Cell's Introduction: Your Thoughts

[Gokusa7]

I love the introduction of Cell. It is an excellent concept. I remember first watching it when I would've been in around the 6th or 7th grade back around 2003/4.

Even now, with all the drama of the androids and Goku's heart condition, the detour with the abandoned time machine comes out of nowhere.

Then Kami's distress which he had for 4 years is revealed... which also turned out to be the reason why the timeline is out of sync.

All this leads to Cell having the abilities of some of the strongest warriors and almost rendering the threat of androids as a side catastrophe.

Side note: Prior to that time around 2003, one of my best mates went online and read up on the events that would happen. We were more than thrilled to hear about androids, Vegeta and Bulma having a child called Trunks and even Super Saiyan 3. He never mentioned Cell, this could also be why it seems truly unexpected. Now over 2 decades later, I really wish that he hadn't revealed to us what happened because I imagine that I would've experienced even more thrills with the big events in the show.

What are your thoughts on the introduction of Cell?

[JulieYBM]

The introduction of Cell is one of my favorite parts of the Dragon Ball franchise. The mystery, the tension, and that fucking incredible design. It's like watching a horror film—something I didn't do growing up for various reasons—but there's also an air of sexiness to it. I feel like you could take the depiction of Cell's introduction from either the original comic or Dragon Ball Z and point to it as a fine example of what Dragon Ball creators should try to take inspiration from (although I would also point to non-Dragon Ball in general). I think that Dragon Ball's desire not to face the unknown—and how scary the unknown is—has been a true weakness since that set of chapters and episodes.

[Xeogran]

It's almost perfect, that is.. until Cell started revealing literally everything about himself in the span of one chapter, to the point the reader/viewer didn't even get the time to speculate.