Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 76 of the first Dragon Ball rewatch of the decade.
We're doing five episodes a week, and we'll be watching every single episode of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT. All 508 episodes. Plus the TV specials and the movies.
I encourage you all to watch in Japanese with subtitles, especially if you have never done so before, but watch along in whichever way brings you the most joy.
The plan was to co-write this thread's trivia with KBABZ, but it turns out he's more busy than the thought he'd be, so you're stuck with my inferior solo trivia for a little while longer at least.
Previous thread: Week 75 (DBZ 170-174)
Next thread: Week 77 (DBZ 178-182)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 328 - Cell’s Standing Challenge!! The Opening to the Decisive Battle (DBZ episode 175)
Dub title: The Games Begin
Originally aired 17th of February 1993
Kai equivalent: Episode 86 - A New God! The Dragon Balls are Finally Revived and Episode 87 - Satan’s Legion Runs Wild! The Curtain Rises on the Cell Games
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Episode director: Kazuhito Kikuchi
Animation supervisor: Masahiro Shimanuki
As the ten days pass by and the day of the Cell Games arrives, Mister Satan appears at the tournament grounds, where Cell waits. In front of the television broadcast staff, he tries to rile up the completely unresponsive Cell, but Vegeta then arrives. Continuing on, the repaired No. 16 arrives, followed by Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Kuririn, Trunks, as well as Tenshinhan and Yamcha, who met up with the others on the way over. Satan doesn’t know any of them, and stops Goku as he is about to begin fighting, to the amazement of Gohan and the rest.
Anime-only/filler content: Roshi watching Mr. Satan on TV, Tenshinhan and Yamucha bumping into the others on the way to the Cell Games, Chichi going ballistic seeing Gohan on TV, Mr. Satan smashing a rock with his forehead.
TV Special 2 - Defiance in the Face of Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors: Gohan and Trunks
Dub title: The History of Trunks
Originally aired 24th of February 1993
Kai equivalent: None.
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Minoru Maeda
The artificial humans have left the future in shambles, killing all of the Z Warriors but two… Gohan and Trunks. As the two battle to save the future, Gohan is killed and Trunks finally obtains the power of the Super Saiyan. However, even that isn’t enough to defeat such evil, so the young boy travels to the past in search of hope.
Anime-only/filler content: The entire prologue showing the various deaths of the Dragon Team, Gohan and Trunks fighting 17 and 18, Trunks going Super Saiyan for the first time (in the manga, he's already able to go Super Saiyan from the beginning of the chapter), the rain, Trunks trying to avenge Gohan's death, and a lot of small extensions/changes to the scenes that were adapted. Realistically speaking, none of this is "filler", but the anime version certainly adapted the manga special chapter quite liberally.
Episode 329 - Wait Just a Minute!! The Great Satan Army Arrives (DBZ episode 176)
Dub title: Losers Fight First
Originally aired 3rd of March 1993
Kai equivalent: Episode 87 - Satan’s Legion Runs Wild! The Curtain Rises on the Cell Games
Written by: Sumio Uetake
Episode director: Hiroki Shibata
Animation supervisor: Yukio Ebisawa
Before the eyes of the amazed Goku and co., Satan tries to fight Cell. At this point, Satan’s #1 disciple, Piroshki, and his #2 disciple Karoni land on the arena from a helicopter, and challenge Cell in place of Satan! But Cell easily deals with them, and Satan challenges Cell after splitting 14 tiles. But as Satan desperately attacks, Cell says that he is simply in the way, and sweeps him aside! The television staff is dumbfounded at Satan’s easy defeat…
Anime-only/filler content: Everything involving Mr. Satan's crew, to the point that they were added to many manga scenes (which is why they weren't removed from Kai).
Episode 330 - Goku’s Bout!! The Super-Tense Cell Games (DBZ episode 177)
Dub title: Goku vs. Cell
Originally aired 10th of March 1993
Kai equivalent: Episode 88 - The Decisive Battle! Cell vs Son Goku
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Mitsuo Hashimoto
Animation supervisor: Ichirō Hattori
Moving on from the farce of Satan versus Cell, Goku finally enters the ring. Not admitting his defeat, Satan talks big, but is amazed as Goku and Cell battle and clash at super speed. While fighting in the arena and in the air, Goku and Cell both retain their composure. Unable to see the two since they’re moving too fast, Satan insists that this must be a trick. The fight escalates, and as Cell says that that’s enough for warming up exercises, Goku responds by unleashing his full power!!
Anime-only/filler content: More scenes with Mr. Satan's crew, the non-combat cast watching the fight on TV at home, the fight itself (especially the "warmup bout") being extended by a large amount.
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Interesting trivia:
- At this point in time in the manga, Cell continues to get pounded by Gohan, the two have a beam struggle, Gohan decides to not finish off Cell, Cell degenerates to his previous form and begins to self-destruct, Goku takes him away and dies, Cell returns, and reveals that he's even stronger now and can teleport.
- Before the special, it had been said that Vegeta died first. In the special, Piccolo is shown as the first.
- In prior flashbacks to Gohan and Trunks fighting the Androids in the future, he had his sword. In the special, he acquires it at some point offscreen after Gohan dies.
- The Funimation dub of this special was treated like their movies (much like the previous special), and thus had various American bands contribute music to the special; some Buckethead, a couple of tracks by Slaughter, and most of Dream Theater's 1999 album Scenes From A Memory were used in the special.
- Some of the music placements differ between the original Toonami TV airing, the original DVD/VHS release, and the "Remastered" releases; the opening and closing composed by Mark Menza are used exclusively on the "Remastered" releases, and some tracks by Tendril appeared exclusively in the Toonami version.
- While the Japanese version (and the Japanese-scored version of the Funi dub) opens with Cha-La Head Cha-La, it closes with a song called Aoi Kaze no HOPE ("The Blue Wind's Hope").