Episode 211 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on December 22, 1993 and titled Trunks vs. Goten in Funimation's dub, puts Goku's second son in the ring of the junior division. Seven-year-old Goten is as jittery as a kid at his first karate recital, yet he dispatches his opponent without breaking a sweat. In the final he meets his best friend Trunks, and their match leaves the entire stadium speechless.
Summary
The junior division of the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament rolls on. After Trunks' win over the bully Idasa, it is Goten's turn, and as luck would have it he draws Ikose, the brother of the boy who was just humiliated. In the stands, Chi-Chi cheers at the top of her lungs next to an equally invested Bulma. Goten, nervous and awkward, cannot understand why his opponent will not fight seriously: to him it is all a game. One punch is all it takes.
From there the two young Saiyans steamroll the other kids, and the final between Goten and Trunks arrives right on schedule. The announcer also reveals a detail that will make someone break into a cold sweat: the junior champion will earn the honor of an exhibition match against the world champion himself, Mr. Satan.
Meanwhile, Gohan and Videl are stuck in line for the adult preliminaries, because the machine that measures punching power has only just been repaired. Gohan would love to cut ahead so he does not miss his brother's match, but he has to wait his turn, and by the time he reaches the ring the boys have already started. Goku and Krillin seize the chance to tease him about his new friend.
In the ring, Goten and Trunks bow, trade a few words and then launch at each other at a speed nobody in the crowd can follow. Mr. Satan notices, uneasily, how much the little one resembles a certain fighter he saw seven years earlier. The spectators fall silent: these two children look stronger than most of the adults in the tournament. Neither gives an inch, and the episode ends with the outcome still up in the air.
Our take
This is a light episode that lives entirely on anticipation: half of it shows Goten against opponents who stand no chance, the other half opens a final that will only be settled next week. It works anyway, because the junior tournament is the best idea in this part of the saga. Toriyama takes the format Dragon Ball was born from and hands it to two kids with their fathers' power and the minds of schoolboys.
The charm is in the details. Goten is not cocky like Trunks: he is shy, looks to his mother for approval and has no idea how strong he is. In that he is a portrait of young Goku, innocent and guileless, while Trunks has already inherited a certain arrogance from his father. And the stunned crowd is a reminder that, even after the Cell Games, the world still has no idea what these fighters really are.
The anime additions, such as Gohan trying to cut in line, pad things out a little, but they also build the awkwardness between him and Videl, one of the most endearing threads of the arc.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 433 of the manga. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Takahiro Imamura, with Masahiro Shimanuki as animation director.
- It drew a 25.3% share in Japan.
- Trunks telling another contestant the result of Goten vs. Ikose in advance and Gohan trying to skip the punching machine line are anime additions; in the manga Gohan arrives just before the final begins.
- In the anime, a crying boy knocks out the opponent who was trying to comfort him; in the manga, his tears are exactly what cost him the match.
- Goten is seven and Trunks eight: both reached Super Saiyan at an age when Goku did not even know what a Saiyan was.