Episode 264 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on May 17, 1995 and titled Search for Survivors in Funimation's dub, opens with Super Buu unable to stand the idea of someone stronger than him. Cornered by Gohan, the monster blows himself up: it looks like the end, but it is only a way to disappear and buy time. During the lull the group finds Mr. Satan and a Dende who escaped the massacre, until Buu reappears with an ominous request.
Summary
The duel stays one-sided. An increasingly furious Super Buu reveals that he felt Gohan's power growing in a faraway place while he was still fighting Gotenks. Refusing to accept that anyone could be stronger, he announces that he will get rid of him and self-destructs. Gohan sees it coming and gets Piccolo, Goten and Trunks clear just in time. The shockwave wipes out the entire area.
The Japanese title asks the question on everyone's mind, "did we get him?", but Gohan is not convinced: in his view Buu is alive and has simply suppressed his energy to hide. He asks where the Dragon Radar is so they can bring the victims back. Piccolo replies that it would not matter, since without Dende the Dragon Balls no longer work. Gohan tells him to concentrate, because Dende's energy can still be felt.
On the way the group comes across Mr. Satan and his puppy Bee, who survived the blast by sheer luck, and takes them along. The champion learns that his daughter Videl is dead and lashes out at Gohan for not protecting her, even though Gohan was not there when Buu struck the Lookout. When Goten tells him not to worry because they will wish her back with the Dragon Balls, Mr. Satan thinks it is a tasteless joke: he knows nothing about them.
The group finds Dende, who explains that Mr. Popo threw him off the Lookout precisely so the Dragon Balls would remain usable. The reunion is short-lived: an hour after the explosion, Super Buu shows up again. Mr. Satan scolds him for breaking his promise not to kill anyone, but the monster has a different goal and demands a rematch with Gotenks. Meanwhile, something begins to move on his back.
Our take
Buu's explosion is one of the most cynical tricks in the saga, and the Japanese title plays with it openly: "did we get him?" is the line that, in any action manga, signals a nasty surprise. Buu does not flee out of fear; he leaves to think, and when he comes back he already has a plan. Behind that childish face, Super Buu is learning to think like a strategist, and the next episode will prove it in the worst possible way.
The heart of the episode, however, is Mr. Satan. His anger at Gohan is unfair and that is exactly why it rings true: he is a father who has just learned that his daughter is dead. The scene where he discovers the Dragon Balls exist is a reminder of how the man the world sees as its savior has always been left out of the secret. The anime adds his attempt to reach Buu through their friendship and through Bee, an emotional thread that will matter a great deal later.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 498 and the first four pages of chapter 499. Written by Atsushi Maekawa and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with Yūji Hakamada as animation director.
- It drew a 17.1% share in Japan. No episode aired on May 10, 1995, so two weeks passed between episodes 263 and 264.
- The opening exchange of blows (in the manga Gohan simply slips behind Buu), Mr. Satan and Bee stopping at a saloon just as the shockwave hits, and his appeal to Buu's friendship are anime additions.
- When Mr. Satan begs the heavens to take him away, it is Piccolo, once considered a demon, who swoops down and carries him off.
- In Funimation's dub, Piccolo suggests that Buu's fight with Gotenks was just a warm-up, a line absent from the Japanese version.