Episode 12 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on May 15, 1996 and titled The Last Oracle of Luud in Funimation's dub, finally shows who is pulling the strings of the Luud Cult. While Goku and Trunks deal with the living whip unleashed in the previous episode, the shifty Dolltaki gathers the faithful, turns every one of them into a doll and uses their energy to wake up their god. A god who, it turns out, is anything but divine.
Summary
The creature born from Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy's whip, Mutchy, proves to be a nasty opponent. It splits up the two Saiyans and focuses on Goku, who has to go Super Saiyan to keep up, still in his child-sized body. Somewhere safe inside the castle, someone is studying the duel: Dolltaki, the man who walked off with Pan's doll. He quickly realizes his servant cannot win and decides to wake Luud early, but he does not have the energy to do it.
His solution is cold-blooded. Dolltaki appears before the worshippers gathered in the temple and tells them the time has come to become one with Luud and live forever. Too late, the followers notice that their god is being steered by remote control and is nothing more than a gigantic machine. Before they can react, Dolltaki turns them all into dolls and has the colossus absorb them, and Luud starts to move.
Meanwhile, Mutchy wraps Goku in its whip-like arms and drains his energy, forcing him back to his normal state. Just as things look grim, Trunks reappears, catches the creature from behind with an energy blast and destroys it. The two head back into the castle to look for Pan, but all they find is the six-star Dragon Ball.
In a private room, Dolltaki is busy changing the outfit of his new favorite doll, while Pan screams for help that nobody can hear. When Goku and Trunks reach the main chamber, the cult leader steps out in front of them and calls Luud into action: the colossus is awake, and now it is their problem.
Our take
The Japanese title, which roughly means "the god's oracle is a real nuisance", sums up the tone of the episode. The Luud Cult is a send-up of blind devotion, and the sight of worshippers happily offering themselves to their god only to discover a second later that he is a robot is the best scene here, funny and bitter at the same time.
Dolltaki is a more divisive villain. A ridiculous little man playing with dolls while condemning an entire congregation works as a contrast, but the focus on his attentions to doll Pan is the most uncomfortable part of the whole arc by today's standards. Goku's Super Saiyan transformation, on the other hand, is a reminder that the warrior from Dragon Ball Z is still there under the kid's body, even if the series prefers to ration it.
Letting Trunks settle the fight is a nice touch too. His surprise attack is more strategist than hero, and it shows a team that works precisely because its members cover for one another.
Trivia
- Written by Masashi Kubota and directed (storyboard) by Osamu Kasai, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation director and Tomoko Yoshida as art director.
- It drew a 13.4% share in Japan, according to Kanzenshuu's episode list.
- In the Japanese version Mutchy and the Cardinal are two separate beings, with the whip describing the Cardinal as his pawn. Funimation's dub merges them, presenting the creature as the Cardinal's true form.
- Dolltaki is voiced in Japanese by Hirotaka Suzuoki.
- When Dolltaki picks out a new outfit for Pan he chooses a red shirt, but by the time he is about to put it on her it has turned light purple, a small coloring slip.
Characters
- Goku and Trunks
- Pan (as a doll)
- Dolltaki
- Mutchy, the living whip
- The worshippers of the Luud Cult
- Lord Luud