Cruel General Red

"There are no second chances in this army, you know that."
— Commander Red to Colonel Silver

"Cruel General Red" (非ひ情じょうのレッドリボン, Hijō no Reddo Ribon, lit. "The Heartless Red Ribbon") is the thirty-fourth episode of Dragon Ball and the sixth episode of the Red Ribbon Army Saga. This episode first aired in Japan on October 15, 1986. Its original American airdate was February 18, 2002.

Summary[]

This episode starts with Goku messing around with a group of monkeys. But after a while, Goku leaves to continue searching for the Dragon Ball. However, a storm starts and both Goku and Colonel Silver's goons stop searching.

Inside Colonel Silver's cabin, he and Staff Officer Black are talking through transmitters. Colonel Silver says that with the river over-flowing, the Dragon Ball could wash up on shore and that he will continue in the morning. In the morning the search resumes, however, two guys are snoozing and rudely awakened by Colonel Silver's gun.

ColonelSilverDBep34 — Colonel Silver confronts Goku

They talk about how pointless the search is when Goku comes and finds the Dragon Ball in less than a minute. They try to steal it only to be easily beaten by Goku. Then Colonel Silver comes and blows up the Flying Nimbus with his Rocket Launcher. Goku gets mad and beats him up when he is down. He then takes some capsules from Silver's cabin and finds a robot and a plane. Goku has the robot pilot the plane to the North.

RedRibbonRobot2 — The Red Ribbon robot Goku found

Meanwhile, at the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters, Commander Red receives news of Colonel Silver's loss. He has Silver brought before him. Colonel Silver asks for a second chance, but Commander Red says there is no second chance in the army. Then Staff Officer Black says that Goku is moving into General White's territory, and radios General White to warn him.

Meanwhile, the robot systems crash due to the cold of the northern mountains and crashes the plane. Goku freezes, then a mysterious girl drags him home only a few minutes before General White's men arrive.

Major Events[]

Goku finds the Five Star Dragon Ball.
Colonel Silver appears to destroy the Flying Nimbus with a rocket launcher.
Goku defeats Colonel Silver.
Goku crash lands in an airplane near Muscle Tower.

Battles[]

Goku vs. Red Ribbon Soldiers
Goku vs. Colonel Silver

Appearances[]

Characters[]

Locations[]

Objects[]

Techniques[]

I'll Shoot You! - Used by Colonel Silver.

Differences from the Manga[]

The opening scenes of the episode with Colonel Silver's men searching the river for the Dragon Ball and Goku's time with the monkeys are exclusive to the anime.
- Largely due to Silver debuting much earlier than in the manga, his interactions with his two men were excised to merely him shooting the air to roust them. The anime also omits his explanation of Red having a short temper and stating the additional motive that Red is pressing Silver's unit to find a Dragon Ball faster than the Brown Corps.
In the manga, after Goku hits Silver in the stomach he follows it up by knocking him out with his tail. In the anime, after he hits Silver in the stomach he first tries to walk away, only after dodging several other punches does he knock him out.
In the manga, Commander Red speaks to Colonel Silver over the radio. In the anime, Staff Officer Black speaks to him instead and relays the information to the Commander. On a related note, Commander Red also orders Black to have Silver brought before him so he can personally deal with him for the failure is exclusive to the anime.
Colonel Silver at the Red Ribbon Army Headquarters asking for a second chance and being sent away is exclusive to the anime.
- On a similar note, the manga makes Silver's fate more explicit by having Commander Red remark that he'll "see [Silver] at the firing squad." ("You fool!!! It's the Death Penalty for you!!!!!" in the Full Color version) The anime leaves his fate more ambiguous due to his leaving his office and two guards trying to shoot him off-screen.

Trivia[]

There is a flaw in the title since Commander Red is not a General, but the leader of the Red Ribbon Army. The reason for this error is likely due to the rank of "General" being the highest actual rank as opposed to "Commander," which is a more unique rank but not as familiarized in popular culture.
- It may also be due to Commander and General technically meaning the same thing in Japan.
- Ironically, the error would later be repeated with the English dub-exclusive ending narration for Confront the Red Ribbon Army.
There's a slight difference in Silver's interrogation between the Japanese and English versions. In the former, Silver seems honestly shocked that he's being "dismissed" for his loss when Red was nothing but praising of his skills before, whereas the dub has him saying that Goku was too skilled and begs Red to reconsider.
This episode marks the first time Commader Red is shown in full. In prior episodes, he was partly hidden via avoiding showing his face a'la Ernst Stavro Blofeld from the James Bond movies.

Gallery[]

Site Navigation[]

v • eRed Ribbon Army Saga
← Tournament Saga		General Blue Saga→
Manga
Chapters	55 • 56 • 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 62 • 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 • 68 • 69
Volumes	5 • 6
Anime
Episodes	29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 45