The Piccolo Jr. Saga is the final arc of Dragon Ball: thirty-one episodes that aired on Fuji TV between August 17, 1988 and April 19, 1989, adapting chapters 161-194 of Akira Toriyama's manga. Goku climbs to Kami's Lookout, trains for three years and arrives at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament as a young man, where King Piccolo's son and reincarnation is waiting for him. He wins, marries Chi-Chi and closes out the original series, handing the baton to Dragon Ball Z.
What the saga is about
King Piccolo died at the end of the previous saga, but not before laying one last egg. While the world celebrates, Piccolo Jr. hatches from it with a single goal: avenge his father by killing Goku.
The road to Kami (123-126)
With Shenron destroyed, the Dragon Balls have turned to stone, and Krillin, Master Roshi and Chiaotzu cannot be brought back. Korin points Goku to the one being who can fix it: Kami, the creator of the Dragon Balls. Goku recovers his Power Pole and extends it from the top of Korin Tower all the way to the palace above the clouds, where he first has to get past Kami's attendant, Mr. Popo. When Kami finally appears, Goku is stunned: he looks exactly like the demon king he just killed. The two were once a single being, and Kami cast out his evil half in order to become Earth's guardian. The price is a bond that cannot be broken: if one of them dies, so does the other. Kami revives Shenron, and in exchange Goku stays at the Lookout to train.
Training at the Lookout (127-132)
Six anime-original episodes follow. Mr. Popo teaches Goku to empty his mind and sense ki. He sends him after a crown that attracts lightning, into a forest where the right teacher turns out to be an old fisherman, and even into the past through the Time Room, where Goku meets a young Master Roshi and their teacher Mutaito. Meanwhile, the others travel the world and end up in a village threatened by a volcano, where they join forces to turn back the lava.
Three years later: the 23rd tournament (133-141)
Goku shows up tall, in a turban and with a grown-up voice; his friends barely recognize him. The preliminaries bring in Mercenary Tao, back as a cyborg; a mysterious girl with a grudge against Goku; the odd Shen, who moves like an old master (renamed Hero in the Funimation dub); and a green-skinned fighter in a turban and cape who enters as Ma Junior. In the quarterfinals the girl turns out to be Chi-Chi, the Ox-King's daughter: years earlier Goku promised to marry her while thinking a bride was something to eat. This time he is the one who proposes, in front of the whole crowd. Tien Shinhan gets rid of Tao, Ma Junior beats Krillin, Shen humbles Yamcha, and Goku wins his rematch with Tien after shedding 100 kilograms of weighted clothing.
Kami vs. Ma Junior (142-148)
In the semifinal Shen drops the act: he is Kami, borrowing a human body to seal Piccolo away with the Evil Containment Wave. The seal backfires and Kami ends up trapped in a bottle, which Piccolo swallows. The final against Goku keeps escalating: the arena flattened, Piccolo turning into a giant, Goku climbing into his opponent's mouth to free Kami, then a last barrage that leaves Goku's arms and legs useless. Goku wins by flying into Piccolo with his whole body and knocking him out of the ring. Then he stops the others from killing him, gives him a Senzu Bean and turns down Kami's offer to take his place as guardian.
The wedding and Mt. Frypan (149-153)
The last five episodes are an original story. The Ox-King's castle is on fire again, with Chi-Chi's late mother's wedding dress inside, and the engaged couple set out to find the Bansho Fan to put out the flames. Along the way they run into Fortuneteller Baba, Pilaf and his gang, a fire-eating bird and even Grandpa Gohan, who works in the afterlife. The journey ends with the wedding, the last scene of the series.
Characters
- Goku: an adult for the first time, tournament champion and husband.
- Piccolo Jr.: his father reborn, stronger and colder, entering the tournament as Ma Junior. Beaten, he swears revenge.
- Kami and Mr. Popo: Earth's guardian and his attendant, Goku's teachers for three years.
- Chi-Chi: back and all grown up, she fights in the tournament and finally gets her promise kept.
- Tien Shinhan, Krillin, Yamcha and Chiaotzu: the friends, each with three years of training behind them.
- Mercenary Tao: the assassin, now a cyborg, knocked out in the first round.
- Shen: the human body Kami borrows to enter the tournament.
Main characters in this saga
Episodes
Funimation released this block in English as two DVD sets, Piccolo Jr. Saga Part 1 and Part 2, and its dub aired on Toonami in 2003 under different titles, such as Lost and Found for episode 123.
Filler and changes from the manga
Episodes 127-132 and 149-153 are entirely anime-original: eleven of thirty-one. The first block fills in the three years of training that the manga skips in a handful of panels, with the feel of an Eastern fairy tale. The second exists because the manga ends with Goku's victory and the couple flying off on the Nimbus, while the anime wanted to actually celebrate the wedding. To do so it goes back to Mt. Frypan and the burning castle from the very first arc of the series, closing a loop opened in the early episodes. Even the manga-based episodes are padded out with crowd reactions, flashbacks and new scenes, such as Piccolo Jr. hatching in the home of an elderly couple. The saga's best ratings share, 20.0%, went to a filler episode, number 132.
Our take: the end of an era
This saga is a bridge, and you can feel it. Goku grows up almost from one episode to the next: the boy with a tail who innocently asked what a bride was becomes a young man who marries Chi-Chi to keep his word. The tournament is the most spectacular in the series, with mountains blown away, arenas leveled and the fate of the world on the line. It is Dragon Ball Z knocking at the door, with a villain who counts double, because Piccolo and Kami are the same person and Goku cannot win by killing.
That choice is the heart of the saga. Goku spares Piccolo to save Kami and the Dragon Balls, but also because he needs that rival. Without knowing it, Toriyama is setting up one of the best-loved characters in the whole franchise, the enemy who will become Gohan's mentor and an ally.
The anime-original finale, with the magic fan and Grandpa Gohan, is more an affectionate send-off than a necessity, but it works. Before moving on to Saiyans and aliens, the series returns one last time to magic, Chinese legends and the goofy characters of its early days. Five years later, in the Saiyan Saga of Dragon Ball Z, Goku will have a son named after that grandfather: the sweetest possible way to say goodbye to adventure and make room for battle.
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