Episode 96 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on June 19, 1991 and titled Explosion of Anger in Funimation's dub, is the first time we see Goku fight as a Super Saiyan. For Frieza, used to dominating everyone, it is a complete reversal: his attacks no longer work. The episode closes on one of the most famous lines in the series.
Summary
Freshly transformed, Goku again tells Gohan to take Piccolo, find Bulma and leave Namek in the spaceship. He reminds him that the Namekian must survive: if he dies, Kami dies too, and with him Earth's Dragon Balls. Gohan hesitates at the thought of leaving his father, and Goku snaps at him with a flash of anger that is not like him at all. Shaken, the boy obeys, convinced that somehow his dad will make it home too.
Frieza, still in disbelief, tries to shoot the fleeing Gohan, but Goku appears in front of him, grabs his hand and starts crushing it. He confronts him with all the lives he has destroyed and his total lack of remorse, while a dome of energy forms around them. When he finally wrenches free, the tyrant wonders where this power came from. In flight, Gohan realizes Vegeta was right: his father has become a Super Saiyan.
On Earth, Chi-Chi badgers Dr. Brief as he works on the broken spaceship. Master Roshi senses the change in Goku and confides his worry to Yajirobe: his friend is battling himself so as not to be swept away by his new power.
On Namek the fight resumes, but it is one-sided. Frieza accuses Goku of being outraged by cruelty his own people practiced just the same; Goku replies that the Saiyans paid with their lives, and the tyrant retorts that he was the one who made them pay. Then he attacks: energy barrages, direct blows, finger beams. Goku blocks, dodges, and finally lets himself be hit full in the face without taking any damage. Frieza, helpless for the first time, asks him what he has become. The answer is blunt: he is Son Goku, a Super Saiyan.
Our take
After the emotional force of the transformation, this episode does something different and just as necessary: it shows what being a Super Saiyan actually means. The hand-crushing scene overturns, in a few seconds, every power dynamic built since the start of the saga. The tyrant who toyed with his opponents is now the one squirming.
The most interesting part, though, is the new Goku. The cheerful, generous young man is gone, at least for now: he snaps at his son, speaks coldly to Frieza, lets himself be hit to humiliate him. Master Roshi, in an anime-only scene, voices a doubt the manga only hints at: that power could be a double-edged sword. It is a useful addition, because it prepares viewers for a Goku who will make questionable choices in the coming episodes, like letting Frieza reach full power.
The exchange about the Saiyans deserves attention. Frieza is not wrong when he points out that Goku's people wiped out planets on his behalf; Goku does not deny it, but refuses to carry that weight. It is one of the rare moments when the series lets the ambiguity of its hero's origins surface.
Several additions to the manga are confirmed: the Dr. Brief and Roshi scene, the speed contest through the smoke cloud and a second barrage of blasts that cannot scratch Goku. For the forms still to come, see our guide to Super Saiyan transformations.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 318 and the first nine pages of chapter 319. Written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, directed by Jun'ichi Fujise, with animation direction by Masayuki Uchiyama; 23.4% ratings share in Japan.
- Funimation's version of Goku's speech, with lines like "Ally to good, nightmare to you!", bears no relation to the Japanese, where he simply states his name and what he has become.
- In Japanese, Frieza refuses to believe Goku is a Super Saiyan until Goku declares it himself; the English dub has him accept it much sooner.
Characters
- Goku and Frieza
- Gohan and Piccolo
- Chi-Chi, Dr. Brief, Master Roshi and Yajirobe
- Vegeta, only in Gohan's thoughts