Episode 207 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on November 17, 1993 and titled Take Flight, Videl in Funimation's dub, is a flying lesson from start to finish. Gohan ends up with two very different students: his little brother Goten, who gets everything on the first try, and Videl, who does not even know what energy is. Meanwhile, at Capsule Corporation, Vegeta discovers that his son is already a Super Saiyan too.
Summary
The first lesson starts from scratch. Gohan explains that flying means controlling your ki, the energy that flows through the body, and Videl stares at him as if he were speaking another language. Goten gives a demonstration by firing an energy blast that blows apart some rocks, but she is convinced it is a trick. So Gohan shows her how to gather energy between her hands. Videl tries, tenses up, gets nowhere and finally bursts into tears of frustration.
Lunch at the Son house turns into a sitcom. Videl loves Chi-Chi's cooking and says she will pass the recipe on to her cook; Chi-Chi's ears prick up, she asks about the house and, when she hears it has around fifty rooms, bluntly asks Gohan whether he plans to marry the girl. Gohan sprays rice everywhere, and Goten wonders whether Videl is going to be his sister. After the meal, though, Videl tries again and this time produces a small ball of light, which nearly wipes her out.
In the afterlife, South Kai drops in on King Kai with his new champion, Papoi, and mocks Goku. King Kai has Goku's weights increased, and Goku handles them easily as a Super Saiyan: South Kai decides not to send his fighter to the tournament after all.
Then comes actual flying. Goten concentrates, lifts off and loops around happily, until he loses control and lands flat on his face. Videl, with a few more pointers, manages to rise a little off the ground too. Before she leaves, Gohan suggests she cut her hair short: she blushes, assuming he likes girls with short hair, but Gohan clarifies that it would just be more practical in a fight. Videl storms off.
At Capsule Corporation, Trunks tells his father that Goten is entering the tournament and that he wants to as well, then transforms into a Super Saiyan. Impressed, Vegeta promises to take him to the amusement park if he can land a punch on his face. Trunks does it, and immediately eats a punch in return. The next day, at the Son house, Videl shows up ready for her lesson, with short hair.
Our take
This is the episode where Gohan and Videl's relationship really begins. There are no confessions, just small signals: Videl's jealousy when Gohan gets excited about his little brother, the blush over the haircut, and the new cut that arrives the next day despite her anger. It is simple writing and very effective, and Videl comes across as more human than in the school episodes, where she was mostly the tough, suspicious girl.
Starting the lesson from zero is a smart idea too. After years of fighters flying around without explanation, watching someone who has never heard of ki makes a taken-for-granted technique feel concrete. The Vegeta and Trunks scene, meanwhile, is a small portrait of a father: proud, rough, and incapable of letting his son win without teaching him a lesson.
The South Kai interlude is pure filler, but it reminds us that Goku is taking his preparation seriously.
Trivia
- It adapts the first fourteen pages of chapter 428 and the first nine of chapter 429. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, with Keisuke Masunaga as animation director.
- It earned a 25.7% share in Japan.
- Papoi, South Kai's fighter, exists only in the anime and never appears in the manga. Goten's faceplant after his first flight is also an anime addition.
- This is Trunks's first on-screen Super Saiyan transformation.
Did you know? Videl keeps her hair short for the rest of the saga: we only see it long again in Episode 289, after the ten-year time skip.