Episode 64 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on October 24, 1990 after a four-week gap and retitled Recoome Unleashed in Funimation's uncut dub, is round two against the Ginyu Force: Vegeta versus Recoome. The Saiyan prince attacks with everything he has, and quickly learns that the red-haired giant is not like any opponent he has faced.
Summary
Recoome steps forward laughing and even invites Gohan and Krillin to help Vegeta, since he can take them all at once. Jeice and Burter remind him of the deal, though: the two little ones are theirs. Before the fight, Recoome runs through a string of goofy poses that leave the boys baffled, while Guldo's headless body still lies nearby.
Vegeta wastes no time. He unleashes his power with a fury that sends Recoome's scouter haywire, punches him square in the face, launches him skyward, slams him into the ground and hurls him into the mountains. Then he joins his hands and fires an enormous energy wave that obliterates everything in its path. Krillin is relieved to have him on their side. But Gohan can still sense the enemy: Recoome strolls out of the smoke with his armor gone, his clothes scorched and barely a scratch on him, and waves hello mid-pose as if nothing happened.
Meanwhile Captain Ginyu flies back to the ship juggling the Dragon Balls and nearly drops one. Aboard, Frieza reviews data on Namek: no resources, no commercial value. Once he is immortal, he decides, the planet can go up like a fireworks show.
On the battlefield, Recoome goes on the offensive with grandly named moves. Vegeta answers with all the speed he can muster but ends up in the water, then planted face-first in the ground, his face covered in blood. A sneaky blast to the face drops Recoome for a moment, but the giant bounces back cheerier than ever, and Vegeta realizes he is at his limit while his opponent is still playing around. When Recoome readies his strongest attack, a beam fired from his mouth, Gohan and Krillin decide they have nothing left to lose and strike him in the head, saving Vegeta. The answer is instant: one blow and Krillin is out cold. Gohan is left alone in front of Recoome.
Our take
If Guldo was a joke with a dangerous power, Recoome is the reverse: a colossus who acts like a clown and absorbs punishment like a mountain. The moment he emerges from the smoke striking a pose, after Vegeta's full-power assault, is one of the most effective beats of the saga, because it is funny and terrifying at once. For the first time, the Vegeta who made the Earth tremble is reduced to a punch-drunk boxer.
There is an interesting moral reversal too. Until the previous episode, Vegeta was the one protecting Gohan and Krillin; here they throw themselves into the fight to save him, knowing full well they have no chance. It is a small seed of the mutual trust that will grow, very slowly, later on.
The anime adds two brief but telling scenes. Ginyu juggling the balls and nearly losing one is not in the manga. More importantly, Frieza judging Namek worthless and announcing he will destroy it is an anime invention: a bit of foreshadowing that casts a sinister shadow over everything to come.
Trivia
- It adapts chapters 275 and 276 and the first nine pages of chapter 277, with a 23.0% ratings share.
- Written by Hiroshi Toda, directed by Minoru Okazaki, animation supervised by Masaki Satō.
- Guldo's decapitated body stays on screen for much of the episode; Saban's edit removed it.
- When Recoome pulls Vegeta out of the ground, the English dub has him quip that he looks like a "Vegeta-ble" ready to be picked.
- In the Ocean/Saban dub it was episode 51, No Refuge From Recoome.
Did you know? In Japanese, Recoome has the booming voice of veteran actor Kenji Utsumi.