Episode 162 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on October 28, 1992 and titled Trunks Ascends in Funimation's dub, is where Vegeta's pride sends him the bill. The Saiyan prince let Cell become perfect, and now he learns he can no longer beat him, not even with his most devastating attack. When he falls, Trunks has to stop holding back.
Summary
The episode picks up with Vegeta stunned: his best blows have not left a scratch. Cell decides it is time to get serious and, with a single kick, sends him crashing through a row of rock spires and down into the sea. The monster thanks him mockingly: without Vegeta's foolishness, he would never have reached his perfect form.
Vegeta climbs out of the water furious, rises into the air, throws his arms wide and starts gathering energy. The island shakes, the clouds part and bolts of lightning tear up the ground around Cell and Android 16. The Saiyan dares his opponent to stand still and take the hit, and Cell, confident, accepts. Trunks begs his father to stop before he puts the planet at risk, while Krillin only wants to get away. The Final Flash erupts as a river of golden light and keeps going out past the atmosphere.
In the Hyperbolic Time Chamber there is room for a lighter moment. Goku asks a Super Saiyan Gohan to cook a steak for him with a ki blast. The boy overdoes it and sets his father's hair on fire, and Goku takes a while to notice.
Back on the battlefield the smoke clears: Cell has lost his right arm and a large chunk of his torso. Vegeta bursts out laughing, but the laugh dies when his enemy reminds him that he carries Piccolo's cells and regrows everything in seconds. Panicking, the prince fires a barrage of blasts that does nothing. Cell punches him in the face, kicks him into the sky and drives him into the ground with an elbow. Vegeta passes out and drops out of his transformation.
Trunks, who had stayed out of the fight so as not to wound his father's pride, can no longer hold back. Rage drains the color from his eyes, the band holding his hair snaps and his aura grows so violent that it zaps Krillin by accident. For the first time, Cell looks surprised.
Our take
This is an episode built around a single moment, and the moment lands. The Final Flash is one of Vegeta's signature techniques, and its anime debut gets the full treatment: the long charge, the crumbling island, the beam leaving the planet. In the manga the blast is narrow and punches a neat hole in Cell's side; the anime widens it until it swallows him whole, while leaving the same damage behind.
The real core, though, is Vegeta's laughter fading out. In a handful of shots the man who had been calling himself Super Vegeta since episode 156 comes apart, and the cost of his choice becomes plain to everyone. Daisuke Nishio, who is also the series director, handles this one and plays well on the contrast between the opening arrogance and the closing humiliation.
The steak gag is an anime addition, a quick bit of slapstick that breaks the tension. It does not last long, and episode 168 calls back to it.
Trivia
- It adapts chapters 384 and 385 and the first two pages of chapter 386. Written by Aya Matsui and directed by Daisuke Nishio, with animation direction by Tadayoshi Yamamuro, it drew a 19.2% share.
- Funimation's dub first aired on Cartoon Network on November 3, 2000.
- According to Daizenshuu 6 (1995), Takao Koyama, the screenwriter who created Broly and the Legendary Super Saiyan, drew his inspiration from Trunks's transformation in this episode.
- The form Trunks starts to unleash here is known as Super Saiyan Third Grade (Ultra Super Saiyan among fans): huge muscles and enormous power. It has nothing to do with the Super Saiyan 3 of the Majin Buu arc.
Characters
- Vegeta, Trunks and Cell
- Krillin and Android 16
- Goku and Gohan in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber