Episode 240 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on September 21, 1994 and titled Revival in Funimation's dub, is where the idea that will reshape the saga is born. Its full Japanese title translates as "Enormous Hope!! A New Finishing Technique for the Little Squirts". Healed by Dende, Goku admits that he cannot beat Majin Buu, but reveals a technique he learned in the afterlife: Fusion. The ones to perform it will be Goten and Trunks. Meanwhile Bulma summons Shenron and the day's dead come back to life.
Summary
At the Lookout, Piccolo and Krillin fill Goku in on everything he missed: Gohan and Supreme Kai are presumed dead, and Vegeta sacrificed himself for nothing. Krillin hopes Goku can still fix things, but his friend stops him cold: his power and Vegeta's were practically identical, and if the prince's explosion barely fazed Buu, he has no chance of winning.
If Gohan or Vegeta were alive, Goku explains, he could try Fusion, a technique of the Metamorans that he learned from one of them in the afterlife. Two fighters of similar strength and build merge into a single being far more powerful than the sum of its parts. In the anime Piccolo recalls fusing with Nail, but Goku clarifies that this is different: it is temporary and lasts about half an hour. It took him a week to learn and he has never actually done it. Krillin suggests fusing with Gohan or Vegeta in the other world, but Piccolo points out that Goku could not come back, and that Vegeta is not in Heaven anyway. It is Mr. Popo who cuts the knot: the two sleeping boys have nearly equal power and size. Goku lights up and decides to teach them the technique for as long as he has left; after that, Piccolo will take over.
While Buu, in the anime, amuses himself by wrecking a roller coaster, Bulma and the others summon Shenron at Capsule Corporation, and Videl sees the dragon for the first time. At the Lookout the sky goes dark: Goku realizes Bulma wants to revive Vegeta's victims, and Dende warns that if both wishes are used, they will have to wait a year to use the Dragon Balls again. By the time Goku arrives via Instant Transmission, Yamcha has already made the first wish: bring back everyone who died today, except the bad guys.
Goku checks with Dende telepathically: with only one wish used, the wait drops to four months. So he dismisses Shenron without asking for anything else. Elsewhere Kibito, killed by Dabura, finds himself alive again, while Babidi wonders why the sky suddenly went dark. Goku teleports everyone to the Lookout, except Bulma's parents, who prefer to stay home.
Our take
This is the turning point. After Vegeta's death the saga seemed to have no way out, and the solution comes from an idea that is new to Dragon Ball Z: not a stronger warrior, but two warriors becoming one. The comparison with Namekian assimilation, which Piccolo knows well after absorbing Nail and later Kami, helps the viewer grasp the difference: that was permanent, this lasts half an hour. The Fusion Dance itself has not been shown yet, but from here on it becomes the core of the saga.
Goku's frankness also stands out. The hero who has always solved things with his own fists says plainly that this time it is not enough, and steps aside to become a teacher, just as he did with Gohan against Cell. The day granted by Fortuneteller Baba is running out, and teaching is the most useful thing he can do.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 469 from page four onward, the chapter in which the manga first names Fusion. Written by Takao Koyama and directed by Hiroki Shibata, with Yūji Hakamada as animation director.
- It earned an 18.9% share and aired two weeks after the previous episode.
- The roller coaster wrecked by Buu is an anime addition.
Did you know? Goku teaches a technique he has never performed: in the afterlife there was no one as strong as him to try it with.
Characters
- Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, Dende and Mr. Popo
- Goten and Trunks, asleep
- Bulma, Yamcha, Videl, Chi-Chi, Android 18, Marron, Master Roshi, Oolong, Puar and the Ox-King
- Bulma's parents and Shenron
- Kibito, Majin Buu and Babidi