Episode 105 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on August 28, 1991 and titled Mighty Blast of Rage in Funimation's dub, finally ends the duel between Goku and Frieza that began four months earlier. Saved by the energy the Saiyan gave him, the tyrant chooses betrayal once more, and this time Goku does not spare him. On Earth, meanwhile, Grand Elder Guru passes away and leaves the Namekians a precious piece of news.
Summary
Restored by Goku's energy, Frieza gets to his feet and sarcastically asks what he is supposed to do with it. Goku tells him to leave and think about his defeat.
On Earth, Guru senses that his time has come, this time from natural causes. The Namekians gather around him and angrily notice that Elder Tsuno's entire village is missing: those people were killed by Vegeta, who no longer worked for Frieza at the time, so the wish to Shenron did not bring them back. Guru passes the power of the Dragon Balls to Moori, the eldest after him, says goodbye to his children and fades away. Gohan remembers how the Grand Elder unlocked his hidden potential. Then Dende reveals that Porunga can revive the same person more than once, as long as they did not die of natural causes: Krillin can come back, and Chiaotzu too.
On Namek, Frieza keeps taunting his opponent: Goku has won, but he is the one who will die in the explosion, because he cannot reach his own ship and the tyrant's ship can no longer fly. Goku ignores him and flies off to find a way out. Left alone with his memories, Frieza relives the whole fight: the first meeting, the contempt, the Saiyan who transformed and surpassed him. He cannot accept that a "monkey" has beaten the emperor of the universe. Gathering his last strength, he fires a beam at Goku's back. The Saiyan spots it at the last second and, done with mercy, answers with a blast full of rage that overwhelms the attack and engulfs Frieza, apparently wiping him out. Goku flies on, searching for a way off the planet before it explodes.
Our take
The Japanese title, "Frieza defeated! A single blow filled with all his rage," puts the stress on the right emotion. Goku had offered the tyrant two chances to walk away; there is no third. It is a fitting end for a character built on an inability to accept limits: Frieza does not fall because he is weaker, he falls because he cannot lose.
This episode closes one of the most stretched-out fights in the entire series: nineteen episodes, from 87 to this one, spread over more than four months of airtime, while Toriyama wrapped it up in about twenty chapters. The anime reaches the finish line with one last bit of padding: Frieza flashes back through the entire battle, to the point that the segment feels almost like a recap. And Namek's famous "five minutes," announced in episode 97, are still not over: the planet only explodes in the next episode.
One detail shows the difference in tone between the two versions. In the manga, after the final blast, Goku's face is sad, as if being forced to do it weighs on him; in the anime he looks more angry than grieved. Frieza's injuries are also toned down compared with the far more graphic original pages.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 327, with the Guru scene and the final duel in reverse order compared with the manga. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto, it drew a 21.8% share.
- According to Kanzenshuu, counting the first series, movies and specials, this is Bulma's 200th appearance: only Goku has more.
- The Future Trunks Special Edition of Resurrection 'F' restages this moment using the manga's sad expression.
- From this episode, Funimation's original dub closes with Bruce Faulconer's "Dragonball Z" theme in the end credits.
Did you know? In the manga Goku plans to escape on Frieza's ship, and it is the tyrant who tells him Vegeta wrecked its engines.