"Our response to this crime must be swift and severe. You are to abandon your current assignment and find the assailant. I want an example made of him. Do it slowly." |
"Terrible Tambourine" (魔獣·タンバリンがやってくる!! Majū · Tanbarin ga Yatte Kuru!!, lit. "The Demonic Beast – Tambourine Draws Near!!") is the fifth episode of the King Piccolo Saga and the one hundred sixth episode in the Dragon Ball series. This episode first aired in Japan on March 23, 1988. Its original American airdate was September 5, 2003.
Summary[]
Yajirobe eating Cymbal
Yajirobe makes a fire and cooks Cymbal, as he is still hungry and upset at Goku for eating his breakfast. Goku advises him not to eat the monster as it is likely unhealthy or poisonous, and yet Yajirobe tells him to mind his own business. In short order, Yajirobe makes a steak out of Cymbal and eats him, commenting that he is delicious and tastes like chicken.
On Pilaf's Flying Base, King Piccolo tries again to telepathically communicate with Cymbal, but with no success. Feeling angry at the loss of his son, he yells at Pilaf Gang for not being compassionate enough.
Giran's death
Elsewhere, a group of animals are having a nice sunny day in their village, and a father and son bear are doing some fishing. Just as they catch a fish, Giran the Giras, one of the quarter-finalists from the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, flies in, steals it, and bullies them cruelly. Just as he is about to beat them up, Tambourine arrives on the scene and steps on his tail, stopping Giran's attack. A battle ensues, but Giran is clearly outmatched as none of his attacks do any damage whatsoever. He tries to use his special attack, the Merry-Go-Round Gum, to bind Tambourine, but with no effect as Tambourine breaks out in short order. Giran gets one good kick in before Tambourine strikes him so hard with his hand that it goes straight through the Giras' stomach, from side to side, killing him instantly. The two animals whom Giran was bullying come out to thank Tambourine for saving them, but Tambourine kills the father mercilessly and says to the son "Giran was a job. Your father... I killed for fun" before taking off.
Aboard a plane, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu and Master Roshi spot a Dragon Ball on their Dragon Radar 200 kilometers away and change course toward it. Tambourine is again shown flying, holding the roster kill-list in hand, and his next target is Yamcha. Back with Goku, Yajirobe finishes eating all of Cymbal, and Goku tells him that because of his Dragon Ball, he is a target for Tambourine later on. Just as Goku is about to leave, he rushes back to ask Yajirobe for his Dragon Ball in order to bring Krillin back to life. Yajirobe is confused, so Goku tells him about Shenron and the wish you get when all are collected.
Tien, Master Roshi and Chiaotzu begin hunting for the Dragon Balls
Tambourine spots the new Kame House on the side of a forested mountain region where Yamcha is hiding out. Yamcha is below practicing, and though his leg is still wrapped up, it appears the bone has healed as he is able to throw kicks and exercise. Landing, Tambourine asks for directions, and Bulma spills that they just moved from the place he is looking for to this new area. Quickly, Tambourine recognizes Yamcha and they square off to fight. Yamcha takes a few hits, and his leg gives out. Launch shoots at the monster, though it only serves to tickle him. Just as he is about to perform the same attack that he killed Giran with, King Piccolo makes telepathic contact with him. Piccolo is glad to hear that Tambourine has killed seven fighters already and working on the eighth, but tells his son that Cymbal has been destroyed. Piccolo goes on to tell him to abandon his current assignment and destroy whoever had killed Cymbal right away.
On some iceberg, Master Roshi, Tien and Chiaotzu locate a Dragon Ball deep inside a shelf of ice. Tien destroys it with a powerful energy attack, recovering the Dragon Ball. Back with Yajirobe, Goku is still bargaining for the ball, and it looks like he is about to get it, putting Master Roshi's gang at two Dragon Balls to King Piccolo's one.
Major Events[]
- Master Roshi, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu begin their quest to obtain the Dragon Balls.
- Tambourine kills Giran.
- Tambourine goes to Kame House to kill Yamcha but is called away by King Piccolo.
Battles[]
- Giran vs. Tambourine
- Yamcha and Launch vs. Tambourine
Appearances[]
Characters[]
Locations[]
Objects[]
Differences from the Manga[]
- Piccolo and his kind have five fingers in the anime but four in the manga.
- Goku commenting that eating Cymbal may be a bad idea isn't in the manga.
- Piccolo trying in vain to contact the deceased Cymbal isn't in the manga, as is Pilaf and company's faking sympathy for Cymbal's death, only for the demon king to angrily scream that they have no idea how he feels.
- Tambourine's killing of Giran is greatly expanded in the anime. The scene in the manga showed him already in the middle of beating on Giran as the panda family watched as he killed the latter (the pandas are the only animals to appear in the manga version). In the anime, the village is properly fleshed-out and the main focal point is given to a pair of brown bears who are fishing before Giran steals and eats their catch. The son scolds him for it and just as Giran's about to attack them, Tambourine arrives and begins his assault while the bears hide behind a rock. Giran's attacks do nothing to the demon clansman and not even his Merry-Go-Round gum succeeds in binding him for long. Giran manages to land a hit with his tail after the gum fails, but this makes Tambourine go in for the kill and Giran is slain the same as in the manga. The bears come out to thank Tambourine for ridding them of Giran, but when the father tries to shake his hand, the demon cuts his chest saying "Now he's truly liberated". The son gets angry until he sees the symbol of the devil at his feet before Tambourine flies off. Also, when determining his next victim and deciding on Yamcha, he's still in the spot where he killed Giran in the manga but already flying away from the area in the anime.
- The scene of Tien and Roshi talking strategy to gather the dragon balls and the subsequent collecting of the two-star ball in the South Pole are not in the manga.
- The entire scene of Tambourine accidentally stumbling upon Kame House and almost killing Yamcha before Piccolo calls him away is filler.
- The timing of Piccolo contacting Tambourine to tell him to go after the one who killed Cymbal is different. In the manga, it is right after he slays Giran while in the anime it is just before he can deliver the final blow to Yamcha.
- Goku's explanation to Yajirobe about what the dragon balls are is interrupted by Tambourine in the manga but not in the anime.
Trivia[]
- In the Japanese version, the baby bear thought that Tambourine was "Kami-sama" coming to strike down Giran for his bad deeds. This was changed to simply thinking Tambourine was a hero in the English version. Also, after Tambourine lays out his calling card, he tells the baby bear "So sorry I'm not Kami-sama, you brat!" The irony behind all this is that Kami-sama, as we will come to know, is technically related to Tambourine.
- It's inferred that the papa bear actually survived Tambourine's cut in the Japanese version (assuming he didn't die from the wound later), while the English dub explicitly says that Tambourine killed him.
- In the very last scene, Goku and Yajirobe are looking up in apprehension as if Tambourine were already upon them, but they don't actually encounter him until near the end of the next episode.
Gallery[]
 A rabbit reading  A couple children fox playing with a ball  A father and son go fishing together  The father hooks a fish  The father and son bear  Pandas hide when they see Giran arrive  Tambourine approaches Giran  Tambourine jumps back to kick Giran  Tambourine kicks Giran  Tambourine hits Giran with a barrage of kicks  Tambourine fighting with Giran  Tambourine breaks free from Giran's Merry-Go-Round Gum  Giran strikes Tambourine with his tail  Tambourine kills Giran with the Sidearm Flamer |
[]
| ← 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 | ||||||||