Prelude to Vengeance

"Prelude to Vengeance" (天てん津しん飯はんの決けつ意い!!, Tenshinhan no Ketsui!!, lit. "Tenshinhan's Determination") is the seventeenth episode of the King Piccolo Saga and the one hundred eighteenth episode in the Dragon Ball series. This episode first aired in Japan on July 6, 1988. Its original American airdate was September 29, 2003.

Summary[]

Bulma, Yamcha and the others watch the TV as King Piccolo keeps the world at suspense, as he announces Piccolo Day where he voices his intention to choose a target sector each year to annihilate.

Meanwhile, Chi-Chi asks her father, the Ox-King to defeat the monster Piccolo but he says that nobody in the world can defeat him. Chi-Chi suggests that Goku could but Ox-King still believes it to be impossible though Chi-Chi has faith in him. While Goku is heading to Central City, Yajirobe attempts to ride the Nimbus Cloud but has a rough landing, having fallen right through from atop Korin Tower.

DrumIsHere — Drum will be a fierce opponent

King Piccolo pulls out a slip of paper at random and reveals his first target is Sector 29, which is none other than Bulma's homeland, West City. The entire city tries to evacuate in a frenzy, including Bulma's parents. A team of convicts invades the Kame House, but Yamcha and Launch beat them. As Tien Shinhan is heading toward Piccolo, Bulma contacts him and urges him to hurry as her parents are in danger. Eventually he arrives at King Castle just as King Piccolo is about to depart. Before Tien can face him in battle however, King Piccolo creates a new warrior which he calls Drum.

Major Events[]

King Piccolo announces Piccolo Day.
King Piccolo intends to destroy West City.
Tien Shinhan arrives at King's Castle.
King Piccolo gives birth to Drum.

Battles[]

Yamcha and Launch vs. Hooligans

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Locations[]

Objects[]

Differences from the Manga[]

Piccolo and his kind have five fingers in the anime but only four in the manga.
Suno is seen watching Piccolo's broadcast with her family in the manga, which is the only time she appears in this arc. Due to the anime expanding her role being in Central City where Piccolo invades, however, here she is shown in the hospital along with Eighter (who didn't appear in the manga version at all) watching the message while they're treating a man.
More people are shown reacting in horror to Piccolo's declaration in the anime.
The scene of Ox King and Chi-Chi arguing about who can defeat Piccolo isn't in the manga.
Yajirobe wanting his own Nimbus to go hunt for food, only to fall through the clouds due to his impure heart, isn't in the manga, as is his meeting with Bora and Upa once he crashes to the ground.
In the manga, when Bulma contacts Tien and tells him not to let Piccolo get to West City, Tien vocally expresses to her that he won't allow it to occur. In the anime, he thinks this to himself without responding directly to Bulma. Also in the manga, Tien tells the others that Shenron was killed by Piccolo after getting his wish, but the anime excludes this due to the others already knowing about it from before.
The scene of the West City civilians panicking while trying to evacuate isn't in the manga.
The appearances of Dr. Brief and Bikini watching Piccolo's broadcast and subsequently gathering up their pets to evacuate isn't in the manga.
The three convicts who raid Kame House, only to be beaten back by Yamcha and Launch, aren't in the manga. It does lead into the canon scene of spurring Yamcha to go help Tien against Piccolo.
In the manga, Tien sees that the electric jar has been cracked due to his constant practicing of the technique. With the damage, Tien surmises that he'd never be able to use the jar to seal Piccolo and decides to fight head on. This does not occur in the anime, and Tien is shown to still have the jar in capsule form with no cracks with him flashing back to his training. When he lands on the ground, he strategizes on how to get close enough to Piccolo so he can use the wave before Piccolo creates Drum.

Trivia[]

Escapecharacters — Cameos of characters from the one-shot *Escape*

Two characters from Akira Toriyama's one-shot Escape appear when everybody in West City is running in panic.
Two of the three convicts were previously seen in a group of fighters waiting outside Fortuneteller Baba's Palace,^[1] and the Mohawked Fighter was previously seen eliminated by Yamcha from the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament.^[2] The Sunglasses Crocodile first appeared sunbathing at Kame House in "The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi".
Two of the drivers seen fleeing West City look similar to Hasky's Followers. Given the location and the circumstances of Piccolo's rule, it's possible it might even be them.
Piccolo names May 9th to be Piccolo Day in the manga and Japanese anime, but the English anime changes the date to May 13th due to number 9 not having the same stigma in American culture as it does in Japanese. On that same note, it's also the reason why West City's sector is changed from 29 to 28, even though the slip of paper clearly shows the romanized number.
Scratch, Dr. Brief's cat, is named for the first time. The cat is never named in the manga.

Gallery[]

References[]

↑ Dragon Ball episode 72, "Goku's Turn"
↑ Dragon Ball episode 85, "Preliminary Peril"

Site Navigation[]

v • eKing Piccolo Saga
← Tien Shinhan Saga		Piccolo Jr. Saga→
Manga
Chapters	135 • 136 • 137 • 138 • 139 • 140 • 141 • 142 • 143 • 144 • 145 • 146 • 147 • 148 • 149 • 150 • 151 • 152 • 153 • 154 • 155 • 156 • 157 • 158 • 159 • 160 • 161
Volumes	12 • 13 • 14
Anime
Episodes	102 • 103 • 104 • 105 • 106 • 107 • 108 • 109 • 110 • 111 • 112 • 113 • 114 • 115 • 116 • 117 • 118 • 119 • 120 • 121 • 122

[1] Dragon Ball episode 72, "Goku's Turn"

[2] Dragon Ball episode 85, "Preliminary Peril"

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