Episode 87 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on April 23, 2017 and titled Hunt the Poaching Ring! Goku and Android 17's Joint Struggle! in Funimation's dub, wraps up Android 17's recruitment with a space adventure. Goku and the android board a ship belonging to a gang of alien poachers to free the animals stolen from the island, and the shared mission succeeds where words had failed.
Summary
Goku will not take no for an answer and tells 17 that the tournament's prize is the Super Dragon Balls. The conversation is cut short by the Minotaurus's roar: a huge spaceship descends on the island and starts beaming up its rare animals. Goku grabs the android and teleports aboard as the ship heads back into space, among cages full of creatures stolen from half the galaxy.
While Goku deals with the guards, Android 17 warns him not to damage the ship, or the animals will die, and rushes ahead to the boss. The boss, thrilled to have captured the legendary Minotaurus, whose horns are rumored to make an elixir of immortality, sics two bodyguards on him, but 17 dispatches them in an instant. He also brushes off a bribe: he is not fighting for justice, he just hates nuisances. Cornered, the boss produces a detonator: he has a bomb inside his body and will blow everything up.
At Capsule Corporation, meanwhile, Beerus wakes up screaming from a nightmare in which Goku died, sets Bulla crying and draws Vegeta's complaints. Back on the ship, 17 entrusts the animals to Goku, asks him to give his regards to his family and to 18, grabs the boss and flies out. But Goku catches up and teleports them both to King Kai's planet, as he once did with Cell, to the host's loud protests. It is Dende who reveals telepathically that there is no bomb: when the button is pressed, only confetti comes out.
Back on Earth, they hand the poachers over to Jaco, who hopes for a promotion and takes all the credit. Now 17 feels he owes Goku one and agrees: he will leave the island to Goten and Trunks and, if they win, wish on the Super Dragon Balls for a big cruise ship to travel the world with his family. Goku admits he has no wish of his own: he fights because he loves it, and if he saves people along the way, so much the better. Twenty-three hours and twenty minutes remain until the tournament.
Our take
The episode is light, almost a miniature adventure movie, but its heart lies in the final conversation. 17 is surprised to be teaming up with the man he was programmed to kill, and Goku reminds him that Tien, Piccolo and Vegeta all started out as enemies: it is the most honest summary of Dragon Ball's philosophy. His answer about the wish, meanwhile, makes clear what really drives him.
17's fake self-sacrifice is a nice foreshadowing, played for comedy, of what he will do during the tournament. The confetti gag lightens the moment without undercutting the gesture: the android really was ready to blow himself up for the animals.
Trivia
- Written by Toshio Yoshitaka and directed by Akio Yamaguchi, with Shūichirō Manabe and Yukihiro Kitano as animation directors. It drew a 5.5% TV rating in Japan.
- In the manga, 17 agrees because Krillin is entering too, and he feels indebted to him for having the bomb removed from his body.
- The space poachers are an anime invention.
- The boss had been saving the confetti for a surprise birthday party.
Did you know? Teleporting to King Kai's planet is an open nod to Cell's self-destruction, when Goku gave his life by taking the enemy to that very spot.
Characters
- Goku and Android 17
- The space poacher boss and his crew
- King Kai
- Dende, Jaco, Krillin and Android 18
- Beerus, Whis, Vegeta and Bulla