Should 17 and other victims of Cell be alive?

[Slangh]

18 was clearly alive after being spit out by Cell, so 17 should have been alive inside Cell as well. Not so much after Cell was blown into oblivion by Gohan. So a wish to revive Cell's victims shouldn't have brought 17 back; he was technically killed by Gohan.

The same could go for Cell's other victims; maybe they lived on inside him. Normally when someone dies or is killed, their life force goes to the afterlife as a spirit, but in Cell's case their life force became part of his own. Gohan unknowingly killed thousands of people along with Cell, none of whom were wished back.

[Polyphase Avatron]

18 was clearly alive after being spit out by Cell, so 17 should have been alive inside Cell as well. Not so much after Cell was blown into oblivion by Gohan. So a wish to revive Cell's victims shouldn't have brought 17 back; he was technically killed by Gohan.

The same could go for Cell's other victims; maybe they lived on inside him. Normally when someone dies or is killed, their life force goes to the afterlife as a spirit, but in Cell's case their life force became part of his own. Gohan unknowingly killed thousands of people along with Cell, none of whom were wished back.

Cell blew himself up first, remember.

[ZeroNeonix]

I'm not sure if this was intentional, but when Cell shows off the power he stole from absorbing countless people, it reminded me of Demon King Piccolo. Back then, anyone killed by Piccolo or his children were said to be prevented from entering the afterlife. When Tambourine killed Krillin, it was said that Krillin wasn't even able to cross over into Heaven. They were basically stuck in purgatory, presumably until King Piccolo was killed.

Similarly, when Cell absorbs his victims, their souls were trapped inside his body. They were unable to pass on. When Gohan kills Cell, he's not killing those people. They're already dead. He's just releasing their souls so they can crossover.

But wait. If they wished the victims of Cell back to life, why is King Kai still dead? Does he not count because Goku teleported Cell there? Bah! Technicalities.

[Slangh]

@Polyphase Avatron

Cell was partially vaporized by Vegeta and Goku before spitting out 18, including his entire upper body and nucleus. Surely he didn't store the androids whole in his legs. I'd say Cell has to reform their bodies before ejecting them.

@ZeroNeonix

Yeah, the souls in limbo explanation does work. Gohan killing Cell would have set those souls free. Maybe the souls of 17 and 18 were in limbo too, but when Cell spit out 18 he reformed her body, 'reviving' her.