Episode 214 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on January 26, 1994 and titled Who Will Fight Who? in Funimation's dub, covers the draw for the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament. The full Japanese title adds "Let's Hurry and Hold the First Round", and the impatience is shared by everyone. Goten and Trunks find a way into the adult division, hidden inside a single costume, and the draw produces a bracket full of promise: above all, Goku against Vegeta in the very first round.
Summary
The junior tournament was not enough. Trunks wants to test himself against the adults and drags Goten into the contestants' area. There they spot a masked fighter, Mighty Mask, and Trunks lures him aside by claiming a girl wants to talk to him. One sharp chop to the neck puts him down; Goten feels a little bad about it, but helps his friend hide him in the bushes. Then the two put on the costume one on top of the other: Goten below as the legs, Trunks above wearing the mask, with the cape hiding the trick.
In the draw room, Goku sizes up the other finalists. Some look harmless, but two fighters stand out at once: Spopovich and Yamu, creepy-looking men with an "M" marked on their foreheads. The two strangers from earlier are there too, and we now learn their names, Shin and Kibito. And there is an odd Mighty Mask who can barely walk, which does not escape Goku. Off to the side, Krillin teases Gohan about Videl, who in his opinion is quite the looker: all Gohan needs is a little nerve to ask her out. Gohan blushes and denies everything.
The numbered balls come out one by one, and the bracket takes shape:
| Match | Fighters |
|---|---|
| 1 | Krillin vs. Pintar |
| 2 | Shin vs. Ma Junior (Piccolo) |
| 3 | Videl vs. Spopovich |
| 4 | Kibito vs. Great Saiyaman (Gohan) |
| 5 | Android 18 vs. Mr. Satan |
| 6 | Goku vs. Vegeta |
| 7 | Mighty Mask vs. Killa |
| 8 | Yamu vs. Jewel |
Vegeta smirks: the showdown with Goku he has waited years for will come right away. Piccolo, on the other hand, grows more and more tense at the thought of facing Shin. The announcer lays out the rules: you lose by ring-out, by staying down for a ten count or by giving up, and killing your opponent means disqualification. Then it is time to begin.
Our take
It is a transitional episode, but the kind that whets your appetite: Toriyama, who knows a thing or two about tournaments, understands that the draw is a suspense scene in its own right. Every number pulled is a promise, and this bracket promises a lot: Goku vs. Vegeta, the mystery of Shin, Videl against one of the two creeps, Gohan against Kibito. That many of these matches will never be fought, at least not in the ring, is the joke the saga has in store for its audience.
Goten and Trunks' disguise is the best gag. The original Mighty Mask is a one-line character, but the image of two kids with Super Saiyan power hidden under a cape, bickering under their breath about who does what, provides a perfect comic counterweight as the rest of the tournament turns darker. And the "M" on Spopovich and Yamu's foreheads is a detail that will matter very soon.
Trivia
- It adapts pages 3-6 of chapter 437 and chapter 438. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with Keisuke Masunaga as animation director.
- It drew a 25.6% share in Japan.
- The match-ups being radioed to the stands, with Chi-Chi, Bulma and Yamcha reacting, and Spopovich picking up Mighty Mask and tossing him aside are anime additions.
- Looking at her ball, Videl says it is number 15, but the screen clearly shows a 5: a small slip by the animators.
- In Funimation's dub, Trunks lures Mighty Mask away with an arm-wrestling challenge instead of a girl.
- Piccolo enters as Ma Junior, the same alias he used at the 23rd tournament, when he reached the final against Goku. More on that in our page on the World Martial Arts Tournament.