Dragon Ball Episode 18 Retro Review: “The Turtle Hermit Way” Asks You To Trust The Process
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Dragon Ball’s first batch of episodes got tremendous mileage out of Goku’s gang moving from one odd area to the next, collecting Dragon Balls along the way. Albeit repetitive, it’s a structure that worked for the anime due to a clear sense of progression and world-building present in every episode. Dragon Ball’s Tournament Saga is naturally a risky change of pace from what the series has conditioned audiences to expect.
Goku is still very much the series’ guiding force, but he’s set up shop in a single location, Bulma is out of the picture, and it’s been forever since the Dragon Balls were even mentioned. This is the fourth episode in a row focusing entirely on Goku and Krillin’s training, yet it’s fortunately the most substantial and informative of the lot. Dragon Ball is technically delivering more of the same – like a bottle of milk that arrives every morning – but “The Turtle Hermit Way” is all about the importance of having faith and trusting the process. Dragon Ball Episode 18 is not only an important lesson for the Turtle School’s students, but the audience.
“The Turtle Hermit Way” picks up immediately after “Milk Delivery”, introducing an even more punishing mid-morning and afternoon routuine for Goku and Krillin. Master Roshi found a way to turn basic milk delivery into a brutal boot camp and the same is true for the fieldwork that he subjects his students to. Plowing an entire field is already an exhausting endeavor, but doing it by hand and without tools is borderline torture. This futile fieldwork is accompanied by crushing construction, swimming with sharks, and bee dodging. Master Roshi’s unorthodox lessons all serve a concrete purpose and covertly reinforce a different skill designed to make Goku and Krillin better martial artists.
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