Episode 289 of Dragon Ball Z, first broadcast in Japan on January 17, 1996 and titled Granddaughter Pan in Funimation's dub, jumps ahead ten years. Trunks and Goten are teenagers, Gohan is married to Videl with a four-year-old daughter, Pan, and Vegeta and Bulma have a little girl, Bra. Goku, though, has not changed a bit: he has heard that a formidable fighter will enter the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament, and he has no intention of missing it.
Summary
A teenage Trunks flies a Capsule Corporation plane, then packs it back into its capsule and continues under his own power. He is looking for Goten: Chi-Chi sends him to Gohan, now a scholar busy gathering books for a conference. The house displays his wedding photo with Videl and a picture of little Pan. On TV, an ad for the next day's tournament stars Mr. Satan, and Videl sighs that her father still takes credit for things he never did.
Goku is training with Goten when Bulma and Vegeta drop by. They have not seen each other in five years, and Bulma scolds him for skipping the last get-together to train; Vegeta explains that Saiyans, as a warrior race, stay young longer. Goku announces he is entering the tournament: a very strong fighter will be there, an Earthling who is keeping his energy hidden for now. Goten grumbles about cancelling a date, Trunks joins them, and when Goku says Pan is entering too, even though there is no junior division this year, Vegeta decides to compete and orders Trunks to do the same or have his allowance cut in half.
The next day everyone meets at the stadium. Goku takes Pan around the fair, buys her a new ice cream and watches her ring the bell on a strength tester, and they run into Krillin and his family. In the waiting room, Mr. Satan goes over the usual arrangement with the good Buu: Buu will beat the challengers, then let Satan beat him in the final. When he learns that Goku, Vegeta and the boys have entered, he panics, but Goku reassures him that if they reach the end, they will let him win. Satan gets their friends better seats, and Goku and the others clear the preliminaries.
Our take
The ten-year leap is how Akira Toriyama chose to say goodbye, and the anime treats it with affection. Everything has changed just enough: Gohan has fulfilled Chi-Chi's dream by becoming a scholar, Vegeta wears civilian clothes and plays dad, Bulma feels her age and says so. Only Goku is the same, and not just in looks: the first thing we learn about him after a decade is that he has been off training where nobody could see him.
Just as interesting is the choice to leave Mr. Satan's lie intact. The world still thinks he saved it, the tournaments are rigged with Buu's help, and the real heroes are fine with that: they prefer peace and quiet to glory. Pan, granddaughter of both Goku and Satan, is the perfect symbol of this slightly absurd peace. The anime additions, from Trunks visiting Gohan to the sparring with Goten and the trip around the fair, stretch a short chapter, but they give Pan room to introduce herself.
Trivia
- It adapts chapter 517 from page eleven to the end and the first eight pages of chapter 518. Written by Masashi Kubota and directed by Kazuhito Kikuchi, with Naoki Miyahara as animation director.
- It drew a 17.3% share.
- It marks the first appearance of both Pan and Bra.
- The scenes with Chi-Chi and Videl, Goku sparring with Goten, the fair with Pan and the meeting with Krillin are anime additions.
- In Funimation's dub, Eric Vale and Robert McCollum take over as the teenage Trunks and Goten from this episode.