Hello, ladies, gentlemen, and everyone between and beyond, and welcome to week 77 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.
God, the Cell Games take so long.
Previous thread: Week 76 (DBZ 175, TVS2, 176-177)
Next thread: Week 78 (DBZ 183-187)
Anyway, without further ado...
Episode 331 - A Direct Hit to the Earth!! Cell’s Huge Kamehameha (DBZ episode 178)
Dub title: Cell's Bag of Tricks
Originally aired 17th of March 1993
Kai equivalent: Episode 88 - The Decisive Battle! Cell vs Son Goku
Written by: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Episode director: Yoshihiro Ueda
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
Blowing stupendous ki on the arena, Goku and Cell confront each other! Seeing their explosive power, Kuririn and the others are overwhelmed. The two clash once again. Having Tenshinhan’s cells as well, Cell attacks Goku with the Shishin no Ken. But as Goku faces the four Cells with a time-lag attack, Cell unleashes one of Freeza’s techniques! As Cell then fires an even more powerful Kamehameha, Goku flies into the air so that he will be targeted and the Earth spared, then counterattacks with the Shunkan-Idō!!
Anime-only/filler content: More scenes of the Mr. Satan gang, several bouts of the fight (including Cell using multi-form, Makankosappo, and Kienzan), Kaio's commentary.
Episode 332 - Lose or Die?! Goku, A Secret Turnabout Plan (DBZ episode 179)
Dub title: No More Rules
Originally aired 31st of March 1993
Kai equivalent: Episode 89 - A Battle of the Highest Level! Defeat Cell, Son Goku
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Episode director: Daisuke Nishio
Animation supervisor: Keisuke Masunaga
An even battle unfolds as Goku and Cell battle at full power! Satan and co. are puzzled as the two move too fast to be seen. Saying that the out-of-bounds loss rule is already meaningless, Cell blows the arena away! A tremendous battle then begins, with the land itself as their arena. And then, as it looks as if Goku is going to fire a full-power Kamehameha at the Earth, he teleports right in front of Cell. The Kamehameha lands a direct hit on Cell!!
Anime-only/filler content: More scenes of the Mr. Satan gang, all the cutaways of people watching the fight, and ZTV being inundated with calls.
Episode 333 - The End of the Desperate Struggle!! Goku Surrenders?! (DBZ episode 180)
Dub title: The Fight is Over
Originally aired 7th of April 1993
Kai equivalent: Episode 89 - A Battle of the Highest Level! Defeat Cell, Son Goku and Episode 90 - A Conclusion to the Death-Match! Goku, Time to Make a Decision
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Episode director: Atsutoshi Umezawa
Animation supervisor: Masahiro Shimanuki
Cell regenerates even after having the upper half of his body annihilated, shocking Goku and the others!! Even with them both having lost a considerable amount of ki, the two continue their battle. Unable to endure Goku’s rapid-fire energy bullet attack, Cell finally uses a barrier! While Goku is short of breath, Cell is still composed. Seeing their showdown, Vegeta admits that his own power is no match for Goku’s, while Cell’s power is even greater than Goku’s. As Cell sneers, Goku suddenly announces that he gives up!!
Anime-only/filler content: More scenes of the Mr. Satan gang and more cutaways to people watching the fight.
Episode 334 - Someone Who Will Succeed the Strongest… His Name is Gohan (DBZ episode 181)
Dub title: Faith in a Boy
Originally aired 14th of April 1993
Kai equivalent: Episode 90 - A Conclusion to the Death-Match! Goku, Time to Make a Decision
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Episode director: Kazuhito Kikuchi
Animation supervisor: Masayuki Uchiyama
Vegeta and the others are all surprised at Goku’s announcement that he gives up. Afraid that his turn might come again, Satan pretends to have a stomachache. But Goku says there is someone even stronger than Cell, and chooses Gohan as the next challenger. In response to his father’s expectations, Gohan resolves to confront Cell. Furthermore, Goku recuperates Cell with a senzu, amazing Kuririn and everyone. After unleashing a tremendous ki, Gohan confronts Cell, who underestimates him! Even while being hit by Cell, he stands up again without even flinching…
Anime-only/filler content: More scenes of the Mr. Satan gang and cutaways to people watching the fight.
Episode 335 - Get Angry, Gohan — Release the Dormant Power Within (DBZ episode 182)
Dub title: Gohan's Plea
Originally aired 21st of April 1993
Kai equivalent: Episode 91 - Get Angry, Gohan! Unleash Your Hidden Power
Written by: Hiroshi Toda
Episode director: Masahiro Hosoda
Animation supervisor: Yūji Hakamada
With Cell as his opponent, Gohan is committed to protecting everyone. He is hit head-on by Cell’s energy wave and is crushed beneath crumbling rocks, but gets up all the same. But Gohan tells Cell about the power hidden within him. He says that he does not want to kill Cell, and requests that they stop this fight. But Cell at laughs this, telling Gohan to show him this hidden power, brutally hitting Gohan in order to provoke him! Cell grins after being hit with Gohan’s first attack…
Anime-only/filler content: More scenes of the Mr. Satan gang and cutaways to people watching the fight, extensions to the fight, the king telling his forces to back off, the flashbacks when Gohan explains his hidden power to Cell.
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Interesting trivia:
- At this point in time in the manga, Cell kills Trunks and decides to destroy earth, Vegeta apologises to Gohan for being a dick, Goku gives Gohan a pep talk and he begins his beam struggle with Cell, beats him with the help of the rest of the gang, wishes are made to restore the earth, Goku decides to stay dead, and Trunks returns to his future to dispose of Dr. Gero's monsters.
- Missed trivia: In Funimation's original 2004 DVD single release of Z episode 172, they used the Dragon Box transfer of the series (though a somewhat less cleaned-up version, akin to their source material for their Dragon Ball GT DVDs). This is not the case on either the Australian release or the VHS release, both of which were mastered in 2002 using Funimation's own in-house DigiBeta transfer of their release prints. Thanks to TheBalishChannel for sharing this discovery in 2018.
- Z episode 179 contains Sean Schemmel's favourite moment in the Cell arc: The warp Kamehameha.
- In the original Funimation dub of Z episode 179, Goku says "Kameha-ha!" This error persisted into the initial DVD version of the remastered dub, but was rectified for the Blu-ray releases.
- If you were watching the edited dub at the same pace as we've been watching the uncut dub, you would reach the afterlife tournament filler arc this week with episode 180. In uncut however, we won't be reaching that filler arc for another four weeks, when we hit episode 195.
- The Ocean dub of the flashback in Z episode 182 features Gohan and Raditz, originally voiced by Saffron Henderson and Jason Gray-Stanford respectively, but voiced by Jillian Michaels and Alistair Abell in this flashback.
- Canadians seeking to recreate the original broadcast experience would be watching their final Funi-dubbed episode this week, Z episode 182. YTV switched to the Westwood/Ocean dub starting from Z episode 183 (168 in edited numbering) and never looked back.
- This is one reason why you shouldn't believe people who claim the Westwood dub was created for cancon reasons; the Westwood dub began with Z episode 123 (108 in edited numbering), a full 60 episodes (and several months) before Canada switched over, and initially it only aired in the UK and Holland, plus a couple of other random European territories. YTV likely only made the switch because Funimation proved very unreliable.
- There are 14 redrawn shots in Kai episode 88, 13 in episode 89, and 19 in episode 90.