Episode 8 of Dragon Ball GT, first broadcast in Japan on April 17, 1996 and titled Whisker Power in Funimation's dub, wraps up the Zoonama story. Deep in the monster's lair beneath a volcano, Trunks keeps up his bridal act until the supposed power of the whiskers turns out to be a bluff. Then the volcano wakes up for real, Goku fixes things in his own way, and just as the six-star ball seems theirs, a stranger makes off with it.
Summary
Zoonama's hideout sits in the heart of a volcano. When Trunks notices the lava bubbling all around, the fright knocks his wig off. Instead of flying into a rage, though, the monster decides his bride is just as lovely with short hair and leads "Trunksette" to the wedding banquet he has laid out. Goku, Pan and Doma, meanwhile, have followed by swimming through a lake and are hiding among the dishes.
The plan calls for knocking Zoonama out with a potion brewed back in the village, but he refuses to drink it. So Trunks quietly pours it over the food and offers to feed him by hand. The flattered groom happily accepts, gets roaring drunk and passes out. Doma seizes the moment to snip off one whisker with a giant pair of scissors, but before he can reach the second, a sneeze from the monster sends him flying.
Still groggy, Zoonama realizes he has been tricked and threatens to unleash an earthquake. The ground does shake, but his remaining whisker keeps twitching long after the tremor has stopped, and Pan works it out: the whiskers do not cause quakes, they sense them coming. Exposed, the monster bursts into tears and admits he has been faking it all along. Only this time the rumbling is real, and the volcano starts to erupt.
Everyone, Zoonama included, dives into the lake to escape. Goku propels them to the surface with a Kamehameha, then fires a second one at the crater, wiping out the eruption and the entire mountain in a single blast. The village forgives Zoonama and takes him in, and Leena hands over the promised ball. Then one of the villagers pulls it into his hands, transforms into a blue-skinned alien and escapes aboard a spaceship.
Our take
The second half of the story beats the first because it finally has an idea: the monster is not evil, he is a fraud. It is a neat reversal that turns Zoonama from a threat into an almost endearing figure, a con artist who exploited a natural gift and falls apart after one drink too many. There is a double nod to Japanese folklore underneath, too: the earthquake catfish in his design and, in the booze trap, the legend of the serpent Yamata no Orochi.
The most enjoyable moment, though, is a gift to longtime fans. A Kamehameha that erases the whole mountain instead of just stopping the eruption mirrors the very first Kamehameha in the series, when Master Roshi blew away the Ox-King's burning mountain. Goku's reaction, a shrug and a grin, is pure early Dragon Ball.
The theft at the end gives the saga the push it was missing: for the first time, someone else is after the Dragon Balls.
Trivia
- Written by Aya Matsui and directed (storyboard) by Yoshihiro Ueda, with Yūji Hakamada as animation director and Tomoko Yoshida as art director.
- It drew a 15.0% share in Japan. In the United States it aired on March 19, 2005, back to back with episode 7.
- The thief who closes the episode is Bon Para, the first of the Para Para Brothers to show his face.
- In Japanese, Doma scolds Trunks for making Leena look undignified while he plays the bride; Funimation's dub turns the line into praise for his quick thinking.
- After leveling the mountain, Goku admits he overdid it and shrugs it off with an "oh well" that makes everyone fall over, the same reaction he had as a kid in the original Dragon Ball when he discovered his tail was gone.
Characters
- Goku, Trunks and Pan
- Giru
- Zoonama
- Leena and Doma
- The villagers
- Bon Para, in disguise