Episode 90 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on December 2, 1987 and known in the English dub as The Dodon Wave, pits Krillin against Chiaotzu in the third quarterfinal of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. On paper it looks like the lightest bout in the bracket. It turns into the most dangerous one: the little Crane student flies, attacks with the Dodon Ray and drags into the open a link nobody suspected, between his master and Mercenary Tao.
Summary
Before the match, Bulma and the others try to order drinks at the tournament stand, but the waiters won't come near them: at the next table sits a fighter wrapped in bandages, put in that state by Chiaotzu himself. Over at Papaya Hospital, Yamcha is stuck in bed with a broken leg and sends Puar to watch the fight and report back.
In the ring Krillin starts well, but Chiaotzu lifts off the ground and hovers above the stage, out of reach. Then he points a finger and starts firing thin, lightning-fast beams. Krillin has to sprint and leap from one side of the ring to the other to avoid them, and more than once he nearly lands out of bounds.
From the stands Goku recognizes the technique: it is the Dodon Ray, the very attack Tao fired at him at the foot of Korin Tower. Tien Shinhan overhears and asks how he knows it. When Goku explains that he fought the assassin and beat him, the three-eyed fighter is stunned: to him, Tao was one of the strongest men alive. Jackie Chun fills in the rest. The assassin was the Crane Hermit's younger brother.
Tien passes the news to his master, and the old man, already bitter toward the Turtle School, orders Chiaotzu not just to win: Krillin must die. Roshi's student tries to confuse his opponent with quick dashes left and right and even tries to reach him by springing off a wall, but it is not enough. Cornered, he makes the riskiest call of all: he will try the Kamehameha, which he has never used in a real fight. Jackie Chun shouts that he isn't ready, but Krillin has already drawn his hands back.
Our take
The episode is built to raise the stakes one step at a time. Until now the Crane Hermit was an arrogant rival, the kind you beat in the ring and then forget. The revelation about Tao turns the tournament into something personal: from here on the Crane School doesn't just want to win, it wants revenge, and that changes the weight of every match that follows.
Chiaotzu, with his doll face and thin voice, is unsettling precisely because he doesn't look dangerous. His ability to fly is the first sign that grounded martial arts are no longer enough. Flight, the Bukujutsu, will become one of the series' core techniques.
There is also a satisfying bit of continuity. Goku beat Tao during the Red Ribbon Army Saga, and that past comes back to collect in the one place where only sport should matter. For Krillin, meanwhile, it is the moment to prove that three years of training under Roshi have paid off.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 120 of the manga from its second page onward. It drew a 22.1% ratings share in Japan.
- The stand scene with the bandaged fighter, Yamcha discussing the Crane students with Puar and Krillin's dashes to disorient Chiaotzu are all anime-only.
- In the manga, Bulma, Launch and Puar don't watch the match: they stay at the hospital with Yamcha.
- In the 2002 Toonami broadcast, the line in which Roshi reminds Goku that he "killed" the Crane Hermit's brother was softened to "destroyed".
Did you know? Chiaotzu fires far more Dodon Rays in the anime than in the manga, and in an added scene he almost rings Krillin out, to his master's great frustration.
Characters
- Krillin
- Chiaotzu
- Goku
- Tien Shinhan
- Jackie Chun
- The Crane Hermit
- Yamcha