Episode 121 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on December 18, 1991 and titled Welcome Back Goku in Funimation's dub, finishes the cleanup that began in the previous episode: after Frieza, it's King Cold's turn. Then the mysterious youth takes everyone to wait for Goku, who finally returns to Earth exactly where and when the stranger predicted.
Summary
The youth slices Frieza into pieces and vaporizes him with a blast. Watching from the rocks, Bulma cheers, thinking Goku has arrived, but Gohan corrects her: it's a Super Saiyan, but not his father. King Cold, unfazed, tries to buy the young man by offering him his son's place at his side. When that fails, he asks to see the sword, convinced the boy is nothing without it, and swings it at him the moment he gets it. The youth blocks the blow barehanded, blasts a hole through Cold's chest and, as the tyrant begs for mercy and promises him planets to rule, finishes him off. One last shot destroys the spaceship.
The young man turns to Goku's friends, who saw everything, and invites them to follow him: Goku will arrive soon, at a specific spot. There he pulls a refrigerator full of drinks out of a capsule and offers it to everyone. The questions pile up, but he reveals only that he is 17. Bulma spots the Capsule Corporation logo on his jacket and a certain resemblance to Vegeta; Tien guesses he met Goku in space, but Chiaotzu reminds him the youth said they have never met. Vegeta, increasingly annoyed, insists that only three Saiyans are left and that Saiyans have black hair. On Mount Paozu, meanwhile, Chi-Chi and Ox-King bring home new furniture for Gohan's studies.
Right on schedule, a Ginyu Force space pod crashes nearby. Out of the crater climbs Goku, in clothes nobody has seen before, surprised to find everyone waiting for him.
Our take
Episode 121 adapts chapter 332 and the first fourteen pages of 333, and stays close to the manga. The additions are few: King Cold begging before he dies, whereas in the manga he never says another word after the first blast, and Chi-Chi's little scene with the new study furniture, a reminder that life on Mount Paozu goes on even during the apocalypse.
The heart of the episode is the wait, and it is beautifully written. Trunks, still unnamed, is polite, measured, almost shy, the opposite of every Saiyan the heroes have met so far. Toriyama scatters clues for attentive readers: the logo on his jacket, the capsule fridge, the furtive glances at Vegeta. The prince denying that a lavender-haired Saiyan could exist while the boy keeps staring at him is even funnier once you know the truth.
Then Goku arrives, and the homecoming is perfect in its simplicity: no fanfare, just a cheerful greeting and the baffled face of someone who expected to slip back quietly. He had been away from Earth ever since he left for Namek. The Japanese title, with Goku's trademark "Ossu!", is all about him, while the Italian and Spanish titles focus on the stranger.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 332 and pages 1-14 of chapter 333. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto from a storyboard by Kazuhisa Takenōchi, with animation direction by Yukio Ebisawa, it drew a 22.6% share.
- The can in Trunks' fridge reads "JETAP" in the manga and "HETAP" in the anime.
- The box Ox-King carries reads "MY STADY", a mistransliteration of "study".
- King Cold's plea differs by version: in Japanese he offers Trunks planets, while Funimation's dub has him blame Frieza and claim he only wanted peace.
Did you know? When King Cold holds Trunks' sword, it looks far bigger than the youth; back in its owner's hands, it returns to normal size.