Episode 210 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on December 15, 1993 and titled The World Tournament in Funimation's dub, officially opens the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament, starting with the junior division. Before any fighting there is the Mr. Satan show, complete with a celebratory film about the Cell Games; then Trunks steps into the ring, in no mood to be intimidated.
Summary
Goku's group has finished with the punching machine, which Vegeta left in pieces, and the other entrants are staring at them in terror. The officials cannot work out what just happened. Goku suggests going to watch the junior division, where Goten and Trunks are competing, and even Vegeta agrees. On the way they run into Gohan and Videl, and Krillin cannot resist teasing the pair. Once they are alone, Gohan explains to Videl who the guy with the spiky hair is: his father, who died seven years ago and is back from the afterlife for just one day. Videl needs to sit down.
In the stadium, the announcer warms up the crowd, shows off the prizes for the winner and runner-up, and reveals a surprise: the junior champion will get an exhibition match against Mr. Satan himself. The world champion makes a grandiose entrance, leaps onto the ring, slips and cracks his head. After a few seconds writhing in pain, he gets up and insists it was all a joke.
Then a blimp with a giant screen floats overhead: the announcer promises never-before-seen footage of the Cell Games. What airs is a dirt-cheap reenactment, with actors in foam-rubber costumes playing Goku, Piccolo and the rest, and a Mr. Satan who beats Cell without breaking a sweat. The crowd goes wild. Piccolo and Vegeta, reduced to mascots, do not take it well, and even Mr. Satan, embarrassed by his own costumed double, quietly disappears.
In the waiting room, Goten and Trunks daydream about how to spend the prize money when a group of older boys surrounds them. Their leader, Idasa, is Trunks's first-round opponent and tries to scare him with a punch that stops a hair's breadth from his head. Trunks does not flinch and answers with an insult. The first matches are an amateur show, with one competitor going so far as to hide behind the announcer. When it is Trunks's turn, a sliding kick and a kick that launches Idasa into the air are all it takes: the bully lands on the ring out cold.
Our take
Before it has even started, the tournament is already Mr. Satan's stage, and the anime has a blast with it. The Cell Games film is the episode's smartest addition: a parody that pokes fun at celebratory footage, the gullibility of the public and the champion's vanity, with its best moment in Piccolo's and Vegeta's faces as they watch their stand-ins. It is also a clever way to remind viewers, seven years on, of the lie that holds this saga's world together.
Trunks, meanwhile, shows his cockiest side. He is eight, he has his father's temperament, and he carries himself like someone who knows he can beat anyone in that room. The Idasa scene is small but useful: it sets up the match with Goten without yet revealing how strong the two boys are.
The pacing is still slow, with plenty of filler bouts, but at the start of a tournament that is almost unavoidable.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 432 of the manga. Written by Sumio Uetake and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto, with Yukio Ebisawa as animation director.
- It earned a 23.4% share in Japan.
- The Cell Games film, the matches before Trunks's bout and Mr. Satan comforting a defeated child are all anime additions.
- In Funimation's dub, Gohan never tells Videl that Goku had died, so she assumes his parents are divorced; in the Japanese version he tells her the truth.
- It is the first episode of the World Tournament Saga in Funimation's English release.
Did you know? The end credits of the Cell Games film list the names of the actors in costume: they are actually the names of the episode's key animators.