First broadcast in Japan on January 27, 1993 and titled A New Guardian in Funimation's dub, episode 172 of Dragon Ball Z puts the arc back on the manga's track after two fillers. Seven days remain before the Cell Games: Piccolo leaves the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Vegeta goes back in, and the army tries to stop Cell by force, with the result everyone fears. That is when Goku confronts a problem left hanging for years: Earth no longer has any Dragon Balls.
Summary
On Kami's Lookout, Vegeta paces back and forth until Piccolo steps out of the Chamber. Trunks immediately senses how much stronger he has become, but the prince brushes it off with a jab, takes his turn inside and swears to himself that he will surpass Kakarot. At Capsule Corporation, Bulma keeps repairing Android 16, switches off the TV as King Furry announces the army's attack, and makes two discoveries: the android is more powerful than 17 and 18, and he has a part even she cannot understand, which lets him sense energy.
Out in the countryside, Chi-Chi has packed a picnic for Goku, Gohan and Krillin. Goku watches the fish in the lake and shrugs off criticism of his lack of training: something will come up. We also learn that he has a driver's license, earned three years earlier alongside Piccolo after Chi-Chi made him cram all night for the written test. On the way back they see military jets fly overhead, pass endless lines of people fleeing and find every shop in the city closed, so there will be no present for Master Roshi. The radio reports that the army has reached Cell.
At the arena, Cell moves to a nearby hill. He is not afraid of the tanks, he explains, he just does not want his ring damaged. The bombardment levels the hill, but when the smoke clears Cell is hovering in midair, untouched. His counterattack erases the soldiers in an instant, and the car radio crackles into static. Goku gets out, leaves the driving to Chi-Chi and uses Instant Transmission to reach Piccolo. He asks whether Piccolo could split from Kami again to bring the Dragon Balls back, but the fusion cannot be undone. So Goku has another idea: find someone on New Namek willing to become Earth's new Kami. He cannot sense the Namekians, though, so he teleports to King Kai instead, and finds him asleep.
Our take
The episode does two important things. First, with a sequence of pure action, it shows how pointless it is to fight Cell with human weapons. The army's assault does not move the plot, but it makes the threat tangible for those watching from home, just like Goku listening on the car radio. Second, it reopens the question of the Dragon Balls, gone from Earth since Piccolo and Kami fused. The choice says a lot about Goku: faced with a massacre, he immediately thinks about how to bring the victims back, starting with the soldiers just killed, while also preparing for the worst.
The anime trimmings are plentiful. The picnic with Krillin, the abandoned city in place of the manga's countryside, King Furry's TV address and the driving school flashback are all Toei additions. That flashback recalls episode 125, itself a filler, so it is literally filler built on filler. The gags land, though, and the contrast between the family outing and the slaughter of the soldiers is a good example of how the series alternates lightness and fear.
Japanese audiences rewarded the return to action: the 23.8% share was the highest of the Cell arc up to that point.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 392 and the first three pages of chapter 393. Written by Sumio Uetake and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation director.
- King Furry had not appeared since episode 145 of the original Dragon Ball, a gap of 181 episodes.
- King Kai and Bubbles had been absent since episode 120, shortly after Trunks's arrival.
- When Cell moves to the hill, he seems to address the camera directly.
- Funimation's dub premiered on Cartoon Network on November 21, 2000.
Characters
- Goku, Gohan, Chi-Chi and Krillin
- Piccolo, Vegeta, Trunks and Mr. Popo
- Bulma and Android 16
- Cell, King Furry and the army
- King Kai and Bubbles