With episode 175 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on February 17, 1993 and titled The Games Begin in Funimation's dub, the ten days granted by Cell are up. One by one, the heroes arrive at the ring. First, though, comes Mr. Satan, with a TV crew in tow, convinced the monster is a fraud. This is an episode of anticipation, built entirely around arrivals.
Summary
An hour before the tournament, Goku puts on his orange gi while Chi-Chi and the Ox-King look on. Chi-Chi demands that Gohan stay out of the fight, but her husband vanishes with Instant Transmission before answering. At the Lookout the mood is grim: Dende has made the new Dragon Balls so that, like the old ones, they cannot revive anyone who has already been brought back once. Whoever dies a second time is gone for good. Goku shrugs it off in his usual way: they will just have to avoid dying.
Twenty minutes before the start, Cell waits motionless. A ZTV crew films from a hill and broadcasts live around the world. Then Mr. Satan pulls up in his car, gives Cell a thumbs-down, calls the reporter down to the ring and joins him in mocking the monster with faces and rude gestures. Cell does not even blink. At Kame House, Master Roshi sips his tea and half hopes Cell will teach the braggart a lesson.
On the way, Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin and Trunks meet Tien and Yamcha, who have come to watch but have no intention of fighting. At the ring, Vegeta lands, and Cell is pleased to see he has grown stronger. The reporter tries to interview him and is rudely dismissed. Five minutes to go: Android 16 arrives too, repaired by Bulma and Dr. Brief, with a Capsule Corporation logo in place of the Red Ribbon emblem.
Finally, Goku's group lands. In front of her TV, Chi-Chi explodes when she sees Gohan on the battlefield. Android 16 thanks Krillin for helping him, then turns stern with Goku: he was built to kill him, and he refuses to shake his hand. Goku asks to fight first, and even Vegeta agrees, certain he will be the one to finish the job. Mr. Satan objects and, to prove his strength, smashes a rock against his own forehead. An embarrassed Krillin suggests they let him go first. Cell announces that it is time.
Our take
After two breather episodes, the Cell Games finally begin, at least on paper. The episode lives on its entrances, and Toei builds them up nicely: first the impostor, then Vegeta, then Android 16, and finally Goku. The contrast between the warriors' seriousness and the circus of Mr. Satan and the reporter is the comic heart of the installment.
What really matters, though, is Dende's news: anyone already revived cannot come back. For almost every fighter present, Trunks aside, any mistake would be permanent. It is a rule that gives weight to everything that follows, and Goku brushes it aside with a quip that says a lot about how he faces danger.
The differences from the manga are the usual ones: Roshi in front of the TV, the mid-air meeting with Tien and Yamcha, Chi-Chi's outburst and Satan's rock-smashing stunt are all anime additions.
Trivia
- It adapts the end of chapter 394 and chapter 395. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with animation direction by Masahiro Shimanuki, it drew a 22.6% share.
- In the manga, the reporter, not Mr. Satan, is the one who calls the newcomers fools.
- The ZTV reporter has no name in the Japanese version; the English dub calls him Jimmy Firecracker.
Did you know? Two weeks passed between this episode and the next: on February 24, 1993, Fuji TV aired the special The History of Trunks. That is why the original next-episode preview was split between the special and a ticket giveaway for the Broly movie.