Episode 213 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on January 19, 1994 and titled Big Trouble, Little Trunks in Funimation's dub, is a comic showcase for Mr. Satan. Forced to fight the junior champion, little Trunks, the world champion tries every trick in the book to save face, and almost pulls it off. In the closing minutes, though, the tone shifts: Goku and his friends run into two strangers who are clearly not ordinary spectators.
Summary
Trunks stands in the ring, itching to find out whether Mr. Satan is really as strong as everyone says. Goku, Krillin, Android 18, Vegeta and Piccolo do not even bother to watch and head off in search of food, since they already know how it will end. The champion, on the other hand, saw the final and is shaking. He tries to intimidate the boy with his flashiest poses, explains that this is only an exhibition and then invents an old knee injury from his battle with Cell. Shortly afterwards, though, he announces that he has popped the knee back into place himself, and the match goes on.
So he plays his last card. He tells Trunks that, by tradition, the challenger gets to open with a gentle greeting punch to the face. Trunks nods and throws what is, for him, the lightest of jabs: Mr. Satan flies out of the ring and slams into the stadium wall. Everyone thinks he is out cold, but he gets back up, remarks on the boy's power with a grin, and the crowd decides he let the kid win out of sheer generosity. Back in his locker room, away from the cameras, he writhes in pain.
Trunks gets bored during the interviews and leaves with Goten. Neither is remotely satisfied with such an easy tournament, and they start plotting a way into the adult division.
In the cafeteria, meanwhile, Goku and Vegeta wolf down mountains of food while Krillin calls them bottomless pits. Videl, who arrived with Gohan, asks what a Saiyan is, and Gohan silences his friend before he says too much. On the way to the arena the group crosses paths with two odd figures: a short man with lavender skin and a towering one with red skin. The first approaches Goku, asks if he is really Goku, shakes his hand and says he is looking forward to facing him. Once the pair walk away, Piccolo admits he has a bad feeling about them, and Goku agrees: they are very strong.
Our take
Mr. Satan is the character the Majin Buu Saga redeems more than any other, and this episode lays the groundwork. He is a coward and a liar, but the scene works because it is not just mockery. The champion knows his limits perfectly well, has seen what these kids can do and reacts the way anyone would: by looking for a way out. That he finds one, and that the crowd cheers him even louder, is the series' sharpest satire of how fame and truth relate.
The final scene moves the saga onto a different track. The meeting with Shin and Kibito, still unnamed, is written with admirable economy: a handshake, a couple of lines and Piccolo's unease are enough to tell us that the tournament is about to become something else entirely. The shift from comedy to mystery is one of the smoothest transitions in the arc.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 436 and the first two pages of chapter 437. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with Tadayoshi Yamamuro as animation director.
- Its 26.7% share was the highest of the Majin Buu Saga up to that point.
- Trunks' post-victory interview is an anime addition.
- In the manga, Goten and Trunks steal Mighty Mask's costume before the meal and the meeting with the strangers; the anime swaps the scenes and saves the theft for the next episode.
- The English title nods to John Carpenter's 1986 film Big Trouble in Little China.