The plot hook is simple enough: Goku is looking for a sparring partner. Piccolo and Whis both have business matters to tend to and Vegeta just glared when Goku asked him. I'm not sure why Vegeta would turn down a chance to spar with his rival. I know, part of it is plot necessity, but it still felt strange. Maybe after all the time training with Whis, Vegeta needed a break from Goku for a while?
In any event, Gohan agrees. He tries to employ loophole abuse by sparring, not as mild-mannered Gohan, but as "the Great Saiyaman". Hilariously, nobody buys it. I did get a kick out of Gohan singing his own praises about how great he is under the guise of his alter-ego. We don't see the other characters' reactions, but I could imagine Goten or Goku rolling their eyes at that bit.
Honestly, Gohan does pretty well. You might have expected another curb stomp battle akin to Future Trunks' sparring match with Vegeta, but all things considered Saiyaman fared pretty well. Now, Goku doesn't go blue, but even with that, you can see the fruit of Gohan's off screen training with Piccolo.
It is pretty much the show's only action beat, but it was well done. You can tell that both participants are having fun and that transfers to the viewer.
In true saiyan fashion, the two do get carried away and end up destroying the field that Goku was supposed to be tending.
You'd think simple relocation would have solved this, but for some reason, Gohan decides to wander off, leaving Goku needing to find another person to spar with.
As such, he turns to his old buddy, Krillin. Much like Gohan did before, Goku barges in while Krillin is in the middle of police business. To Goku's credit, he handles it much better than Gohan did and Krillin gets to keep some of his dignity, though he does end up getting grazed by a bullet.
Krillin is, of course, skeptical about training with Goku (largely due to the vast difference in strength,) but 18 goads him into it. I'm sure she was just trying to motivate him, but her rhetoric came off as unnecessarily harsh to me. I could see "Z" era 18 talking to him in that fashion, but it seemed like she grew past that.
It works, so I guess there's that. Krillin does make it clear, though, that he's not interested in martial arts anymore and just wants to get stronger in order to become a better police officer.
Much like the Freeza invasion, you're left wondering why 18 isn't the one sparring. The idea is never brought up. Considering she's super saiyan level, you'd think Goku would at least try and ask her. But Goku and Krillin have been best buds for decades now, so you understand the episode wanting to get to that.
It pays off as the scenes between the two make for some of the show's highlights. Even though Krillin is nowhere close to Goku's level, the saiyan is still excited to be training with him again. When Krillin looks like he's starting to get down on himself, Goku shows genuine concern and tries to figure out what's bothering him. Even though Goku isn't the moral paragon that he was in "Z", it shows that he is still an all around good guy.
With the two training again, they both get the natural idea to go to Roshi for training again. It was a nice touch. While I never got into "Dragon Ball" itself, I still liked that development. Fans of the original show should appreciate the throwback even more. Heck, fortune teller Baba makes a return appearance!
Hearkening back to his old training methods, Roshi sends the pair to get him...some weed? OK, he calls it a "paradise plant" and he says that it isn't sold in stores. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but I got the impression they were implying marijuana. Honestly, Roshi being a pothead doesn't seem like that much of a stretch.
The two are supposed to be racing, but it seems like the two don't take that aspect too seriously. They casually stroll alongside each other for the most part. You get more banter, but it doesn't seem like they're taking the task too seriously.
The race does take them into a strange and spooky forest. You'd think that having Goku there would all but remove any potential tension, but the atmosphere still works well enough that you can see why Krillin would get unnerved.
In a scene reminiscent of Luke's training on Dagobah, strange phantoms appear and take the form of their old enemies. It allows for "cameos" from Cell, the Ginyu Force, Nappa and a few others. Sadly, no Radditz. I'd wonder why he was excluded, but given that Radditz has become something of a "Dragon Ball" butt monkey, maybe his exclusion is perfectly in character.
This marks the episode's cliffhanger, as the pair are surrounded. Given Goku's presence, you could argue how effective this is, but it seems like this is more about Krillin getting his groove back. It's kind of strange how the show has to get a lot of the supporting cast back in the game like this. We saw it for Gohan, and now Krillin. I wonder if Tien and Yamucha will get similar character arcs.
I'm kind of surprised this is a 2-part plot, but we'll see how the second part fares. Considering how well the last 2 part episode worked, I'm looking forward to seeing how this decides to wrap up.
As noted in the article's open, I really enjoyed this episode. It was nice to see Goku and Krillin bonding again and getting back to their roots. I had some minor quibbles, but all in all, I highly recommend giving this episode a watch.
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