Episode 57 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on September 3, 1997 and titled The One-Star Dragon in Funimation's dub, ends the clash with Eis Shenron and introduces the true leader of the Shadow Dragons. Goku wins, but loses his sight; and once Syn Shenron, the One-Star Dragon, steps into the light, the saga shifts gear.
Summary
Eis Shenron has encased the whole city in ice and, for once, accepts Goku's challenge: five seconds to beat him. The Super Saiyan 4 pounds him into the ground, but just as he is about to finish him, the dragon grabs the unconscious Pan and uses her as a shield. Then he throws her at Goku and kicks him while he catches her. On his second attempt to end things with a 10x Kamehameha, Eis ducks behind his brother Nuova and uses Goku's hesitation to freeze him all over again.
Nuova protests, but Eis readies his finishing move, an ice cannon. Goku shatters his prison, charges straight through the beam and stops inches from the dragon, who begs for mercy and offers up his Dragon Ball. On Nuova's advice, Goku agrees: hand over the ball and disappear for good. It is an act. Eis digs his fingers into the ice, grows frozen claws and slashes Goku across the eyes. Blinded, Goku relies on his other senses, punches straight through the dragon and destroys him with the Dragon Fist.
While Goku rinses his eyes, Nuova hands him an antidote that will restore his sight: he wants to settle their duel fairly once Goku has healed. A beam hits him in the back and shatters the vial. Out of the shadows steps Syn Shenron, the most powerful of the Shadow Dragons. Disgusted by his brother's mercy, he fires a second blast at Goku; Nuova throws himself in the way and vanishes, apologizing for not being able to finish their fight.
Goku accuses Syn of killing one of his own. The dragon retorts that the Shadow Dragons exist because Goku and his friends abused the Dragon Balls. Goku answers that he never used them selfishly, only for the good of the Earth, and attacks. Without his eyes, however, he is fighting at half strength: not even a 10x Kamehameha leaves a scratch, and Syn slams him into a building with a homing beam. Goku ends up hanging upside down from a metal bar, unconscious. Pan comes to, sees him and calls for help.
Our take
Until now each dragon was a hurdle to clear; Syn is an indictment. When he tells Goku that the dragons are the children of his wishes, he turns the logic of the whole franchise upside down: the Dragon Balls, which spent years undoing every disaster, came with a price, and someone has arrived to collect. Goku's answer is sincere but does not settle the matter, and that is exactly right.
Nuova's sacrifice gives everything else its weight. The honorable dragon falls at the hands of his own leader while trying to give his enemy his sight back, and the scene lands because the show used the previous episodes to build his character. A blind Goku is an effective choice, too: for the first time since he became a Super Saiyan 4 we see him truly helpless, and the final shot of his body dangling in the air is one of the rawest images in GT.
Trivia
- Written by Atsushi Maekawa and directed by Takahiro Imamura, with Kazuya Hisada as animation director.
- According to the Perfect Files, Syn was born from the wish that revived everyone killed by Frieza and his men, and in his first form he matches a Super Saiyan 4.
- His Japanese name, Ī Shinron, simply means "One-Star Dragon". He is voiced by Hidekatsu Shibata in Japanese and by Bob Carter in Funimation's dub.
- Funimation's names for the seven dragons were chosen so that their initials, from the first ball to the seventh, spell SHENRON: Syn, Haze, Eis, Nuova, Rage, Oceanus and Naturon.
Did you know? "Syn" is widely read as a play on "sin", a fitting label for the dragon who blames Goku for every wish ever made.
Characters
- Super Saiyan 4 Goku
- Eis Shenron, Nuova Shenron and Syn Shenron
- Pan