Why does DBZ #185 redo Gohan's transformation?

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RoarkVegeta
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Why does DBZ #185 redo Gohan's transformation?

Post by RoarkVegeta » Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:30 pm

Today, while writing a paper for class (which I'm clearly doing a good job of!), I decided to throw on a random Dragon Box disc as background noise. I put in the episodes where Gohan transforms into Super Saiya-jin 2 against Cell. Now episode 184 is obviously as good as it gets in the series. Pretty good animation, and Unmei No Hei playing in the background while the birds chirp is just so powerful and emotional. The transformation scene is done so well, with just silence from everyone (even though I've always loved how Piccolo is the only one to say anything), and I like it probably just as much as Goku's first transformation. If you haven't seen it in Japanese, please do yourself a favor and watch it. The episode ends with the narrator speaking and Gohan drying away his tears as he stares down Cell. Zenkai Power plays yadda yadda, and then episode 185 starts.

The recap in this episode shows Gohan clearly transforming, yet they spend about 5 minutes of him still powering up. It's absolutely killer to sit and wait when you already know what's coming.

Now, this could simply be just a time-waster, as is a lot of the scenes in this arc. When #184 aired, the last chapter in Weekly Jump was Chapter 420, where Trunks returns to his future and kills Cell. There was also a break the next week, which was when 184 aired. Now obviously, that's not a lot of breathing room for Toei, and they were quite well aware of this, as they gave us the Afterlife Tournament.

What are your thoughts on this? Does it bug you if you marathon watch the series, as this is (if I recall correctly) the only transformation handled like this in the anime?