#marba

The first six minutes of this episode is just an all-out battle between Goku and Tamagami No. 3. I'm tempted to just say "They have a cool fight" and move on to the rest of the episode, but that feels like a disservice to the action. So I'm going to try to do a blow-by-blow description of the fight, if only to practice writing action scenes.

All right, so we start where the last episode left off, with the Tamagami asking Goku if he seeks the Dragon Ball in his chest, and Goku says he does and they start fighting. Tamagami raises his big hammer and charges Goku, who leaps away before the hammer smashes into the grounder where he was standing.

The Tamagami takes five more swings at Goku, and misses each time as Goku dodges just before impact. Then Goku jumps up onto the big rocks in the air. I think this is the debris Tamagami kicked up from hitting the ground so hard, but the Third Demon World has floating "islands" of land in the sky, so for all I know these could have been floating there before the fight began. Anyway, Goku bounces off a few of them and then launches himself back down at the Tamagami trying to hit hm with his Nyoibo. But the Tamagami blocks Goku with his big right hand. The Tamagami follows up with a spin kick and knocks Goku away.

Goku uses his Nyoibo to brake his motion along the ground. Then he braces one end in the ground and extends the Nyoibo right at Tamagami's face as he's charging towards Goku. Tamagami manages to dodge with only inches to spare, and since this stops his charge, he throws his hammer at Goku instead.

Goku dodges the hammer again, but Tamagami has the power to summon it back to him, like Thor, so the hammer flies back at Goku as he rushes to attack Tamagami. But Goku senses it coming and gets on top of the hammer to ride it back to Tamagami. This doesn't accomplish much, but it does keep the Tamagami on the defensive. He gets his hammer back and knocks Goku aside, but Goku's right back on him before he can really get any new offense going. Goku strikes his leg with the Nyoibo, then Tamagami's right hand as he tries for a grab, and then Goku runs down the length of his right arm as he prepares to strike Tamagami's head.

But Tamagami stops Goku using the handle of the hammer instead. That's clever, because at first I just took it as a way to add some variety to the action, but it's more than that. Goku had been dodging the business end of the hammer this whole time, and it's not hard to see why. Its so enormous that it's easy to watch. By attacking with the other end, Tamagami can trick Goku into thinking he's out of position for another swing, when in fact he's not planning to swing the hammer at all. And the end of the handle is huge too, but it's not nearly as big an impact. Goku blocks it and has to back off, but that's about all.

Tamagami swings the hammer around in a circle and it turns out Goku's clinging to the surface of it like he's hiding or just hanging on for dear life. Finally Tamagami appears to fling him off the thing so maybe that's all he was trying to do. The tactical consideration becomes clearer now. Tamagami can hit really hard with that hammer, but he needs Goku in a certain range to land a hit. I he's too close then the hammer doesn't do much good, and if Goku's too far away, Tamagami can't reach him.

On the other hand, Goku is so quick and agile that Tamagami can't land a good hit even when he has Goku in range. And Goku's a lot more versatile as well. He can attack at any range, and he can dodge the hammer at will. His only real disadvantage so far is that his offense doesn't seem to hurt Tamagami that much, and he can't attack very often because he's constantly watching out for the hammer.

Tamagami goes for another hammer strike and Goku zips between Tamagami's legs, slips behind him, and strikes Tamagami's right knee with the Nyoibo. Then he hits the left leg and tries a third strike on Tamagami's head when he collapses. But Tamagami is ready for this and blocks the Nyoibo with the handle of his hammer once again. He swats Goku away, but it looks like Goku didn't catch all of Tamagami's fist, so he's still on his feet when he lands.

They charge each other and their weapons collide in the middle. Despite the great size of Tamagami and his weapon, Goku's still able to hold him back with his Nyoibo and his teeny little kid body. They separate, and then Tamagami continues attacking with his hammer, and we cut to the townsfolk gathering around to see the fight. Panzy is impressed, and the Supreme Kai observes that Goku has already acclimated to the heavier air of the Demon Realm.

Back to the fight, Goku is backing off, and Tamagami uses his hammer to kick up some debris, and Goku deflects it with the Nyoibo. This appears to set him up for Tamagami to charge into him, hammer-first. I think Goku would have dodged that earlier, but here he's got too many oncoming projectiles. Tamagami drives Goku through a hill, but it doesn't seem to slow Goku down, and he continues dodging hammer strikes.

Then Goku leaps onto the hammer as Tamagami brings it down, hops over Tamagami and heads off into the other direction. He flies into a narrow crevice in a hill, uses the Nyoibo to stop himself and flip around to go back the way he came, but when he comes out of the crevice, Tamagami launches his hammer at him again and Goku is pinned between the hillside and the hammer.

Now we see Tamagami holding out his hand, and it looks like he can apply greater force to the hammer even from a distance, and Goku's straining to hold it back. At last, he turns it to one side with the Nyoibo, and as he does we see his eyes turning green, and it's time for Super Saiyan Goku.

The hammer got knocked away during Goku's transformation, so Tamagami summons it back to strike him from behind, but Goku does a sick backflip over it as it approaches, and he whacks the handle off while he's in mid-leap. They just stare at each other for a minute, and then Goku puts his Nyoibo away all cool and stuff, and Panzy thinks he's about to surrender, I think. But we know better.

Goku calls for them to fight seriously, and the Tamagami agrees. They stare down for a while, and then the broken hammer settles on the ground, and they start going at it, like that was the signal to begin. Very cool. Nice touch.

Tamagami leaps at Goku in the air and tries a punch, but Goku blows it with one hand, then kicks Tamagami to the ground. He advances on Tamagami, who begins firing some sort of energy blasts. I almost said "ki", and maybe that's what this is, but no one in the Demon Realm seems to know what ki is, so let's just call it "energy blasts" for now.

Goku seems annoyed to learn he can do this, but it doesn't slow him down much. He slips around Tamgami, kicks him in the right leg, and fires his own ki blast at his back, but Tamagami swats it away, then crosses his arms over his face to defend against a ki barrage.

Goku flies in to punch, but Tamagami blocks him. Goku flies around behind him, but Tamagami blocks again. Tamagami tries a punch, but Goku dodges and goes back around to his front and shoots ki blasts. Tamagami deflects those too. Tamagami tries to kick Goku, who dodges, goes behin him, and Tamagami tries to stomp him. No good, Goku 's back around to the front. Tamagami leaps up to swing his arm at Goku, but misses again. Goku zips around a bit and then goes in for a divekick but Tamagami blocks. Tamagami swats him away and Goku fires a ki barrage again.

Tamagami starts firing back with big red energy blasts from his right plam. Goku avoids these, but he's back on the defensive, and it seems like it's all he can do to run along the side of this old wall that surrounds the Tamagami site it looks like there used to be a fort here once.

Anyway, Tamagami starts charging up some big attack, and he even has a steam whistle sound like Majin Buu. Goku sort of hops around him like he's not sure what he wants to do, or maybe he's waiting to see how things play out. Then Tamagami plants both hands on the ground and shoots a bunch of energy down, which breaks up the ground all around him. I'm not sure what that was supposed to do, other than maybe throw Goku off-balance.

Instead, Goku just finds a spot and starts setting up a Kamehameha. The Tamagami sees this and quickly sets up another blast. It looks like it's gonna be a classic beam struggle, but instead Goku's shot rips right through Tamagami's and it pushes him across the battlefield. Tamagami ends up caught between a cliffside and the Kamehameha, and he seems like he might be able to hold it back a little longer, but then Goku turns up the juice and this added pressure is too much for Tamagami. He manages to deflect the blast, but only by sending it straight up. It must tire him out too, because he just lays there face up as the Kamehameha explodes in the air. And then Goku lands right on his belly and knocks the wind out of him.

Goku immediately hops clear and readies himself for more combat. By now he's transformed again into a Super Saiyan 2, but I'm not sure when he did that. Maybe when he amplified the Kamehameha, or maybe he did this after the Kamehameha, because he knew he would need to escalate the fight if Tamagami was strong enough to deflect it.

But there's no need. The Tamagami stands up, then collapses, and admits defeat. Goku thinks he can still continue, but the Tamagami insists that there's no need to continue, as he now understands Goku's power. Goku wins.

So Goku gets the Three-Star Dragon Ball, right? Not quite. The Tamagami tells him they need to have one final battle first, and no one knows what this could mean since no one's ever gotten this far against the Tamagami before, ever.

They head for the spot where the Tamagami had been standing in Episode 7, and the Tamagami sets up five cups. He plucks the Dragon Ball out of his chest and hides in in a cup, then shuffles them around. If Goku can correctly guess where the Dragon Ball is, he gets to take it.

No one explains what would happen if Goku guesses wrong. I mean, he already defeated the Tamagami, so I suppose Goku could just challenge him all over again, win, and then get another try at the shell game? Panzy observes that this is a little cheap, since they just had an all-out battle. The Supreme Kai suggests that this is still a battle, so maybe this is a test of some kind.

So Tamagami shuffles really fast, and the Supreme Kai admits that he could follow along, but only briefly. As for Goku, he says that the Dragon Ball isn't in any of the cups, but instead it's floating over the head of one of the demon bystanders. Tamagami somehow snuck it over there during his shuffle, and no one but Goku could see him do it.

The Tamagami is impressed, and he presents Goku with the Dragon Ball and reassembles his broken hammer. He resumes his pose on the pedastal and says he likes Goku for being a fair fighter. Then he wishes him luck against the other two Tamagami. Goku gives him a cute little bow of respect, and then he turns to face the adoring crowd.

After the fight, Glorio cals Dr. Arinsu to report on their progress. Arinsu is pleased to hear things are going so smoothly, but then she decides to continue work on her "main" plan.

Glorio sets course for Warp, so they can continue their quest in the Second Demon Realm. He plans to take the backroads, because he expects news of Goku's victory to spread quickly, and King Gomah's goons will be looking for them.

Meanwhile, in the First Demon World, Gomah and Degesu are reviewing footage from the Buu Saga again. I'm not sure what they're looking for, but they soon discover a mysterious figure present at the site of the battle between Majin Buu and Vegeta. On closer inspection, it turns out to be Dr. Arinsu, collecting… something from the crater where Vegeta exploded.

I think it's pretty clear that she was taking a sample of Buu's body before he could reassemble himself, but Gomah and Degesu can't seem to figure that out, so maybe there's more to this than I realize. I've never quite understood how something like this would even work. I mean, on paper it's a good idea, but all of the other pieces of Majin Buu's body woke up and reassembled, so I would think the piece she took would eventually regenerate into a full-sized Majin Buu.

I'm pretty sure this is how Android 21 was created too. Someone got a sample of Buu an used it in her design, and then she used another Buu sample to make all the Kid Buu doppelgangers you have to fight in the Fighter Z story mode. Also there's the matter of that shirt Super Buu ripped off and threw away after he thought he beat Vegito. I'm pretty sure that's also a piece of Majin Buu, which could be harested for making new monsters or whatever, but wouldn't it just grow back on its own to make another Buu?

Well, Dr. Arinsu put her sample in a little flask, so maybe she knows certain techniques to keep that from being a problem. And if she can pull this off, then maybe Android 21's creator had something similar to work with.

The thing is, Gomah seems much more troubled by the fact that Arinsu knew about the Majin Buu crisis well before Gomah and Degesu found out about it. Like, she was literally there when it went down, however briefly. Back in episode 1, the Warp fishes told Gomah that soneone else had gone to Earth "recently", and it turned out to be Arinsu, and now we know when and why. Gomah suspects Dabura must have told her about Buu before, and that's how she knew to come here. I assume he means "before Dabura got taken over by Babidi," which implies that Dabrua knew about Babidi's plot before he got mind controlled. Maybe he was trying to stop Babidi before and he got flipped to the other side.

But Gomah has no idea what Dr. Arinsu was doing on Earth, which I find curious. I mean, it seems obvious that she's trying to make her own Majin Buu, right? Maybe Gomah lacks the imagination to think anyone would want to try that. He was pretty scared of Buu before, and he seems pretty confident of his own power and plan, so maybe he can't envision someone taking such a dangerous risk when he wouldn't need to.

Meanwhile, the present-day Arinsu consults with another demon, Marba. She's some kind of old witch who has a cool witch house with potions and cauldrons and such. She also has a familiar "M" symbol on her stuff. She tastes her latest concoction and says the fragment of Majin Buu "really brings the flavor together." This rules. Marba is awesome.

They take the pot outside, and I guess this is the next step of the process. Arinsu complains that Marba's previous attempt failed, and the Majin she created from it couldn't even beat Dr. Arinsu herself. But Marba is optimistic about this one because it has the essence of Buu in it. They won't know for sure until it's done, though. Still Marba thinks it should be fine.

Arinsu is skeptical, because she understood that Marba was the witch who created the original Majin Buu in the first place. Marba plays dumb, and says that Bibidi created Buu, which was the original DBZ lore. But Arinsu knows the truth: All Bibidi did was come to Marba and ask her to make Buu for him.

After that, Buu threw the whole Demon Realm into chaos. The Glinds went to the outside world, and some were killed, so I guess that's why Marba isn't eager to take credit for Buu's creation. But Arinsu promises to keep her secret.

That seems to assure Marba, and she admits that Buu was a fluke, and hardly a success, because he was uncontrollable. But Marba's been working on improving controllability in her creations, so she thinks this new project will be powerful and obedient. Marba asks Arisu to add a sample of her own saliva to the mix, which will make the Majin more obedient. Arinsu does it, and her loogie make the potion all green and stuff.

I love this. The idea of Majin Buu being a potion some creepy old witch mixed up in a pot is awesome, and now we see her whipping up another one! It's great.

Marba expects a reward for this work, and Arinsu expects she can produce one once this new Majin helps her become the new Demon King. Marba thinks it's unwise to underestimate Gomah, but Arinsu has another card to play: the Dragon Balls. Marba can't believe it, but Arinsu already has one secured, and two more one the way.

Meanwhile, Hybis is still bringing Bulma, Piccolo, and Vegeta to meet with Goku's group, but King Kadan calls to inform them of Goku's victory over the Tamagami. So Goku's heading back to Warp, so Hybis can turn around and wait for him there. He tells Hybis to take the group to a hotel and get a good meal. Hybis wants mud-colored wine, a drink that looks and tastes like mud.

Vegeta wants to know more about the Demon Realm's Dragon Balls, but Hybis ignores him because he's not even a king and yet he's too rude to say "please". Vegeta says "please" and he is suitably nettled over this.

So this was a great episode, maybe even better than the first episode, which was a pretty strong opening to the series. The show built up to the Goku/Tamagami fight, made us want it, and then overdelivered. I especially like that it was six minutes and change of nonstop action, easy to follow, and with a clear and unambiguous outcome. The only time the show cut back to the onlookers was to show us that there were onlookers, and that even the Supreme Kai was impressed with Goku's performance under these conditions. And everyone was awed by the Kamehameha, which is only proper for the first one of the series.

And then the episode kept going! The Tamagami's shell game seemed a bit odd, but it was a good way to cool down after such a big fight. I don't think anyone seriously doubted that a fighter capable of defeating Tamagami would fail to spot the Dragon Ball, but it emphasizes Goku's worthiness as a hero. And the scene didn't overstay its welcome or try to force any corny jokes onto the audience.

The stuff with Arinsu and Marba is awesome. We not only get a clear idea of what Arinsu is up to, but how she plans on doing it. Gomah's onto her, but he doesn't know enough to really stop her, at least not yet. And Marba is a fantastic addition to the show. This series has been presented as a direct continuation of the Buu Saga, but this is the first time we've realy gotten any follow up on Majin Buu himself. Now we finally meet his true creator, and unlike Bibidi, she's a living, breathing character with her own motives and ambitions. I'm a bit disappointed now that Majin Buu seems to be left behind on Earth. Everyone keeps talking about him in the past tense, but he was still hanging around with Mr. Satan as recently as Episode 2. I wonder what Marba would think of him.

For years, Buu's origin story has confused me, because there were always two versions. In the manga, Bibidi was clearly stated to have created Majin Buu, but later sources indicated that Buu was some sort of primordial being who had existed for millions of years, acting as some sort of agent of destruction in the universe. In this scenario, Bibidi didn't create Buu so much as he summoned him from this ancient primordial state to do his bidding. I think Toriyama himself put this forth in an interview, but I don't understand why he said this, unless he wanted to establish Bibidi wasn't the creator without giving away any plans for a new character who deserved the credit.

It's also possible that Marba is the one who discovered the primordial Buu and converted it into something Bibidi could use. Or maybe Toriyama finally decided that there should be a straightforward Buu origin: Marba created him on commission and now she's making another one. I'm interested to see what else we learn about her and her methods.

Miss Buu is a weird character in the lore

Basically from what i understand she’s a character made basically for the mmorpg dragon ball online as a means to explain why Majin was a race to select when the player created a character

As Miss Buu was made from Buu when Buu got curious about love

Since then other lore or changes had been had with Buu and the Majins

Like in Xenoverse Buu just makes children from just eating a lot of food

In some ways Android 21 from Dragon Ball Fighterz she fills the role of a female Buu

So I think in those ways this probably isn’t going to be Miss Buu literally but I think like other things Toriyama took from his old post Manga ending ideas this is something that could be reworked

Edit 10/30/24

So I did not look at any reviews or YouTube videos to tweets or etc

So if anyone also thought of this then I guess it’s just a coincidence as I don’t think it’s that original of a thought

Also so apparently the image everyone took as Miss Buu was just a character in the dragon ball online game named Titima but most of what I said still applies just means they’re flexible on the color and such