Episode 263 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on May 3, 1995 and titled A Whole New Gohan in Funimation's dub, marks Gohan's return. While Goten and Trunks look for a way to buy the hour they need to fuse again, an enormous energy approaches the battlefield: it belongs to the young man everyone thought was dead, now carrying a power Super Buu cannot even touch.
Summary
With the fusion gone, Goten and Trunks can only stall: a full hour has to pass before they can repeat the dance. Trunks suggests apologizing to Buu and burying him in candy, an idea Piccolo shoots down instantly. Then something unexpected happens: the monster sits down and falls asleep. Piccolo suspects a trick, while the two boys creep closer to tug on the antenna on his head, until the Namekian calls them back.
Suddenly a gigantic power rushes toward them. Piccolo assumes it is Goku, but Goten is the first to realize the truth: it is Gohan, alive, wearing a copy of his father's gi. He has changed so much that even Piccolo failed to recognize his energy. Gohan explains that the Supreme Kai and Kibito saved him, then asks about the others. Goten tells him that Buu killed everyone on Kami's Lookout, including Chi-Chi and Videl. Gohan, however, can still sense Dende somewhere.
Buu wakes up, recognizes Gohan and reminds him that he has already beaten him once. Gohan stays calm and declares that this time he will kill him. The fight is completely one-sided: the monster cannot land a single punch, and when he tries to blast Gohan at point-blank range, the attack is shut down. A blow to the gut sends steam shooting from every hole in Buu's body. Buu claims he has only been playing around and promises to get serious, but nothing changes: Gohan pounds him with a flurry of strikes and sends him into a rage.
Our take
There is something cathartic about this episode. Ever since Buu awoke, the saga has piled up nothing but defeats: Vegeta sacrificed himself in vain, Gohan was presumed dead, Kami's Lookout was emptied. Here, for the first time, the monster takes hits without understanding where they come from, and the audience can finally breathe.
How the scene is built matters. Gohan does not arrive screaming or transforming: he lands, speaks calmly and lets the others measure how much he has changed. Piccolo failing to recognize his aura is the perfect touch, because it comes from the mentor who knows him better than anyone. And the line where he vows to kill Buu, so harsh from the kid who was playing superhero as the Great Saiyaman not long ago, shows how deeply the massacre has marked him.
The anime additions, such as the boys checking whether Buu is really asleep or Goku and the Supreme Kai remarking that protecting Earth is Gohan's job, stretch an episode that takes only a few pages in the manga. Some fans find them excessive; we think that after such a long wait, this victory deserved a little room to breathe.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 496 from page twelve and all of chapter 497. Written by Masashi Kubota and directed by Yoshihiro Ueda, with Shingo Ishikawa as animation director.
- Its 12.9% share is the lowest of episodes 241 through 265.
- In the manga, Buu wakes up the moment he senses Gohan coming: the scene of the boys testing him is anime-only, as is the extended fight, in which Buu also repeats the rolling ball attack he used against Gotenks.
Did you know? The Japanese title speaks of a "miracle power", but nobody in the episode gives Gohan's new state a name. Fans know it as Ultimate Gohan, while Funimation's dub called it Mystic Gohan.