The Elusive Samurai Drops Wild Goku Cameo in New Episode

The Elusive Samurai has been a hit under Shonen Jump for some years now, and finally, its thrills have hit the screen. Not long ago, the summer season began and welcomed The Elusive Samurai to the anime realm. With just a couple episodes under its belt, the CloverWorks show is already a hit, and now the title is going viral all thanks to… Son Goku.

No, seriously – the Saiyan just popped up in the Shonen Jump series. The most recent episode of The Elusive Samurai features a nod to Goku’s iconic Spirit Bomb, and the surprising cameo caught the world off guard.

As you can see above, the cameo is a blink-and-miss-it moment, but it is hard to miss once you slow down. The most recent episode of The Elusive Samurai follows our leads as they continue to evade every sort of mercenary. During this run, the group encounters a man with familiar black hair on a rocky hill. With their hands stretched upwards, the priest is summoning spirit energy similar to Goku’s Spirit Bomb, so you can see why the character resembles the Saiyan so much.

Obviously, this gag is a cheeky one, and it is made possible by Shueisha. The publisher oversees The Elusive Samurai manga, and of course, it does the same for Dragon Ball. Decades ago, the late Akira Toriyama brought Goku to life in Shonen Jump, so the anime committee for The Elusive Samurai had some leeway with this cameo.

If you are not familiar with The Elusive Samurai, the anime is now streaming, so you can find it on Crunchyroll right now. For more info on Yusei Matsui’s series, you can read its official synopsis below:

“Set in feudal Japan in between the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, our hero Hojo Tokiyuki is a boy on the run that history all but forgot! When the Kamakura shogunate is overthrown by Ashikaga Takauji, Tokiyuki’s family and standing are viciously taken away from him, and he must flee to the far reaches of the land to survive and seek out his revenge!”

Did you catch this Goku throwback? Are you liking The Elusive Samurai season one? Let us know what you think over on Twitter and Instagram. You can also hit me up @MeganPetersCB to share your take!