The seventeenth episode of Dragon Ball Super, broadcast in Japan on November 1, 2015, jumps six months ahead. Pan, Gohan and Videl's daughter, has been born, and the whole family argues over how to raise her; meanwhile Goku learns that Vegeta has been training with Whis for half a year and will not rest until he gets the same privilege.
Summary
More than six months have passed since Vegeta left with Whis. At Gohan's house, Mr. Satan pulls faces to make baby Pan laugh; Gohan comes home from work, puts on his Great Saiyaman costume and stages a duel with "evil Satan, who wants to steal her heart", tossing the baby into the air. Chi-Chi arrives and is horrified: her granddaughter is to grow up a gentle young lady, not yet another fight-crazy fool. Satan dreams of turning her into a great martial artist with a hundred students, but Chi-Chi will not budge.
In the city, Bulma is stopped at a light when two robbers scratch her car while fleeing a policeman. She gives chase and the thieves are caught; the officer is Krillin, who thanks her and then writes her a speeding ticket. Both are called to Gohan's house to calm Chi-Chi down, and Goku and Goten show up too. Bulma consoles Chi-Chi: Gohan has become a scholar, even Goku is working, while Vegeta has been gone for six months training with Whis. Goku overhears, crashes through the wall and asks when Whis will be back. Krillin suggests he lock on to Vegeta's energy and teleport, but he is too far away.
So Goku starts following Bulma everywhere, at home, at work and even as she steps out of the shower, until she gives him a cell phone and promises to call the moment Whis turns up. To cover himself with Chi-Chi, Goku says they are planning a surprise party for Pan. Gohan senses something is up and tails his father: when the call comes, Goku throws on his gi and flies to Bulma and Whis, who are heading out to eat. Whis agrees to train him, but wants to finish his meal first, and Goku interrupts so many times that he gets annoyed: a flaw, he notes, that could hurt his training.
Before they leave, Chi-Chi arrives, tipped off by Gohan, who apologizes to his father. Gohan still defends Goku, who needs to get stronger to protect Earth; Chi-Chi retorts that he needs to be a grandfather. Bored, Whis takes off and Goku grabs on at the last second. Left behind, Chi-Chi seems to accept it. Bulma promises her a huge party for Pan, with bingo and plenty of prizes, but no Dragon Balls. Gohan looks up at the sky and wishes his father luck.
Our take
The episode is an ensemble family comedy and captures the show's change of season well. Gohan in his Great Saiyaman costume, Satan as an overexcited grandpa and Chi-Chi wanting a granddaughter kept away from martial arts stage the eternal conflict: there is too much fighting in the Son household. The fact that Pan will grow up to be a fighter, as GT fans know, adds an extra layer of irony.
Goku tailing Bulma with the persistence of a child is funny, but it plays the same note for too long.
Trivia
- Written by Yoshifumi Fukushima and directed by Masanori Satō, with Osamu Ishikawa and Yui Kinoshita as animation directors. It drew a 5.6% rating in Japan.
- It is an entirely anime-original episode.
- Krillin also works as a police officer in the film Resurrection 'F'.