So the reason this episode is called Dueling Piccolos is because Piccolo uses the multi-form technique to replicate himself and then they proceed to have a duel with Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Okay, that’s not actually the reason, but for all he ever gets accomplished doing this shit, that may as well be what it is. I can’t imagine the utility of training against an exact copy of yourself. Is it some kind of ancient mysticism bullshit? “You must know yourself before you know your enemy.” I fail to see what you could learn from what is basically a step above shadowboxing. I guess if you’re analyzing what your other self does, you know what your weaknesses might be as a fighter and you can create counters to them? But that doesn’t make much sense because the multi-form Piccolo seems to have the exact same brain as Piccolo, so wouldn’t he know he’s trying to outsmart himself before he tries to do it? The whole damn thing makes my head hurt.
While Piccolo does
his weird “my own worst enemy” shtick, Gohan has decided to built himself a
little raft and sail across to a distant island in hopes of finding—well, he’s
pretty much decided to go home now. He is accompanied by his good buddy the
tiger, who more or less keeps its distance until Gohan notices it and starts
fucking with it all over again. You have to admire that tiger’s gumption, it’s
not like the T-Rex, which has just given up entirely. Although, the tiger may
well change its tune if Gohan starts to lop off pieces of its tail and eating
them. That’s almost worse than being murdered and then eaten, isn’t it? Having
a piece of yourself removed and then watching someone eat it, knowing that in
mere hours your body part that you’re never getting back again is going to pass
through some being’s digestive system. Gives me the willies.
If it sounds like
I’m rambling to fill up space, I honestly am. There’s like no progress made
whatsoever in this episode. Goku’s still on Snake Way, Gohan’s still just
jackass-ing around in the wilderness with animals that want to kill him but
can’t, Piccolo’s training, and… the other characters don’t even make an
appearance in this episode, I don’t think.
Oh, but wait, there
is one character who returns! It’s Chi-Chi, and she’s actually really depressed
and upset. I did wind up feeling really, really sorry for her in the one scene
she’s in. She acts more bratty than anything to her father, but it’s clearly
coming from a place of huge emotional distress. Think about it; she lost her
husband and son in one day, one of them killed, the other one kidnapped by her
husband’s worst enemy. For all she knows, she’s never going to see either of
them again. Goku may be killed fighting the Saiyans, Gohan may die to Piccolo
before the Saiyans even show up. Everyone likes to pick at Chi-Chi for being annoyingly
protective of Gohan and dismissive of Goku, but it’s kind of natural for a mom
to worry about the prospective of her not even five-year-old son fighting
intergalactic planet pirates whose weakest ranking member murdered her husband.
Just sayin’… or Saiyan, whatever.
The episode ends on
a cliffhanger, if you can even call it that since even someone who has never
seen this show before in their lives probably knows that nothing’s going to
happen to any main character yet. They aren’t going to build up to Gohan and
Piccolo training to fight the Saiyans only for one of them to die to a dumbass
hurricane. I will say, I think this is the first legitimate (sorta) cliffhanger
the show has had since the Raditz mini-arc. As diminished as its effectiveness
here is, I guess the showrunners had to try something, because so little
happens this episode that they needed some kind of hook to keep kids watching
in case this was their first ever episode of the show. God, could you even
imagine?
(2/5)
A Few Final Thoughts:
--I was damned close to giving this a one, and I’m still
wondering if I should. I’m not giving scores out by decimal point, but if I
were, this definitely would qualify as a 1.5.
--It’s weird how Mr. Cat seems to have legitimately
developed a kind of fondness for Gohan. Maybe the cat is an illustration of
Piccolo’s feelings toward Gohan and the way those are developing? Nah. Probably
just the English major in me trying to burble out.
--Piccolo’s refusioning of his two halves looks painful, to
say the least.
--What happens when one Piccolo kills the other?
--Best part of the episode is Goku complaining that he
wasted too much time at Princess Snake’s lair. Hey, the feeling is fucking
mutual, friend.
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