In episode 178 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on March 17, 1993 and titled Cell's Bag of Tricks in Funimation's dub, the warm-up is over. Goku and Cell face off at full power, and the monster starts showing off his repertoire: techniques stolen from the warriors whose cells he carries. The last one is a gigantic Kamehameha aimed straight at Earth.
Summary
Goku unleashes all of his energy, and the shockwave bowls over Mr. Satan and his crew. Cell answers with an even stronger burst of aura that pushes back even Krillin and Piccolo. Now Caroni and Piroshki begin to suspect this is no trick, while Satan sticks to his story. At Cell's signal, Goku attacks and sends him into the sky with a string of blows; a trickle of blood runs from the monster's mouth, but his smile stays. Both love an even fight, and the battle resumes blow for blow.
During a lull, Cell splits into four bodies with Tien's Multi-Form technique and places them at the corners of the ring. Yamcha recalls that the technique halves one's strength, but Tien admits Cell has mastered it better than he has: there is no drop at all. The four Cells fire Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon together; Goku dodges, takes the fight into the air and smashes them all back down, forcing them to merge. As his friends cheer, Vegeta scolds them: Cell's energy has not fallen in the slightest.
The monster follows up with energy discs that chase Goku and slice a mountain in two. On his planet, King Kai recognizes Frieza's technique from Namek and curses Dr. Gero. Cell predicts the Saiyan's moves and cuts down one Goku, then another, but both are afterimages: the real one watches from behind and warns him that he will not win with other people's techniques.
Cell then charges a massive Kamehameha, powerful enough to destroy the planet. Goku flies upward to force him to aim at the sky and, a moment before impact, teleports behind him: the blast vanishes into space and Goku catches Cell off guard. Asked whether he would really have destroyed Earth, Cell says he does not know, since he was sure Goku would step in, but he does not rule it out if needed. Then he vanishes again and reappears behind Goku with startling speed.
Our take
This is the episode where Cell's concept becomes spectacle. The monster built from the cells of the greatest fighters uses their techniques one after another, and their original owners recognize them from the sidelines: a simple idea that turns the fight into a kind of scrapbook of the series.
It must be said, though, that almost all of this is Toei's work. In the manga Toriyama goes straight from the exchange of blows to the Kamehameha aimed at Earth: the four Cells, the Special Beam Cannon, Frieza's discs and King Kai's comments are anime additions. Here the padding adds variety to a duel that risked becoming a long string of punches.
Goku's line about borrowed techniques is the heart of the matter: Cell is a perfect collage, but he has no identity of his own. The Kamehameha diverted into space, meanwhile, shows a clear-headed Goku whose first concern is protecting the planet.
Trivia
- It adapts the end of chapter 398 and chapter 399. Written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with animation direction by Masayuki Uchiyama, it drew a 22.6% share.
- When Goku powers up at the start, he repeats the pose and explosion from the Cha-La Head-Cha-La opening, this time as a Super Saiyan.
- Goku dodges the energy discs much as he did against Frieza on Namek, adding one extra afterimage.