First broadcast in Japan on January 20, 1993 and titled Memories of Gohan in Funimation's dub, episode 171 of Dragon Ball Z is the second filler in a row and one of the most domestic of the whole arc. Chi-Chi decides to celebrate Gohan's eleventh birthday, which passed while he was inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and the day turns into a chance for two childhood memories: how he got his name, and the first time his hidden power surfaced.
Summary
At the Son house, Goku, Gohan and Krillin are chatting at the table. Laughing, Gohan loses control of his strength and shatters his glass; Goku tries to show him how to hold back and does even worse. Chi-Chi bans Super Saiyan at mealtimes and announces a birthday party for that evening. When Goku surprisingly sides with her and leaves Gohan at home to study, his wife feels his forehead to check for a fever.
By the river, while Goku amuses himself riding a fish down a waterfall, Krillin asks him why. The answer is serious: Goku is not sure they can beat Cell in eight days, and he wants Gohan to spend as much time as possible with his mother.
Meanwhile Chi-Chi, looking for a tablecloth, finds the family album, with photos of the wedding and of newborn Gohan. The memory goes back to the day they named him. She suggested Einstein and Archimedes, the Ox-King an endless list of names built around his own "gyu," and the baby cried at each one. Then Goku complained he was hungry, Chi-Chi reminded him he had just had breakfast, asagohan, and the little one laughed. He laughed at every word ending in gohan. Looking at the Four-Star Ball, Goku realized his son wanted to be named after his grandfather.
At the arena, a TV crew tries to interview Cell, who refuses to answer: he blasts the cameras and knocks the reporter out of the ring, without killing anyone. In the woods, Goku shakes the apples out of a tree and Gohan catches every one of them; one gets stuck in a hole in the trunk. Goku remembers how that hole was made. Years earlier he absent-mindedly let go of his son's stroller, which hurtled down the hill, and right before the impact the toddler unleashed a blast of energy that pierced the tree. That night, with the Ox-King and Krillin, Gohan blows out his candles so hard that he covers everyone in cake.
Our take
Two filler episodes in a row, right after the year-end break, might seem like too much. This one has a soul, though, and finds it in the right place: Goku's family before the Cell Games put it to the test. Chi-Chi, often reduced to a caricature, is here a mother leafing through an album with a smile. Goku, who usually thinks only of fighting, quietly chooses to give his son time. The conversation with Krillin by the river is the heart of the episode and sets up what will happen at the tournament.
The naming flashback rests on an untranslatable pun that is still fun without any Japanese: gohan means "cooked rice" and, by extension, "meal," so asagohan is breakfast and hirugohan is lunch. Grandpa Gohan remains the real tribute. The runaway stroller, meanwhile, adds a piece to the long history of Gohan's hidden power, which here surfaces for the first time in chronological order.
It is not an essential episode, but it is one of those that make the bond between father and son more believable. And the final shot, with new photos in the album, weighs more than it seems.
Trivia
- Written by Aya Matsui and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with Yukio Ebisawa as animation director, it drew a 21.3% share. It adapts no manga chapter.
- The Four-Star Ball on baby Gohan's shelf is the first Dragon Ball seen since episode 99.
- The album includes photos of Goku and Chi-Chi's wedding from episode 153 of Dragon Ball.
- During the party, Captain Ginyu in his frog body stands tearfully in front of the house. He had not been seen since episode 107.
- The Funimation dub drops the Japanese detail that Gohan's real birthday fell during his time in the Chamber, and replaces the Ox-King's "Gyuma" names with English puns such as Oxford. It premiered on November 20, 2000.
Characters
- Gohan, Goku and Chi-Chi
- Krillin and the Ox-King
- Cell and the TV crew
- Captain Ginyu (frog)