#oliboo

Buu tries to intimidate Vegito, but come on.  

He seems to get in a few good hits, but Vegito is clearly toying with him at this point.  

After shrugging off Buu’s offense, he says he’s disappointed with Buu, and shows him how to really hurt someone, using the Big Bang Attack.

Buu tries to no-sell it, but methinks he doth protest too much.  

Then he tries to make a big cloud of steam to conceal his movements, which might have worked back in the Tien Saga, but come on, dude.

Yeah, Vegito can hit him at will, even if he can’t see him.  

Then he flings him down to the ground.

On the Supreme Kai Planet, Kibitoshin is amazed by how powerful Vegito is, but the Elder Kai isn’t surprised at all, since Goku and Vegeta were already so impressive separately.    And the fact that they’re rivals apparently amplifies the fusion even more.   

Then Vegito spears Buu with a beam of ki.   It’s kind of weird how this is Vegito’s finisher in most of the video games, but we’ve still got two more episodes of this fight.   I suppose this is his most memorable technique, but he doesn’t actually do a whole lot with it.   

Meanwhile, on the Grand Kai Planet, Krillin is observing the Vegito/Buu fight via King Kai’s telepathy.    Seems that King Kai arranged for Krillin and Yamcha to keep their bodies when they died, just as a precaution in case Goku, Vegeta, and Gohan failed.

Krillin doesn’t see how he and Yamcha would have done much good if Goku and Vegeta failed, but now that Vegito is kicking so much ass, it looks like it won’t matter.    This worries Krillin for a moment, because he thinks this means he won’t get to keep his body, but King Kai assures him that he’ll set things up with the Grand Kai.   After all, Krillin and Yamcha have helped defend the Earth just like Goku, so that’s gotta count for something.   

I always found it odd how Krillin and Yamcha were considered the last line of defense after all the Saiyans, but I guess there’s no one else in the main cast to consider.    Tien and Chiaotzu are still alive and still on Earth, so they’re technically still in this thing, and Piccolo got absorbed by Buu, so these were the only two Z-Fighters King Kai could set aside.  

While Krillin is talking to King Kai, Yamcha’s busy fighting Oliboo and that winged gorilla dude at the same time.   

Ironically, this place has Yamcha fired up, even though he was pretty lax about training while he was alive.    I feel like Oliboo ought to be a lot stronger than Yamcha, but oh well.  

I’d like to think this reawakening of Yamcha’s fighting spirit carried on after he was resurrected by the Dragon Balls.   Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super don’t exactly follow up on this, one way or the other, which irritates me greatly, because what was the point of doing a DBZ sequel if they aren’t going to pick up on things like this?   

Back on Earth, Vegito scolds Buu for being a dull opponent, and not taking this fight seriously.   Then he considers that maybe this was the best Buu could do, and apologizes for making light of his efforts.

So Buu gets really pissed and pulls himself loose from Vegito’s beam.    I’m not sure why he couldn’t have done that all along, but maybe Buu’s gotten tired from all this fighting and it costs him some power to have to keep reassembling himself like this.  

Either way, this gets Buu upset, so he repeats a move he used to kill Smitty way back in Episode 255.   He forces himself down Vegito’s throat...

And thus we have CHUNGUS VEGITO.   

Buu gloats that he can destroy Vegito from the inside out now, and there’s nothing Vegito can do about it.    I mean, it seems to me that the mere fact that they’re still having this conversation suggests that this won’t be as effective as it was on Smitty.    I’m pretty sure Smitty died before Buu even finished stuffing himself inside Smitty’s body.   

Vegito pauses for a moment, as though considering the problem, which is kind of humorous in itself.   

Then he yells really loud and charges up his ki, which is kind of how everyone solves problems on this show.

But it works!   He’s back to normal, save for a huge bulge on his back...

... which migrates over to his shoulder...

And Vegito punches it, forcing the swelling to move to a different part of his body.

Vegito explains that he’s used his own ki to constrain Buu within his body, so there’s no way he can move freely.   Basically, he’s at Vegito’s mercy like this.

So Buu has no choice but to leave the same way he came in.   

Once again, Vegito expresses disappointment in Buu as an opponent, and that gets him riled up again.

So now it’s Buu’s turn to start screaming until something happens.   He also does the anime thing where you clench your fist so hard that blood comes out.  

Vegito isn’t even remotely worried by this.

But Dende is.   As he explains to Mr. Satan, this is a lot like how Buu escaped the Hyperbolic Time Chamber several episodes back, only this time, Buu is causing spatial distortions on Earth, breaking down the barriers to other dimensions.   It’s probably not good for the environment, is Dende’s point, although it’s unclear exactly what would happen if this keeps up.

At last, Vegito seems to pick up on what Dende is worried about, and he decides to stop Buu before it gets too far out of hand.

This is probably the most effort Vegito puts in during the entire fight.   He has to really push hard to get close enough to Buu...

And then he decks the bastard, which seems to snap him out of his tantrum.

Even Buu seems confused over what he just did a minute ago.  

Vegito was hoping he would use that kind of power to hit him, not mess with dimensional barriers or whatever.

Basically, the Grand Kai Planet is like Valhalla, except the honored warriors don’t just enjoy a life of joyful battle and camraderie.   They also continue training to get even stronger than they were in life, so that they can earn the privilege of being trained by the Grand Kai himself.   As we slowly learn in this arc, nobody has ever gotten a lesson from the Grand Kai, though.  At first, this episode suggests that it takes thousands of years of trainging just to get considered, but later on, characters begin to mention how it’s just never happened before.   

I think it does say something about Goku’s character that he’s immediately disappointed about not getting to learn from the Grand Kai right away.   He never even heard of the guy until the previous episode, but now that he knows there is a revered martial arts master, he’s determined to see what he can do.    It’s funny, though, because when he came here, all he wanted was to brush elbows with other strong fighters, and now he’s met a few dozen and he’s still not satisfied.  

Then the other three King Kai’s show up.    We’ve already met the West Kai in the center.   On the left is the East Kai, the only female in the group.    The South Kai is the tall one with the problematic lips.   I’m not real keen on his Japanese voice eiither.  I was wondering if the voice acting for Mr. Popo had some sort of racist aspect to it, and South Kai sounds very similar, which makes me a little more sure than I was before.  I probably need more background on it, though.  

West Kai brought the other two here so they could rib North Kai about being dead, but since they’re all here together for the fiirst time in centuries, he also proposes a tournament to mark the occasion.    The Grand Kai is all in favor of the idea.  

He even has an idea spot for the action to take place, and leads them to a room in his mansion that contains...

... well, whatever this is.    There’s all these little planets and asteroids in it, and everyone seems pretty happy about holding the tournament here, so it’s settled.

To sweeten the pot, Grand Kai offers a private lesson to the winner, and Goku is even more determined to enter and win.    But East Kai objects to this, since Goku literally just got here.    It’s kind of brazen of him to just insert himself in the event, but North Kai vouches for his strength, and so East Kai proposes a race.   If Goku can outrun her, she’ll approve his participation.  

Basically, the East Kai is all into racing, so this is all just an excuse for her to whip out her flying motor-scooter and ride.    The Grand Kai approves, and they’re off.    Goku manages to keep up with her...

But then the Grand Kai appears at the finish line an declares himself the winner.   East Kai protests that he never said he was participating, but he replies that he never said he wasn’t participating either.  

They never exactly spell out how this outcome determines Goku’s eligibility for the tournament, but he’s in the thing, so I guess East Kai dropped her objection.   

This mushroom man hosts the thing, and I guess those vegetable men are referees?    Apparently there was a preliminary competition, which is why there’s so many brackets on the chart.    The actual tournament is only a field of eight, just like the Tenkaichi Budokai format.   The rules are basically the same too, except there’s no rules concerning killing, because everyone in the thing is already dead.    However, there is a rule that if you start to cry during a match, you lose.   Vegeta would do poorly here.  

The first match we see if Oliboo vs. Chapchai from the East Galaxy.    Chapchai is quick, due to the East Kai’s emphasis on speed...

... but he still loses.    It looked like Chapchai was moving so fast that he had an afterimage thing going, but it turns out he was doing a multi-form thing instead, and then all eight of his bodies collided in midair and they all got knocked out.   

So here’s some other shots of the prelims...

And this comedy spot where two fighters are leaping into the air dramatically, only for one of them to hit a low planetoid and knock himself out.    This isn’t exactly making the rest of the universe look very impressive.   

Finally, Goku gets a turn against Caterpie from the South Galaxy.  

Caterpie’s big move is to catch Goku in his multiple arms and tickle him until he taps out.   

Same, tbh.

Apparently the South Galaxy just doesn’t have much super-crime to fight, so all of their guys are weaker in general.   

Goku powers out of Caterpie’s hold, surprisingly easily at that, and Caterpie decides to get serious by transforming.   

I dig this dragon-looking dude in the crowd.    There’s some really great character designs in these episodes.   Some crappy ones too, but it’s fun to just look at the crowd shots.   

First up is Tapica vs. Tolbee, but Tapica wears himself out in a display of his super-speed, so he gives up before the fight can even begin.   

Next is Mariako vs. Furog, and when Furog gets flustered by Mariako’s size and power, he uses his special technique...

Inflating himself to super-size.    Ha ha, this is nuts!

Furog’s strategy is apparently to expand to such a size that there’s literally no room for Mariako to stand in the ring, but Mariako just lifts him up and tosses him out of the arena.

Then he hits a planetoid and knocks himself out, and that’s the end of that.

So we’re just trucking along here.   Match 3 is Goku vs. Aqua.    Aqua looks pretty weak, but then he uses his special technique...

... which magically transforms the ring into a free-standing pool of water.    Because Aqua’s much more effective fighting underwater, you see.  

What I don’t understand is how Aqua made it to the quarterfinals without this trick.   When he uses it on Goku, it’s treated like a surprise, so he must have gotten past his preliminary opponents without it, but this looks like the only way he can fight effectively.   

And it works really well on Goku, who can’t fight as well underwater.    On the other hand, he devises a pretty simple solution.   First, a Solar Flare to blind Aqua to his next move...

... then Goku leaps into the air and fires a Kamehameha straight down onto the ring.   Aqua can’t dodge, because it would mean leaving the advantage of his watery territory.    

Somehow the ring is restored to nomal, and Aqua gets eliminated.  So was Aqua’s power a Stand?   It sure seems like one.    It would be kind of useless on his own homeworld, though, since I assume everyone there lives and fights underwater.   I’m gonna call it Aqualung anyway.    Sit-ting on a park-bench!   Go-ku is the win-ner!

East Kai gives Aqua shit for losing, because now her camp is out of the tournament completely.    She also tells her entire stable to start running laps aroun the planet as penance.   

But Goku’s a good sport, and he compliments Aqua on his brilliant technique.    If he had kept Goku submerged for much longer, he would have been beaten.    Aqua challenges Goku to a rematch sometime, and Goku‘s all for it.  

Next up is Oliboo vs. Pikkon, which everyone expects to be the best match on the card, since both of these guys are considered the best around, and they’ve been training here for so long.  

Most of the fight is these two guys dodging each other’s ki blasts and snap-vanishing a lot.   

It’s not really that good a fight, but the episode sells it well by having all the spectators regard it with awe, including Goku.    We already know Pikkon has the goods, and Oliboo isn’t really a factor here, since the real main event is Pikkon vs. Goku.   This is a pretty clever way to show that a great fight is taking place without actually giving up your A-material too soon.  

Though there is a really cool bit where we see them block each other’s hits in rapid succession.   Bruce Faulconer’s Pikkon Theme really enhances this match, though.  I’m digging this in Japanese, but I think the dub really too a good filler arc and made it something special.   Maybe not great, but a cut above. 

Finally, Oliboo gets knocked into the wall and out of the ring.    But he still gets back up...

And concedes defeat.    This is unnecesary, since Pikkon clearly won, but he still wants to say it, if only to congratulate Pikkon for being the better fighter.     What a class act.

And there’s the ROH handshake.    I don’t want to give Funimation too much credit here.    Stuff like this is what makes this arc so cool.   Yeah, some of these dead heroes are a little goofy, but they’re all stand-up folks who believe in sportsmanship and respect,and it’s just fun to watch them beat each other up and be so nice about it.  

Like, I know now that this was just a filer arc, but when I watched these episodes in 2001, I had absolutely no idea how DBZ would continue with the main character dead, and for a hot minute it sure looked like this was the formula.    Goku would just fight these dudes in the afterlife for as long as the show went on.  And I had absolutely no problem with that at all.    This Pikkon/Oliboo encounter was short, but it was at least as fun as some of the weaker battles from the Cell episodes.  Throw in the Faulconer score and you’ve got a nice little show.  

And Goku’s totally blown away.  The Grand Kai asks him how he feels, and he’s trembling..... from excitement!   Then the Grand Kai laughs because this is so awesome and Goku thinks it’s awesome too.   It’s a real fell-good moment, and a welcome change of pace after dozens of episodes full of Cell’s dirty tricks.