Weekly Character Showcase #89: Karin from the Red Ribbon Army Arc!
Karin
The Weekly ☆ Character Showcase is an article series where we introduce one character from the Dragon Ball universe each week. This time, we're scaling the great pillar of Karin Tower for a special training session with Master Karin from the Red Ribbon Army arc!
Story
Karin is a feline hermit who lives atop Karin Tower, where he keeps watch over the ongoings of the world below.
(Tale 88)
He's also in charge of cultivating Senzu Beans, a miraculous food that can stave off hunger for ten whole days as well as restore a person to tip-top shape from the brink of death!
(Tale 88)
Goku ascends the sheer pillar of Karin Tower in hopes of obtaining the Super Holy Water to grant him the strength to defeat the deadly mercenary Taopaipai. However, it turns out that if he wanted the water, he'd need to take it from Karin himself, which proved quite the challenge due to the hermit's incredible speed and dexterity!
(Tale 88)
Karin even manages to swipe Goku's Four-Star Dragon Ball and toss it over the edge in order to force Goku to retrieve it and scale the tower once more as training.
(Tale 89)
Goku's struggle to obtain the Super Holy Water drags on for several days until he finally manages to get his hands on it by tickling Karin to create an opening.
(Tale 89)
However, it turns out that the Super Holy Water is just plain old H2O, and that the real powerup comes from all the hard work Goku had to do in order to take it!
(Tale 89)
Thanks to the increase in strength earned through his intense training session atop Karin Tower, Goku is able to defeat Taopaipai at last.
First Appearance
"Dragon Ball" Tale 88
Techniques
Mind-Reading
Karin is able to read Goku's mind and find out why he wants to drink the Super Holy Water and become stronger.
(Tale 88)
Zanzo-Ken (Afterimage)
Karin sees through Goku's Zanzo-Ken during their training session and fools Goku with a Zanzo-Ken of his own!
(Tale 89)
Trivia
Karin even trained the great Kamesennin!
Karin is actually over 800 years old, and some three centuries ago another warrior seeking the Super Holy Water made the climb to train under him: Kamesennin! Unlike Goku, who nabbed the Super Holy Water in a matter of days, it took Kamesennin three whole years to take it from Karin!
(Tale 88)
→Preview: Next week's character is even more renowned than Master Karin!
*All comic images are from the Japanese version.
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