Episode 116 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on November 13, 1991 and titled Brief Chance for Victory in Funimation's dub, is the showdown of the Garlic Jr. Saga. With the Dead Zone yawning over Kami's Lookout, it falls to Gohan to find the right target: not the immortal demon, but the star that feeds his power. For the first time in Z, a major threat is stopped without Goku.
Summary
The Dead Zone's vortex swallows the Lookout's rubble, and Gohan single-handedly holds up the barrier protecting himself, Piccolo and Krillin. Garlic Jr. savors the moment: after them, he vows, he will devour the Lookout and the whole Earth. In the Shinsenkai, meanwhile, the former guardians keep tormenting Kami, until they suddenly relent and let him and Popo return to the surface.
Garlic Jr. then cranks up the vortex to catch the guardian too, and Piccolo has to step in to protect him. That is when the Namekian realizes where the enemy's overwhelming power comes from: the Makyo Star, still hanging close to Earth. He tells Gohan to drop the barrier and strike the star, but the boy refuses, since lowering the shield would hand his friends over to the vortex.
Piccolo and Krillin settle the dilemma themselves, leaving the barrier on purpose to distract Garlic Jr. In that moment of freedom, Gohan pours all his energy into a single blast and fires it skyward. The Makyo Star explodes. Cut off from his power source, Garlic Jr. shrinks back to his original size, can no longer resist his own vortex and is sucked into the Dead Zone, which closes forever.
Piccolo praises his pupil, who collapses from exhaustion into his arms. Soon after, the world wakes from its nightmare: Chi-Chi, Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar come to amid the ruins of a city, Master Roshi patches up Kame House, Krillin and Maron drive off together and Piccolo goes back to meditating. Chi-Chi immediately sends Gohan back to his books. Out in space, Vegeta is still hunting for Goku, determined to become a Super Saiyan.
Our take
The Japanese title, "A moment of victory for Gohan!!", captures what the saga is about: you do not need to be stronger than Garlic Jr., just to find the right target at the right instant. And it is the boy who finds it, while Goku is still far away in space. It is a first for Z, and the heart of these ten episodes: giving Gohan the lead role.
The idea does not come out of nowhere. In the 1989 movie Dead Zone, it was little Gohan, with a burst of hidden power, who turned the fight against Garlic Jr. around. The saga picks up that thread and completes it, foreshadowing what will happen in the Cell Saga. Toriyama himself, after all, considered making Gohan the new lead once that arc was over.
The ending also carries a bitter irony: Garlic Jr. asked the Dragon Balls to never die, and immortality becomes his sentence, an endless imprisonment in another dimension. Meanwhile, the epilogue lines up the pieces for the return to the manga: everyday life, Vegeta on the road, and everyone waiting for Goku.
Trivia
- A filler episode with no manga chapters. Written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, directed and storyboarded by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with animation direction by Mitsuo Shindō; it drew a 21.3% share.
- The unusual color palette makes the final battle instantly recognizable, and after the victory a music cue from the Dead Zone movie returns.
- Being entirely original, the Garlic Jr. Saga was cut completely from Dragon Ball Kai.
- It first aired on Cartoon Network on May 27, 2000, together with episode 115. Episode 117 would not air until September 1, more than three months later.
Did you know? Garlic Jr. vanishes from the show but not from the games: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 turns his saga into a story mode scenario called "Makyo Star."
Characters
- Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo
- Kami and Mr. Popo
- Garlic Jr.
- Chi-Chi, Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong, Puar and Master Roshi
- Maron and Vegeta