Episode 208 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on November 24, 1993 and titled Gather for the Tournament in Funimation's dub, delivers exactly what its title promises: a family reunion. With training over, all the old friends meet up on the island of the World Martial Arts Tournament, and after seven years in the afterlife Goku returns to Earth. Waiting for him is a little boy he has never met.
Summary
The lessons pay off. Videl, now with short hair, lifts off without effort and within a few days learns to fly properly, even if Goten is still far nimbler than she is. During a break, Gohan, who has noticed how much stronger she has become than her father, asks how she would feel if someone beat Mr. Satan at the tournament. Her answer surprises him: she hopes it happens, because her dad has let fame go to his head.
At the Satan mansion, meanwhile, Mr. Satan wonders why his daughter keeps coming home so late and decides she must be at some boy's house. Down in the family dojo, Videl bursts a punching bag with a single blow: learning to fly has taught her to use her energy. Gohan can finally train in earnest too, sparring with Goten first in base form and then as Super Saiyans. Between exchanges, the little one admits how excited he is to finally meet his dad.
The days go by, everyone trains on their own, and tournament morning arrives. Flying to Papaya Island, Gohan, already in his Great Saiyaman costume, asks everyone not to turn Super Saiyan during the matches, so as not to draw attention none of them wants. Nobody objects.
At the entrance the whole gang reunites: Bulma, Vegeta and Trunks, Krillin with Android 18 and little Marron, Piccolo, Master Roshi and the rest. Then Fortuneteller Baba appears with Goku. The celebration is instant, and Chi-Chi cannot hold back her emotions. Goku spots a kid who looks exactly like him and realizes who it is: Goten. The boy hides shyly at first, but within moments he is running into his father's arms and playing with him. Baba reminds Goku that he has twenty-four hours, then says goodbye. Registration brings the only letdown: Trunks learns he will compete in the junior division, not with the adults as he had hoped.
Our take
Goku's return is the moment the whole high-school stretch of the saga has been building toward, and the episode handles it with the right light touch: no solemn music, just a group of friends picking up where they left off as if only a few days had passed. That is the magic of Dragon Ball, which can make viewers feel at home again in an instant.
The scene with Goten is the one that sticks. In the manga, Goku merely notices his son and the two barely interact; the anime adds the hug and the playing, and rightly so, because a first meeting between father and son deserved at least that much. Videl's line about her father is valuable too: she knows Mr. Satan's flaws better than anyone, and her loyalty is not blind.
The additions with Mr. Satan and the punching bag are comic and a little gratuitous, but they lighten the long wait before the tournament.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 429 from page nine onward and chapter 430. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation director.
- It earned a 23.6% share in Japan.
- Mr. Satan worrying about his daughter, Videl in the family dojo, Goku meditating on a mountain in the afterlife and the Gohan vs. Goten sparring session, longer than in the manga, are all anime additions.
- A robot shaped like Oolong's soup-serving waiter transformation can be seen in the crowd, a nod to the earliest days of Dragon Ball.
Did you know? Goku's twenty-four hours on Earth stretch across some forty episodes: he only returns to the afterlife in Episode 248.