Episode 88 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on April 24, 1991 and titled Clash of the Super Powers in Funimation's dub, is round two between Goku and Frieza, a battle of wits more than raw strength. Goku exploits the weakness he discovered in the previous episode, while the tyrant answers with telekinesis and an energy trap. Meanwhile, on Earth, a subplot starring Chi-Chi gets underway.
Summary
On Earth, Chi-Chi has packed her bags: she wants to board Capsule Corporation's new spaceship and go fetch Gohan from Namek. Ox-King and Master Roshi try to stop her. Making matters worse, Yajirobe arrives with news that Piccolo has been revived and sent to Namek: Chi-Chi, who does not know he has changed sides, panics even more. Roshi reminds her that the ship is broken, but at that very moment Dr. Brief announces he has fixed it.
On Namek, Frieza realizes it was Goku, not Vegeta, who defeated the Ginyu Force. The fight resumes and the tyrant knocks Goku underwater. There, Goku has an idea: if Frieza cannot sense ki, he cannot know where the attack is coming from. He fires two Kamehamehas from the water to distract him, slips in behind him and kicks him square in the face. Frieza gets up unhurt but stung in his pride, and admits that nobody had made him feel pain since he was a child.
Then he switches to telekinesis: he hurls a barrage of rocks at Goku, which the Saiyan destroys, and finally a chunk of land the size of a mountain. Goku breaks free, but Frieza traps him in an energy sphere that explodes on contact with anything and bats him around like a pinball until he crashes to the ground. Gohan and Krillin fear the worst; Piccolo does not. Goku walks out of the dust with a torn gi but almost unhurt: his speed let him escape the blast.
Our take
The double underwater Kamehameha is one of the best ideas of the whole duel, and it is pure Toriyama: a trick born from the rule established in the previous episode, showing Goku the strategist and not just the instinctive brawler. It is also one of the rare moments where Frieza looks vulnerable before his opponent's transformation.
The rest shows how the anime stretches the fight. In the manga Frieza only throws the rocks and catches Goku while he is distracted, blasting him into the ground right away. The anime adds the hurled mountain and the "pinball" inside the energy sphere: spectacular, but it slows the pace.
The Earth filler is more interesting. In the manga Chi-Chi spends the whole saga at home with her father, mostly worried about whether Gohan is doing his homework. The anime instead gives her a tragicomic rescue mission that runs for several episodes, with Roshi, Yajirobe and Dr. Brief in tow. It is a light addition that offers a breather between rounds and keeps the characters left on Earth in the picture.
Trivia
- It adapts chapters 309 and 310. Written by Aya Matsui and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, it drew a 23.4% ratings share.
- It is the first episode with Naoko Watanabe as Chi-Chi's Japanese voice, replacing Mayumi Shō, who had left on maternity leave. Watanabe was already in the cast as Puar.
- Before his underwater trick, Goku says he has not used the Kamehameha in a while, yet he had fired one at Captain Ginyu not long before, in a scene that exists only in the anime.
- In Funimation's dub Goku quips "hammer time" while dodging the rocks, a nod to MC Hammer.
Did you know? Frieza says no one had hurt him since childhood, but in Dragon Ball Super he will claim he has never trained a day in his life.
Characters
- Goku and Frieza
- Gohan, Krillin and Piccolo
- Chi-Chi, Ox-King, Master Roshi and Yajirobe
- Dr. Brief