Episode 226 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on May 4, 1994 and titled Pay to Win in Funimation's dub, wraps up the 25th World Martial Arts Tournament in the least heroic way imaginable: the final is settled by a backroom deal. Android 18 takes a dive for cash and Mr. Satan keeps his crown. Meanwhile, aboard Babidi's spaceship, Gohan finally gets his turn, and his opponent is the king of the Demon Realm himself. The full Japanese title translates as "Confrontation with the Demon King! It's Your Turn, Gohan!!"
Summary
With Goten and Trunks disqualified, only Android 18 and Mr. Satan are left in the ring. The champion, who has just watched her trade blows with Mighty Mask, is shaking in his boots and already picturing his humiliation: 18 laughing at him, Videl disowning him, the crowd booing him out of the stadium. He charges anyway, throwing a flurry of punches she dodges with ease. Then 18 locks him in a headlock and quietly makes him an offer: she will lose on purpose if he pays her twenty million zeni, double the prize money.
Satan agrees, and the match turns into a performance. 18 coaches him through it, knees him in the gut to sell it, lets him hurl her across the ring and finally asks for his best attack. She takes the punch and hops out of the ring on her own. The stadium erupts; 18 simply reminds him she will be by tomorrow to collect, and that he had better have the money.
Aboard the ship, Vegeta scolds Gohan for spending years on school and dates instead of training, and Gohan admits he is not as strong as he was against Cell. When the door finally opens, the Supreme Kai can hardly believe it: the next opponent is Dabura, Babidi's most powerful servant. The demon offers to take on all three of them at once, but Gohan insists on fighting alone. Babidi transports the fighters to a rocky arena and the duel begins. Gohan slams his enemy into a cliff face; Dabura answers by battering him with the shattered rock. When the dust clears, Gohan powers up to Super Saiyan 2.
Back at the stadium, a sulking Goten and Trunks run into Videl, who tells them about Babidi. The boys transform and take off toward the spaceship.
Our take
The rigged final is one of Akira Toriyama's most cynical and funniest ideas: the world championship goes to whoever can pay for it, and no one in the stands notices. 18 cares nothing for glory and everything for money, which fits the character we have known since the Android arc. The anime adds Satan's doomsday daydreams and a gag in which Master Roshi, delighted at the thought of the prize money, enjoys a "dramatic" background change that turns out to be held up by two stagehands. It is Dragon Ball poking fun at its own clichés.
The reshuffling is even more interesting. In the manga, Gohan is already fighting as a Super Saiyan while 18 and Satan strike their deal; the anime rearranges events to show the start of the duel, with Gohan beginning in his base form. That makes Dabura feel like a genuine threat, and it starts the slow burn of Vegeta's frustration.
Trivia
- It adapts parts of chapters 452 and 454 of the manga, rearranged into a different order. Written by Masashi Kubota and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto, with Keisuke Masunaga as animation director.
- It drew a 16.6% share in Japan.
- Satan's fantasies about losing, 18's knee to the gut and Roshi's background gag are anime additions.
- World Martial Arts Tournament rules do not allow teams, which is why Mighty Mask is disqualified the moment two kids are found inside the costume.
- Dabura waits for Gohan on the third stage of Babidi's ship, which is where the Italian dub's title, "The Battle on the Third Level", comes from.