Episode 269 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on July 5, 1995 and titled Meet Vegito in Funimation's dub, formally introduces Vegito, the warrior born from the Potara fusion of Goku and Vegeta. Against a Super Buu fresh from absorbing Gohan, the newcomer does not even need to transform: he mocks him, hits him at will and kicks a planet-destroying attack into space. Only at the very end, to make a point, does he go Super Saiyan.
Summary
Out of the fusion's light steps a warrior with features of both Saiyans and a cocky grin. Before he has even introduced himself, he strikes Super Buu with embarrassing ease. Then he picks his name: Vegito. On the Sacred World of the Kai, the Elder Kai and Kibito Kai realize at once that he outclasses the monster, and that he has not even turned Super Saiyan.
Buu fights back with a hail of energy blasts, but Vegito sends every one of them straight back. Each exchange ends the same way: the monster attacks, his opponent dodges, laughs and punishes him.
Meanwhile, in Other World, Bulma, Videl, Chi-Chi and even Dabura, who has ended up there and is now harmless, search for Gohan among the souls of the dead. Chi-Chi is distraught, but Videl is convinced Gohan is not dead, so they will never find him there.
Back on Earth, Dende and Mr. Satan arrive, and Mr. Satan lands painfully on a rock. Goaded by Vegito, Buu loses his temper and gathers a gigantic ball of energy, powerful enough to destroy the planet. He hurls it, but Vegito stops it without breaking a sweat and kicks it into space like a soccer ball. Buu insists he has not fought at full strength yet; Vegito replies that the same goes for him. A golden flash, and the monster is facing Super Vegito.
Our take
After several episodes of dread, with Gohan beaten and absorbed and Goku desperate, the series abruptly changes register. Vegito dominates Super Buu with an almost comedic irony: he taunts him, gives him openings, treats him like a spoiled child. His superiority is so crushing that the tension is no longer about who will win but how long it will take, and the answer depends only on how much he feels like playing.
It is the most successful portrait of fusion in the series. Vegito is not an average of the two Saiyans: from Goku he takes the love of a challenge, from Vegeta the swagger and the pleasure of humiliating an opponent. The result is a new character, which makes it clear what the Elder Kai's word "permanent" really means: Goku and Vegeta as we know them might never come back.
There is a structural cost, though. This episode adapts just two pages of the manga, where Vegito turns Super Saiyan right away. The anime fills the rest with the untransformed fight and the search in Other World, which stretch the moment rather than deepen it. The fun holds up all the same.
Trivia
- It adapts the first two pages of chapter 504. Written by Masashi Kubota and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with Masayuki Uchiyama as animation director.
- It drew a 17.9% share in Japan, the highest among episodes 266 to 270.
- The fight before the transformation and the search for Gohan in Other World are anime additions.
Did you know? The name blends the two halves, though not quite as you might expect: in Japanese, "Bejitto" comes from Vegeta and Kakarot, Goku's Saiyan name. In the manga, Vegito explains it himself as he introduces himself.