#abacus guy

So this is another filler episode leading into the Red Ribbon Army Saga.  For those of you keeping score, the anime ran out of manga early into episode 29, and we’ve been on the filler train ever since.   Episode 29 was pretty bad, 30-32 were really fun, and this episode is kind of pointless. 

We’ll get the title out of the way first, because it only refers to a scene at Kame House that has nothing to do with anything else.   See, after the World Tournament, Goku went off to search for the Dragon Balls again, and Krillin didn’t know what to do, so he’s been training at Master Roshi’s place until he figures out his next move.   So after he gets done doing 999 pushups with two turtles and Roshi on his back, they head inside and share a big ice cream sundae with Launch.   They start talking about the Dragon Balls, and Roshi relates a tale he once heard about where the Dragon Balls came from.  Hence the title “Legend of the Dragon.”

According to the legend Roshi heard, there used to only be one Dragon Ball, back in the long-ago days when “everyone was honest”.   The gods gave the Dragon Ball to the people of the world for their benefit, and they put it in a temple.   I’m not sure what they wished for if everything was so idyllic and peaceful, but since there was only one ball in a public place, it was easy to make wishes. 

However, people started to become corrupt, and wars broke out, and the wicked began to use the Dragon Ball for evil purposes, so the gods punished them by dividing the Dragon Ball into seven, and scattering them across the world.   This way, it would be much harder to gather the Dragon Balls and use them for selfish wishes.   You’d think it’d be much simpler to just give the Dragon the power to decide which wishes are worthy of being granted or denied, but whatever. 

Nevertheless, there were still people who managed to gather the Dragon Balls and used them for selfish gain.   This guy pictured above wished for an abacus, I guess.   I really like this screencap, and I totally believe this dude is an evil man, but I have no idea what this picture is trying to tell me.   I’m pretty sure those guys on the bottom are his slaves, since the last shot showed them building a pyramid-looking thing, but what’s the deal with the abacus? 

It reminds me a lot of this comic book version of the Bible I got once.   It didn’t cover the entire thing, but there was a cool scene depicting how wicked everybody was right before Noah’s Ark and the Flood.   There was this one guy with a knife in one hand, and he was holding up a cask of what I assumed was wine in the other, standing triumphantly like he was proud of how he’d killed someone to get his drink on. 

There’s also this guy, and I have no idea what his deal is, since Roshi’s narration kind of petered out around here.  Bulma told Goku once that someone once used the Dragon Balls to become a great king, so maybe this guy is supposed to be that person?   I much prefer Lanipator’s head canon that King Furry’s ancestor made that wish, and his dynasty has ruled the Earth ever since.  But King Furry hasn’t been introduced yet, so I guess Toei went with a more Prince Valiant-style character.   Or maybe he’s a villain?  Beats me. 

I think the broader purpose of this tale is to point out that the Red Ribbon Army’s hunt for the Dragon Balls is nothing new.    Armies and tyrants have been trying to use that power throughout history, and the Red Ribbon is just the latest iteration of that. 

The main story here is that Goku survived the battle between Colonel Silver and Emperor Pilaf, and he wakes up in a mountain forest where he befriends a bunch of monkeys.    While he takes a nap, the monkeys discover a Dragon Ball, and... Why does that monkey have bosoms?   What the hell is that about?

I didn’t want to make a big deal about this, but there was a bird a few episodes back that looked like she had bosoms to, but they weren’t quite as obvious so I let it slide.   I was clearly mistaken, and someone at Toei likes drawng animals with big ol’ boobies.  Well, you do you, but it seems kind of odd to do that and not give the animals a more humanoid appearance.   Like a fish-woman, I can see someone wanting to draw that.   A plain old fish with boobs mounted to its body doesn’t make sense to me.  

This monkey’s pretty awesome.   Look at him.   They’re all gathering around to give Goku food because he saved Boob Monkey and her baby from a panther, and he’s like “Yeah, good hustle.   I brought you a pear, but no big deal.”

Later, Colonel Silver’s forces show up to start searching for the Dragon Ball there, and when SIlver finds out the monkeys have it, he orders his men to torch the forest so he can capture the monkeys and find the Ball.  I feel like there should be an easier way to go about this.   Who put the li’l bandages on the monkey prisoners?   If I worked for the Red Ribbon Army, I’d want to have that job.   These guys are adorable.  

Goku confronts Colonel SIlver, but before they can fight over the Dragon Ball, Boob Monkey grabs it and tries to make a break for it, but SIlver shoots the branch she was reaching for, and she nearly falls down a canyon.   Goku saves her and her baby (again), but the Dragon Ball ends up in the stream below.   Silver withdraws his forces, since all he’s after is the Dragon Ball, and it’ll be miles away by the time his men can get down there. 

And that’s pretty much it.   There was a really lengthy opening of Colonel Silver’s morning workout, and another lengthy scene of Commander Red congratulating Silver for capturing Pilaf’s Dragon Ball in the last episode.   So they weren’t even trying to hide that they were padding this episode out.    There were a lot of cute monkey scenes just for the sake of doing cute monkey scenes, and that isn’t exactly bad, but I’m glad we’re finally moving on with the story.

I guess I should leave you with the insert song that played during Roshi’s story.