Dragon Ball Z Episode 174
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| Goku's Perplexing Problem?! The Dragon Balls are Taken Back | |||
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Japanese  English  | |||
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| Air Date | 10 February 1993 (Fuji TV) | ||
| Opening | CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA | ||
| Eyecatch | 1st Eyecatch | ||
| Ending | Come Out, Incredible ZENKAI Power! | ||
| Episode Data | |||
| Chapters | Dragon Ball Chapter 394 (Page 7) | ||
| TV Rating | 21.7% | ||
| Format | 4:3 (NTSC) | ||
| Main Staff Credits | |||
| Scenario | Hiroshi Toda | ||
| Art | Tomoko Yoshida | ||
| Animation | Keisuke Masunaga | ||
| Director | Daisuke Nishio | ||
| FUNimation English Dub | |||
| Title | The Puzzle of General Tao | ||
| Air Date | 23 November 2000 (Cartoon Network) | ||
"Goku's Perplexing Problem?! The Dragon Balls are Taken Back" is the one hundred and seventy-fourth episode of the Japanese animated television series Dragon Ball Z. The episode first aired in Japan on Fuji TV on 10 February 1993, receiving a ratings share of 21.7%. It was written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Daisuke Nishio.
Synopsis
After borrowing the Dragon Radar from Bulma, Goku discovers the Dragon Balls one after the other. Meanwhile in an arena somewhere, Mister Satan promotes his own strength, while in the Heavenly Realm Vegeta finishes his training in the Room of Spirit and Time. Also, Tao Pai-pai gives the two Dragon Balls he has collected to some gangster members, but panics when Goku reaches their secret base! Ultimately the Dragon Balls are given to Goku, who searches for the remaining ones and at least obtains all seven.
Summary
Part A
On God's Temple, Future Trunks powers up to Super Saiyan to practice while Son Gohan studies by himself. When Kuririn asks Gohan about this, Dende reveals that he has studying to do as well. With everyone working to improve themselves in one way or another, he remarks that he has become a slacker. Meanwhile, Piccolo meditates as Mr. Popo wonders whether Son Goku has found all of the Dragon Balls yet.
At Kame House sometime later, Kuririn relaxes with some coffee while an announcement airs on TV: Mister Satan is about to give a live demonstration of his prowess to throngs of adoring fans. Mister Satan enters the arena while pulling four busses connected by a chain. Yamcha and Chi-Chi look on, bored by the trivial show of strength. Mister Satan then rips apart three phone books to the further adoration of the crowd. When asked what he will do about Cell, Satan punches one of the busses but gets his hand stuck in the metal. The Turtle Hermit claims that he cannot watch while containing to sip his tea. Chi-Chi remarks that there are truly amazing people in the world, but the gang look at her uncertain if she is being sarcastic or not. In a distant canyon, Son Goku has located the Six-star Ball, his fourth.
Back on God's Temple, Vegeta emerges from the Room of Spirit and Time, his gi torn and bloodied. Trunks asks him how his training went, but Vegeta does not answer. Taking a rest on a mountain, Son Goku discovers two more Dragon Balls are together and moving.
At his fortress, Tao Pai-Pai arrives and delivers the seven- and four-star Dragon Balls to Vodka. The "emperor of gangsters" believes that if he has the balls then he will be able to somehow survive Cell's attack. Vodka wants Tao Pai-Pai to find the remaining balls so that he can wish to rule the crime world after Cell is gone, although he admits to himself that he just found these two balls by accident. Just then Goku arrives at the fortress; his two-star ball is glowing in the presence of the others as Vodka and Tao Pai-Pai look on over the security cameras. Sensing their own good fortune, they open the door to allow Goku into their trap. In the first hallway, they trigger a wall of spikes, but they just bounce harmlessly off of Son Goku. Vodka and his men look on, incredulous.
Part B
Tao Pai-Pai scolds Vodka for not performing regular inspections on his death-traps as Goku continues walking slowly down the hall. Goku walks too far and passes Vodka's room, missing his intimidating little speech and causing the mob boss to have to call out to him that he went too far. Vodka begins his threatening speech again, but Tao Pai-Pai jumps in and steals his thunder: Goku has to leave his Dragon Balls with them or he's going to get hurt. Goku is very excited to see Tao Pai-Pai, but the old master doesn't seem to recognize him. Tao Pai-Pai flashes back to Goku as a child and then teen Goku at the 23rd Tenka'ichi Budokai. He realizes that he is outmatched. Vodka's bodyguards try to steal the Dragon Balls from Goku, but he mistakenly knocks him into a wall with greater force than he intended. When another bodyguard shoots Goku, he casually grabs the bullet from midair. Vodka panics and pushes an emergency button on his desk, wrapping him, Tao Pai-Pai, and his bodyguards into a protective bubble. Vodka claims that Goku cannot break through the barrier, but he is able to easily tap it with one finger and cause it to shatter. Vodka wants Tao Pai-Pai to fight Goku for the balls, but the old master claims to be feeling ill today. Goku is dejected, realizing that they are collecting the balls too and won't be willing to trade. Tao Pai-Pai comes up with a solution: if Goku can solve three puzzle rings by the next morning, he can have all of the balls. But if he cannot, he has to give the balls that he collected to Vodka and his crew. Goku accepts. Vodka's men politely offer to hold Goku's coat (with the Dragon Balls in the pocket) and they sneak off with all of the balls while Goku struggles with the first puzzle. Vodka and his men drive away from the fortress as quickly as possible.
As night falls, Goku has only managed to crack one of the three puzzles. He paces around the room while a lone henchman eats his dinner. Some time later, Goku has solved two of the puzzle rings but is stumped on the third. The henchman offers advice on the third ring, but Goku rejects it saying that he needs to complete the puzzle himself. Just before daybreak, Goku finally defeats the third puzzle! He and the henchman search the base for his missing boss, but Goku says not to worry and just uses instantaneous movement to find them. He arrives at the lake where Vodka is hiding and asks to take the balls. Vodka and Tao Pai-Pai are stunned at his arrival and agree to hand them over, Goku never noticing that they were trying to cheat him out of all of the balls. He now has six!
At Capsule Corp Headquarters, Bulma finishes repairing Artificial Human 16, while Goku tracks down the final ball in an ocean or lake.
Several days later, the moment of the Cell Games has finally come. A ZTV reporter looks on from a helicopter as the participants are about to arrive. The Cell Games are in one hour!
Cast
The following table provides the cast as credited in the original Japanese broadcast.
Main Staff
The following list provides the main staff responsible for the production of this episode as credited in this specific episode's ending credits.
- Scenario: Hiroshi Toda
- Director (Storyboard): Daisuke Nishio
- Animation Supervisor: Keisuke Masunaga
- Art Director: Tomoko Yoshida
- Key Animation: Studio Cockpit, Tatsufumi Tamamura, Yoshihiko Umakoshi, Masa'aki Iwane, Hidehiko Okano, Isao Sugimoto
- Special Effects: Yukari Hashimoto
- Assistant Director: Akihiko Yamaguchi
- Production Progression: Kazumi Fujioka
Items
- Nyoibo (flashback)
- One-star Dragon Ball
- Two-star Dragon Ball
- Three-star Dragon Ball
- Four-star Dragon Ball
- Five-star Dragon Ball
- Six-star Dragon Ball
- Seven-star Dragon Ball
- Dragon Radar
Settings
- God's Temple
- Kame House
- An indoor sports stadium where Mister Satan gives a strength demonstration
- A canyon and the top of a mountain peeking through the clouds.
- Vodka's Fortress
- Papaya Island (flashback)
- A lake several hours drive from Vodka's fortress
- Capsule Corp Headquarters
- Cell Games Arena
Variations
Notes
- When Vodka assembles his six Dragon Balls, there is an art error as incorrect balls are depicted. The group should have included the One-star Ball which Tao Pai-Pai retrieved from Goku and was looking at in the car, but the pile contains two- through seven-star balls instead.
Production
- This episode and episode 170 make up a curious pair of similar episodes: both involve Tao Pai-Pai (in a rare post-Dragon Ball appearance) working for a man with an alcohol-related name (Burbon in 170 and Vodka in this episode) who lives in a fortress (the Shelter Dome in 170). Given the similarity in names, this parallel was likely deliberate.
Tidbits
Availability
External Links
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