Episode 179 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on March 31, 1993 and titled No More Rules in Funimation's dub, is where the Cell Games stop being a tournament. Cell is enjoying himself far too much to let the duel end on a ring-out, so he erases the ring with a single blast: from now on, you only lose by giving up or dying. Goku answers with the flashiest move of his saga, a Kamehameha charged high in the sky and fired at point-blank range after an Instant Transmission.
Summary
Goku and Cell trade blows so fast that the cameras can no longer keep up. The reporter sees only blurs, and Mr. Satan decides the whole thing must be some kind of trick. Among the fighters, the only one who can really read the fight is Gohan, who notices that his father has finally matched Cell's speed.
At Kame House, Master Roshi and Turtle stare at a screen that shows almost nothing, while at Kami's Lookout Mr. Popo teaches the new guardian Dende to sense the fighters' energy without straining, like listening for a distant sound. In the ring, Cell drives Goku to the edge; Goku recovers and nearly turns the tables. That is when Cell pauses: a ring-out would be a dull way to end things. Goku shouts for his friends to clear the area just before the ring is wiped out.
All that remains is a crater. Android 16 carries Mr. Satan, his students, the reporter and the cameraman to safety, then bluntly tells them to leave. Cell announces the new rules: the whole world is the ring. The fight resumes in a storm of energy blasts and dust clouds, while furious viewers jam the ZTV switchboard because they cannot see a thing. On his planet, King Kai observes that neither fighter has burned much energy yet.
Then Goku flies high overhead and starts charging a Kamehameha. Piccolo and the others are horrified: fired downward at full power, it could shatter the Earth. Even Cell is sure it is a bluff. At the last instant Goku teleports right beside him and unleashes the blast upward. When the dust settles, all that is left of Cell is his legs and part of his torso.
Our take
This is an episode built on a single idea, but it is a great idea. Cell destroying the ring says a lot about him: he was designed to be perfect, and combat is the one thing that gives him real pleasure, to the point that he throws away the rules he wrote himself. The tournament was always staging for his ego, and once the staging becomes a limit, he scraps it.
The other half belongs to Goku, and shows his smartest side. The sky-high Kamehameha works because it plays on everyone's fear, his opponent's included: nobody believes Goku would risk the planet, and of course he does not. Instant Transmission, learned on Yardrat, stops being a way to get around and becomes a tactical weapon.
The calls to ZTV and King Kai's cheering are padding meant to stretch a chapter and a half of manga, but they do capture how ordinary people experience a fight far too big to be seen.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 400 and the first six pages of chapter 401. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Daisuke Nishio, with Keisuke Masunaga as animation director, it drew an 18.2% share.
- As in the previous episode, a shot of Piccolo silhouetted against an explosion echoes the Cha-La Head-Cha-La opening.
- Master Roshi's Turtle returns after 35 episodes, having last appeared in episode 145.
- The scenes with Caroni, Piroshki and Miss Pizza, Mr. Popo's lesson for Dende and King Kai's commentary are all anime additions.
- Sean Schemmel, Goku's English voice, has named this teleporting Kamehameha as his favorite moment of the whole saga.