Episode 43 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on May 15, 2016, shows the price of the Kaioken used against Hit. Goku can no longer control his ki, and for once Universe 7's strongest hero has to be a full-time grandpa, while little Pan turns out to be far more capable than anyone imagines.
Summary
At the Son house, Goku eats half his usual amount. Chi-Chi fears he is dying; he replies that he has died twice and it did not feel like this. The next day he loses control mid-flight and crashes. He tries teleporting to King Kai, but lands in Bulma's house as she steps out of the shower, with Vegeta furious, then in Krillin's police station, on Korin Tower and in plenty of other places before reaching his goal. King Kai diagnoses Delayed Onset Turbulent Ki Syndrome, caused by the times-ten Kaioken. If he keeps pushing himself like that he risks permanent damage: better to rest, and maybe look after his granddaughter. On the way home, Goku wrecks his house by landing on it.
Meanwhile Gohan and Videl are dining with a professor and his wife: Gohan hopes to become his assistant. Goku calls to tell him that he, Chi-Chi and Goten will be staying with them for a while, and the Pilaf Gang, hiding nearby, learn that Goku is not at his best. At Gohan's, Chi-Chi admits she never spent Mr. Satan's money: she lied to make Goku work. Piccolo leaves extremely detailed instructions on caring for Pan, then comes back to add more. That night on the roof, Goku complains that he feels like an old man. Piccolo reminds him that he is a grandfather, and Pan keeps calling him daddy.
The next morning Pilaf, Shu and Mai show up with a giant robot bought with their savings from a restaurant job. Pan, however, wanders away from the house and surprises them, and the gang flees in terror at Piccolo's shouting, realizing too late that they have taken her along. Between diapers and panic, the robot spins out of control and shoots into space. It is Pan who saves them: she releases her energy, destroys the machine and flies everyone back down. When Gohan and Videl come home, the baby is sleeping peacefully, and Gohan reveals he turned down the assistant job to be with his family.
Our take
A warm, domestic episode that uses Goku's convalescence to show off his extended family. The best scenes belong to Piccolo, increasingly comfortable as an anxious nanny, and to the rooftop conversation in which Goku discovers he is a grandfather almost in spite of himself.
The haywire teleportation is a well-timed comic sequence, while the Pilaf subplot gives Pan her first heroic moment, with nobody the wiser. Gohan's final decision closes the circle: in Super, choosing your family is as much an act of strength as winning a tournament.
Trivia
- Written by King Ryū and directed by Takahiro Imamura, with animation direction by Sadatoshi Matsuzaka and Yōichi Ōnishi.
- It drew a 6.9% rating in Japan, the best figure among the original episodes 42 to 45.
- One of the wrong stops on Goku's teleportation spree is somewhere near Arale, the heroine of Dr. Slump.
- The episode explicitly names the 24th World Martial Arts Tournament as Mr. Satan's first win, a detail previously found only in guidebooks.
- It is an anime-original episode with no counterpart in Toyotarō's manga.
Did you know? Chi-Chi says Gohan would be the first Universe 7 Saiyan to hold down a proper job, yet another dig at Goku's work ethic.