Episode 255 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on February 8, 1995, is fully titled Which One Will Win!? A Good-and-Evil Buu-Buu Confrontation and was called Buu Against Buu in Funimation's dub. It pits the two halves of Majin Buu against each other: the good Buu, Mr. Satan's friend, and the Evil Buu just born from his rage. The fight ends cruelly and produces a new and far more dangerous creature, Super Buu, whose first move is to go looking for Goten and Trunks.
Summary
The chubby Majin Buu and his gray double square off in front of a terrified Mr. Satan. From the first exchange it is clear who is stronger: when the two split, most of the power went to Evil Buu, who shrugs off every blow and pays it all back with interest. They even trade Kamehamehas, while on Kami's Lookout Piccolo and Dende anxiously follow the course of the duel.
Cornered, the good Buu turns to his favorite weapon and fires the beam that turns opponents into chocolate. Evil Buu simply blows it back at him. The beam strikes its owner, the good Buu becomes a bar of chocolate, and his rival swallows him in a single bite. Evil Buu's body changes at once, growing bulkier and pink with a long antenna on his head. Super Buu is born, and his energy can be felt as far away as the Sacred World of the Kai.
The new monster kills the second gunman, the one called Smitty in the English dub, in gruesome fashion, slipping inside him in liquid form and making him explode. Then he spots someone hiding among the rocks and is about to strike, but he recognizes Mr. Satan and spares him, along with Bee. Super Buu can now sense energy, and he remembers being promised a fight with two strong warriors. He decides to pay them an early visit.
On the Lookout, Goten and Trunks are worn out after the flight back from Buu's house and refuel with a meal. Piccolo wants to put them straight back to work, but Chi-Chi and Bulma put their foot down: with Goku and Gohan gone, the Namekian has no right to drive their sons into the ground. Piccolo reluctantly gives in. A worried Krillin asks him whether they really stand a chance against the new enemy. A few minutes later, Super Buu lands on the Lookout.
Our take
This episode closes the gentlest chapter of the saga and opens its darkest. The Buu we had come to know, the one who played with Mr. Satan and healed wounded dogs, is literally eaten by his worst half. Being beaten by his own beam is a bitter touch: the monster's most childish, harmless power becomes the means of his disappearance.
One detail matters a great deal, though: Super Buu does not touch Mr. Satan. Something of the good Buu survives inside him, a thread the story will pick up later when the chubby Buu makes his return. The fact that the monster remembers the promised fight as if it were his own commitment points in the same direction.
The anime additions, from the Kamehameha exchange to Chi-Chi and Bulma's protests, stretch out a clash that is over in a flash in the manga, but they also give us one last slice of everyday life on the Lookout before Super Buu arrives.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 485 from page six and chapter 486. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with Tadayoshi Yamamuro as animation director.
- It drew a 20.9% share.
- The Kamehameha exchange between the two Buus, Piccolo and Dende's commentary, Goten and Trunks's meal and Chi-Chi and Bulma's intervention are all anime additions.
- As in the previous episode, Dende is mistakenly drawn looking younger, almost like a child, while talking with Piccolo.