Deep Thoughts: The Perfect Cell Saga

[ABED]

A writer is never bored, or so I hear. And to an extent that's true. As I write this, I'm bored by these episodes, but analyzing what is making me feel this way is stimulating. I think a big part of it is that after the mystery was solved via the exposition dump, it's back to the formula that Toriyama has used since the Piccolo Daimao arc. Now part of the formula is Vegeta egging an opponent on so he can get a better fight only to get overwhelmed and beaten up due to his hubris. On the bright side, Cell has finally achieved his perfect form. Cell's transformation into his perfect form more than any other of the villains has the feeling of "they're screwed". And we get one of the coolest attacks when Vegeta hits Cell with his Final Flash. Then there is the reveal that not only was Trunks holding back a tremendous amount of power, but that it's useless. His power might even be greater than Cell's but he's sacrificed speed as a result. Goku gets this immediately and apparently so did Vegeta. I enjoy these sorts of tradeoffs in stories. One detail I enjoyed was Goku's training method – to make Super Saiyan feel like his and Gohan's natural state by staying in it all day long. Of course, Vegeta deduces this right away after seeing them but obstinate jackass that he is, he doesn't copy them even after seeing the tremendous gains they've made.

Speaking of which, Gohan has finally turned into a Super Saiyan. I'll have more to say on this when we get to Super Saiyan 2, but both work really well despite happening within quick succession. Although, the emotion of Gohan turning Super Saiyan 2 mostly boils down to the performance and music. His reasons for turning Super Saiyan in the Room of Spirit and Time were far more interesting, compelling, and made sense for where his character was at this point in the series. I don't think there was anything much to Gohan turning Super Saiyan in the manga but in the anime the entire scene was about him wanting to no longer be coddled. I wish this were the Gohan we got during the Cell Games.

After Trunks is defeated and humiliated, on the fly, Cell suggests a tournament he calls the Cell Games. I love me a tournament, although this won't really be one. It's a series of one-on-one fights against the big bad. What's Cell's motivation? It's to test his power and amuse himself by seeing the look of fear on people's faces. That's fun villain stuff. And the little touch of Trunks showing fear and Cell's reply of "That's the look!" is Jeff's Kiss (Kevin Smith reference).

Random Thoughts:
Room of Spirit and Time – do the conditions change based on the time of day? Do you think the harsh conditions change in the living areas? Trying to sleep in -40 degree cold would be hell.
It's cool seeing Goku wear Saiyan gear, but I'm glad it was only for the training.
Of the tapes I rented from Anime FX, one of them contained episode 162. It looked and sounded like the recording was done on LP setting, even though there were at most only 4 episodes per tape. That said, it's a cool episode to watch even without context or even subtitles.

Dub:
Hyperbolic Time Chamber – sounds more mechanical than mystical.
Dameon Clarke's perfect Cell voice is the Curt Hennig of voices… absolutely perfect.

[8000 Saiyan]

One thing I always preferred about the anime over the manga, regarding this saga, is the addition of Tien, Yamcha, Krillin and Piccolo trying to help Gohan against Cell, even if they're nothing compared to Cell's huge power.

[ABED]

One thing I always preferred about the anime over the manga, regarding this saga, is the addition of Tien, Yamcha, Krillin and Piccolo trying to help Gohan against Cell, even if they're nothing compared to Cell's huge power.

We haven't gotten to the fight between Cell and Gohan yet.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

While I don't love the Cell arc in its entirety as much as I did when I was a kid this final portion of it is still really enjoyable. It's weird seeing Goku have so much faith in Gohan to the extent for once he slacks off on his training believing so much Cell would be no match for his son's hidden powers. Of course it comes to bite him in the ass when Gohan initially fights Cell as he realises you can't force Gohan's hidden powers to come out, and that they are unleashed when your not expecting them.

Norio Wakamoto is phenomenal as Cell, the emphasis he puts on him declaring a Kamehameha sells that performance. For the English side I don't think there's ever been a bad dubbed Perfect Cell. Dameon Clarke is amazing, but I also quite like Dale Wilson's performance in the Westwood dub as it gave Cell that extra menacing edge that also feels appropriately subhuman. Jonathan Cook and Ben Jeffery were OK in the Final Bout and Blue Water GT dubs respectively, but nowhere near as bad as other miscast characters we've had.

[8000 Saiyan]

One thing I always preferred about the anime over the manga, regarding this saga, is the addition of Tien, Yamcha, Krillin and Piccolo trying to help Gohan against Cell, even if they're nothing compared to Cell's huge power.

We haven't gotten to the fight between Cell and Gohan yet.

Oh, right.

[90sDBZ]

I always liked the Final Flash scene. Even though Vegeta was in over his head, he managed to take Cell by surprise for this brief moment. Despite him being angry and desperate, he was able to trick Cell into taking his attack, while also directing the blast into outer space to avoid destroying the planet. Cell would've died right here without his regeneration ability. It goes to show Cell is just as overconfident as Vegeta.

One thing I find weird is Krillin thinking Trunks has surpassed Vegeta, even though we later learn Vegeta could've used Grade 3 himself but chose not to. I like how Goku and Vegeta are the ones who recognise the weakness of that form. It shows them to be more experienced fighters than their sons.

[MasenkoHA]

While I get the logic of letting the Cell Games be its own saga I really don't get why Funimation needed to divide episodes 150-165 as the Imperfect Cell and Perfect Cell saga instead of just the Cell saga. It's not like the combined 26 episodes is any longer than the other sagas. Like why bother?