Manga Review 07 – Kame Sennin’s Kamehame Ha!!

Well, for the first time since we’ve started this manga review, we’ve been forced to skip a chapter due to a severe lack of Yamucha. In fact, there’s a severe lack of our man in this chapter too, but at least he’s in a few panels, and he has dialogue, and that’s good enough for me.

So then, a review of the last chapter, seeing as I didn’t cover it.

* Goku and Chichi visit Kame Sennin to get the Bashô-Sen
* Kame Sennin threw the fan out because he spilled soup on it. Wah, waaaahhh!
* Kame Sennin agrees to put out the fire on Mount Frypan himself in exchange for a look at Bulma’s boobs. This is only fair as he’s about the only character who hasn’t seen them by this stage.
* They return to Mount Frypan, Kame Sennin begins to puke. VIZ refers to it as hurling, which breaks my heart as we all know the great Irish sport of hurling should not be associated with something as base as vomiting. Right!?

Meanwhile, the last we saw of our own hero, he was relaxing in the Mighty Mouse, a short distance from where Goku and Chichi met up. He plans to relax there until the group of Bulma and company leave for the final Dragon Ball. There he’ll do something and steal them all, somehow. It’s a plan, I’ll give him that.

Let’s see what happens in this chapter, Kame Sennin’s Kamehame Ha!! (Kame Kame Kame Kame Kame Chameleon which is just trying too hard, VIZ, no points for you).

Okay, we kick things off with the Gyumao instantly repenting his misdeeds, he has seen the light, he was blinded by greed, etcetera. Now, this is an about face so brazen, that the only person who tried anything like it was Raditz, and we all know how that turned out. I’m shocked anyone buys this, I mean, the guy is a mass murderer for all intents and purposes! But I guess we’re still chugging along through the gag manga rainforest, so get used to it.

Before anything else gets done, however, Goku has to go over the deal he made with Kame Sennin to Bulma. As usual, she’s outraged for four or five seconds but quickly agrees to bare the goodies but only if he can get the job done. Kame Sennin mocks Gyumao for not being able to deal with the blaze himself, although I’m not sure you can punch or chop an inferno with an axe until it goes out. Next time I’m trapped in a burning building, I’ll have to try it.

Taking off his shirt to reveal an impressive rib-cage, he scales a wall and then suddenly TAKES LOTS OF  STEROIDS! This is his super awesome form which I wish we saw more often. I loved its re-appearance in DBZ Movie 008. (i.e. The One with Broly That Wasn’t As Bad As The Other Two With Broly).

Everyone freaks and Gyumao realises that he’s building the Kamehame Ha. “W-Wasn’t that… some old king of Hawaii… ?!” asks Pu’reh, while Yam– Wait a second… Weren’t you two just hanging out in the Mighty Mouse a few miles away? Wasn’t your plan to stay there and take a nap or something until all this was resolved? Why are you back behind that damn battered wall that doesn’t hide you at all!?

Anyway, Yamucha once more taps into the Exposition Lifeforce to tell us that it’s Kame Sennin’s legendary move, concentrating all his dormant energy into a single focused blast. In other words, energy beam. Of course, we’ll get this one page later when he fires the damn thing, but what harm is there in a little bit of exposition said to no-one in particular, the webmaster of this site said to himself while scratching the inside of his thigh idly.

“The… Kamehame… HA?!” Yamucha demands to know, incredulous with incredulousism. No, dumb-ass, the Kamehame Ba. “Oh, okay, then. Never mind me.” he probably doesn’t reply. Seriously, what is he expecting? Like, what, it won’t be the Turtle Destruction Wave, it’ll turn out to be the Turtle Destruction Rollerblades instead and everyone skates off to flirt and get milkshakes at the local malt shop instead? I hope so, milkshakes rule!

Kame Sennin builds up the Kamehame Ha in that way everyone does. You know, “Ka…  Me…” and all that, before firing off a big-ass blast that makes everyone go “Oh, wow!” and the legendary fire of Mount Frypan is out.

As is the legendary Mount Frypan itself, and Gyumao’s castle too. Wah, waaaaah! “Oh wells.” says Kame Sennin, as everyone falls over comedically. Is the sixth Dragon Ball gone too? Like hell it is. But that’s the dangling mystery as we end the chapter!

So, well, there was two Yamucha panels in this whole chapter. One of him exposition-ing it up, and the other just a reaction shot to Kame Sennin’s big blast of doom. Things won’t be much better next chapter (or indeed, the chapter after that), but there will be a little bit more. It’s the chapter after the chapter after the next chapter that will have some real good Yamucha stuff to sink our teeth into. Hopefully, you can hang in there until then!