Episode 201 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on September 15, 1993 and titled I am Saiyaman in Funimation's dub, gives birth to the clumsiest superhero in the series. So that he can step in without being recognized, Gohan asks Bulma for help and becomes the Great Saiyaman, complete with TV-show poses and a name made up on the spot. It is also the episode that introduces Goten, the little brother Goku never got to meet.
Summary
Gohan heads to Capsule Corporation and tells Bulma, now sporting short hair, that he needs a way to hide his identity. She is happy to oblige: a couple of hours should do it. While he waits, Gohan wanders the building and runs into young Trunks, who has been training with his father. Vegeta greets him coldly and tells him he is wasting his power sitting in a classroom.
Bulma's creation is a wristwatch: press the red button and Gohan is instantly wearing a full costume, helmet and cape included. He loves it; Trunks is far less impressed. Flying home on the Flying Nimbus, Gohan realizes that in disguise he can fly freely, and much faster. Over Satan City he spots a car tearing through the streets and lands right in front of it. When the two thugs inside demand to know who on earth he is, Gohan thinks for a second and introduces himself as the Great Saiyaman. Their laughter does not last: one stomp of his foot splits the asphalt, and the pair swear the name is very cool.
That evening, while he practices switching in and out of the costume, Gohan gets a visit from Goten, the little brother who looks exactly like Goku and was born after the Cell Games. Since he can now fly without drawing attention, Gohan hands the Flying Nimbus down to him.
The next day at school everyone is talking about the new hero, though nobody can quite get his name right. During class, Videl's watch goes off: a bus has been hijacked and the police need her. Sharpner and Erasa assure Gohan that she is as strong as her father, which only makes him picture Mr. Satan flying out of the ring against Cell. Claiming he needs the restroom, he rushes to the roof and transforms. Videl takes the hijackers apart with a flurry of blows, but the bus rolls over the edge of a cliff. The Great Saiyaman catches it in midair, saves the passengers, strikes his poses and flies off, leaving Videl with more questions than ever.
Our take
The Great Saiyaman has divided fans for more than thirty years, and this episode shows exactly why. The costume is ridiculous, the poses look lifted from a kids' tokusatsu show and Gohan is enormously proud of all of it: it is a gag Toriyama commits to fully, and the anime turns up the volume. And yet there is something sweet about the most powerful boy on the planet building himself a neighborhood-hero persona. After years of wars against monsters and tyrants, Gohan chooses to use his strength for small things, and to have fun doing it.
The best scene, though, is the shortest one: Goten's arrival. A few seconds and a face identical to his father's are enough to remind us what the Cell Games cost this family. The contrast with Vegeta works well too: he has never stopped training in seven years, and he looks at Gohan as wasted talent.
Trivia
- According to Kanzenshuu, it adapts chapter 423 and the first eight pages of chapter 424, with original material; the Spanish Wikipedia also credits parts of chapter 425. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with Keisuke Masunaga as animation director. It drew a 21.9% share.
- The bus hijacking is an anime invention: in the manga, Videl chases a pair of robbers down a highway.
- This is Goten's first appearance. In the manga we first see him in the morning, as Gohan leaves for school.
- Gohan's memory of Mr. Satan losing to Cell is newly animated and does not match the original scene.
- The Funimation dub premiered on Cartoon Network on September 18, 2001.