Episode 230 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on June 22, 1994 and titled The Long Awaited Fight in Funimation's dub, finally kicks off the rematch between Goku and Majin Vegeta, both at Super Saiyan 2. Mid-battle, the Saiyan prince lists every humiliation his rival has dealt him, while Gohan and the Supreme Kai reach the bottom of the spaceship, where Babidi and Dabura are waiting. The full Japanese title translates as "Just You Wait, Babidi!! Your Aspirations Will Not Be Allowed".
Summary
At the stadium, Mr. Satan and the announcer debate when to reschedule the belt ceremony and whether Android 18 deserves prize money for second place, while Bulma wonders what has happened to her husband. In the canyons, Vegeta makes the first move. The fight is savage and even: knees, headbutts, crossing punches that land at the very same instant. Every time one of them seems to pull ahead, the other answers. Through the crystal ball, Babidi and Dabura enjoy the show, because the energy the two Saiyans unleash flows straight into Majin Buu's cocoon.
Gohan and the Supreme Kai reach the fourth stage, where they find ten warriors resembling Pui Pui. They are weak opponents, and Gohan knocks them all out in moments. Far from the action, Goten and Trunks stop for an urgent bathroom break and end up face to face with a dinosaur.
In the canyons, the rivals lock energy beams before Vegeta takes control. Goku realizes the prince has trained nonstop for seven years. Vegeta hurls him into a cliff and pins him there with energy rings around his wrists, ankles and neck, turning him into a punching bag. As he pounds him, he recounts their history: his first defeat at the hands of a low-class warrior, Goku becoming the first Super Saiyan and defeating Frieza in his place, young Gohan surpassing him against Cell. For all of this, he announces, Goku will be cut to pieces.
Before he can do it, Goku smashes free of the rock and batters him with the boulders still stuck to the rings. The battle moves into a cave, where Vegeta catches him in a chokehold; a clash between two energy beams follows and brings the cavern down. Meanwhile, Gohan and the Supreme Kai reach the last level: before them is the huge shell that holds Majin Buu, and beside it, waiting, Babidi and Dabura.
Our take
Vegeta's speech is the emotional core of the arc, and the anime turns it into a trip down memory lane that revisits the whole rivalry in one go. It works because every stop is real: his arrival on Earth, Namek, Cell. The prince is not wrong about the facts; he is wrong about what they mean, reading every step forward by someone else, even a child, as a personal theft.
The rest is obvious padding. The fourth stage of the ship, with its ten Pui Pui lookalikes, never appears in the manga, and neither do Goten and Trunks's pit stop, the energy rings or the cave. If you want the duel in its original shape, Dragon Ball Kai trims most of these additions.
Trivia
- It adapts pages 5-7 and 10 through the end of chapter 458. Written by Sumio Uetake and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with Yukio Ebisawa as animation director.
- It drew an 18.9% share in Japan.
- It is the first time Goku fights as a Super Saiyan 2, although for much of the episode his hair is drawn like the first level's.
- The stadium scenes, the fourth-stage warriors, the bathroom break, the energy rings and the cave fight are anime additions.
- In Funimation's dub, Vegeta can be heard calling out a Galick Gun during the cave beam clash, even though his pose is the one he uses for the Final Flash.
Did you know? Counting every episode, this Goku-Vegeta fight starts exactly 200 episodes after their first duel, which began in episode 30.