Episode 261 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on March 22, 1995 and titled Gotenks is Awesome! in Funimation's dub, is the all-out clash between Super Gotenks 3 and Super Buu. Furious that his friends were turned into chocolate and eaten, the fused warrior goes toe to toe with the monster, chases him down to the ground and back, and finishes with a playground stunt: a volleyball match where the ball is Buu himself.
Summary
Having escaped the Hyperbolic Time Chamber through the rift he tore open as a Super Saiyan 3, Gotenks resumes his fight with Super Buu on Kami's Lookout, which loses another chunk with every blow. After a long exchange, Buu grabs his opponent and hurls him all the way down to the surface. There Gotenks shows off his collection of ridiculously named techniques, including an energy blade that can cut through anything. He uses it to split Buu from head to toe, but the pink body simply seals itself back together. Eventually Buu blasts him skyward and the battle returns to the Lookout.
On the Sacred World of the Kai, Goku and the Supreme Kai follow every move through a crystal ball, impressed by the boy's power. Goku notes that this is the second time he has seen a major villain cut vertically in half, the first being Frieza at the hands of Trunks from the future. Meanwhile, Elder Kai carries on with his painfully slow ritual on Gohan.
Elsewhere, an exhausted Mr. Satan stumbles toward a city he hopes will be full of people. Instead he finds it flattened and empty. He walks into a supermarket, eats alongside his puppy Bee and thinks back to the days spent playing with the good Buu.
Back on the Lookout, Super Buu curls into a sphere and bounces everywhere, wrecking what remains of the platform as he tries to hit Gotenks. The boy answers with his latest invention: he traps Buu in a series of energy rings, squeezes him into a ball and, with help from a reluctant Piccolo, spikes him toward the ground like a real volleyball match. Gotenks basks in his triumph, but Buu is nowhere near finished.
Our take
This is the episode where Gotenks shows his best and worst sides at the same time. The power is undeniable: for the first time someone can stand up to Super Buu, and Goku acknowledges it without reservation. But the Japanese title, which roughly means "getting carried away", says it all. Gotenks fights as if it were a game, inventing names, striking poses, turning a struggle for Earth's survival into a beach sport.
That is a deliberate choice by Toriyama, and the anime honors it. Super Saiyan 3 has a time limit, so does the fusion, and every minute spent showboating is a minute gifted to Buu. Anyone who watched Goku surrender to Cell with a plan in mind will feel the difference: here there is no plan, just the enthusiasm of two kids inside an invincible body. Piccolo, forced to deliver the spike, is the one spectator who already knows how this ends.
Mr. Satan's detour through the empty city is anime-only, but it earns its place: while the sky explodes, he remains the one human still tied to Buu by genuine affection.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 494 and the first three pages of chapter 495. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with Naoaki Hōjō as animation director.
- It drew a 16.4% share in Japan.
- The extended fight on the planet's surface (in the manga Gotenks lands right back on the Lookout), Mr. Satan's stop in the deserted city and some of Goku and the Supreme Kai's commentary are anime additions.
- The Lookout comes out of this fight in ruins and is only restored much later.
Did you know? After this episode the series took a five-week break in Japan: episode 262 did not air until April 26, 1995, leaving fans with Super Buu still standing.