Episode 75 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on January 22, 2017 and titled Goku and Krillin: Back to the Old Familiar Training Ground in Funimation's dub, is a return to the roots. Goku wants someone to train with and ends up bringing Krillin, now a police officer and family man, back to Master Roshi's Kame House, just like when they were kids. In Japan it was also one of the most watched episodes of the period.
Summary
Goku plows his field with energy blasts, since the tractor is broken, but what he really needs is an opponent: Beerus and Whis are at a joint conference of Supreme Kais and Gods of Destruction, Vegeta is in a worse mood than usual and Piccolo is helping Dende. Chi-Chi brings in Gohan, who shows up as the Great Saiyaman; the two power up to Super Saiyan and wreck the field, so Chi-Chi chases them off. Goten then suggests Krillin.
Krillin, meanwhile, is in the middle of a shootout with robbers, and a bullet grazes his arm as he shields a colleague. Goku arrives, disarms the crooks in a flash and asks him to train. At home Krillin backs out: he has given up martial arts, he is just a cop now. But Android 18 scolds him, unable to believe he got hurt by an ordinary bullet, and even Marron wonders if her dad is weak. Krillin caves.
The two decide to go back to Master Roshi, as in the old days. Krillin digs out his Turtle School uniform and greets the master with a dirty magazine as a gift; Goku, who brought nothing, gets whacked. On the beach Roshi makes Goku wear a heavy turtle costume and forbids flying and Super Saiyan, but Krillin still cannot land a blow. That night, while Goku sleeps, Roshi finds his student training alone on the beach: Krillin admits he wants to be strong for 18 and Marron but does not know how to move forward.
The next morning Roshi announces the test: a race to collect a rare herb that grows deep in a forest on an island. The prize is his precious photo collection, or a secret technique to raise one's energy instantly. On the island Fortuneteller Baba awaits, acting as referee through her crystal ball. Past a stone gate shaped like a demon's mouth, the forest turns eerie: bare trees, several moons in the sky, a thick fog. Krillin relives the shootout and hears 18 calling him weak. Then, out of the mist, loom giant shapes of Cell, Frieza, Nappa and other old enemies.
Our take
This episode is built on nostalgia, and uses it well. The Turtle School uniform, the magazine for Roshi, Goku punished for showing up empty-handed: these are gags anyone who has followed the series since 1986 will recognize instantly. Underneath, though, lies a real theme: a man who chose his family and fears he no longer measures up.
Krillin has always been the most human member of the group, and Super finally gives him room. The quiet night scene with Roshi is among the most delicate in the series.
Trivia
- Written by Atsuhiro Tomioka and directed by Ryōta Nakamura; its 7.6% rating is the highest among episodes 54 to 79.
- It is the first episode to show Goku inside Krillin's home, spending time with his whole family.
- Japanese titles call Krillin by his original name, Kuririn.
- Roshi's ruse works because neither student would have budged for the photo collection alone.
Did you know? Roshi recruits Fortuneteller Baba, his sister, to referee the race, and she later expects to be paid for her trouble.