Episode 249 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on December 7, 1994 as "Where is Gohan!? Ferocious Training in the Kaioshin Realm" and titled Return to Other World in Funimation's dub, delivers the news fans had been waiting for: Gohan is alive. Back in the afterlife, Goku learns it from King Yemma and uses Instant Transmission to reach the Supreme Kai's world, where his son is training with the Z Sword. On Earth, meanwhile, Majin Buu performs his first good deed without ever stopping the killing.
Summary
Flying with Baba through the clouds of the Other World, Goku sees the endless line of souls killed by Buu waiting to be judged. At King Yemma's desk he asks whether his son has checked in, and the answer is no: Videl was right. Goku concentrates, senses Gohan's energy and is amazed to find it coming from the Supreme Kai's world. Figuring the Supreme Kai must be behind it, he teleports there.
Gohan is swinging the Z Sword around with ease, and Goku pops in just in time to dodge a slash. His son is surprised to see him, while the Supreme Kai and Kibito cannot work out how he got there. Their shock grows when Gohan hands him the sword and Goku wields it effortlessly. He gives his son a few pointers on swordsmanship and decides to stay and oversee his training until he is ready to face Buu again.
At Kami's Lookout, Goten and Trunks are fast asleep, much to Piccolo's annoyance. At his first shout the two boys knock heads and doze right off again; at the second they finally get up. Trunks then asks Piccolo to demonstrate the Fusion Dance once more. The horrified Namekian looks around for a partner, and Krillin tries to slip away but has nowhere to hide: the two of them end up striking the poses together.
Meanwhile Majin Buu meets a little boy who shows no fear of him at all. Buu assumes it is because the boy's eyes are closed, but the child explains that he is blind. The demon restores his sight with his healing powers and is thrown when the boy, instead of running, thanks him and says he must be beautiful on the inside. To repay him, the boy offers the coin he was saving for milk; Buu refuses, turns an old man into a carton of milk and hands it over. Then he flies off happily, telling himself he is not ugly after all, and soon wipes out another town.
Our take
The reunion is short but meaningful: father and son find each other at a moment when almost everyone, Goku included, had given Gohan up for dead, and Goku chooses to stay in the afterlife at his side rather than just cheer from afar. The sword he handles so easily also quietly undercuts the legend of the Z Sword, setting up the next episode's twist.
The most important segment, though, is the blind boy. It is the first concrete hint that there is more to Buu than destruction: a single act of kindness is enough to reach him. At the same time the episode softens nothing, because the milk Buu gives away is a transformed human being. For him, good and evil are the same act, done with the same carefree shrug. This is the seed of his friendship with Mr. Satan and, further down the line, of the split that will give birth to Evil Buu.
Trivia
- It adapts the first twelve pages of chapter 478. Written by Masashi Kubota and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with Tadayoshi Yamamuro as animation director.
- Its 21.4% ratings share is the highest among episodes 246 to 250.
- Piccolo performing the fusion poses with Krillin is an anime addition.
- The blind boy is credited simply as a young blind boy in the Japanese version; the English dub named him Tommy.
Did you know? In the Japanese version the boy simply thanks Buu as he leaves, while the English dub has him begging Buu to come back because all he has eaten that morning is an onion.