Episode 26 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on October 30, 1996 and titled Saiyan Hunting in Funimation's dub, pits Goku's two sons against each other. Baby enters Goten's body, uses him as bait to force Gohan to unleash his full power, then switches hosts and claims the stronger brother. Piccolo comes to the rescue, but too late.
Summary
In the city, Goten seems to have the upper hand against Baby, and Mr. Satan brags that he trained the boy. When Valese starts cheering, Goten wants to show off: he turns Super Saiyan, but a volley of energy blasts from his opponent leaves him with a cut. The moment Goten gathers all his energy for a Super Kamehameha, Baby launches himself at him and slips into the wound. His next target is clear: Vegeta, the strongest Saiyan on Earth.
At Capsule Corp., where Chi-Chi and Goten have moved in until Goku returns, Gohan arrives to spend the night. Soon after, Goten comes home, rudely asks where Vegeta is and gets scolded by his mother; Bulma tells him her husband is out, as usual. The brothers soon come to blows, and Gohan realizes that something else is inside Goten. Chi-Chi and Bulma kick them out: if they want to fight, they can do it away from the house.
Over a barren, rocky landscape, Gohan confronts his brother and tells him he knows what is going on. He also knows he must not release his full power, and for a while he holds back. Baby finds a way to force his hand, though: using Goten's body, he fires a Kamehameha that threatens the Earth itself, and Gohan has to go Super Saiyan to deflect it. That is the moment the parasite was waiting for. He leaves Goten and enters Gohan through a wound the younger brother had inflicted earlier.
Goten collapses, exhausted, and just then Piccolo arrives, having sensed Baby's energy. While tending to the boy he orders the enemy to leave Gohan's body, but the only reply is a Kamehameha that seems to wipe out both him and Goten. In space, meanwhile, Goku, Pan and Trunks find the next-to-last ball on a planet called Cretaceous: a huge dinosaur swallows it, and Goku has to go into its belly to get it back.
Our take
The Japanese title promises "the worst brotherly quarrel," and the Capsule Corp. scene serves it with a dash of comedy before things fall apart. The real interest, though, lies in the battle of wits between Gohan and Baby. Gohan is the first to grasp right away how the enemy works and to refuse to give him what he wants. Baby responds by targeting his best quality: he puts the planet in danger, knowing his host's brother cannot just stand by and watch.
It is a dynamic that says a lot about both of them. On one hand, it confirms the thoughtful, protective Gohan we know from the Cell Saga; on the other, it shows a Baby who wins not through brute force but by reading his opponent. Piccolo, making his first appearance in the arc, pays the price for that cunning: a single blast, fired by his own former pupil, and the scene ends on an image that hits hard.
The dinosaur interlude in space is pure comic relief in the style of the original Dragon Ball. Next to the drama on Earth it feels a bit out of place, but it reminds us that the three have no idea what awaits them at home.
Trivia
- Written by Junki Takegami and directed by Takahiro Imamura, with Yūji Hakamada as animation director.
- Funimation's dub premiered in the United States on January 16, 2004.
- In Japan, this is the last episode to close with DEEN's Hitori ja nai, the ending theme used since the very first episode.
- Gohan shows up at Capsule Corp. with Videl, who, like Goten, wears an outfit with a new color scheme in this arc.