Episode 248 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on November 30, 1994 as "See You Later, Everybody!! Goku Returns to the Other World" and titled Goku's Time is Up in Funimation's dub, is the farewell episode. Goku spends the last minutes of his day on Earth getting the fusion training off the ground, allows himself one final Super Saiyan 3 transformation to win over Goten and Trunks, and then says goodbye to family and friends. Meanwhile, Majin Buu builds himself a house in the most macabre way imaginable.
Summary
On Kami's Lookout, an exhausted Goku explains that fusion only works if both partners move in perfect symmetry. To prove it he drafts Piccolo, who is horrified at first but eventually performs the dance with him before a doubtful audience. The boys' first attempt is a mess, mostly thanks to Goten's mistakes; the second goes far better, and Goku tells them to keep repeating it.
Far away, Majin Buu feels sleepy and decides it is bedtime. He flies to a small country town, lifts the fleeing villagers into the air and turns them into clay, clears the ground with a single breath and sculpts himself a house. After a bath, pajamas and a toothbrush, he goes to bed. After a few seconds of sleep he wakes up convinced the night has passed and cheers: the fighter Goku promised will arrive in just one day.
Back at the Lookout, Trunks stops and declares the dance lame. What he really wants is to see Super Saiyan 3, and Goku agrees as long as both boys promise to learn the fusion. Piccolo warns him that it will burn what little time he has left, but Goku knows he is nearly out anyway. He climbs from Super Saiyan to the second level and then the third, with an aura that shakes the whole Lookout and almost blows the kids off the edge. It works: the boys swear they will train for real.
It is his last transformation, though. Baba announces that time is up, and Goku leaves Piccolo in charge of the training. The Ox-King wakes Chi-Chi so she can say goodbye. She is in despair over Gohan, whom she believes dead, and Goku reminds her that Goten still needs her, promising to pass her regards to their elder son in the Other World. Videl, however, insists she can feel that Gohan is alive. After one last hug for Goten, whom he asks to look after his mother, Goku vanishes into the sky with Baba.
Our take
Goku's second farewell, after the one at the Cell Games, has a different flavor. Back then it was a permanent choice, made to shield the Earth from the trouble he attracts; here it is a forced see-you-later, and Goku takes it with his usual lightness. The emotional weight falls entirely on Chi-Chi, who thinks she has just lost her son and now watches her husband leave again.
The Super Saiyan 3 scene says a lot about the character: Goku sacrifices his final minutes to motivate two reluctant kids, passing the torch as he goes. Videl's words are a small setup that pays off as early as the next episode. As for Buu, the house sequence is pitch-black comedy: the demon honors the half of the deal that suits him, waiting for his opponent, and ignores the half that told him not to kill.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 477 from the third page to the end. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation director.
- It drew a 19.6% ratings share.
- The Ox-King waiting for Chi-Chi to wake up, hoping she makes it in time to see Goku off, is an anime addition.
- In Funimation's dub, Buu breaks the fourth wall three times, including when he asks viewers to smell his breath.
Did you know? This goodbye will not last long: later in the saga, Goku is brought back to life by Elder Kai, who gives up his own life for him.