Episode 16 of Dragon Ball Z, Run, Gohan! Longing for Mount Paozu, Where Chichi is Waiting, first aired in Japan on August 16, 1989, closes the little odyssey Gohan began on his raft. The boy really does get within a step of home, but along the way he meets children who no longer have a family. It is one of the saga's most unusual episodes: no epic fights, just a story about kids on their own and a difficult choice.
Summary
After the storm, Gohan wakes up on a beach. Two children have found him, and they take him to their hideout: an old, ruined house on the outskirts of a town, where a group of orphans lives. They lost their homes and parents in a tsunami two years earlier and, rather than end up in an orphanage, they prefer to fend for themselves, surviving by stealing from the market.
Gohan makes friends with them, stays a few days and even helps them get some fruit with a trick. The local adults, however, are hunting the children down to put them in an institution, and one day orphanage staff arrive with the police. Gohan tries to defend his new friends alongside Pigero, the oldest boy in the group. But Pigero realizes that the orphanage may be the best option for the little ones, and lets them be taken. Then he drives Gohan part of the way home.
Gohan continues alone and finally reaches Mount Paozu. He sees his house, with Chi-Chi inside thinking of him. But remembering the orphans, who carried on even without parents, he decides not to go in and runs back, in tears. In a field of flowers, Piccolo finds him and reminds him of his duty.
Our take
Like the previous one, this episode was invented entirely for the anime and has no counterpart in Akira Toriyama's manga. But it is also one of the boldest filler episodes in Dragon Ball Z, because it deals with orphans, institutions and poverty in an almost neorealist tone, far removed from the show's usual style.
The emotional core is Gohan's final choice. A four-year-old arrives at his front door and does not go in: it is a hard gesture to believe, but the episode sets it up well, putting in front of him children who lost everything and did not give up. Gohan understands that his mission matters more than his homesickness, and that sudden maturity is the real result of his months of survival.
Pigero, the boy who lets his companions go for their own good, adds an interesting shade: in this story the adults are not villains, and the right choice is not the most heroic one. It is rare to find that much ambiguity in a filler episode.
Trivia
- In the 1996 English dub, this episode was part of Escape from Piccolo, which never aired in the original syndicated run and was first released on home video. The 2005 redub titled it Plight of the Children.
- With a 14.3% ratings share, it is the saga's second least-watched episode in Japan after episode 7. It was written by Keiji Terui and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto.
- No footage was reused in Dragon Ball Kai.
Did you know? The Japanese title promises a homecoming, with Chi-Chi waiting on Mount Paozu, that the episode ultimately denies.