Episode 156 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on September 9, 1992 and titled Bow to the Prince in Funimation's dub, is Vegeta's moment of glory. After years of chasing Goku, the Saiyan prince finds himself clearly superior to the enemy of the day for the first time, and he savors every second. In front of a stunned Cell he even gives himself a new name: Super Vegeta.
Summary
That punch to the gut hurt more than Cell expected. Vegeta presses the attack, hitting him again and again and hurling him into an island, while the monster can't land a counter worth the name. Watching, Trunks thinks back to their year in the Chamber: one day he saw his father surrounded by flames and ran to save him, only to get punched in the face. The blaze was Vegeta's own aura, fueled by ferocious training.
At Kami's Lookout, Bulma, Tien and Piccolo follow the fight by sensing energy. In Japanese, the Namekian bitterly admits how wide the gap between him and the Saiyans has grown. Inside the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Goku explains to Gohan how to approach Super Saiyan: he has to summon his anger by picturing past enemies hurting the people he loves. The boy relives Frieza on Namek, and for a few seconds his aura flares gold before he collapses from exhaustion. He's on the right track, but the road is still long.
Krillin, who has picked up the remote to shut down Android 18 from Bulma, is flying toward the islands when he senses an enormous power. He realizes it's Vegeta, and that only a day in the Chamber could explain such a leap. When he reaches the battlefield, he's speechless.
Humiliated, Cell decides to get serious and unleashes all his power. He even catches Vegeta square in the face, but the Saiyan doesn't budge an inch. The prince laughs, enjoys the bewildered look on his opponent's face and announces that he is no longer the old Vegeta: now he is Super Vegeta.
Our take
For Vegeta, this episode is payback he has been waiting for since he first landed on Earth. He watched Goku become a Super Saiyan first, spent three years chasing him and was beaten by Android 18: now, for once, he is the strongest fighter on the field. The name "Super Vegeta," a little silly and entirely him, says everything about his personality. The Japanese title, "On your knees, Cell!", makes it even more theatrical.
The point is that the episode hints at the problem even as it celebrates the triumph. Vegeta could end things and chooses to play instead, and back at the Lookout people start to worry. That is exactly the crack the coming disaster will slip through, and watching him laugh at a still-living enemy is unsettling for the viewer too.
As usual in this stretch, the anime pads things out: the flames in the Chamber, the chatter at the Lookout, Cell slamming Vegeta through rocks. Gohan's scene is the most debatable, because in the manga he doesn't transform yet. The anime gives away an early taste, which takes some of the surprise out of his real transformation.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 378. Written by Sumio Uetake and directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, it drew a 21.0% share.
- Funimation's dub premiered on Cartoon Network on October 26, 2000; in the original edited numbering it was episode 141.
- Trunks's flashback, the conversation between Bulma, Tien and Piccolo and Gohan's brief golden flare are anime additions.
- In the dub, Piccolo instead scolds Vegeta for dragging out the fight, which could give Cell a chance to absorb Android 18.
- In Gohan's vision, Dende is the only friend Frieza actually killed: Goku and Piccolo survive the scenes he recalls.