Episode 89 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on May 1, 1991 and titled Frieza's Boast in Funimation's dub, revolves around a challenge within the challenge: Frieza announces he will beat Goku without using his hands. The Saiyan takes the bait and turns it around. In parallel, the anime launches one of the strangest subplots of the saga, starring Bulma and Captain Ginyu in the body of a frog.
Summary
Certain of his superiority, Frieza declares he will fight Goku without his hands. The fight resumes and, despite the handicap, the two remain even. Frieza lashes his tail like a whip and puts the Saiyan on the back foot, until Goku grabs it and uses it to swing him around and fling him away.
On Earth, Chi-Chi can hardly wait to leave as Dr. Brief finishes preparing the new spaceship; Master Roshi, Yajirobe, Oolong and Puar end up drafted into the expedition.
On Namek, Bulma crosses the planet on her jet bike with a frog for company. She remembers finding it among a colony of Namekian frogs: it was the smartest of the bunch and made her laugh like she had not in days. During a stop to eat, the frog shows almost human intelligence, and Bulma, curious, straps on a small device that translates its croaks into words. Big mistake: the frog is Captain Ginyu, and as soon as he has a voice again he uses his Body Change. Now Ginyu is in Bulma's body, and Bulma is stuck in a frog's.
Meanwhile, Frieza wraps his tail around Goku's neck to strangle him. Goku answers with a desperate move: he bites down on it as hard as he can. While Frieza reels in pain, Goku pummels him until the tyrant instinctively strikes back with a punch. Goku gloats: he has made him use his hands. He points out that Frieza is overconfident, and that this is exactly what leaves him open. Frieza stops playing.
Our take
The no-hands vow comes straight from Toriyama, and it is perfect for the character. Frieza is not just cruel, he is vain: he needs to humiliate an opponent before beating him. Goku's bite, an almost animal gesture, is the right answer to so much refinement. In a few pages the manga shows that the tyrant can be provoked, and that his arrogance is a weapon for whoever faces him.
Everything else in the episode is anime-only. Bulma befriending frog Ginyu, the translator, the body swap: in the manga Bulma stays hidden among the rocks for the whole fight and frog Ginyu simply vanishes from the story. Fans have been divided on this addition ever since, but it has its own logic: Toei had to slow down a story that was catching up with the manga, and it did so by bringing back a character whose technique is ideal for a comic side plot. The result is uneven, but the image of Ginyu stuck in an Earth woman's body has a grotesque, very early-nineties sense of humor.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 311. Written by Aya Matsui and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda from a storyboard by Kazuhisa Takenouchi, it drew a 21.2% ratings share.
- Frieza is one of five villains Goku bites over the course of the franchise; the others are King Piccolo, Kid Buu, Baby and Beerus.
- Bulma discovers that her father always stores meals inside capsule vehicles such as her bike.
- Master Roshi groping Chi-Chi was cut from the American broadcast, and Ginyu's complaints about Bulma's body were softened in the English dub.
Did you know? In the Majin Buu Saga, Vegito will also tell his opponent he can beat him without using his hands.