Episode 28 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on November 29, 1989 and known in Funimation's dub as Goku's Arrival, is the most important episode of the saga so far. Piccolo dies in front of Gohan, Kami vanishes with him and the Dragon Balls turn to stone. Then, just as Nappa is about to finish the boy off, the Flying Nimbus whisks him away: Goku has arrived.
Summary
When the smoke clears, Piccolo is still standing, but he collapses at once. In tears, he admits to Gohan that their months together mattered, that the boy was the first to treat him like a friend, and apologizes for being so hard on him in training. Then he dies. At the Lookout, Kami says goodbye to Mr. Popo and fades away too: Piccolo and Kami were once a single being, and the Dragon Balls die with them.
At Kame House, Chi-Chi, armed to the teeth, wants to leave and save her son and ends up wrestling with the others. She is interrupted by Fortuneteller Baba, who arrives with her crystal ball and announces that Goku is back on Earth.
On the battlefield, Gohan explodes. He pours all his rage into a Masenko that Nappa swats away with one arm, though it leaves the limb numb. Drained, the boy falls to his knees and, despite Krillin's pleas, has no strength left even to flee. Nappa raises his foot to crush him, but in that instant Gohan disappears: he finds himself on the Flying Nimbus, next to his father.
Goku looks around at the bodies of Tien, Yamcha and Piccolo while Nappa gleefully describes Chiaotzu's end. He shakes with rage, but first he splits his last Senzu Bean between Gohan and Krillin. When he learns that Piccolo died protecting his son, he turns to face the Saiyans. His energy surges and Vegeta's scouter reads an impossible number: over 8,000. The prince crushes it in his fist. Nappa charges head-on, but Goku dodges everything effortlessly and drops him to his knees with a single punch to the gut.
Our take
Piccolo's death is the emotional heart of the saga, and the anime gives it the time it deserves. The character's journey, from the heir of King Piccolo born to conquer the world to the teacher who sacrifices himself for a child, reaches its turning point here. It is one of Toriyama's most successful redemption arcs, and it runs entirely through Gohan.
The second half changes tone abruptly. Goku's entrance is staged as a release: the calm way he looks at the fallen, the decision to split the Senzu before anything else, the scouter scene. Nappa, who seemed invincible a minute earlier, suddenly looks clumsy.
The anime's additions are mostly at Kame House: in the manga Baba never brings her crystal ball there, and Chi-Chi gearing up for war is a Toei invention.
Trivia
- This is the source of the line made famous in English as "It's over 9000!". In the original, as in the manga, the number is 8,000. The change dates back to the first English dub, and Brian Drummond's delivery became one of the internet's best-known memes.
- In the Japanese version, as in the manga, Goku dedicates his punch to Nappa's stomach to Chiaotzu; the English dubs dedicate it to all four fallen fighters.
- This is Piccolo's first death and Kami's only one.
- The episode adapts chapters 223 and 224 and the start of 225, and reached a 24.0% ratings share in Japan.
Did you know? In the Japanese version, as Gohan charges his Masenko, Vegeta's scouter reads 2,800 (3,000 in the English dubs): an enormous figure for a five-year-old.