Episode 262 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on April 26, 1995 after a five-week break and titled Unlucky Break in Funimation's dub, is where the saga hands over the baton. On Earth, Gotenks is one move away from victory when his Super Saiyan 3 runs out, and soon after the fusion itself comes apart. On the Sacred World of the Kai, meanwhile, Gohan finally taps into the power Elder Kai has awakened in him and heads back into the fight.
Summary
Gotenks and Super Buu go at it again. After narrowly dodging a devastating blast, the boy answers with a relentless barrage of energy shots until Piccolo stops him: if one of the Dragon Balls were destroyed in the chaos, reviving Buu's victims would become impossible. The duel moves to an abandoned city, which the monster finishes leveling with a single explosion.
Gotenks takes control and lines up a Kamehameha to end it, but at that very moment his hair shrinks back: his Super Saiyan 3 time is up. Still convinced he is the strongest fighter in the world (his nose literally grows long as he brags about it), he keeps fighting in base form, but his attacks no longer do anything to Buu.
On the Sacred World of the Kai, Goku and the others anxiously ask Elder Kai how the ritual is going. His answer catches them off guard: he finished five or ten minutes ago. Gohan asks how he is supposed to use this new power, and the old god tells him it works just like turning Super Saiyan. Gohan powers up and leaves everyone speechless. This is Ultimate Gohan, later called Mystic Gohan by Funimation: hidden potential brought to the surface with no golden hair required.
Before leaving, Gohan hugs his father, who warns him that this will be the last time they see each other. Kibito brings him to Earth and, at Gohan's own request, uses his magic to make him an outfit identical to Goku's. On the battlefield, the fusion wears off just as Buu fires an energy wave, and Goten and Trunks are forced to flee. The episode closes with Gohan flying toward the fight.
Our take
This is the relay episode. The first half closes Gotenks' run in the cruelest way possible, because his defeat comes not from a Buu attack but from the clock: the kid who wasted minutes posing last time pays for it here. The anime stretches out the fight after Super Saiyan 3 wears off, an addition that only makes the gap between them more obvious.
The second half belongs to Gohan, and it is the moment his fans had been waiting for since the Cell Games. The awakening is deliberately understated: no transformation, no endless scream, just a young man focusing and an aura that rattles the Kais' world. The hug with Goku, and that warning about the last time, adds unexpected weight. Goku is dead, his one-day pass on Earth has already run out, and he truly believes he will never see his son again.
The Goku-style outfit is not a throwaway detail either. Gohan returns to Earth wearing his father's colors, as if to say the torch has been passed.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 495 from page three and the first eleven pages of chapter 496. Written by Hiroshi Toda and directed by Mitsuo Hashimoto, with Yukio Ebisawa as animation director.
- It drew a 14.9% share in Japan. It aired after five weeks without new episodes: episode 261 had been broadcast on March 22.
- In the manga, Gotenks does not keep fighting once Super Saiyan 3 ends: the extended scuffle is an anime addition.
- Gotenks' growing nose references the Japanese expression "becoming a tengu", used for someone whose ego has run away with them.