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duhragonball · 5 years

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Dragon Ball Z 187

Is this the best episode? It might be. Unfortunately, Larry’s camera doesn’t work, so most of Dragon World can’t witness it.

Nice shot of the squad to start us off.

So last time, Cell tried to fight Super Saiyan 2 Gohan and it didn’t go well. He only landed one punch, and only after he used his maximum power, and it didn’t do anything. Then Gohan hit him twice and left him reeling. By now, it’s clear which one of them is stronger and faster, but what can Cell do? Surrender? This whole stupid tournament was his idea. Apologize? We’re way past that. Run away? Where can he go?

Besides, Cell’s too pissed to consider his situation. All along, he’s put his faith in Dr. Gero’s design. He’s supposed to be the ultimate life form, despite looking nothing like Shadow the Hedgehog. All he had to do was follow Gero’s posthumous instructions and he’d become invincible, but now he’s done all of that and he’s still found himself backed into a corner. He can either deny it and keep fighting, or he can accept that his entire existence is based on an empty promise.

What’s amazing to me here is how Cell keeps throwing the same kick, even after Gohan blocks it, and then he screams “stop mocking me!” I mean, yeah, I guess what Gohan is doing counts as mockery, but he’s also just clearly superior to Cell.

As if in response to Cell, Gohan grabs Cell’s leg, charges up, and kicks him in the face. If you’re watching the original Funimation dub, this is where “Gohan Fights Frieza” plays again, and it’s awesome.

Cell gets up, but all he can do is wonder how it came to this. The first time I saw this episode, I started to think about what he did the last time he was in this sort of pinch, and he absorbed an android to leapfrog his opponents’ power level. Only there are no more androids to absorb. Cell is complete. There’s no miracle power-ups waiting for him. He’s completely on his own now.

So Cell tries.... Destructo Discs. Really? Pretty sure this is filler again, but it’s kind of silly for Cell to whip out his genetically inherited techniques now. Those gimcracks didn’t work on Goku, and they didn’t work on Gohan when the Cell Juniors tried them.

This time, Gohan just stops the discs in mid-flight and disperses them with his power. In a way, we’ve come full circle. When Cell first became Perfect, Krillin hit him with a Destructo Disc and it was completely ineffective. Now Cell’s the one using the same move, and with the same result.

Next, Cell fires a Special Beam Cannon, and asks what Gohan’s going to do this time.

Well, Gohan just deflects it, same way Piccolo did back when Imperfect Cell used it on him way back when. I mean, there’s a reason Piccolo doesn’t use this much after the Saiyans Saga.

Then Cell uses.... I guess that rapid-fire attack Frieza used on Piccolo in his Third Form? It doesn’t look quite the same, but I don’t know anyone else who does it like this. None of it works. In the dub, Cell observes that the blasts passed right through Gohan, but I’m pretty sure they sort of slipped around him instead. Either way, no dice.

Over where Mr. Satan is, he announces that he’s so impressed with Gohan’s performance that he plans to make him his apprentice. Piroshki and Caroni aren’t keen about this, since they’re Satan’s star pupils, but Satan tells them they’re expelled. Geez. Anyway, Jimmy Firecracker finally breaks kayfabe and tells Mr. Satan that Gohan clearly has far more impressive powers than any of them, but Satan insists that he could teach the boy to become even greater.

This part here’s super awesome. Cell was so busy being pissed that he forgot that Gohan’s still trying to kill him. When all his attacks fail, Gohan starts walking towards him, and his frustation gives way to fear.

The narration of Cell’s emotional state is truly terrific, but I’m also fond of the dub version of this scene, where Gohan speaks to him, and essentially describes Cell’s thoughts aloud.

“What are you so afraid of, Cell? Isn’t this what you wanted? I warned you! I told you what would happen if you pushed me too far! But you didn’t listen! You forced me to awaken my hidden power. And now that you’ve seen it, you’re afraid, because you know that I’m going to destroy you!”

And then Cell makes this priceless face. This is what I love so much about the character. Throughout his run as the main villain, Cell’s been a lot of things. He’s mostly known for being this brick wall that the other characters can’t overcome. But he’s also been a hideous horror-movie creature, and a smarmy wise-ass. He’s also been known to play mindgames with the heroes, like when he tempted Vegeta to let him become perfect, and when he invited Goku to eat a senzu bean during their fight. There’s layers to Cell. He can do more than just eat people and kick ass. And now, we come to the final phase of Cell’s character, when he’s completely outmatched, and he becomes a panicky coward.

Desperate, Cell jumps into the air and fires a Kamehameha wave down below. Essentially, this is the same thing Vegeta did back in the Saiyans Saga. If Gohan dodges the blast, it’ll destroy the planet, so he has to take this head on.

But Gohan just fires back an even bigger Kamehameha to put an end to that dilemma. Cell ends up getting overwhelmed and engulfed in the blast.

Everyone thinks that’s the end of Cell, because those big energy blasts usually do the trick in the movies, but Cell’s still alive! He’s lost part of his legs, most o his left arm, his wings, and those things on his head, but he’s still alive.

And that doesn’t bother Gohan at all.

As Goku watches this, he flashes back to the day he learned Gohan had this kind of potential. They were in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and Goku wanted to call it a day after a 20-hour training session, when....

... Gohan stood up and asked to keep going a while longer.

Then he made that same face he’s making at Cell right now...

... and then he turned SSJ2, but only for a moment. This flashback is filler, but it makes some sense. Goku must have seen some hint of Gohan’s true ability in the Chamber, or why else would have come out of the Chamber early?

The only thing missing here is the part where Cell actually dies. Piccolo reminds them that Cell will just regenerate if they leave him alone long enough, and Goku calls out to Gohan to put a bow on this thing already.

But Gohan refuses. He wants Cell to suffer a while longer first. And this is where things take a turn for the worse. As badly as Gohan is beating Cell here, it’s all for nothing if Gohan won’t actually kill the guy. I think the most popular interpretation of this is that Gohan is so angry at Cell that he’s just not thinking clearly. He wants to punish Cell for everything he’s done, to the point where he’s lost sight of his original objective. There’s also some youthful inexperience at play here.

That’s probably all true, but I think there’s another side to this. Despite his rage, I think Gohan still can’t quite bring himself to kill Cell. Maybe I’m way off, since he killed the Cell Juniors, and he killed some of Frieza’s men back on Namek, but those were sudden, impulsive kills. Cell may not be strong enough to beat Gohan, but he’s still powerful enough that Gohan will have to work a little to kill him, which means he’s got to make a conscious decision to end Cell’s life. That may be a road he just can’t bring himself to cross, even after everything that’s happened.

In the manga, Goku pleads for Gohan to take Cell out now, pointing out that there’s no telling what Cell might do if he gets desperate. The dub and the Japanese script of the anime don’t put it that way, which is kind of a shame, because I liked that wording. There’s really no telling what Cell might do if he’s completely cornered. By torturing him this way, Gohan is only giving Cell time to think of what he can stoop to.

First, Cell just starts swearing, which is pretty understandable.

Then he gets huuuuuuuge! That’s right, it’s time for Perfect Cell (Dummy Thicc).

I love this visual, because Cell keeps getting bigger and meaner and louder, and it looks like Gohan’s this plucky little kid being terrorized by a horrible monster, but Cell’s the one’s who’s scared right now. All he knows to do now is to try to frighten Gohan back, and it just ain’t working.

As Trunks points out, Cell’s making the same mistake that Trunks did back when Trunks and Cell fought. I’m not even sure Cell realizes it. He’s just so upset that he started powering up, until his body got super bulky and slow. So now he’s still no match for Gohan and he’s a bigger target. And this is probably why Gohan didn’t listen when Goku warned him to finish Cell off quickly. Yeah, we don’t know what Cell might do, but what can he do? If this is all he has left to try, what difference does it make?

Gohan just kicks the shit out of his face, and that calms him down a bit.

My favorite line from the dub version of this episode happens here, when Cell exclaims: “You’re not a boy! You’re a monster!”

Then Gohan follows up with a kick to the gut before Cell can even finish reacting to the last hit. For those of you keeping score, SSJ2 Gohan has only hit Cell six times so far. Two punches in the previous episode, then that kick to the face, the big Kamehameha, another kick to the face, and now this kick to the gut.

Then this happens. GPOY.

See? Cell was coughing up green fluid in the last episode, but this time it’s purple. What’s up with this guy?

That kick to the stomach fucked Cell uuuuup. He can’t stand, and he keeps drooling.

Oh, and he’s still trapped in an endless war against a Super Saiyan 2. Not a great place to take a sick day.

Then this. Holy shit, what is he doing now?

Piccolo calls it. By now, he figures Cell has become so weak that he can’t remain in his perfect form. Not quite sure how Piccolo picked up on this, unless he noticed Cell’s ki dropping below the level he was at in his Semiperfect form.

Okay, but why is he doing this, exactly? He looks like he’s about to throw up--

OH SHIT! HOLY SHIT! HOLY SHIT HE JUST BARFED UP 18!

Gohan’s just watching this and smiling like a sick li’l bastard. There’s no way he knew this would happen, but he looks pretty pleased about it.

Okay, so the implication is that Cell sucked 18 up into his torso and just left her in tact? Like she was balled up in his abdomen somewhere? And maybe 17 too? Only that doesn’t make any sense. It looks plausible here, but that’s because Cell expanded himself to three times his normal size. In his usual self, he wouldn’t be big enough to contain 17 or 18 whole.

Also, we’ve seen big chunks of Cell get blown away since he became perfect. Between Vegeta’s Final Flash, Goku’s Warp Kamehameha, and Gohan’s Kamehameha in this episode, most of the Cell we’re looking at is not the original. I think his knees, thighs, pelvis, and the left half of his chest are about the only parts of him where 17 or 18 could have been stowed away.

Past a point, you just have to say “It’s a cartoon” and move on, but my guess is Cell’s body dismantled 17 and 18 and assimilated their bodies into his own. But the process was reversible, so if Cell ever got hurt badly enough, his body would reject one or both androids and he’d regurgitate them. Shouldn’t 18 have come out of his tail, though? That’s how she went in. It’s just a cartoon. An awesome, awesome cartoon.

I’m just going to leave this here without comment.

So yeah, Cell’s totally screwed, but the thing is, he was totally screwed in the last episode. How much worse can it get for him? How much more is Gohan going to do to this guy before he finally pulls the plug?

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