Aired in Japan on April 22, 1992 and titled No Match for the Androids in Funimation's dub, episode 136 of Dragon Ball Z ends the first clash with the Androids as bluntly as possible. In a matter of minutes Android 17 and Android 18 take down every fighter who showed up, two Super Saiyans included. Only Krillin is left standing, and he hears from the enemy's own mouth why they are hunting Goku.
Summary
Trunks, now a Super Saiyan, throws himself at Android 18 to save his father, but his sword can't hurt her. Android 17 keeps his word and joins in: he flattens Trunks, locks Tien in a chokehold and drops Piccolo when he moves to help. Krillin watches, frozen, and notices that Android 16 isn't taking part at all. He stands apart, quietly admiring the scenery.
Vegeta, arm broken, refuses to quit. He tries one last energy blast, which 18 swats aside, then eats an elbow and a string of kicks. She grinds her foot into his injured arm until the prince, screaming, loses his transformation and blacks out. The siblings notice the Saiyans' hair has gone dark again and wonder who the boy with the sword might be, since they have no data on him, but they don't care much either way.
The only one unhurt, Krillin steps forward, shaking. Android 17 tells him to relax: they're only after Goku. When Krillin protests that his friend has done nothing to them, 17 explains that it's a game, and that asking where Goku lives would spoil the fun of finding him themselves. Android 16 adds that he was built to kill Goku. Before leaving, 17 suggests Krillin patch his friends up with senzu beans, and 18 says goodbye with a kiss on his cheek that leaves him speechless.
Meanwhile Gohan is almost home, but Bulma needs supplies for baby Trunks and talks him into a detour to Capsule Corporation. At Kame House, two guys in a boat try to sweep Maron away; Turtle chases them off, and when a grateful Maron cozies up to him, he retreats into embarrassment and reminds her she came back for Krillin.
Our take
The defeat is total, and that's the point. In the Frieza arc the heroes lost too, but Goku was always on his way; here Goku is sick in bed, and the two Super Saiyans everyone was counting on get taken apart like beginners. The Japanese title, "Nobody can stop them... Are the Z Warriors wiped out?", is no exaggeration.
What's more unsettling is how the Androids win: they don't kill anyone. In Trunks' future they were butchers, while here they act like bored teenagers treating Earth as a playground and Goku as a prize. It's the first hint that these versions of 17 and 18 aren't quite the ones Trunks described, and the kiss, tossed off as a tease, starts a thread that runs a long way: the two will eventually marry.
The anime adds a few touches of its own: 18 stomping on Vegeta's already broken arm and his cry of pain, Gohan's detour to Capsule Corporation, and the Maron and Turtle skit, which sharpens the contrast with the carnage on the mountain road.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 354 and the first five pages of chapter 355. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, with animation direction by Masayuki Uchiyama.
- Its 23.4% share was four points up on the previous episode.
- In Italy it aired on Italia 1 on September 8, 2000.
- Unusually, the closing of Funimation's English dub of this episode does not play the track "The Saga Continues."
Did you know? The beach scuffle, invented for the anime, is the only fight Master Roshi's Turtle has in the entire series.
Characters
- Vegeta, Trunks, Piccolo and Tien
- Krillin, Android 16, Android 17 and Android 18
- Gohan, Bulma, baby Trunks and Yajirobe
- Goku, Chi-Chi and Yamcha
- Maron, Master Roshi and Turtle