Episode 194 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on July 21, 1993 and titled Free the Future in Funimation's dub, closes the Cell saga by moving to the future. Trunks, grown and hardened by his trip to the past, returns to his ruined world, destroys Android 17 and Android 18, and faces the Cell of his own era before the monster can use the time machine. It is the other ending, the one that was still missing.
Summary
In Trunks's future, the two androids are still spreading death. The time machine lands at Capsule Corporation, and Trunks finds his mother, Bulma, who notices how much taller he is. He tells her about training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, about Goku's death and Gohan's victory. He also confides that Vegeta flew into a rage when he was killed: deep down his father cared. The radio interrupts them, as the androids are attacking a city. Trunks takes off his jacket and leaves.
In the city, Android 18 destroys everything in a temper because she lost a video game, while her brother teases her. An old man shoots Android 17 to avenge his wife and children, but the bullets do nothing, and the android turns the man's own gun on him. A blast from Trunks stops him just in time. The androids are surprised to see him alive and expect another round of fun at his expense, but this time the gap in power is enormous. Trunks overwhelms 18 and destroys her with an energy wave; then, facing a stunned 17, he tells him he will avenge Gohan and finishes him the same way. But one job is still left.
Some time later, with enough energy stored for another trip, Trunks prepares to return to the past to share the news. That is when Cell shows up, still in his imperfect form, to steal the time machine. Trunks reveals that he knows the plan, leads him away from the city and crushes him: he catches Cell's tail when he tries to absorb him, flings him into the sky and erases him with a huge energy blast before he can finish a Kamehameha. The future is finally safe.
In the afterlife, King Kai finishes his new house, only for Goku to knock it down with a single touch. Goku then asks to go meet the great masters of the other world, and the group sets off again.
Our take
The saga's final episode belongs to a hero who seemed to have already left the stage. It is the right call: Trunks's story began with a future without hope, and the Japanese title, "Another ending!! I will protect the future," gives him the closure he deserves. The young man who lost almost every fight in the past dominates the enemies who took everything from him, and finishing 17 in Gohan's name closes the circle opened by the TV special about his story.
There is a subtle irony too: Cell is stopped in the very timeline he came from, before he can climb into the time machine and become the perfect monster we came to know. The anime stretches the fight with 18 and saves the old man, who in the manga dies at 17's hands, a gentler choice. The closing gag of Goku wrecking King Kai's house ends the saga with a smile and already looks ahead: the show will continue with adventures in the other world and then with a teenage Gohan. The story picks up from here on the Dragon Ball Z series page.
Trivia
- It adapts chapters 419 and 420. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Hiroki Shibata, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation director, it drew a 22.6% share.
- It is Future Trunks's last appearance in the Dragon Ball Z TV series; he returns in the movies and, many years later, in Dragon Ball Super.
- In the manga, after defeating Cell, Trunks goes back to his mother, who hugs him; the anime cuts to Goku and King Kai instead.
- The old man fires eight shots at Android 17 from a six-shot revolver, an animation slip fans have long pointed out.
Characters
- Future Trunks and Future Bulma
- Future Android 17 and Android 18
- Future Imperfect Cell
- Goku, King Kai, Bubbles and Gregory