Episode 259 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on March 8, 1995, is fully titled I've Done It!! Buu Successfully Eliminated with Ghosts!? and was renamed Trapped in Forever in Funimation's dub. Gotenks blows Super Buu to pieces with an army of tiny exploding ghosts, only to watch the monster pull himself together once again. Piccolo then makes the most drastic call imaginable: he destroys the only exit from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, locking himself, Gotenks and their enemy inside.
Summary
The little ghost Gotenks spat out snickers while Buu glares at it. When it charges, Buu swats it, and the ghost explodes with a blast that leaves him badly misshapen. Gotenks explains the trick to a stunned Piccolo: his ghosts go off the moment they touch anything. He then produces ten more, who immediately start squabbling until he lines them up. Buu, meanwhile, waits with a book and a drink. The first two ghosts charge, crash into each other and explode harmlessly, so Gotenks huddles the rest together and lays out a plan.
On the Supreme Kai's world, Goku can no longer sense Buu or Gotenks, but is sure they are alive. Elder Kai explains that they are in a different time dimension, and Goku immediately realizes it is the Chamber. On the Lookout, Bulma prepares a snack for when the boys come out, and Krillin says that if anyone can beat Buu, it is the sons of Goku and Vegeta.
Inside the Chamber, the ghosts pretend to have found something tasty to lure Buu in. He takes the bait, gets caught in a chain of explosions, and the last ghost dives down his throat and blows him apart. Elsewhere, Mr. Satan trudges through the desert with Bee, starving and parched, fondly remembering his friend, the good Buu, who was turned into chocolate and devoured by Evil Buu.
When the smoke clears, scraps of Buu are scattered everywhere. Piccolo praises Gotenks, and the two start incinerating the pieces so they cannot regenerate. But the smoke gathers overhead and Buu reappears in one piece. Gotenks pretends to be out of energy to milk the drama, and Buu grabs him and hurls him away. At that very moment an explosion shakes the Chamber: Piccolo has destroyed the door, the only link to the outside world. Buu is livid, but the Namekian stays calm. Buu can kill them, of course, but then he will be alone in there forever.
Our take
The kamikaze ghosts are the most Toriyama invention of the entire saga: a lethal technique dressed up as a playground game, with tiny spooks that bicker, line up and play pranks. And yet they work, which is the beauty of it. For a few minutes Gotenks really seems to have won with a child's weapons, and the audience believes it as much as Piccolo does.
The ending flips everything with a tragic gesture. Piccolo sacrifices not only himself but also the two boys he is supposed to protect, all to keep Buu away from the rest of the universe. It fits the saga's logic, where death can be undone with the Dragon Balls but a monster on the loose cannot, and it caps the Namekian's long journey from enemy to guardian.
The anime additions, with Bulma cooking and Mr. Satan lost in the desert, keep the wider world alive while the real battle plays out in another dimension.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 491 and the first eleven pages of chapter 492, rearranged: the anime interleaves the two chapters, and in the manga the scene with Goku only comes after Buu has been blown up.
- Written by Reiko Yoshida and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation director.
- It drew a 21.2% ratings share in Japan.
- Bulma's snack and Mr. Satan's trek through the desert with Bee are anime additions.
Characters
- Gotenks, Super Buu and Piccolo
- Goku, Supreme Kai and Elder Kai
- Bulma, Krillin and Master Roshi
- Mr. Satan and Bee