Episode 174 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on February 10, 1993 and titled The Puzzle of General Tao in Funimation's dub, is almost entirely anime filler. The Japanese title translates roughly as "A Hard Problem for Goku!? Take Back the Dragon Balls." Goku has to finish gathering the Dragon Balls before the Cell Games, but two of them end up with a gangster guarded by an old acquaintance: the assassin Mercenary Tao. Instead of a fight, Goku faces a brain-teaser.
Summary
At the Lookout everyone prepares in their own way: Trunks trains as a Super Saiyan, Gohan studies, and even Dende has homework, so Krillin feels like the only slacker in the group. At Kame House, the TV airs a show by Mr. Satan, who tows four chained buses and tears phone books in half, only to get his fist stuck in the metal when he punches a bus. Meanwhile Goku finds the Six-Star Ball in a canyon, the fourth of his collection.
At the Lookout, Vegeta walks out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber with his suit torn and bloodied, and does not even answer when Trunks asks how it went. Goku senses two Dragon Balls moving together.
Tao is delivering them to his new boss, Vodka, a crime lord convinced the balls will help him outlive Cell. When Goku shows up at the fortress, they let him in hoping to trap him: a wall of spikes bounces harmlessly off him, he plucks a bullet out of the air, and Vodka's protective dome shatters at the touch of a finger. Tao, who remembers exactly who he is dealing with, fakes an illness and offers a deal: if Goku can solve three puzzle rings by dawn, the balls are his.
Goku accepts, and while he concentrates the gang slips away with his jacket, Dragon Balls in the pocket. The Saiyan struggles all night, turns down help from a henchman left behind because he wants to do it himself, and cracks the last ring at daybreak. He then reaches the runaways on a lakeshore with Instant Transmission, and Vodka and Tao have no choice but to hand everything over. Goku never even notices he was being cheated. Bulma finishes repairing Android 16, and Goku retrieves the final ball from under the water. A few days later, the Cell Games are one hour away.
Our take
The manga covers this hunt in a single page; the anime turns it into a full episode. It is open filler, and the tone gives it away: no threats, no tension, just a naive Goku wrestling with a toy while the world waits for doomsday. For viewers watching weekly, it worked as the calm before the storm.
Tao's return is a small gift to fans of the original Dragon Ball. The killer who murdered Bora and was humbled by a child Goku is now a buffoon who fakes being sick rather than fight. The flashback to their past shows how far the hero has come: the world's most feared assassin no longer dares lift a finger.
The most genuine moment is Goku refusing help with the last ring. It fits the character perfectly: even in a silly challenge, he wants to win on his own. It does nothing for the plot, but it says a lot about who he is.
Trivia
- It adapts only one page of chapter 394; everything else is original. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Daisuke Nishio, with animation direction by Keisuke Masunaga, it drew a 21.7% share.
- Tao had already resurfaced shortly before, in episode 170, working for another boss with a liquor name, Burbon: the pairing looks deliberate.
- When Vodka lines up his six balls, the two- through seven-star balls are shown, although the One-Star Ball taken from Goku should be among them.
- In the remastered English version, the ZTV reporter known as Jimmy Firecracker is renamed "Joey."