A couple of episodes back, Videl asked Gohan to teach her how to fly. Today, she’s come to collect on that lesson.
The problem is that Gohan flies by manipulating the ki in his body to propel himself in midair, but Videl doesn’t even know what ki is. So Goten blows up a rock to demonstrate what they’re talking about, but Videl has never encountered such a thing before.
And Videl gets pretty frustrated over this, probably because Gohan and Goten take it for granted.
This episode has always fascinated me, because it’s the first time that DBZ really goes into how the super powers work. In Dragon Ball, Goku starts out about the same level as Videl. Maybe a step behind, even. But he learns superhuman abilities so gradually over time that it’s hard to tell where the line is between regular martial artists and gonzo-powered martial artists. Flight didn’t really become a thing until Tien showed up, and sustained flight over long distances wasn’t really a thing until the Saiyans Saga.
In DBZ, Gohan didn’t even learn ki from anyone. He just zapped some wood in one episode to start a fire. That was around the time Piccolo abandoned him to fend for himself for six months. I assume Piccolo taught him how to fly later on, but I found it curious how Gohan managed to master ki control on his own. Yeah, he was a prodigy, but still.
So it’s kind of interesting to see him trying to explain it to someone else. in Dragon Ball, this sort of knowledge had to be discovered by traveling the world and proving your worth to some obscure master. Gohan seems to think that everyone knows about ki, and Videl just calls it something else. I suppose this is because Gohan’s lived his whole life surrounded by people who know about it.
Gohan sends Goten off to play while he gives Videl a demonstration. He doesn’t really explain how he’s making a li’l energy ball in his hands, except for vague instructions like “clear your mind”, and the repeated assurance that all living things have ki energy.
But it’s not so easy for Videl to replicate his ability, an this really seems to bother her. I’m not sure why, unless it’s because she’s used to being pretty good at martial arts, and she doesn’t like running into a technique like this where she knows nothing about it.
They break for lunch, and Videl praises Chi-Chi’s cooking as much better than what her cook makes back home. Chi-Chi realizes Videl’s rich, so she asks how many rooms they have in her house.
Videl isn’t even sure, so she guesses fifty, and Chi-Chi immediately starts to take a liking to her. She asks Gohan when they plan on getting married.
And Gohan does a spit take, only his mouth is full of rice and he spits it all over Goten.
Later, Videl finally gets the hang of Gohan’s lesson, and she looks so happy when she pulls it off. Gohan’s impressed that she managed it so fast, but she still has to learn to control her ki in order to fly.
Meanwhile, Goku’s training in Otherworld. The South Kai shows up to talk smack, and to introduce his latest acquisition, Papoi, a warrior from the South Galaxy who recently died.
King Kai suggests that Papoi enter the 25th Budokai, but I don’t see how he can. Goku’s been given permission to return for one day, and maybe Papoi is entitled to the same privelige, but why would he want to blow it on this? He could fight Goku whenever he wants on the Grand Kai Planet. Anyway, King Kai show off by having Goku switch from two-ton weights to ten-ton weights. The five-fold increase is difficult for Goku until he turns Super Saiyan, which is why this episode is often cited by battleboard nerds trying to calculate power level charts or mathematically prove that Goku could beat Superman. In any event, South Kai and Papoi suddenly decide they have other plans for that day.
Back on Earth, Gohan checks in on his students to find they kind of suck at this. Goten just keeps jumping up and down, while Videl looks like she’s trying to launch herself into the air through sheer force of will.
But Goten can actually understand Gohan’s instructions, so he figures it out first. Unfortunately, he only manages to get into the air, and when he tries to go fast he ends up crashing into the ground. Goten wishes Videl would leave so they could train more seriously, but Gohan can’t send her away until she can fly, so he’s gotta wait.
Videl insists on staying until she gets it down, but fortunately she’s a quick study. By the end of the day she manages to float a few inches off the ground, which really impresses Gohan, since he never dreamed she’d get this far on her first day.
Of course, Goten picked it up much more quickly, but Gohan explains that he understood ki already.
So Videl decides to leave, but she insists on returning tomorrow. Gohan tries to talk her into practicing alone, but she won’t hear of it.
So then Gohan suggests that Videl cut her hair. She blushes and asks if he prefers girls with short hair, and he backs off and says all this stuff about how short hair is better in a fight, since it can’t get in your face and it’s harder for an opponent to grab it.
Then Videl gets upset and flies off in a huff. In her aircraft, I mean. She isn’t good enough at flying to fly home under her own power.
Meanwhile, Trunks turns Super Saiyan while training with Vegeta in the gravity room at Capsule Corp. Vegeta had no idea he could do this, but Trunks wants to train harder, because he heard from Goten that he and Gohan plan to enter the Budokai next month.
So Vegeta decides to test Trunks’ power with some sparring. Trunks doesn’t get it at first, but Vegeta offers to take him to the amusement park if Trunks can land a single blow. Also, Vegeta’s been hitting the steroids pretty hard lately. Dude looks like a He-Man doll.
Trunks gives it a shot, and he actually does manage to hit his dad once...
...And Vegeta instinctively hits back. He’s visibly worried at first...
But he’s okay, albeit a bit upset that Vegeta didn’t warn him he would be fighting back. Nothing a trip to the amusement park can’t fix.
Before they go, Vegeta asks how Trunks stacks up compared to Goten, and Trunks says he’s a little stronger, mostly because he’s a year older and Goten can’t fly.
Now, episode 2 of Dragon Ball Super establishes that Vegeta didn’t take Trunks to the park until after the end of the Buu arc, but I consider this to be bullshit. I prefer to think that he took him immediately after this episode, because he said he would, after all.
Back at Gohan’s house, Videl returns the next day, as promised...
With a really short haircut. Okay, so I know there are fans who prefer the original pigtails look, and I get it. It’s a cute design. But for me, nothing can top this short hair look, because this episode provides a story to explain it. Gohan told her to cut her hair, and then the next time we see her, she has shorter hair. And neither of them are willing to admit why this has happened, but we know, don’t we, folks?
This here is chemistry. If I off-handedly suggested some lady make some aesthetic change, and then she actually went and did it... well, I’d probably react a lot like Gohan, to be honest. That’s a lot of pressure, to have that kind of influence over someone’s look. Then again, you gotta figure this is exactly why Videl did it. Not because he suggested it, but because she knew it would drive him wild if she went through with it. The pigtails just can’t compare to that.
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