Episode 32 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on January 8, 1997 after the year-end break and titled The Return of Uub in Funimation's dub, belongs to Uub. Believing his teacher is dead, the boy faces Baby alone; when he is about to fall, Majin Buu sacrifices himself for him and the two become a single warrior once more. Meanwhile, on the Sacred World of the Kais, Goku finds a surprise in his pants: his tail.
Summary
Pan tells Uub that Goku was killed by Baby. Furious, he throws himself at the parasite and for a while seems to be overpowering him blow after blow, so much so that Gohan, Goten and Trunks step in to stop him. Baby, however, is annoyed: he was only studying his opponent's moves, and he blasts the three of them away. Uub, he admits, is stronger than any Saiyan except Goku and himself. Convinced she has lost her father too, Pan breaks down in tears.
On the Sacred World of the Kais, Goku watches it all and demands to be sent to Plant at once. Elder Kai gives in, on one condition: he makes Goku drop his pants, revealing that his tail has begun to grow back. Only with his tail can Goku gain the power to beat Baby, but there is no time to let it grow naturally, so Shusugoro turns into a giant pair of pliers to pull it out. Goku reluctantly goes along with it.
On Plant, the tide has turned. Baby gets serious and Uub takes blow after blow; Pan tries to step in and is knocked flying. Mr. Satan asks Majin Buu to protect them, and Buu, torn, carries him and Pan far from the battlefield, saying goodbye to his best friend before turning back. Baby, meanwhile, draws energy from every Tuffle to form the same Revenge Death Ball he used on Goku. Buu throws himself between the attack and Uub and absorbs it in his place.
Seeing the cloud of energy, Baby assumes he has won and heads off with Bulma to enjoy a parade celebrating the new planet. But Uub is alive, wrapped inside Buu's body, and Buu reveals the truth: they are the same being, and it is time to become whole again. Buu merges with Uub, and Majuub is born. When he shows up at the parade, Baby decides to resume the fun, unaware of how strong the boy has become. On the Sacred World of the Kais, Goku's tail has started to come out, but it still has a long way to go.
Our take
The heart of the episode is Buu's farewell to Mr. Satan. The friendship between the universe's most dangerous demon and Earth's phoniest champion was one of the great touches at the end of Dragon Ball Z, and GT gives it a simple, moving send-off: Buu protects his friend to the very end, then leaves to do the right thing.
The fusion with Uub, meanwhile, fulfills the wish Goku made while fighting Kid Buu, that the monster would one day be reborn as a good person so they could have a real match. Here it is Buu himself who tells Uub they share the same soul, and he does it exactly when Uub needs strength the most. Too bad Majuub gets so little room to shine: the saga still belongs to Goku, and the cross-cutting with the slapstick tail-pulling reminds us of that in every scene.
Trivia
- Written by Junki Takegami and directed by Hidehiko Kadota, with Yūji Hakamada as animation director.
- It is the first appearance of Majuub, Uub fused with Majin Buu.
- The Japanese title literally means "Give Goku Back!! The Enraged Warrior Uub": despite Funimation's title, Goku does not return in this episode, and the spotlight is entirely on his student.
- Japanese broadcasts paused for four weeks between episode 31, on December 11, and this one.