"Gohan Returns" (ボクは孫悟空の息子だ！！悟飯、 再び決戦場へ Boku wa Son Gokū no Musuko da!! Gohan, Futatabi Kessenjō e, lit. "I am Son Goku's Son!! Gohan Returns to the Battlefield") is the twenty-sixth episode of the Frieza Saga and the one hundredth overall episode in the uncut Dragon Ball Z series. This episode first aired in Japan on July 24, 1991. Its original American airdate was October 25, 1999.
Summary[]
Planet Namek continues to erupt
Frieza flies straight into Goku's Super Kamehameha and a struggle ensues. Overcome by rage, Frieza pushes against the Kamehameha wave as hard as he can, and Goku powers it up several times to keep Frieza at bay. On Earth, Mr. Popo makes the wish to revive Frieza's victims on Namek, and Shenron grants it, albeit with a bit of difficulty.
Frieza plowing into Goku's Kamehameha
Finally, Frieza suddenly flies away from the Kamehameha and straight into a distracted Goku, burying him in a hole hundreds of feet underground, which then explodes with lava. From afar, Gohan feels Goku's energy signal vanish completely, as if Goku has died. Bulma implores Gohan to flee Namek with her if Goku has been defeated, but Gohan instead flies off to confront Frieza alone, confident that he may be able to beat the worn out tyrant, hoping to stall him long enough until Namek explodes.
Meanwhile, everyone killed by Frieza and his henchmen wakes up, with Dende, Vegeta and Grand Elder Guru among them, but not Krillin. With Guru's revival, Porunga returns, as he has not yet granted the third wish.
Frieza bashes Gohan
Gohan reaches Frieza as the tyrant prepares to leave Namek. In his confidence, Frieza goes back to his normal final form state and takes Gohan on, easily dominating the young Saiyan. Eventually, Frieza insults Goku and declares him dead, enraging Gohan. Realizing that Goku may very well be gone, Gohan attempts to flee, but Frieza intercepts him, having found out that Gohan was trying to delay him so that he would die in Namek's explosion. Then, Gohan begins to feel Goku's energy signal from below. With newfound confidence, Gohan attacks Frieza with multiple punches and launches an Ultimate Masenko at him, but it fails to damage Frieza. Impressed, Frieza powers up to 100% again and prepares to kill Gohan.
However, just then, Goku emerges from the sea, having his undershirt completely ripped off, leaving only his tattered pants, wristbands and boots: although he had been injured by Frieza's sneak attack, he hid his energy signal and stayed below long enough to recover his strength. Ordering Gohan to leave Namek, Goku prepares to face Frieza again.
Major Events[]
- The previously killed Namekians including Guru and Dende are brought back to life.
- Vegeta is restored to life.
- Gohan returns to the battlefield where he fights Frieza.
Battles[]
- Goku (Super Saiyan) vs. Frieza (Final Form/100% Full Power)
- Gohan vs. Frieza (Final Form)
Appearances[]
Characters[]
Locations[]
Objects[]
Transformations[]
Bruce Faulconer tracks[]
- "Earth Music" - When Chi-Chi wants to go to Namek.
- "Goku's Spirit Bomb" - When Super Saiyan Goku fires a Kamehameha at Frieza.
- "Piccolo Vs. Frieza" - When Gohan runs away from Frieza.
- "Goku's Spirit Bomb" - When Super Saiyan Goku emerges from underwater and tells Gohan to leave Namek.
- "Call Out the Dragon" - When Shenron tries to fulfill his wish.
Differences from the manga[]
- In the manga, Frieza uses his Nova Strike to force Goku into the sea. In the anime, Frieza uses it to force Goku through the ground which then immediately erupts. This causes Gohan head back to the battlefield, believing that his father has been killed, where he fights Frieza before Goku returns and tells him to leave.
- Chi-Chi, Master Roshi, Yajirobe and Dr. Brief commenting on the events transpiring on Namek are exclusive to the anime.
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the 100th episode of Dragon Ball Z.
- The wish that brings back everyone killed by Frieza and his henchmen gives birth to Syn Shenron, a Shadow Dragon who appears in Dragon Ball GT.
- In the Funimation dub of this episode, due to the dialogues of Gohan and Frieza, as well as the result of the fight directly prior, a number of viewers conclude that Goku has been killed by Frieza's sneak attack, and then revived by the Earth's Dragon Balls. This, however, would be impossible, as he was already revived by Shenron once before, about a year after choosing to die in order to defeat Raditz. In the original manga, Japanese anime, and Dragon Ball Z Kai, Goku is merely knocked out for a short while.
- It should be noted that just before Gohan's second wind, Gohan yelled that Frieza hurt his dad, referring to Goku.
- At one point in this episode, Goku takes on a powered-up form that resembles the Legendary Super Saiyan.
- None of the various soldiers who died at the hands of Frieza or other Frieza Force affiliates (excluding Vegeta) over the course of the Namek and Captain Ginyu Sagas, such as Orlen and Namole, were shown being revived by Mr. Popo's wish to Shenron. This was likely an oversight by Toei as none of those soldiers existed in the manga with the majority of Frieza's raid party, excluding Appule, being canonically killed during the attack on Dende's village. Later on, in the manga of Dragon Ball Super, however, a different soldier in the raiding party, Cranberry, is confirmed to have been resurrected by the wish as he had been killed by Zarbon when he was kicked into a lake during that aforementioned raid.
- For the remastered dub, Moori's voice was done by Troy Baker instead of Eric Dillow matching his voice to what it was in the Namek Saga; Christopher Sabat voiced Moori in the original dub of this episode with an obvious Texan accent and would also voice the character in the Kid Buu Saga and Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler. The other Namekian villagers were also redubbed with Zach Bolton, Tyler Walker, and Eric Vale who were originally voiced by Sabat and Chris Forbis. Neither Dillow nor Sabat would redub any of Mark Britten's material as Moori from "Mighty Blast of Rage" onwards.
- In Japanese, Masaharu Satō takes over as Guru from Junpei Takiguchi until the character's second death. This would also be the last time in the DBZ anime that Kenji Utsumi would voice Shenron.
Gallery[]
 Frieza powers up his Nova Strike  Frieza attacks Goku with his Nova Strike  Goku fires a Super Kamehameha  Goku firing the Kamehameha  Goku's Super Kamehameha vs. Frieza's Nova Strike  Frieza's Nova Strike vs. Goku's Super Kamehameha  Frieza rams on Goku using his Nova Strike   Gohan defies Goku's orders and returns to fight Frieza  The Dragon Balls scattering after Mr. Popo got his wish  Vegeta emerging from his grave  Frieza smashes Gohan  Gohan lands a punch on Frieza  Gohan ready to smash Frieza  Gohan smashing Frieza  Gohan prepares an Ultimate Masenko  Gohan firing an Ultimate Masenko  Goku returns  Goku, with Gohan behind him  Porunga, the Dragon of Namek, is resurrected |
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| ← Captain Ginyu Saga |   |
Garlic Jr. Saga→ | |||||||
| Manga | |||||||||
| Dragon Ball Chapters | 291 • 292 • 293 • 294 • 295 • 296 • 297 • 298 • 299 • 300 • 301 • 302 • 303 • 304 • 305 • 306 • 307 • 308 • 309 • 310 • 311 • 312 • 313 • 314 • 315 • 316 • 317 • 318 • 319 • 320 • 321 • 322 • 323 • 324 • 325 • 326 • 327 • 328 • 329 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dragon Ball Z Chapters | 97 • 98 • 99 • 100 • 101 • 102 • 103 • 104 • 105 • 106 • 107 • 108 • 109 • 110 • 111 • 112 • 113 • 114 • 115 • 116 • 117 • 118 • 119 • 120 • 121 • 122 • 123 • 124 • 125 • 126 • 127 • 128 • 129 • 130 • 131 • 132 • 133 • 134 • 135 | ||||||||
| Dragon Ball Volumes | 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 | ||||||||
| Dragon Ball Z Volumes | 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 | ||||||||
| Anime | |||||||||
| Episodes | 75 • 76 • 77 • 78 • 79 • 80 • 81 • 82 • 83 • 84 • 85 • 86 • 87 • 88 • 89 • 90 • 91 • 92 • 93 • 94 • 95 • 96 • 97 • 98 • 99 • 100 • 101 • 102 • 103 • 104 • 105 • 106 • 107 | ||||||||
| Kai Episodes | 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 | ||||||||