Episode 94 of Dragon Ball, first broadcast in Japan on December 30, 1987 and known in the English dub as Stepping Down, ends the Tien Shinhan vs. Jackie Chun semifinal in a way nobody sees coming. Tien debuts the Solar Flare, the blinding flash, then fires a Kamehameha copied by eye. Jackie deflects it, tells him about his future and walks out of the ring on his own, handing him the final. It is the old champion's farewell.
Summary
At Papaya Hospital a nurse brings Yamcha a radio so he can finally follow the match. In the ring the two start again, more tired than before. Tien dives in from above, then a kick sends Jackie to the edge of the stage and Tien tries to push him off. The old man fights for every inch, takes a series of headbutts and finally breaks free with a backward vault that lands him in the middle of the ring. In the stands an impatient Launch fires a few shots into the air.
Jackie admits that Tien is one of the most gifted fighters he has ever met, but scolds him for the cruelty he has been taught. The young man wants no lectures: he admits he hasn't been fighting seriously, crouches and unleashes the Solar Flare, a blinding white flash that dazzles Jackie and nearly the whole crowd. Only the Crane Hermit and the announcer, both wearing sunglasses, can still see. Tien seizes the moment and knees Jackie in the back of the neck. The count reaches almost ten, but the old man gets up, to everyone's amazement.
Jackie goes back to needling him: his mind is muddled, but the fault lies with the one who raised him, a master who always had a gift for deceit. That very tone gives him away. After testing him with a trick, the Crane Hermit realizes that Master Roshi is hiding behind Jackie Chun and tells Tien telepathically. Tien gathers his hands and fires a Kamehameha, the rival school's secret technique, learned simply by watching it. Jackie deflects it skyward, away from the crowd.
Then he does the most unexpected thing: he tells Tien he could teach him a great deal, as long as he keeps a clear head, and steps out of the ring of his own accord, losing by ring-out. His era, he says, is over. The Crane Hermit claims Roshi ran off to avoid humiliation; Tien doesn't buy it and suspects the old man was holding back. Goku and Krillin, meanwhile, get ready: they are up next.
Our take
Jackie Chun's surrender is one of Roshi's finest moments in the whole series. He doesn't lose because he is weaker, and he doesn't win because he doesn't need to: he has seen in Tien an enormous talent and a buried conscience, and he understands that humiliating him in the ring would change nothing. Stepping aside is his way of making room for the new generation the tournament is bringing to light.
The Kamehameha copied at first sight is the other key moment. The technique that took Roshi fifty years to develop, and that Goku imitated as a small child, becomes proof of Tien's talent.
Trivia
- The episode adapts chapter 124 of the manga. It drew a 17.9% ratings share in Japan.
- It marks the first appearance of the Solar Flare (Taiyōken) in the series; the Japanese title presents it as a technique of the "new Crane School".
- The radio brought to Yamcha isn't in the manga, but it explains where the one seen later in his hospital room comes from.
- In the manga Jackie gets up at five, and the Crane Hermit recognizes him from his words alone, without any trick.
- In the Japanese version, as in the manga, Jackie jokingly asks Tien whether he is about to show him a dirty magazine, and Tien protests indignantly; the English dub rewrote the exchange.
Did you know? With this match Roshi retires Jackie Chun: at the next tournament he watches his students from the stands, without a disguise.
Characters
- Tien Shinhan
- Jackie Chun (Master Roshi)
- The Crane Hermit
- Yamcha
- Goku
- Krillin