Episode 54 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on August 6, 1997 after a two-week break and titled The Four-Star Dragon in Funimation's dub, introduces the most unusual opponent of the saga. Nuova Shenron (Sūshinron in Japanese) has a body hotter than the surface of the sun, but also a code of honor. For Goku the fight is personal: the Four-Star Ball is his keepsake from Grandpa Gohan.
Summary
With four Dragon Balls in Pan's backpack, the trio sets off after the fifth. Giru tracks it to a deserted city, where Nuova Shenron is waiting: an almost human-looking dragon wrapped in a kind of shell, who holds the Four-Star Ball, the very ball that belonged to Goku's grandfather. He reveals he was born from the wish King Piccolo made to regain his youth.
Pan, cocky after four victories, charges in alone and is knocked out with a single blow. Goku demands that the dragon let her go, and to his surprise Nuova gently sets her down out of harm's way: he has no intention of hurting a child. Giru stays behind to watch over her.
The duel begins, and Goku quickly spots the problem: Nuova can raise his body temperature beyond that of the sun. A punch would burn his hand, a kick his feet. Goku opts to run, ducking into buildings and trying to lose his pursuer in empty corridors, with no luck. Eventually he realizes that energy blasts still work and switches to fighting from a distance.
Meanwhile, next to the unconscious Pan, a shadow appears: another Shadow Dragon knocks Giru out of action, takes the Dragon Balls and attacks the girl. Goku, wrapped up in his fight, notices nothing.
Back outside, Nuova explains that his energy comes from the sun and will never run out. Goku dazzles him with a Solar Flare, but the flash does him no harm. Tired of playing around, the dragon breaks out of his shell and reveals his true, gleaming, white-hot form; Goku answers by transforming into Super Saiyan 4. The real fight can begin.
Our take
After a dragon who cheated comes one who plays by the rules, and the difference is clear from the first scene: Nuova floors Pan but moves her to safety, says little and fights in the open. It is the first sign of a characterization the saga will build on until the end, one that turns the dragons into more than seven monsters lined up to be knocked down.
A popular fan theory has been circulating for years: each dragon's cruelty is inversely proportional to the intent behind the wish that created it. The most honorable dragon comes from the most selfish wish, that of a tyrant bent on ruling the world; the cruelest come from generous ones, such as reviving innocent people. The show never says so, but the pattern holds up surprisingly well.
The duel itself is less convincing. For much of the episode Goku is on the run, and the slapstick tone of the chase clashes with what is at stake: his grandfather's ball, and Pan being attacked behind his back. The payoff comes only at the end, when both fighters reveal their best form. And the wait grows longer still, because the next episode puts the battle on hold to tell Vegeta's story.
Trivia
- Written by Toshinobu Ōi and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with Noboru Koizumi as animation director.
- The Four-Star Ball is the one little Goku treasured in memory of his grandfather in the very first episode of Dragon Ball.
- The dragon who attacks Pan is Eis Shenron, Nuova's twin: he appears here only for a moment and enters the fight properly in Episode 56.
- The Japanese title promises 6,000 degrees Celsius; the actual surface of the sun is closer to 5,500.
- In Japanese Nuova is voiced by Ken Yamaguchi. The Ocean Group dub titled the episode The Power of 6000 Degrees Centigrade: The Sun Warrior!
Did you know? When he sheds his shell, Nuova takes on a golden, metallic look: a gold-plated villain who predates Dragon Ball Super's Golden Frieza by eighteen years.
Characters
- Goku (base and Super Saiyan 4), Pan and Giru
- Nuova Shenron
- Eis Shenron (brief appearance)
- King Piccolo (mentioned)