On that note, “Goku and Krillin – Back to the Old Familiar Training Ground” is a perfect example of an episode that tries incredibly hard to do its best impression of the original Dragon Ball series. The reason for this is that this installment is a love letter to one of the series’ oldest and most important relationships—the bond between Goku and Krillin—but more specifically, it’s a deep dive into Krillin himself.

The character has largely taken a backseat in Dragon Ball Super and even gone as far as “retiring” from the superhero game. However, this episode works hard to bring warrior Krillin back into the picture and “redeem” the character, so to speak.

After all of the many hijinks that have been going down lately, Goku has some free time on his hands to get some intensive training done. The only problem here is that he can’t find a worthy sparring partner to keep him busy.

It’s safe to assume that Goku’s already tried Whis and Vegeta because he doesn’t consider them viable options. Goku’s stuck sparring against the Great Saiyaman until he eventually remembers that Krillin still exists (although I would have loved it if Goten quickly backpedaled and suggested Tien to his father instead). Krillin might initially seem like a controversial choice for Goku’s training partner and there’s no one that’s more aware of that then Krillin himself.

The conversation that the series has about Krillin’s vulnerability to a bullet is particularly interesting and Dragon Ball even spends more time on this topic than one might expect. It’s something that sparks outrage in Android 18 and triggers her to the point of explaining to her husband that she didn’t fall in love with some shlub who’s susceptible to gunfire.