First broadcast in Japan on March 10, 1993 and titled Goku vs. Cell in Funimation's dub, episode 177 of Dragon Ball Z finally delivers the match everyone has been waiting ten days for: Goku against Cell. For the whole episode the two test each other bare-handed, with blistering exchanges, feints and knowing smiles. Only at the end do we learn it was just a warm-up.
Summary
Goku steps into the ring and walks slowly up to Cell, who would have preferred to save him for last. Before they start, the Saiyan asks whether he can really use all of their techniques, and the monster confirms it. Meanwhile Mr. Satan limps back from where he was knocked flying. He assures the reporter he merely lost his footing and promises to try again once he catches his breath, with Pizza, Caroni and Piroshki backing him up.
The fight begins without energy blasts: just punches, kicks, blocks and dodges. Both land a few hits, then break apart and grin, because they are enjoying themselves. Satan and his crew stand open-mouthed, but the champion quickly recovers and tells the cameras that the blond guy is already at his limit. Goku vanishes, and Cell waits where he knows the attack will come, but the Saiyan fools him with an afterimage and strikes a split second later, kicking him out of the ring. Cell, however, can fly and drifts back in, claiming he only let Goku taste victory. Both admit they have been holding back and agree to raise the pace.
From then on they move so fast that Satan and the reporter lose sight of them. The champion claims they are using camouflage and, to prove it, hides under a cloth painted like a rock, fooling the journalist completely, while Krillin laughs. When the two reappear, Cell is on the attack and drives Goku to the edge of the ring, but the Saiyan was only an afterimage, paying Cell back for his earlier trick. Then comes the first energy attack of the bout, a mid-air Kamehameha that Cell deflects with ease; Goku uses the distraction to hit him from behind. Cell loses his cool for a moment and slams Goku into the ground, leaving a crater.
The monster declares the warm-up over. Goku is wrapped in a golden aura: now things get serious.
Our take
In the manga this warm-up takes a few pages; Toei turns it into a full episode, and this time it holds up. The reason is the direction: no explosions, just pure martial arts, built on the idea that two evenly matched opponents can actually enjoy the fight. It is the side of Goku that the Cell Games capture better than any other arc.
Mr. Satan's gags work as a counterpoint. The more invisible the blows become, the more absurd his explanations get, all the way to the camouflage-cloth routine. It is a clever way of showing viewers the gap between the warriors and ordinary people.
There is also a precise idea behind the spectacle: Goku fights as a Super Saiyan with the calm of someone who has learned to stay transformed effortlessly, the result of his training with Gohan in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Anyone who knows the saga knows how much that choice will matter for his son. Our guide to Super Saiyan transformations covers it in depth.
Trivia
- It adapts the last page of chapter 396, chapter 397 and the start of chapter 398. Written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto, with animation direction by Ichirō Hattori.
- Its 24.9% share is the highest of any episode from 173 to 194.
- The scenes of Chi-Chi, the Ox-King and the Kame House crew watching on TV are anime additions.
- The edited English version trimmed the closing narration, dropping a line about the smiles having stopped, since Cell is visibly smiling at that moment.