Episode 76 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on January 29, 2017 and titled Conquer the Terrifying Foes! Krillin's Fighting Spirit Rebounds! in Funimation's dub, closes the Future Trunks Saga with a story that belongs entirely to Krillin. In a forest where memories take shape, the most human of the fighters has to face his own deaths, and the fear he has carried ever since.
Summary
The phantoms emerging from the fog are old enemies: Tambourine and Piccolo, Vegeta and Nappa, Frieza and Cell. Goku is not worried, since a Vegeta hanging out with Nappa cannot be real, but the illusions' punches hurt all the same. Krillin, on the other hand, is frozen: he relives being killed by Tambourine, Frieza and Majin Buu, and even being turned to stone by Dabura. Then a phantom Bulma appears, and both of them panic.
At Kame House, Fortuneteller Baba follows the race in her crystal ball and demands ten million zeni for her trouble. Android 18 and Marron arrive, worried. Baba explains that the two are in the Forest of Fear, on the border between the world of the living and the afterlife, where traumatic memories take physical form. Goku and Krillin wipe out the first wave with a double Kamehameha, but Krillin wants to go home: he is not like Goku, and getting stronger is not worth this. He tries to fly away and branches block his path, while new, even bigger phantoms rise from the smoke of the flowers. Until they finish the errand, there is no way out.
Goku goes Super Saiyan 3, and the enemies grow to match. So he powers down, closes his eyes and focuses: the giants dissolve. To reach Krillin without flying, he summons the Flying Nimbus. Krillin, surrounded by dozens of Friezas, tries the Solar Flare and the Destructo Disc to no effect, until he realizes the phantoms feed on his energy and his fear. He sits, meditates, and the enemies freeze. Controlling his emotions, he smashes through a wall of giant Nappas.
Baba and Roshi have one last surprise: an illusory Super Shenron coils around Goku and the Nimbus like a python. This time it is Krillin who saves his friend: he punches it on the forehead, Goku breaks free in Super Saiyan Blue, and a double Kamehameha destroys the dragon, whose sparks sprout into the herb they were looking for. At Kame House Roshi admits there is no secret technique, but Krillin has learned the lesson: the secret is mastering one's emotions and energy. At home, 18 shaves his head as a sign of his return to martial arts, and when Goku drops by to spar, Krillin agrees, as long as Goku does not go Super Saiyan.
Our take
It is an unusual ending for a saga that began with the apocalypse, but it makes sense. After so much talk of gods and timelines, the series returns to a small, concrete fear: that of a father who has already lost his life too many times. The forest is a simple, very effective idea.
The final scene, with 18 shaving her husband's head, is one of Super's tenderest moments: Krillin's shaved head was a symbol of his life as a fighter, and taking it back means choosing again who he wants to be. It sets up the Tournament of Power nicely.
Trivia
- Written by Atsuhiro Tomioka and directed by Hideki Hiroshima; it drew a 5.7% rating.
- It is the last episode to use the opening "Chōzetsu ☆ Dynamic!"
- The Flying Nimbus makes its first appearance in Dragon Ball Super here, and in Funimation's dub Goku sings "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" when he calls it.
- Krillin's deaths at the hands of Frieza and Buu use footage from Dragon Ball Kai, while his death by Tambourine was newly animated.
Did you know? The phantom Bulma plays on an old gag: Goku and Krillin have always feared her temper more than most villains.