit Gang, which rules the area. As soon as she takes them off, nobody pays her any attention.
Soon two gang members show up, push around a fruit seller and a child, then try to flirt with Bulma. When she brushes them off they pull out guns, and Goku flattens them in seconds. One of them radios the boss, and the whole town empties in an instant.
The boss is a large humanoid rabbit who climbs out of a rabbit-shaped car and politely offers Bulma his hand. Yamcha, watching from hiding, recognizes him and tries to warn her, but his voice gives out. Bulma slaps the hand away and, by touching him, turns into a carrot. With a hostage in hand, the rabbit holds Goku at bay; the boy cannot attack or touch him while the henchmen beat him up.
Yamcha is the one who saves the day. He sends Puar, transformed into a bird, to snatch the carrot and knocks out the henchmen himself. After a chase through the giant mushrooms, Goku recovers Bulma with his extending Power Pole, Puar transforms into a copy of the boss to scare him, and Goku whacks the rabbit on the head. In exchange for his life, the boss turns Bulma back to normal. Goku ties up the whole gang, plants his pole in the ground and extends it all the way to the Moon, where the thugs end up making treats alongside the lunar rabbits.
Our take
It is a filler-feeling episode, but not a pointless one. It shows that Yamcha is no longer just a rival: he needs the group alive to get the Dragon Balls, and for the first time he openly steps in to help. His fear of girls, which chokes him right when he should be shouting a warning, is a gag that says a lot about the character.
The villain is among the most surreal in the series. An enemy you cannot touch is a perfect problem for a boy whose only skill is punching, and the solution comes from Puar's cleverness more than raw strength. The pace is lively, with the mushroom chase as the highlight. The first half, built entirely on the bunny-ear misunderstanding, is less sharp.
The Moon ending is pure Toriyama: instead of a decisive fight, an absurd punishment that doubles as a punchline. It is also a small example of how creatively the show uses Goku's pole, an object borrowed from Journey to the West.
Trivia
- In the original Japanese version, the rabbit boss is voiced by Hiroshi Ōtake.
- With a 20.6% ratings share, it is the least watched of episodes 8 to 13 in Japan, all of which landed between 20% and 25%.
- The ending plays on a well-known Japanese legend about rabbits living on the Moon and making rice treats. That is why Goku decides the gang "belongs" up there.