English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Goku and Krillin: Back to the Old Familiar Training Ground “

“Who’s Da Masta?!”

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

After the randomness of Gohan being sort-of a movie star, the focus has shifted back to Goku who currently laments that he’s unable to find a suitable opponent/training partner. And due to many characters such as Whis, Piccolo and Vegeta are each dealing with the personal obligations of their own. Under of Chi-Chi approval, Gohan decides to give it a shot under his Great Saiyaman moniker to train with his father which leads to one of the more fun & impressive fights in the episode, that is until their fight ends with hilarious & destructive consequences which piss Chi-Chi off in the process. Later on, as a suggestion from Goten, Goku decides to ask Krillin, who still works as a police officer since the “Ressurection-F” Saga.

Of course, out of comedic contrivance, Goku just happens to pick the worst time to ask, as Krillin is stuck in the middle of a police shootout where he’s consequently grazed by a bullet, but the robbers doing the shooting are easily disarmed by Goku. Later on, Krillin at first politely declines Goku’s offer to spar knowing that he’d be no challenge for Goku due to the intense training that’s elevated him to borderline god-tier, and has stated that he’s given up martial arts for good. That is until Android 18, motivates him through passive-aggressive tough love which is encouragement enough to accept Goku’s offer. Later on, the two leave for Master Roshi’s island to train as they did when they were children which is an excellent throwback to the classic Dragonball series, as we’re reminded of Goku & Krillin’s early years when they first trained with Roshi, but given the recent God-Tier power & skills Goku attained when training with Whis & Beerus, ground rules had to be set such as making Goku tone down his power in a silly turtle outfit, but even with Goku wearing the damn thing, it goes about as well as you’d expect…

Sensing the “hesitations” within Krillin’s stance & movements, Roshi recognizes that a different approach is needed, So he sends the two, on a race towards a rainforest-like island to recover a rare herb that can’t be found anywhere else. As a reward, Roshi even offers to teach the winner a secret technique neither of them knows about that’s said to immensely increase the user’s strength. When they finally get to the island, Goku and Krillin meet another classic character from Dragonball’s past, Roshi’s sister “Fortuneteller Baba”. And after explaining the situation to her, Baba decides to observe the race using her magical crystal ball. when the two further venture into the forest for this specific herb, The episode ends on an unsettling cliffhanger when Goku and Krillin encounter some of their oldest foes before them under a dark & creepy fog.

Our Take

What started out as a Goku-focused episode, surprised me with the twist of it feeling like a throwback to Goku & Krillin’s past as both of them since they were children were personal students to the highly-skilled yet pervy hermit Master Roshi who for some hilarious reason, doesn’t have Internet porn and resorts to magazines.

The comedic moments in tandem with action during the Gohan-sparring match battle was solid, the motivations for Krillin to re-train himself come across as valid & honest reasons, and Android 18 despite how cold her approach was for Krillin to improve himself was hilariously emphasized with some subtle symbolism involving a coffee mug that must be seen to be believed.

I’m curious how this will play out as this feels less like a journey for an oddly specific herb and more like a spiritual journey to the soul, but I guess we won’t find out until next week.