Episode 114 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on October 30, 1991 and titled Extreme Measures in Funimation's dub, is fought on two fronts. On the ruined Lookout, Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo face demons supercharged by the Makyo Star; far below, Kami defies his own predecessors to reach the planet's air currents. The Japanese title sums it up: Kami breaks the covenant.
Summary
Bathed in the Makyo Star's energy, Garlic Jr., Spice and Vinegar have become muscle-bound giants. Kami's Lookout is a field of rubble and the fights split up: Krillin against Vinegar, Gohan against Spice, Piccolo against Garlic Jr. The two smaller heroes are badly outmatched.
In the Shinsenkai, meanwhile, Earth's former guardians do not take kindly to intruders. Mr. Popo shields his master and absorbs blow after blow, but invisible barriers block the way: without the predecessors' permission, Popo warns, no one may go further. Kami refuses to stop and smashes through them one after another.
On the Lookout, Vinegar knocks Krillin out and hurls him over the edge into the void. Gohan dives after him, but the two demons cut him off, and that is the spark that ignites his rage. With a Double Masenko the boy vaporizes Spice and Vinegar, then catches his unconscious friend. The Spice Boys are no more.
Piccolo, taunted by Garlic Jr., answers in kind and grows to giant size himself, noting that extra bulk adds power but costs speed. The duel evens out, until something unsettling happens: in the Shinsenkai, one of the former guardians seizes Kami and starts pulling his spirit away. The guardian's hand fades, and so does Piccolo's, since the two share one body and soul. Half transparent, the Namekian collapses under Garlic Jr.'s blows.
Kami summons his last strength and breaks free. At that same moment on the Lookout, Gohan steps in and blocks the punch Garlic Jr. meant to finish his mentor with. Kami and Popo finally reach the bottom of the Lookout, only to find the former guardians blocking their path once more.
Our take
This is the saga's most spectacular episode, backed by solid animation. It works because it cuts briskly between two kinds of tension: the physical brawl on the Lookout and Kami's spiritual ordeal, with the guardian at risk of fading away at every barrier.
The real star, though, is Gohan. His hidden power, which erupts whenever someone he cares about is in danger, has been part of the show since the fight with Raditz. Here it leads somewhere new: all four of Garlic Jr.'s henchmen fall by his hand, the first enemies the boy truly destroys. It is a small-scale preview of what will happen in the Cell Saga.
Kami's portrayal is just as interesting. The old guardian, wisdom personified in the original series, disobeys his predecessors to save the humans he is meant to protect. And his link with Piccolo, with their hands fading in parallel, turns a Toriyama idea into a striking visual device.
The usual filler caveat applies: nothing here will matter to the rest of the story. But for an arc created mainly to give Toriyama time to move the manga forward, Toei strikes a good balance between action and atmosphere.
Trivia
- A filler episode with no manga chapters. Written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, directed and storyboarded by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, with animation direction by Kazuya Hisada; it drew a 20.4% share.
- The recap of the previous episode runs about two minutes, longer than usual.
- Piccolo's remark about the limits of a bulked-up body foreshadows a theme that returns with the heavier transformations of the Cell Saga.
- In Japanese the henchmen killed here are Gashew and Vinegar; Funimation renamed Gashew Spice.
- It first aired on Cartoon Network on May 20, 2000, as episode 99 in Funimation's original numbering.
Did you know? Kami is voiced by Takeshi Aono in Japanese and by Christopher Sabat in Funimation's dub, who also voices Piccolo and Mr. Popo: in this episode the same actor plays all three sides of the story.
Characters
- Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo
- Kami and Mr. Popo
- Garlic Jr., Spice and Vinegar
- Earth's former guardians