MASTER SHEN
MS
The petty, vengeful grandmaster of the Crane School and lifelong bitter rival of Master Roshi. Master Shen trains his pupils Tien and Chiaotzu in the lethal art of assassination, encouraging brutal tactics and teaching forbidden techniques like the Tri-Beam and flight. Driven by malice and a desire for revenge after Goku defeats his brother Mercenary Tao, Shen's influence is ultimately rejected by his pupils in favor of true martial honor.
MASTER THROUGH THE ARCHIVE //
MARTIAL ARTS SCHOOLS //
Open page →The Crane School is the dark mirror of Roshi's teaching. Master Shen produces technically gifted students and techniques that become permanent parts of Dragon Ball's combat language, but he aims that talent toward domination, cruelty and assassination.
Tien and Chiaotzu arrive at the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai carrying that philosophy with them. Tien's eventual break with Shen matters because the training itself is not portrayed as worthless; what he rejects is what Shen taught him to do with it.
Tien and Chiaotzu arrive at the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai carrying that philosophy with them. Tien's eventual break with Shen matters because the training itself is not portrayed as worthless; what he rejects is what Shen taught him to do with it.
The Breakdown
Dodon Ray, Bukujutsu and the Kikoho lineage all make the Crane School influential long after Tien stops obeying the Crane Hermit.
SAGA SUMMARIES //
Open page →Rival Schools, Not Just Rival Fighters
Open →Roshi vs. Shen · Goku vs. Tien
Master Shen has trained Tien and Chiaotzu to treat strength as domination and assassination as a respectable career. Roshi's students have been taught to train hard, live fully and keep looking for somebody better.
That argument plays out through the bracket. Yamcha is injured deliberately. Chiaotzu cheats on command. Jackie Chun eventually steps away because Roshi realizes Tien is already beginning to question the man who raised him as a weapon.
That argument plays out through the bracket. Yamcha is injured deliberately. Chiaotzu cheats on command. Jackie Chun eventually steps away because Roshi realizes Tien is already beginning to question the man who raised him as a weapon.
Why it matters
The tournament has an ideological winner before it has a bracket winner. Tien has to decide what kind of martial artist he wants to be while he is still fighting Goku.
Tien Changes Sides in Public
Open →The final match is also a break with Master Shen
Tien begins the tournament cruel enough to break Yamcha's leg after the match is effectively over. By the final, he is refusing Shen's orders, demanding Chiaotzu stop interfering and trying to beat Goku on his own terms.
Goku does not lecture him into becoming better. Roshi gives him an alternative, Goku gives him an opponent worth respecting, and Tien makes the decision himself.
Goku does not lecture him into becoming better. Roshi gives him an alternative, Goku gives him an opponent worth respecting, and Tien makes the decision himself.
What changed
Dragon Ball turns a major antagonist into an ally without pretending the earlier cruelty did not happen. Tien earns the change by rejecting the system that rewarded it.
