Episode 272 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on July 26, 1995 and titled The Incredible Fighting Candy in Funimation's dub, starts as a gag and ends with a gut punch. Shrunk into a candy, Vegito is as strong as ever and pummels Super Buu until the monster changes him back. Then, while the hero counts to ten before the final blow, Buu uses a stray piece of his own body to absorb him.
Summary
On the Grand Kai's planet, Krillin panics at the sight of Vegito turned into candy. King Kai, who arranged for him and Yamcha to keep their bodies, suggests sending the two of them to Earth as backup, but Krillin wants no part of it: that monster has already killed him once. Yamcha, fresh out of the bath, seems to be enjoying the break.
On Earth, Buu is about to eat the candy when Vegito makes him punch himself in the face with the fist holding him, and escapes. He explains that his strength has not changed at all; if anything, he is now smaller and harder to hit. What follows is a comic duel: the little ball zips around, slamming into Buu's stomach and face while the monster swings at thin air. Exasperated, Buu admits the trick has backfired and restores Vegito to his normal form. Kibito Kai breathes a sigh of relief.
Back to normal, Vegito resumes taking his opponent apart, so badly that Buu struggles to regenerate and is left for a while with a hole in his belly. In the Other World, meanwhile, King Yemma tells Baba how he persuaded Vegeta to fight Buu again, offering him a second chance and letting him keep his body. When the fight becomes too easy, Vegito announces that he will count to ten and then destroy Buu.
The count begins, and a panicking Buu spots a piece of his own head appendage lying on the ground behind Vegito, torn off during the fight. He discovers he can control it with his mind. On the count of ten the pink blob swells, engulfs Vegito and flies back to its owner, who reabsorbs it in triumph.
Our take
The Japanese title asks whether the hero has been lost, and that question mark is everything. The fusion meant to save the universe vanishes inside the enemy in the most mundane way, and yet something does not add up: Vegito stopped to count just when he could have ended it. In the manga, Toriyama spells it out through Vegito's thoughts during the countdown: he cut off Buu's forelock on purpose and was hoping the monster would notice it in time. The explicit confirmation comes in the next episode.
The fighting candy is one of the most surreal moments of the saga, and it works because it never drains the tension: even reduced to a sweet, Vegito stays in control, and Buu's helplessness grows angrier by the second. In the manga this bit takes up barely a couple of pages; the anime stretches it with extra gags, such as Buu trying to swallow the candy and getting his own fist bounced off his face.
Krillin and Yamcha's return on the Grand Kai's planet is a reminder of how empty of defenders Earth has become. For once Krillin's refusal is not cowardice: it is the clear-headedness of someone who knows he would stand no chance against this Buu.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 505 from page nine to the end and the first two pages of chapter 506. Written by Masashi Kubota and directed by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, with Yūji Hakamada as animation director.
- It drew a 14.3% share in Japan.
- King Kai's suggestion, the extended candy fight and Yemma's account to Baba are anime additions.
- Yemma's story contains a flashback within a flashback: the first is color-shifted, the second is black and white and made to look like old film stock.
- In the original release of Funimation's dub, candy Vegito had a high-pitched voice filter; the remastered version removed it, matching the Japanese original.
Characters
- Vegito and Super Buu
- Kibito Kai and the Elder Kai
- King Kai, Krillin and Yamcha
- King Yemma, Fortuneteller Baba and Vegeta in flashback