ARTIFICIAL HUMANS ARC (#118-#199)

Episode 146 (Gokū Tatakai e no Mezame! Sūpā Saiya-jin o Koero!!) aired on July 1st, 1992. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Kazuya Hisada. 
Key animation: Kazuya Hisada (uncredited), Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Masako Misumi, Masahiro Shimanuki, Naoki Tate.

–HAHAHA.
–WTF is Cell doing?
–Cell’s best impersonation of Sonic the Hedgehog.
–That’s truly the biggest crime the cyborgs ever do in this series. Deforestation. That’s how EVIL they are.

-The last few minutes are a bit messy, with Misumi, Iizuka, Hisada and Takeuchi popping up back and forth.
-As for Krillin taking on Cell, here’s my statement from the filler Garlic Jr. arc. The same rules can be applied in this situation, as well.
–YOU DON’T SAY?
–A young woman being able to pilot a plane without any trouble. We’ll never know who she is, but I doubt she’s as qualified as Bulma.
-Recycled montage, recycled montage, recycled montage… I fuckin’ despise this. Apparently, Trunks can read Cell’s mind.

Episode 147 (Shugyō o Isoge Saiya-jin! Seishin to Toki no Heya de…) aired on July 8th, 1992. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Shigeyasu Yamauchi and animation supervision by Tadayoshi Yamamuro. 
Key animation: Tadayoshi Yamamuro, Noriko Shibata, Hitoshi Ehara, Akemi Seki.

-Words cannot describe Yamauchi’s direction. You have to take a look at the episode to find out what he’s able to accomplish: colors, reflections, atmosphere, creative framings… any of these devices borders on perfection rather easily.
-On the specific, this is GOLD. A simple idea like having Cell chase a couple turns into an eerie and fascinating sequence.
-Besides, combined with Yamamuro‘s constant improvement as a supervisor, Yamauchi makes this episode extremely solid. No wonder such a successful pairing would be taken into account for an upcoming movie.
-The return of M1020.
–HAHA.
–Foreshadowing something?

-“My name is Wile E. Vegeta. Fighting genius.“
-The slowed down M723 sounds off during Goku’s proposition of training in the ROSAT to Vegeta. A small imperfection.
–As for Chichi’s hope, I can only play this. It’s been a while since I used it.
-So hiding Goku inside Kame House wasn’t a good idea that much…

The seventh Dragon Ball Z movie (Kyokugen Batoru!! San Dai Sūpā Saiya-jin or Extreme Battle!! The Three Great Super Saiyans) was released on July 11th, 1992. Script by Takao Koyama, direction by Kazuhito Kikuchi, executive production by Chiaki Imada and Yoshio Anzai and animation supervision by Minoru Maeda.

–Kazuhito Kikuchi’s only time as a film director. As a whole, it’s totally a positive: definitely a step up over the last movie. It’s not amazing, but this movie has other problems, and fortunately, this is not one of these. Keep an eye on Takahiro Imamura, an upcoming regular on the series, as assistant director.
-The action is not as boring as the last movie. For the first time they open a trend of having Naotoshi Shida animate a good deal of action, even lasting over a minute. This trend would become so popular in the following films.
-The main reason for this movie to be recalled is #13 punching Goku in his gonads. Too much symbolism in this frame.
-After two movies of absence, Goku uses his Genkidama again to defeat the enemy. However, this time, he goes Super Saiyan and absorbs it. It’s not some sort of conclusion I’d personally dig, but I do appreciate they tried to make something different for once.
-For the record, Takeo Ide’s infamous expression is another reason fans remember this movie for. I sound unpopular, but I like it. At least it’s not boring.
–Badass line from the Big Green dub.
-As for the villains, #15 is the only one who doesn’t suck. His design is quite unique and he’s an addicted to alcohol, who tends to sink into snow.

-On the other hand, #14 is bland, boring and uninteresting, whereas #13 is bland, boring and uninteresting, with a boring design. His transformation looks ridicolous, too. I actually think fans remember him only for his S.S. Deadly Bomber being undodgable in the Tenkaichi series.
-Shunsuke Kikuchi’s M14XX is a backward step over M13XX. It’s overall decent, but it’s far from being a great soundtrack: the M1404–M1405 pairing is pretty good, M1413 is the best Vegeta theme Kikuchi ever composed (so so so much better than M727) and M1419 is a quite good sad track. M1411, M1412 and M1414 are okay-ish, while M1408, M1410 and M1421 sound a bit dull. As for M1416, it’s not a sad track at all, but it’s mainly used during sad moments in the anime. Such a terrible misuse. M1420 is another Genkidama theme, and is fairly solid, but gets ruined by a cheesy chorus. I still tend to prefer M1020.
–Maeda’s swan song as a movie supervisor. His approach feels old, timeworn, dry and bland. It’s actually disheartening to witness the constant decline of the former character designer. The episodes he supervised used to be the best-looking, thanks to the likes of Ide, Sato and Nakatsuru at their best. Whereas now they look commonplace, like any average episode. That’s why DB needed to revamp something.
-I’m not a massive fan of potato heads or Popeye-esque characters.
-We can say whatever we want about movie 6, but at least it showcased some variations in the infamous FORMULA. This movie shows the FORMULA in all of its might: a new enemy(ies) appears(-), Krillin gets constantly humiliated, Vegeta saves Goku, “Don’t get me wrong, I saved you because I’m a small dick complex douchebag” trope, Piccolo appearing just in time to save Gohan, ‘leave it to Goku time-oh’, Goku uses the Genkidama (differently), enemy defeated, everybody laughing in the end. And that’s the FORMULA in a beanshell.
-About movie 6, I stated Koyama’s characterization reached the bottom. Well, I’m surprised to admit his character writing of this movie manages to dig that bottom even further, for how APPALLING his characterization is:
1) Gohan and Krillin get to do almost nothing, as they admit they’re just being supporting characters in this movie. But they still get beat up rather easily, because Koyama hates you.
2) Goku, Trunks and Vegeta are the only characters who get to fight for real.
3) Piccolo? Nobody cares about Gohan’s nanny. According to movie logic, he’s only needed to save Gohan.
4) Muten Roshi and Oolong. What’s to say about them? They’re perverts.
5) I’m really sorry for what I’m going to say, but Chichi is an abusive bitch. Writing her as an annoying, frustrating and aggressive housewife doesn’t make gags funnier. It makes them more DREADFUL, UNFUNNY and UNJUSTIFIABLE. A writer shouldn’t be repetitive. That’s the basis.
6) Speaking of being repetitive, Koyama loathes Krillin. By now it’s his PRIORITY to make him look like a joke, the butt-monkey of the show, by exposing him to needless pain or random humiliation. I’m honestly getting fuckin’ sick of this trope: it wasn’t funny at first, so WHAT MADE HIM THINK THAT THIS DAMN GAG WOULD BE FUNNY THE MILLIONTH TIME? According to Koyama, he’s also a voyeur on a par with Muten Roshi… I’m probably going to regret this, but Resurrection of F had bett… less cringe-worthy writing. And I hate that movie, too. 
-Almost forgot: the female crazy shopping trope at the beginning. On one hand, it inserts Goku and Gohan in a context different from fighting, but in the end, it’s not that worthwhile if Chichi acts like an obsessive sociopath.
-The movie title has The Three Great Super Saiyans in it, yet they appear only during the last half hour. Goku and Trunks can hardly keep up with the artificial humans, but somehow, carry on fighting in their base forms. They only go Super Saiyan after Vegeta joins in, because if they ever transformed in the first place, the battle would be over sooner.
-According to Trunks’ speech (the Big Green version is even worse), #13 is already dead in his timeline. That’s a really asinine thing to say, since #13 never existed in the first place. For fuck’s sake, Trunks never heard of #16, either. The point of Trunks’ speech? I give you two points: exalting Goku time and uttering a “cool line” before getting his ass kicked.
-1992 is probably the worst DB year after 2015. Two movies were released, and both of them were really bad: a boring sixth movie and a lame seventh movie. After 6 years of animated series, it’s pretty normal to exhibit signs of decline. As a result, the series needed a turning point, they needed to be modernized somehow. Films needed to showcase freshness, new ideas and most of all, they needed to desist from the conventions of the FORMULA.

Episode 148 (Ten o Saku Gekiretsu Kōdan!! Pikkoro Tai Jinzōningen Jūnana-Gō) aired on July 15th, 1992. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Yoshihiro Ueda and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Toshiyuki Kan’no, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

-It’s a been a long while since I gave an 8/10 to a Studio Live episode. It’s well-deserved, thanks to a pretty strong storyboard and direction from Ueda: as you know, his color variations look really nice and are used craftily.
-The battle between Piccolo and #17 is considered a gem among the fandom, reasonably one of the best fights, albeit underrated. Toshiyuki Kan’no‘s contribution is noteworthy, as he delivers some nifty fighting poses and some nice-looking artwork. From this episode onwards, we’re going to bump into his koala noses, massive nasal septums.
–The Hellzone Grenade. Such a cool technique.
–#17 caring about nature. I wouldn’t be surprised if he found a job involving wild animals safeguard.

–Ebisawa’s key animation is overall fine, but his poses are quite stock and repetitive.

Episode 149 (Kono Hi o Matte Ita!! Seru · Kanzentai e no Jokyoku) aired on July 22nd, 1992. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Daisuke Nishio and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

–The second and last portion of Piccolo vs #17 is as great as the first, if not better. Taiichiro Ohara is such an underrated artist and animator: he executes the battle choreography so compellingly he makes us forget for a moment that Naotoshi Shida is no longer at Last House. With such a gifted animator, Shida’s departure isn’t felt that much (almost, for now).
–Uchiyama’s output is also quite solid. Even though he starts off with his usually slow timed and weightless scenes, he still tries to keep up with Ohara’s efforts.
–Norio Wakamoto is awesome.
–Victory breastfeeding.

–Why is Krillin being so formal all of a sudden? He addresses Piccolo as ‘Piccolo-san’, which only Gohan uses to call his master. Normally, Krillin simply calls him ‘Piccolo’. What’s the point of the -san suffix??

Episode 150 (Sutemi no Hangeki Oyobazu! Pikkoro Moetsukiro!!) aired on July 29th, 1992. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Kazuya Hisada. 
Key animation: Kazuya Hisada (uncredited), Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Masako Misumi, Masahiro Shimanuki, Naoki Tate.

–The spooky symbolism around Cell’s aura. Totally gives the idea of how many souls he sacrificed to get more powerful.
-It’s so ironic that Goku is waiting for someone else. Normally, it’s Goku who makes other people wait. A taste of his own medicine.

-I’m not really sure, but the fact Cell got much stronger than Piccolo only by absorbing weak mortals… sounds iffy to me.
-What’s wrong with suffixes nowadays? Gohan yells ‘Piccolo-sama’, instead of his usual ‘Piccolo-san’. Did he become his elder or what?
-“Now I’m only useful for perverted gags“.

Episode 151 (Nokosareta Yuītsu no Nozomi… Mugon no Senshi Jūroku-Gō Tatsu!!) aired on August 5th, 1992. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard by Kazuhito Kikuchi, direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

-While not as great as their Piccolo vs #17, the first part of the battle between #16 and Cell is really enjoyable. It’s well-choreographed, at least.
-I’m glad Ohara’s artwork was left untouched in a few instances.
–HAHAHA. I’m going to miss first form Cell.
–Wakamoto’s babbling is gold.
–This is quite badass.
–NOW Cell remembers he has Piccolo’s cells. Better late than never.
-If perhaps you wonder, no, this doesn’t count as child abuse. The meaning of Goku’s punch is “Don’t go away, otherwise you’ll die”, not “I like kicking your butt because I’m not your real papa”.

–Uchiyama is slightly entering the “flat and simplistic as a pancake” phase. Looking more and more inaccurate and superficial.
–Uchiyama drawing THREE chubby fingers on Cell, and in another instance, dark green palms and fingers.

Episode 152 (Jūnana-Gō o Nomikonda… Henshin Seru wa Chō-Gurume) aired on August 12th, 1992. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Yoshihiro Ueda and animation supervision by Tadayoshi Yamamuro. 
Key animation: Tadayoshi Yamamuro, Noriko Shibata, Hitoshi Ehara, Akemi Seki, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru (uncredited), Masaki Sato (uncredited), Naoki Miyahara (uncredited).

–Ueda’s directional play is absolutely terrific: reflections, creative framings, quirky anddominant coloring, solid music placement. Once again, he proves why he’s one of the best directors of the series.
–The second part of #16 vs Cell lasts only for one half, but it turns out to be explosive thanks to the likes of Studio Junio guest stars.

–Last time for first form Cell. I’m totally going to miss best form Cell.
-Unfortunately, Semi-Perfect Cell is super lame. His design is gross and Wakamoto’s tone sounds more condescending and cocky, but not in a good way. In a way he recalls Vegeta’s small dick complex.
-And that’s the main problem with Cell’s portrayal: unlike Freezer, whose personality was kept intact in all of his forms (all of them solid, at the very least), Cell seems to get far more arrogant after absorbing #17. And yes, I’m aware of him possessing Saiyan cells… but certainly, that doesn’t make him a very consistent villain.
-As for Tenshinhan’s Shin-Kikoho, read my thoughts on Krillin:
1) Either view it as a great moment for an often mistreated character, who gets his very last praiseworthy time after falling into oblivion thereupon.
2) Or view it as a distorted power scaling, with Semi-Perfect Cell struggling against Tenshinhan’s Kikoho blasts, despite their huge power gap. For a good moment like this, there will always be a downside.
–#18 threatens to activate the bomb inside her chest, in order to stop Cell from absorbing her. Why didn’t #17 think of it, too?

Episode 153 (Ashita wa Omē o Tatakinomesu!! Gokū no Chōsenjō) aired on August 19th, 1992. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Daisuke Nishio and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Toshiyuki Kan’no, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

–Once a koala nose, always a koala nose.
-What’s this? A ROSAT fashion show?

-Not only the Shin-Kikoho sequence is a bit too dragged out, but the fact it recycles Kan’no’s Tenshinhan and Ebisawa’s Cell over and over clearly doesn’t help. Not to mention the ever-present gap between their skills.

Episode 154 (Subete Ore ga Katazukeru!! Shinsei Bejīta Oyako Shutsugen) aired on August 26th, 1992. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Minoru Maeda. 
Key animation: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Takeo Ide, Masaki Sato, Hideko Okimoto, Naoki Miyahara, Chikako Uesugi, Kuniko Iwagami, Akira Inagami, Tetsuya Numako, Koji Nashizawa.

–Hashimoto‘s storyboard is not bad, but it’s far from being great. I tend to expect more from him. He has good ideas, but doesn’t always put them into practice.
–That’s a quite Toriyama-esque Vegeta.
–Why does he appear like someone who’s up to make a prostate exam?
–Only Wakamoto can scream that way, with an echo filter, without sounding annoying.

-I’m not a massive fan of Sato’s Gohan. A bit too potato-esque.
-Such a weird use of M1020 near the end.
-By the way, remember back then when they stated Karin Tower (as well as Kami’s temple) cannot be reached by Kintoun, rockets or planes? See… Bulma reached it nonchalantly. Explain this. I dare you.
–Goku never noticed his hair never changed. So dumb.

Episode 155 (Ikinari Zenkai!! Hikarikagayaku Bejīta no Chō-Pawā) aired on September 2nd, 1992. 
Script by Sumio Uetake, storyboard and direction by Junichi Fujise and animation supervision by Kazuya Hisada. 
Key animation: Kazuya Hisada (uncredited), Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Masako Misumi, Masahiro Shimanuki, Naoki Tate.

-Fujise isn’t the best director, but these reaction shots after Super Vegeta’s punch look pretty nice.
-In his last episode as a supervisor before the “hiatus”, Hisada’s corrections are pretty limited, thus allowing animators to shine (ex. Iizuka’s chin, Tate’s rounder eyes or Takeuchi… being Takeuchi)
-Weird, but not problematic use of M1220 during Vegeta’s power up. It’s so underused.
–Goku is so supportive. But this doesn’t count since he’s a bad father.
–What about the seven dwarves? (sorry…)

-This episode introduces one of the (many) advanced Super Saiyan states, the Super Saiyan Dai Ni-dankai. Unlike the original form, this is just nothing special: muscles and limbs are bulkier and that’s pretty much it. He may be Super Vegeta, but this form is all but super.

Episode 156 (Seru yo Hizamazuke! Ore wa Sūpā Bejīta da!!) aired on September 9th, 1992. 
Script by Sumio Uetake, storyboard and direction by Shigeyasu Yamauchi and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

–Yamauchi’s storyboard is the only true positive of this episode. The fight may be boring, but his sense of atmosphere is simply intense.
-His highlight is the flashback of Vegeta and Trunks’ training in the ROSAT. His work is just insane, with some clever usage of nature elements like fire and ice, not to mention his ever-present colors.
-I regret not ever addressing Ohara’s realistic noses once.
-Both the anime and the manga decide to postpone the event and to add a false start, instead. Wise decision. Although, the constant use of recycled montages isn’t something I’d fully agree on.

–Uchiyama… this isn’t really a positive time of his artistic career. Semi-Perfect Cell is VERY far from being a hunk, but Uchiyama’s Cell is even uglier, for how boring and bland he looks.
-As a result, this part of Vegeta vs Cell is absolutely dull, and feels like a giant mess, overall. Uchiyama’s key animation is weightless and so poorly paced. Of course, he gets to reanimate Hisada’s punch from last episode, and to be honest… do we really need to compare the two??
–WTF is Cell doing? Trying not to vomit?
–Ohara, WHY??
-Even in anime-exclusive flashbacks, Vegeta is still a prick.

Episode 157 (Kiken na Puraido!! Kanzentai Seru e no Chōsen) aired on September 16th, 1992. 
Script by Takao Koyama, storyboard and direction by Yoshihiro Ueda and animation supervision by Tadayoshi Yamamuro. 
Key animation: Tadayoshi Yamamuro, Noriko Shibata, Hitoshi Ehara, Akemi Seki, Akira Inagami, Tetsuya Numako.

–Really great storyboarding and direction.
-This part of Vegeta vs Cell is a massive improvement over the last mess. Better framed, better animated, better choreographed.
–This is a really juicy energy wave.
–That’s what she said.
–Cell is a dog.
-“Pantywaist“.
-Well, at least Vegeta is showing narrow regards towards Trunks.

-Fuck, I hate this fucking running gag. For fuck’s sake, stop being so repetitive.

Episode 158 (Ore Nayanjau!! Kuririn no Jūhachi-Gō Hakai Kōsaku) aired on September 23rd, 1992. 
Script by Takao Koyama, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Toshiyuki Kan’no, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

–Kan’no apparently likes drawing Krillin with a toothache.
–This is like peeling off petals from a daisy.

–Ebisawa didn’t improve his Vegeta. At all.
-Krillin is anxious and all, and which BGM do they use? M1305, which sounds all but anxious.
-And so the day came. The day I’d talk about perfect form sliding doors, involving Krillin and Vegeta’s very different decisions to allow Cell to become perfect:
1) Krillin’s decision is very difficult to judge lucidly: saving one person or saving the entire universe? At that moment, Krillin was genuinely sympathizing with #18 for becoming an artificial human against her will, and he felt Cell could absorb her even if he deactivated her. Smashing Bulma’s remote control is a very BOLD, yet RISKY move, because Cell could easily absorb her in any case. Consequentially, he’s putting the entire universe into danger, not only because he is feeling sorry for her, but most of all, because he wants to taste some cybernetic pussy. To be honest, how can we blame him? Such a decision is really difficult to judge.
2) On the other hand, Vegeta’s decision is easier to judge: since Semi-Perfect Cell’s weakness was boring him, he remembers that he’s a Saiyan, and Saiyans always take awful choices. So he decides to let Cell absorb #18, in order to get a proper fight. Just like Krillin, Vegeta is indeed putting the entire universe into danger for his Saiyan pride, and yes, it’s indeed an idiotic decision… but in the end of the day, the circle is complete: such a dangerous decision is 100% in line with what Vegeta has suggested so far and with HOW he’s been acting throughout this arc. In other words, he’s not an idiot. He’s intentionally an idiot. And also a spoiled brat.
-Likewise, Vegeta insulting Trunks is 100% in line with his douchy personality. I certainly don’t like it, but it’s quite coherent.
-Cell is all but an upstanding villain. He basically spends 3/4 of the episode whining and bitching about becoming perfect. For fuck’s sake, even Freezer showed more dignity when his own Kienzan cut him in half. Besides, he even asks Vegeta to scold Trunks for not allowing his evil scheme. Just like a kid asking his mother to scold his brother/sister for stealing his favorite toy. He’s THAT childish. And THAT is supposed to be the villain of this arc?

Episode 159 (Zen’uchū ni Shōgeki!! Seru, Kanzentai no Kyōi no Shinka) aired on September 30th, 1992. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard by Kazuhito Kikuchi, direction by Takahiro Imamura and animation supervision by Naoki Miyahara. 
Key animation: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Takeo Ide, Naotoshi Shida, Masaki Sato, Hideko Okimoto, Chikako Uesugi, Kuniko Iwagami, Akira Inagami, Tetsuya Numako, Koji Nashizawa.

-This is what I like to call a(n) (semi) all-star episode, animated by some of the most known animators of this series. 
-Pretty good storyboarding from Kikuchi, who seems to be inspired by Yamauchi’s layering. Imamura’s debut as a director is quite positive, too.
–Naoki Miyahara is the fourth Studio Junio animator to become a supervisor (after Nakatsuru, Sato and Ide). Despite not liking his oversized noses that much (they’re still tolerable by now, though), his approach is tremendously consistent, with his strong corrections dominating over other people’s artwork. Only veterans like Ide, Nakatsuru or Sato narrowly escape his supervision.
–Cell’s morphing animation near the end is perfect. M1312 sounds perfect, too. (I know what I said…)
-This is one of the most satisfying moments of the franchise: Trunks is so determined to stop Cell that he doesn’t even hesitate to attack the prince of all douchebags. I love this scene both in the anime and the manga.

–Vegeta being a poor excuse of a parent. Reasonably, who cares if he harms his own son? The most important thing is letting Cell become perfect because the sweet, little spoiled brat is bored.
-Are both Krillin and #18 idiots? They can fly, but decide to run in order to escape from Cell.
–Cell’s power up is felt on New Namek, too. I call bullshit.

Episode 160 (Sentō-ryoku Mugendai!! Seru to Iu Na no Hakaishin Tanjō) aired on October 14th, 1992. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Shigeyasu Yamauchi and animation supervision by Masahiro Shimanuki. 
Key animation: Masahiro Shimanuki (uncredited), Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Masako Misumi, Kazuya Hisada, Naoki Tate.

-I mean… my rating speaks for itself. On one hand, it makes sense to have Cell’s perfect form debut on a nearly perfect episode. Nevertheless, the outstanding execution is so touching for how good it is.
-Starting with the direction… what should I say about Yamauchi I didn’t say yet? He’s a top player in his role: he nails each of his directional guidelines, which allow this episode to shine on its own. Take Trunks’ flashback as an example: the presence of layered corpses, of dramatic reflections and of fiery lights make the scene far more impactful than it should be on paper. Or the ROSAT cutscene, with his trademark purple shades being used pretty often. Once again, he demonstrates that purple is his favorite color.
-As much as I love Hisada, I tend to prefer Shimanuki as a supervisor, thanks to his more straightforward features. He was already good during the Namek arc, but in this era, he managed to improve further. Easily one of the strongest supervisors of DBZ.
–Wonderful impact frame from Hisada. It’s not anything new, though.
–Gohan’s 2nd attempt to become a Super Saiyan just happens in the manga. On the other hand, the anime decides to alter the event from the manga, by turning it into something special. 
1) Gohan recalls Piccolo’s words back in the Saiyan arc about Goku being too soft as a teacher. Quite clever callback, as Gohan admits to be pampered by Goku (and Chichi, too), and that Piccolo was actually right all along.
2) And that’s where his transformation truly becomes SPECIAL. Toriyama more or less randomized it, as if he thought “Okay, now he’s a Super Saiyan, so what?”. Whereas the anime puts Gohan to the test, in which he admits that his main weakness has always been… his weakness, and that he felt like depending on everyone else. This is such a deep and thorough development of Gohan’s personality, as he admits his own mistakes and is willing to make up for his weaknesses, thus unleashing his new Super Saiyan powers. This episode makes this moment so memorable that even flashbacks are considered more like a solution than an actual problem. The show wants us to recall Gohan’s limits, but at the same time, they want to emphasize his determination. He’s not a battle maniac, but a mere fighter who’s growing more and more. It would be a very dick move to nullify such an accomplishment…
-As for Cell’s perfect form, it’s not as cool as the first one, but luckily, not as unsightly as the second. It’s just what you would expect, a less beast-like and a more “humanoid” design.
–Uncle Cell wants you.
–Cell needs eye drops.
-Even though he already knows Krillin destroyed the controller, Piccolo still blames Vegeta for letting Cell become perfect. I like how he’s kinda used to the prince’s bullshit by now.

–A funny-looking shot from Takeuchi.

Episode 161 (Sūpā Bejīta Ayaushi!! Kanzen Muketsu no Kyōfu ga Semaru!!) aired on October 21st, 1992. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Junichi Fujise and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

-Considering Last House’s decay during this era, the action isn’t too bad, as a whole. Ohara still does his stuff.
–A wild Kusottare appears.
–Ocean dub Cell displays some good vibrato.

-First episode to use M14XX (tenth movie soundtrack). M1412, M1411 and M1414 are acceptable battle tracks. Not among my favorite.
–Uchiyama’s Cell is simply the worst. He looks like a giant sized beetle with a beard.
–Ohara’s art may be rough around the edges, but I somewhat wish his uncorrected work made it out in the finished product. Uchiyama’s corrections appears as bland as you would expect. Especially on Cell.
–Then we can mock the sweet little prince when he’s not a Super Saiyan.

Episode 162 (Sūpā Saiya-jin no Genkai Toppa!! Arashi o Yobu Torankusu) aired on October 28th, 1992. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Daisuke Nishio and animation supervision by Tadayoshi Yamamuro. 
Key animation: Tadayoshi Yamamuro, Noriko Shibata, Hitoshi Ehara, Akemi Seki.

–Yamamuro’s artwork is excellent. Without looking too radical or too square, he managed to create something outstanding, probably thanks to curved eyebrows (those lines on eyebrows are so employed by Yuya Takahashi nowadays…) and complex shading. Along with a strong director like Shigeyasu Yamauchi, he could totally make an impressive animated film. We’ll get to it…
–A Kusottare for all tastes.
–Pantywaist again.
–The subtitled reaction to the Final Flash strongly reminds me of the German dub version of the scene.
–Cell’s got fair trolling skills.
–Krillin calls it ‘drastic Super Saiyan’. At least it’s not ‘Ultra Super Saiyan’ crap.
-I can see how they could come up with Broly, judging from this shot.

-Cell is the villain and all, but his reactions are a consequence, not a cause. A consequence of Vegeta’s stupid idea of letting him obtain his perfect form. In other words, Vegeta’s defeat is some sort of comeuppance for his dumb plan.
–Trunks being oddly specific. How can he predict Cell won’t kill Vegeta, and that will simply knock him out?

Episode 163 (Chichi o Sukue!! Ten o mo Kogasu Torankusu no Ikari) aired on November 4th, 1992. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Toshiyuki Kan’no, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

-Rather solid storyboarding. It’s nice to see Yamauchi-esque purple hues during the ROSAT cutscene.
–A full-fledged koala nose.
–A sample of Triggeratrunks.
-Even though Vegeta isn’t probably the biggest douchebag of the show, I cannot disagree.
–While it’s technically true, Krillin also contributed to Cell’s perfection by destroying the controller. To his credit, though, finding concrete pussy is rarer than finding strong opponents.
–A clear assist for a TFS gag.

–A looped rolling kick…

Episode 164 (Zetsubō no Mirai!! Jigoku o Ikinuita Otoko Torankusu) aired on November 11th, 1992. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Kazuhito Kikuchi and animation supervision by Minoru Maeda. 
Key animation: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Takeo Ide, Naotoshi Shida, Masaki Sato, Hideko Okimoto, Naoki Miyahara, Chikako Uesugi, Kuniko Iwagami, Tetsuya Numako, Koji Nashizawa, Jin Inaba, Hiroyuki Yokota.

-Even though flashback montages tend to get off the real point, that is the battle between Trunks and Cell, at the very least they are pretty well directed by Kikuchi, and most of all, they are not recycled material. The ruinous environment of Trunks’ future is covered in red and black shades, with also some altered hair colors, white on Gohan and pink on Trunks. The next movie is going to have tons of these peculiar hues.
-Likewise, it’s not that necessary to play Dr. Gero’s Cell tale again, but watching first form Cell absorbing people never gets old.
-Curiously enough, the “flashback specialist” Hiroshi Toda wrote both this episode and the 2nd TV special. However, they describe the events of Trunks’ future timeline differently: in this episode the Dragon Team is eliminated in different ways from the TV special adaptation (Yajirobe being defeated is omitted in the latter version). And unlike in the TV special and the manga, Gohan never loses his arm here. #17 and #18 eventually kill him, but with two arms.
–Now Trunks is stealing Vegeta’s line.

-As far as the series goes, this is Minoru Maeda’s swan song. It’s time for an era to come to an end, and observing him going out with his utterly mediocre approach of the past year and a half is not that encouraging. His art looks no longer appropriate for this era, too bland and hybrid-looking.
–Pacman lip sync.
-As for the other advanced Super Saiyan state, the Super Saiyan Dai San-dankai, it’s basically like the Super Saiyan Dai Ni-dankai, only more jacked and muscular. Not only it’s as mediocre as the other form, but it’s even less functional, due to buffer muscles making movements far slower.

Episode 165 (Sūpā Torankusu ni Jakuten!! Seru, Shōgeki no Bakudan Hatsugen) aired on November 18th, 1992. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Masahiro Hosoda and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

-Despite Uchiyama’s ruinous supervision, Ohara’s detailed shading on muscles, limbs and garments is just superb. You just wish he wasn’t that weighed down by bad corrections.
–Goku stating the uselessness of the Super Saiyan Dai San-dankai. When it comes to fighting, he’s a nerd.

–The choreography is pretty decent, but Uchiyama’s execution is mediocre. To be honest, without Hidenori Arai’s memorable sound effects, his key animation would appear far less bearable.
-One of the first instances of Uchiyama’s pout drawn like a kid reacting to his parents not buying him a toy.
-Motivation is the key of any DB villain: commander Red wanted to obtain the DBs to become taller, Piccolo Daimao wanted to rule the world, Vegeta and Nappa desired to slaughter humanity and to sell Earth, Freezer yearned for universe domination… what about Cell? Well, he doesn’t have any goal in particular, apart from observing people’s terrified expressions. And that’s pretty much it, since he doesn’t even care about killing Goku or taking over the universe. He just enjoys seeing terror. That’s a pretty prosaic and bland motivation, which is my main problem with Cell as a villain. His first form was interesting also because he had an actual goal, absorbing #17 and #18 to become perfect. Once he becomes perfect, he becomes kinda boring.

Episode 166 (Gokū ni Semaru Daikessen!! Shin-Tenka’ichi Budōkai no Nazo) aired on November 25th, 1992. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Junichi Fujise and animation supervision by Masahiro Shimanuki. 
Key animation: Masahiro Shimanuki (uncredited), Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Masako Misumi, Kazuya Hisada, Naoki Tate.

-One of my all time favorite training scenes: great artwork, dynamic poses, great animation and nifty impact frames from Hisada, and M1216. What else?
–Cell the perfect architect.
–Vegeta isn’t technically wrong regarding the older tournament arcs.

–M1220 is so underused it’s quite infuriating to hear it misplaced here, during 16’s proposition of entering the Cell Games, much to Trunks’ anger.
–They did risk an own goal for not mentioning Jackie Chun…
-Recycled montage. I don’t need to repeat myself.
–Yamcha deserves some more respect.
-Yes, killing the opponent is indeed forbidden in regular tournaments. However, they’re dealing with Cell, so are they really sure he’d come up with this idea, knowing his personality?
-Chichi is too overprotective towards Gohan. I’m fine with that. I’m actually not fine with her “friends and acquaintances are obviously delinquents” conventions. We bumped into this trope millions of times.

Episode 167 (Shichōritsu Hyaku Pāsento!! Shi o Yobu Seru Gēmu Dokusen Namahōsō) aired on December 2nd, 1992. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Shigeyasu Yamauchi and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Toshiyuki Kan’no, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

-Albeit not as striking as his usual, Yamauchi’s directional work is extremely good. He’s able to blend drama, comedy and tension altogether, without diverging from the plot that much.
-Everybody is talking about Vegeta’s pink shirt, but his yellow sweater is a honorable mention.
–I love Yamcha’s comeback to Vegeta.
-As a whole, it’s probably the funniest episode of this arc. Funnier than the driving filler.
–That expression.
–HAHAHA.
–Cell randomly butting in TV channels is also quite funny.
–Cell is so polite in this episode. He even thanks the innocent people he absorbed during his live broadcast. He may have his flaws, but good manners first.
–This is the first and only “interaction” between Trunks and his present counterpart. We’ll need about 24 years to wait for a new one.

-Despite Piccolo’s hilariously apologetic pose, and sadly, Chichi being herself (with a bonus death slap), Gohan’s nightmare sequence makes very little sense. Gohan shouldn’t really know Perfect Cell’s real appearance and… I’m fairly sure Chichi cannot handle a ten times stronger gravity.
–And that’s why humans who are not known characters are complete morons.

Episode 168 (Gokū to Gohan… Hīrō Oyako Kyūkyoku no Reberu Appu) aired on December 9th, 1992. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Daisuke Nishio and animation supervision by Tadayoshi Yamamuro. 
Key animation: Tadayoshi Yamamuro, Noriko Shibata, Hitoshi Ehara, Akemi Seki.

–Sporadic highlights aside, Yamamuro’s art is absolutely delightful. At his very best.
-The last advanced Super Saiyan state, the Full Power Super Saiyan, is introduced. Unlike the other two forms, this one doesn’t showcase big changes, apart from larger pupils and a more relaxed frame of mind. The idea of being able to fully control Super Saiyan powers without getting angry is quite progressive.
–This.
–Dinosaurs escaping like common people is classic Toriyama-esque humor.
–Piccolo the etiquette expert.

-For the record, just because Gohan asks Piccolo to give him the same clothes he’s wearing, that doesn’t mean Piccolo is Gohan’s father. It’s simply a matter of respect towards his former master. Goku, Krillin and Yamcha still wore the Kami uniform in the 23rd T.B., despite being no longer trained by Muten Roshi, but that doesn’t mean the latter is Goku’s father.
-Adding fillers isn’t always a bad thing, but immediately gets bad if it contradicts the canon part of the story. While Bulma is looking at #16’s file archive, they show this. Which is strange, since Dr. Gero is supposed to ignore the existence of the Super Saiyan before he sees Goku transform, and #16 was presumably created prior to these events. Further proof of my theory is #17 being unaware of Vegeta’s new powers during his fight against #18. What’s the point of filling what needs no filler?

Episode 169 (Gokū no Yoyū!? Yasunde Matō Seru Gēmu) aired on December 16th, 1992. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

-Good storyboarding and direction from Hashimoto.
–This expression.
–Goku stating really calmly that he’s stronger than Vegeta, much to the latter’s peeve.
–Vegeta calling someone by his real name. Again, it’s so strange.
-As for this bit, what it may appear as senseless for you it may make too much sense for me. Personally, I’m fine with Goku getting hurt by a simple rock, as he does explain that even as a Super Saiyan, he can always feel pain if he lowers his guard. I mean, if female characters punching fighters in comedy bits is allowed, I don’t really see why I should find this wrong. It’s perfectly okay.

-Okay… as you may know, this episode is filled with cursed frames, cursed frames and more cursed frames. Also including the King of Cursed Frames.
-Throughout this arc, Vegeta has been making tons of mistakes, while still being in-character. Goku isn’t totally exempt from this flaw, as he was already shown acting in a quite shallow way a few times during this arc, but this is where his swallowness becomes a big deal. Much like Vegeta’s hostile attitude, Goku is also in-character, but this shallowness of his is taken up to twelve, maybe due to his overconfidence or to his blind faith towards Gohan’s power, but the idea of having him not tell Gohan about his huge potential is kinda stupid. Even by Goku’s standards. I know it’s part of a “surprise effect”, but if Goku did tell him about it, we’d most likely avoid misunderstanding and most of all, we’d avoid some upcoming, unpleasants moments. But we’re going to get to it.

Episode 170 (Senshi no Kyūsoku… Shōjo to Uso to Gohan no Ketsui) aired on January 13th, 1993. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Hiroki Shibata and animation supervision by Masahiro Shimanuki. 
Key animation: Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Masako Misumi, Kazuya Hisada, Naoki Tate, Yoshitaka Yashima (uncredited).

-Absolute debut for Hiroki Shibata, who delivers a pretty competent storyboard and direction. For being a filler episode, it’s pretty well-directed and, I dare to say that, the fight choreography (probably thanks to Tate and Hisada’s talent) looks much better than the anime adaptation of Trunks vs Cell.
–That’s such a creative transition.
-Series debut (if we don’t count movie 5) for one of the fastest and most productive animators of Toei, Yoshitaka Yashima, who solo animates the entire first half. He’s currently one of the regular supervisors of DBS, and is well known for his pointiness. In this case, Shimanuki contributes to correct his sketchy drawings, which is possibly why his corrections are rarer during the second half.
-This filler hinges on what happens outside the world we know and on how some people deal with Cell’s threat. Bourbon is a fraud who takes advantage of innocent people to get money out of them, just to let them use (another fraud) a lame-ass shelter to defend themselves from Cell. Not the most original setup, but it’s fine.
-Quite funny that the fat henchman is voiced by Naoki Tatsuta, Oolong’s seiyuu. 

-Guess what, is the little girl an orphan like those from episodes 16 and 40? You’ll never guess it.
–Bourbon’s purple outfit and short height strongly recall Commander Red of the Red Ribbon Army. Then again, these one-hit characters are not that original.
–Recycling Tao Pai Pai. Back in the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai arc, I explained that bringing him back was a mistake, since there was already a better villain to begin with. In this case, his presence is even shittier, as once he finds out Son Gohan is Son Goku’s son, he chickens out. Remember how he was being composed back then, despite being eliminated by him? The excuse of Goku defeating him another time doesn’t even work, since Tenshinhan took him out. I’m pretty sure he should’ve at least gotten over his first death. Okay, Goku is far stronger and all, but is it enough to alter one’s attitude that much?
–It turns out the old man actually participated in a Tenkaichi Budokai. What a bloody coincidence. Too bad they never showed him.
–Takeuchi being Takeuchi. No trace of corrections whatsoever.

Episode 171 (Himerareta Chikara!! Gohan ga Akanbō Datta Koro) aired on January 20th, 1993. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Yoshihiro Ueda and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Toshiyuki Kan’no, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

-Even though the stroller segment is really lame, Ueda‘s purple and pink hues look so stylish. It’s impossible to ignore them.
–Using a tree for a simple scrolling transition. Neat.
–Arranging Gohan’s 11th birthday is a decent idea for a slice of life filler. Although, Gohan’s real day of his birth is never established, to begin with.
–Krillin imitating Yajirobe. Never gets old.
–Wakamoto’s badass delivery of this line.

–Ebisawa’s corrections are stronger than usual. It’s not necessarily a good thing. Much like his Vegeta, his female characters are the worst.
-Friendly reminder of how human characters we don’t know are a bunch of dumbasses. Interviewing the main villain of this arc. What were they thinking?
-Oh, I almost forgot the Ginyu moron was still alive. At least, he can’t ruin this arc, too.
-Onto the main problem of this episode, the stroller flashback. It’s stupid and makes no sense:
1) I can buy a two/three-year-old Gohan being able to use his hidden potential (uncontrollably, but then again, Broly was already powerful as a baby), but this leads to imply that Goku was ALREADY aware of his powers way before Raditz’s arrival. In the manga, Goku seemed to talk lightly about that regard, and was legitimately astonished by him being able to hurt his brother. Therefore, it seems like Goku was just making assumptions about Gohan’s powers before Raditz’s arrival.
2) Goku isn’t necessarily portrayed as a bad father, but only a dumb-like-shit parent would drop off the stroller where Gohan is on. For what? To watch a family of birds. OF BLOODY BIRDS. Matsui really likes making characters more stupid in her fillers.

Episode 172 (Kami-sama o Sagashidase!! Gokū, Dai-Shunkan-Idō) aired on January 27th, 1993. 
Script by Sumio Uetake, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

–Rather good storyboarding. Not a massive fan of his music placement, though: replacing M731 with M737 in the end sounds so odd. Shall we even talk about his recurring and immeasurable use of M6XX, one of my least favorite Kikuchi soundtracks?
–The sexiest smile.
–HAHAHA. Such a perfect comedy timing.
-I quite like that Cell is protective towards his own ring. Too bad he’ll eventually destroy it…

–Uchiyama’s output in this era is… questionable, but I quite appreciate his attempt to replicate Toriyama‘s panels as thorough as possible.
-There he goes again, even though Cell is the main threat, Vegeta’s small dick complex always gets the better of himself.
-I don’t particularly agree with showing a recycled montage of the most overrated filler of the franchise, but I guess they needed to explain how Goku obtained his driver’s license.
-Seriously, this is still the most useless character ever created.

Episode 173 (Dende no Hatsu Shigoto!! Doragon Bōru Fukkatsu da) aired on February 3rd, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Masahiro Hosoda and animation supervision by Tadayoshi Yamamuro. 
Key animation: Tadayoshi Yamamuro, Noriko Shibata, Hitoshi Ehara, Akemi Seki, Koji Nashizawa, Mamoru Hosoda.

-For once, I need to address the episode art direction: simply gorgeous.
-That’s the most GTesque shot of Piccolo of this era.
–Mamoru Hosoda, absolute animation legend, is in this episode, as well. He’s currently one of the most famous anime directors of the Japanese industry, but DB fans know him for his experience in the first two Broly movies and in the 10th anniversary Path to Power.
-This episode introduces everybody’s favorite doofus, Mr. Satan, a cocky wrestler who gets to save the world from Cell. His fans constantly pay tribute to him like this…
–Bubbles imitating Goku’s Shunkan Ido stance.
–Goku and Kaio constantly bothering each other.
–HAHA.
–Wakamoto’s delivery sounds so gloomy. Just take a look at Cell’s ‘Fuck my life’ expression.
–He’s resistant to fire, water, grass and electricity, but be careful, ice and fairies will kill him.

–Has this idiot ever done something useful since the Piccolo Daimao arc??
–How damn convenient Moori chooses a Namekian kid to become the new God of Earth. He chooses Dende because he’s the only dragon-type Namekian we know, who already seems to possess the ability to restore DBs.
-Again, the fact Goku never told Gohan about his plan would eventually lead to some unpleasant moments. It’s in line with his personality, but AGAIN, he’s just being too shallow in this arc.

Episode 174 (Gokū ni Nanmon!? Doragon Bōru o Torimodose) aired on February 10th, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Daisuke Nishio and animation supervision by Keisuke Masunaga, with Naoki Miyahara as (uncredited) assistant animation supervisor. 
Key animation: Keisuke Masunaga (uncredited), Yoshihiko Umakoshi, Masaaki Iwane, Hidehiko Okano, Isao Sugimoto.

-Official debut for Keisuke Masunaga and Studio Cockpit, an absolute fan-favorite. In his earlier episodes, Miyahara overwhelms his own corrections for the sake of being on-model. But, you know what? Who fuckin’ cares. I just hate the concept of on-model/off-model. It doesn’t matter to me at all, since looking ON or OFF isn’t a sufficient parameter to judge visual content. It’s more like a matter of looking GOOD or BAD. Masunaga was able to break on/off-modelness pattern by offering something unique: if you want to look angular, you have to look angular all the way. He sorts of recalls Takeo Ide for his accurate attention to expressivity and angularity. 

–Miyahara isn’t necessarily a bad artist, but having his traits overwhelm a more interesting approach seems like a complete waste. It’s nothing like Yamamuro correcting over Shindo’s supervision in the late Namek arc, since that procedure was actually for the best.
-This filler is basically an average DB filler: a laughably dumb villain (after Bourbon, Vodka? Such poor imagination) trying to do something it will never have any repercussion whatsoever. Masunaga is indeed the main topic of this episode, but I definitely need to address its content: really fuckin’ boring. That’s it, I don’t care for such a yawn urging.
-Of course, Toei simply cannot do without recycling characters to death disastrously. Tao Pai Pai sucked four episodes ago, and sucks even more here. Remember the fearsome hitman who deflected bullets with his shoe? Remember the fearsome hitman who impaled a muscular dweeb with his own spear? Remember the fearsome hitman who turned Goku into a joke? Well, now he is THE joke.
–Where’s Thanos when you need him?
-Clearly, this episode seems to start off the trend of Goku taking former enemies too lightly. I wouldn’t be surprised if he invited Freezer in a tournament…
-I honestly doubt Goku is THAT sharp to the point that he’s able to solve the puzzle.

Episode 175 (Seru ni Idomu Mono-tachi!! Kessen no Makuake) aired on February 17th, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Kazuhito Kikuchi and animation supervision by Masahiro Shimanuki. 
Key animation: Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Masako Misumi, Kazuya Hisada, Naoki Tate, Chikako Uesugi, Kuniko Iwagami, Hiroyuki Kawano, Hideki Nagashima, Takahiro Fujii, Gen Takase.

–Shimanuki’s corrections are so cast-iron almost nobody escapes his supervision. On one hand, it makes sense since this episode looks rushed. However, sometimes he lets himself go with those potato heads One Piece fans don’t certainly remember with pleasure.
-As usual, Takeuchi stands mostly uncorrected, but in this case, his rounder approach is terribly fitting for grimaces and derisions. Although, his necks look unnatural.
-It’s kinda odd to hear M919 in a non-Namek arc episode.
–Mr. Satan grabbing the mike like professional wrestlers in real life. Nice detail.
-I love that Cell comments on Satan’s foolishness instead of killing him instantly.
–Muten Roshi rooting for Cell.
–Vegeta’s abrasive attitude is used wonderfully here.
–HAHAHA.
–Krillin and Piccolo’s reactions to Satan’s unimpressive stunt.
–KARMA.

–A few shots look pretty mediocre.
-Much like the regular Tenkaichi Budokai, the Cell Games tournament also has an announcer. Unfortunately, this one lacks of the same likeableness and charm of the Tenkaichi Budokai announcer. And instead of it, what do we get? An ignorant, foolish, cocky and narrow-minded asshole, who constantly kisses Mr. Satan’s arse.
–The entire population is a bunch of stupid douchebags. Why should they care about the Z-warriors fighting in Satan’s place, since they all should be praying for their puny and useless lives??
–WA WA WA.

The second TV special (Zetsubou e no Hankō!! Nokosareta Chō-Senshi · Gohan to Torankusu or Defiance in the Face of Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors: Gohan and Trunks) aired on February 24th 1993. Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Yoshihiro Ueda and animation supervision by Minoru Maeda.

-Unlike the Bardock special, there’s no insert song. Only tracks from M6XX to M13XX. All of them fit in each of their placement.
-The highlight is Yoshihiro Ueda’s direction: once again he shows why he’s one of the most reliable and skilled directors of the series, with his trademark colors backing up the whole setup. Masterful and creative contribution.
-Like the Bardock special, they changed the eyecatch. Precious.
-The TV special narrates the catastrophic events of Trunks’ timeline, with #17 and #18 wreaking havoc and there’s nobody who can stop them, since they killed most of the Dragon Team. Curiously enough, Hiroshi Toda decides to modify their deaths, making them differ from his own flashback segment of episode 164 (shoutout to Yokota’s stylish impact frames).
–The artificial humans of this era are totally different from those we know, as they are fearsome, cruel and ruthless. They never hesitate to murder innocent people.
-Goku’s death scene at the beginning is so dramatic it even manages to upset Vegeta. Maybe due to the impossibility of fighting him again.
-The TV special adds so many important details over the manga version: they focus on the bond between Trunks and Gohan, they actually show how Gohan lost his arm, but most of all, it has TWO important qualities the manga completely forgot:
1) The anime version actually shows BATTLES, which Toriyama never showed in order to fast forward the story. For example, Gohan vs #17 and #18 is easily the most engaging battle of the TV special.
2) While Toriyama had Trunks become a Super Saiyan DURING his training with Gohan, Toda alters everything by doing something simple, yet far more effective: having him transform AFTER finding Gohan’s corpse. The result is one of the most memorable Super Saiyan transformations of the franchise, because again, anger is the key to transform.
–I also appreciate Toda fixed the ‘Look out’ bit from the manga. That was quite dumb.
–According to Big Green dub, the Dragon Team survived.

-This is Minoru Maeda’s very last experience on the series before the Dragon Ball Renaissance in March. His corrections look slightly better than his most recent contributions, but they’re still not that compelling. At the very least, I’m glad he tried to make up for the disastrous seventh movie, which luckily, won’t ever be remembered for being his last experience. This is more like a respectable conclusion.
–HOW THE FRIG can a doctor fix an amputated arm?? 
-Okay, he may not be in danger, but they’re all forgetting a not so negligible detail: GOHAN LOST HIS BLOODY ARM. “It’s going to be okay”. No, it isn’t.
-Just like the Bardock special, Gohan cannot keep up with both #17 and #18 with his TWO arms, but for some inexplicable reason, he can take on BOTH of them with only ONE arm. Yes, he eventually dies, but he managed to injure both of them despite his amputation. I doubt amputation increases one’s own stamina. If anything, it should be the total opposite, as he should feel much weaker, and unlike his present counterpart, this Gohan cannot go beyond Super Saiyan 1.
-Strange inconsistency: during Nakatsuru’s scene Trunks is in his base form, but during Miyahara’s scene, after getting thrashed, he’s in his Super Saiyan form again. What’s going on?

Episode 176 (Chotto Matta!! Satan Gun Ōabare) aired on March 3rd, 1993. 
Script by Sumio Uetake, storyboard and direction by Hiroki Shibata and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

–Shibata’s storyboard is the only redeeming aspect of this episode. Really nice board, with various creative backgrounds.
–Clever transition.
-Studio Live without Kan’no is like a sky without stars.
–Vegeta, Piccolo and Cell talking sense.
–HAHAHA.
–The “King” being concerned by Piccolo’s presence makes quite sense, since he obviously ignores his character development.

–These fuck faces look even dumber in Ebisawa’s episodes.
-Are you telling me this ass is going to linger until the end of the Cell Games? Oh no…
-Not only we have to bear the stupid announcer, but the anime decides to add more obnoxiously asinine characters: Walmart Zarbon, Caroni, Walmart Nappa, Piroshki and Miss Pizza, who makes Maron look like a graduate in comparison. There, look what you made me say. YOU MADE ME RECONSIDER A TERRIBLE CHARACTER LIKE MARON. SHAME ON YOU.

The eighth Dragon Ball Z movie (Moetsukiro!! Nessen · Ressen · Chō-Gekisen or Burn Up!! A Red-Hot, Raging, Super-Fierce Fight) was released on March 6th, 1993. Script by Takao Koyama, direction by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, executive production by Chiaki Imada and Yoshio Anzai, animation supervision by Tadayoshi Yamamuro, with Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Masahiro Shimanuki, Kazuya Hisada, Naoki Miyahara (uncredited) and Hitoshi Kamata as assistant animation supervisors.

-The beginning of the DB Renaissance. This film marks the handover between Minoru Maeda and Tadayoshi Yamamuro, who’ll supervise every DB movie until late 2010s. Without a doubt, this film is a return to form in every single aspect, from visuals to music. After the last disastrous films, the franchise needed better material so badly.
-Kikuchi’s 15XX is a really competent soundtrack. It contains BGM we’ll constantly hear near the end of the Cell Games and throughout the entire Buu arc: M1507, M1513, M1520, M1523 and M1524 (one of my personal favorite Piccolo themes) are really good, while the battle tracks M1515, M1522 (my all-time favorite Kikuchi track), M1525 and M1529A are downright memorable. The Morricone-esque M1527 and the melodic M1528 are also simply outstanding pieces, whereas M1514 and M1518 are never used in the regular series, as they seem exclusively related to Broly’s character.
-As for Yamauchi, what am I supposed to say? This movie embodies his directional creed perfectly: layered characters, sense of depth, creative angles and framings, intense coloring… one paragraph isn’t enough to describe who Yamauchi is. His output is just phenomenal.
-On the specific, colors are used so creatively: be it for a mere dialogue scene, for a simple flashback, or just to create a solid atmosphere even by changing hair’s color, you absolutely cannot miss them.
-By the way, did I ever mention he likes purple? Purple tonalities everywhere. When it’s not purple, it’s pink. The way he makes use of these pigments is simply masterful.
-Official debut for Yamamuro as a movie supervisor. His approach is just what you’d expect: really nice-looking, albeit not as polished as his following movies. That’s why several sections are corrected by the assistant supervisors like Nakatsuru or Shimanuki, in order to maintain art as polished as possible.
-Unlike the last movies, Koyama offers something different, so that the FORMULA gets set aside (for a while, it’s still there), like involving the inhabitants of planet Shamo, enslaved by Paragus or adding air of mystery behind the main villain of this movie, the Legendary Super Saiyan who destroyed South Galaxy. And even though in the end only Goku is standing, with everyone K.O., it’s not as forced as the previous movies, because this one is much longer, so there’s more room for setting up the plot and for more action. It’s a Goku time, but a far more natural Goku time than the last movies.
-As for the two enemies, Paragus is Broly’s father, and yearns for revenge against Vegeta, since King Vegeta ordered to execute a newborn Broly, because his huge power would eventually become an issue for his son. This Paragus looks clearly much younger and more athletic than DBS Broly Paragus, and in both cases, he seeks revenge against King Vegeta’s son, because the king is dead and his offspring must take the blame. However, it’s quite interesting how the two versions react differently to Broly’s transformation: after a moment of concern, M8 Paragus is satisfied with the outcome, whereas DBS Broly Paragus is absolutely terrified, afraid of getting himself killed. Ironically enough, it’s actually M8 Paragus who gets to die by his son’s hands, bidding a Shakespearian goodbye.
–As for Broly, his character doesn’t know half measures: he’s either overhated or overhyped. As for me, he’s a step up over Slug and #13, but is far from the likes of Daimao or Freezer. I guess it’s impossible to ignore the comparison between this Broly and his most recent Tarzan-like characterization, and despite the latter being a more satisfying character, this Broly is also interesting to look at. While Paragus wants to wreak revenge on Vegeta, Broly hates Goku in spite of never meeting him before, because his constant crying didn’t let him sleep when both of them were babies. Such an infamous premise would sound stupid on paper, but it actually makes sense: it’s a matter of being subjected to several traumatic events, since not only baby Broly had to put up with Kakarot’s crying, but he also had to suffer King Vegeta’s stabbing. Therefore, it’s likely that Broly relates that awful experience with Goku’s crying, thus resulting in a profound and unadulterated hatred towards him.
-In both movies, Broly is voiced by Bin Shimada, and despite liking the DBS Broly better, Shimada’s performance in the original is still unbeaten. His ‘KAKAROTTO’ yelling is just memorable.
-Of course, the movie introduces a further advanced Super Saiyan state, the Legendary Super Saiyan: green hair, pupils disappear, as muscular as the Super Saiyan Dai San-dankai, but still keeping some speed. On paper it sounds like an unoriginal Super Saiyan state, but thankfully, the action is the strongest part of the movie, which definitely does him justice. Broly takes on a point blank Kamehameha, and comes out unscathed.
-As for the inclusion of characters like Muten Roshi and Oolong, it’s fortunately not as problematic as movie 6, since they enter Paragus’ spaceship only because Muten Roshi is drunk. Inebriation makes you act in a way you normally wouldn’t behave. Therefore, yes… I accept their role as comic reliefs, because it’s a coherent role, unlike movie 6, in which Muten Roshi and Oolong travelled alongside Goku and the others, despite the former being rusty and the latter not even being a fighter.
-Much like the sixth movie, Goku’s Shunkan Ido receives a multi-colored depiction.
–The Full Power Super Saiyan is so expressive. Just compare it with a regular Super Saiyan.
–Krillin accidentally punching Goku. In a Koyama movie. It’s normally the opposite.
–Krillin’s terrible singing annoying Vegeta slightly.
–Muten Roshi is so drunk he turns into Arale in a frame.
–Broly is a genuine demon.
-As for the final clash, it MAY look similar to Cooler’s death in movie 6, but it is NOT. AT ALL. Having Goku defeat Broly with just one hit may sound disappointing on paper, but thankfully, the movie length comes in handy to give some more build-up to the final clash, as Goku asks everyone to give him their energy, in order to defeat Broly. This device works because it isn’t sudden. Before Vegeta decides to lower his ego, Goku is still receiving a severe beating, with Broly having the upper hand. The final blow is a dignified conclusion of an ENTIRE battle.
-Small note: this used to be my favorite DB movie when I was 11.

-The FORMULA isn’t set aside completely, as the Piccolo saving Gohan trope is here, as well, and unfortunately, manages to be a lot more forced than last time. Movie 7 was a disaster and all, but on second thought, Piccolo could sense Gohan being in danger, as long as they stayed on the same planet. On the other hand, here Gohan is on a far away planet, Piccolo arrives just in time with his spaceship (Can he even pilot a ship? All by himself? Did he even ask Bulma for it?) and guess what, he manages to deflect Broly’s blast at the fucking right moment. He eventually reveals that he heard the dialogue between Goku and Kaio… then why didn’t he intervene sooner, like he did in movie 6?
-Surprisingly, Krillin isn’t humiliated that much. Oolong running on his bald head lasts only a few seconds.
-The beginning is the least convincing part of the movie, with the ‘furious Chichi worse than the devil’ trope I hate so much. Nevertheless, seeing Goku in a suit is rare.
-Vegeta constantly ignoring and mistreating Trunks before the reveal. How progressive.
-Onto another infamous bit, Vegeta refusing to fight a Legendary Super Saiyan. Even though it’s not even the first time Vegeta shits his pants, as he was terrified by Freezer back in the Namek arc (Koyama even added a filler part in the 81st episode), there’s a big difference: while he felt fear of Freezer AFTER using all of his power, here Vegeta fears Broly BEFORE taking him on for real, and later on, he decides to intervene only because he is infuriated by a lower-class Saiyan like Goku still trying to fight back, while he’s chickening out.

Episode 177 (Shōbu da Gokū!! Chō-Kinpaku Seru Gēmu) aired on March 10th, 1993. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Ichiro Hattori, with Masahiro Shimanuki as (uncredited) assistant animation supervisor. 
Key animation: Akihiro Okuzawa, Atsushi Matoba, Satoru Sayama, Yuji Hakamada, Shinichiro Fukushima, Takayuki Manaka.

-This could be much, much worse without Shimanuki‘s additional supervision. In both halves his corrections polish up really dodgy artwork, especially during the disastrous first half.
–Pretty cool impact frame.
-“World champion of stupidity“. HA.
–That’s what he said.

-The first half, possibly outsourced to Doga Kobo, looks AWFUL. Not only it showcases some of the ugliest shots (including the Cursed Shot), but even the animation is stiff, robotic and executed so sloppily. Every time Goku vs Cell is included in the best DB fights list, I beg to differ. Masunaga isn’t the only one, there’s three more episodes.
-The second half, whilst not as devastating as the first, is quite a mess, too. This portion of the battle may not be as terrible as the first, but it’s so goddamn boring with instantaneous movements spammed over and over.
-As a matter of fact, watching eyes rolling is far more entertaining than watching the real combat.
–This shot of Mr. Satan looks so Budokaish. Not a good sign.
-Shit, just imagine how annoying these skits will get in the long run. Sometimes I wish Cell killed them all (I can partially save Mr. Satan for his role in the next arc).
-Also, just imagine a ring out from Cell: are we really sure he’d get himself eliminated that easily??

Episode 178 (Chikyū Chokugeki!! Seru no Tokudai Kamehameha) aired on March 17th, 1993. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Yoshihiro Ueda and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara, Naoki Mishiba, Minako Ito, Yoko Arai, Hiroaki Shimizu.

–Great storyboard and direction. Ueda is just a perfect pick for power up scenes: having Goku’s power up surrounded by red and yellowish hues and Cell’s response by greenish shades is such an ideal choice to create a solid atmosphere.
-Lots and lots of callbacks in this episode: Goku’s power up pose is a blatant reference to the opening sequence bit and the main combat gets a bonus portion of Cell using other people’s techniques (the manga immediately fast forwards to the Super Kamehameha bit). Cell’s Shishin no Ken-Makankosappo combo is a reference to the four Tenshinhans’ surrounding Goku and blasting him, while Goku using his Zanzoken to dodge Cell’s homing Kienzan 100% recalls his battle against Freezer.
–Another sexy smirk.
–Cell’s aerobics lesson.
–Wakamoto’s hysterical laugh.
-I believe Uchiyama is trying to bring back the voluminous and undetailed hair of the original Super Saiyan.

-NOTE FOR THE FUTURE: THIS IS NOT BAD ANIMATION. We must not judge a key animation from just one in-between.
-Onto the infamous bit, the additional Christmas lights on auras. They’re not the worse thing in the world… but they look so CHEESY.
–Uchiyama’s corrections cause problems instead of solving them. Not only on Ohara, but also on the remaining artists. The original genga looked so solid, why the urge to change it??
-With all due respect for the guy, slowing down his own key animation is like adding salt to your coffee.
-According to Tenshinhan, Cell overcame the weak spot of his own Shishin no Ken. I actually think his power was still split in 1/4, but the fact is that Cell is so powerful nobody would ever notice the difference.

Episode 179 (Haiboku ka Shi ka!? Gokū, Gyakuten no Hisaku) aired on March 31st, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Daisuke Nishio and animation supervision by Keisuke Masunaga, with Naoki Miyahara as (uncredited) assistant animation supervisor. 
Key animation: Keisuke Masunaga, Yoshihiko Umakoshi, Masaaki Iwane, Isao Sugimoto, Tatsufumi Tamamura, Hideyoshi Takahashi.

-This is the part of Goku vs Cell the fandom remembers the most. And for a quite good reason: Masunaga and his team are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Even though the choreography easily falls for the instantaneous movement device, the whole thing is executed so nicely: smears, speed, great timing, effects, stylish impact frames… and of course, Masunaga’s traits.
–The supervisor’s corrections are angular, vicious and ferocious, thus guaranteeing such aggressive expressivity. The Cell Games actually introduced double-faced novelties: Studio Cockpit is undeniably the more positive aspect, whereas the less positive aspect… coming within a few episodes.
–The realism of THIS nose is so emotional.
–The realism of THIS cleavage is emotional, too.
–The Shunkan Ido Kamehameha… always loved that move.

–Miyahara’s additional corrections kinda ruin what Masunaga accomplished, because his approach couldn’t look more different, in line with model sheets, with expressions looking a bit more prosaic and average. For example, Goku’s expression before firing the Kamehameha could’ve seriously turned into a gem, but Miyahara’s supervision didn’t keep that sort of magic.
–Why is Mr. Satan so huge compared with Miss Pizza and Mr. Ass??
-Minor detail, but during a filler scene, Muten Roshi is watching the fight on TV alone, while a few episodes ago, Chaozu and Oolong were in the same room. Did they leave or what?
–WHAT THE SHIT IS WRONG WITH THESE GUYS? At the moment they should be praying for their butts not to be roasted by Cell, instead of complaining in vain. Why are they so idiotic? If I were an average human being, I’d be offended… nevermind.

Episode 180 (Shitō ni Ketchaku!! Gokū no Kōsan Sengen!?) aired on April 7th, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Atsutoshi Umezawa and animation supervision by Masahiro Shimanuki. 
Key animation: Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Masako Misumi, Kazuya Hisada, Naoki Tate.

–Goku vs Cell does actually hold up better than expected. Way more than Piccolo vs Freezer or some minor combats of the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai. It starts off very lamely, but gets back on track quite quickly. Seigasha ends it with a bang.
–Cell cannot resist the power of TATATATATA.
–Newfound respect for Muten Roshi’s martial arts experience.
-I quite like that Krillin hesitates to give Goku a Senzu, as though he already knew he’d refuse eating it.

-As we all know, Cell has Piccolo’s regenerating cells, but I’m not sure whether Piccolo could regenerate LIKE THAT…
–Yamcha and Tenshinhan being foolishly enthusiastic in contrast with everyone else.

Episode 181 (Saikyō o Tsugu Mono… Sono Na wa Gohan) aired on April 14th, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Kazuhito Kikuchi and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

–Uchiyama and Ohara solo animate both halves each. The artistic difference is rather felt.

-While it’s extremely easy to use his character development as a point, I actually think Piccolo shouldn’t be in the position to make morals. Okay, he has any right to doubt Gohan’s power… but him saying ‘There’s no way he can fight’ is fucking stupid. Isn’t he the same guy who basically FORCED Gohan to fight against the Saiyans? Such a situation was even worse, because not only Gohan was much weaker than he is in this arc, but most of all, he was FOUR/FIVE YEARS OLD.
-It’s also true THAT Piccolo isn’t THIS Piccolo anymore, but are we really going to erase past actions that easily? He’s acting so hypocritically that ONLY NOW he’s defending an eleven-year-old, whereas back then, he had the nerve to insult a five-year-old Gohan for running away.
-However, if you think Goku is exempt from responsibilities, that’s also wrong. He got so overconfident he never told Gohan anything about his plan. As a result, the boy was rightfully caught off-guard by such a decision.
-This arc is mainly known for characters making stupid decisions, and Goku certainly knows how to compete. Giving a Senzu to Cell is totally something he’d do, but it’s easily the dumbest action Goku has ever done in 30 years of the franchise (putting 8 universes in danger may also be dumb, but at least he kept on fighting). Then again, we can view it more or less like Vegeta letting Cell absorb #18: like an in-character, yet really asinine action. Goku indeed wants a fair and square combat, but it would look far less stupid if he were to fight in his unaware son’s place.

Episode 182 (Ikare Gohan　Nemureru Chikara o Yobiokose) aired on April 21st, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Masahiro Hosoda and animation supervision by Yuji Hakamada, with Masahiro Shimanuki as (uncredited) assistant animation supervisor. 
Key animation: Yuji Hakamada, Hideko Okimoto, Chikako Uesugi, Kuniko Iwagami, Shinichiro Fukushima, Takayuki Manaka, Gen Takase (uncredited).

-Official debut for Yuji Hakamada and Studio Carpenter, the less positive side of the double-faced novelties. His art style is solid enough, but is nothing special: boring expressions, conventional traits and overall uninteresting approach.
-His first episodes have Masahiro Shimanuki providing uncredited additional corrections, which seem definitely like an improvement. I didn’t expect Miyahara and Nakatsuru‘s correcting cameos, though.

–Hosoda’s storyboard is decent, but his direction falls apart. OVER FIVE MINUTES OF RECAP, of stuff we watched hundreds of billions of times. Was it that necessary? NO, IT WASN’T. This is goddamn insulting.
-Sloppy music placement, with M106 during a random army cutaway, and the unreleased ‘Gohan in Peril’ when Gohan moves away rocks.
-At the very least, the unnecessary montage refreshes our memory, by showing how Piccolo is a better parent than Goku. I kinda find it a stupid idea, especially if you show THIS BIT during the first half: Piccolo being self-righteous “You killed Gohan”, while he is the same guy who threw the kid against a mountain. It’s not a matter of character development (of not repeating past mistakes), but more like a matter of hypocritical attitude (of erasing past mistakes). We all saw him sacrifice his life to save Gohan, but a few minutes before, he’d been bashing him constantly.
–Gohan refusing to fight or even kill Cell. That’s perfectly fine, since Gohan isn’t a battle maniac like Goku, as he fights only because he has no choice, not because he likes it. Even though such a standpoint clashes with his determination to make up for his mistakes, it’s not the main problem.
-The main problem is actually Gohan’s following passiveness. He constantly gets his butt kicked by Cell, but rarely shows signs of reaction. It may not be the first time, but at least, it used to happen when Gohan was debilitated. I get it, he loathes battles… but where’s his determination? The REAL Gohan was neither passive, nor a killing machine. He was simply a character who hated fighting, but exploded when he had to. Unbalancing him on his passive side destroys Gohan’s character development. Besides, it feels so convenient that Toriyama makes him remember ONLY NOW that he loathes fighting, in the middle of a crucial battle.
-Speaking of which, he states he hates killing his opponents. Garlic Jr. arc anyone? Or Freezer’s minor soldiers?
-Honestly, I don’t get it: Are they using Chichi’s reactions as a gag??? If so, STOP IT. I already have issues with her character in the anime, but hearing her whining is unbearable. And the idea of using her despair for comedy is just despicable.

Episode 183 (Chitcha na Kyōi!! Seru Junia Raishū) aired on April 28th, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Hiroki Shibata and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Toshiyuki Kan’no, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

-Pretty good storyboarding and direction. Nice addition of Yamauchi-esque purple shades and cinematographic framings.
-I need to address Hideki Inoue‘s detailed ear cartilage.
-“They may be small, but they inherited my koala nose.“
–…mia, let me go.

-Some iffy shots here and there.
–I hate Gohan in this. I could excuse him in the Saiyan arc for his very young age, but even in dire situations, he always fought. Maybe he acts so submissively to give further value to his Super Saiyan 2 transformation, but again, I find it convenient. He hates fighting, but never backs down. That’s the real description of Gohan’s character. Not this one.
-Neither Bulma or Krillin (who was apparently aware of it) informed #16 that they removed the bomb inside him. They’re both idiots.
–Goku never bothered to eat a Senzu because he was busy giving it to Cell. Dumbass.
-Onto the infamous moment. I’ll need to list each of these points because there’s quite a lot to talk about.
1) “Does Gohan about know your strategy?” is indeed a very good question, since in TEN DAYS, Goku never told Gohan anything about his plan, because he was overconfident in his son’s true potential. In this case, it’s entirely Goku’s fault for not taking this seriously (as always), and he’s also shown shocked by that sort of revelation, with a DUH expression on his face.
2) “Gohan doesn’t like to fight the way you do” once again, is a good point, since Piccolo recalls what Gohan told him back in the Saiyan arc. However, it would be really unfair to state that Goku ignores his son’s real ambitions. After all, he’s also the one who tells him to fight Cell if he wants to pursue his scholar career.
3) “Why won’t Father help me when I’m suffering like this?” this is where things start getting stupid. Goku’s mistake is self-explanatory, but making Piccolo look like a child psychologist is fucking dumb. I know it’s Toriyama’s favorite character, but if such a standpoint only leads to unfunny ‘Piccolo is a better father’ jokes, he kinda drops the ball here. The Namekian moralistic psychologist who throws kids against mountains. Or slaps kids for not waking up. Not the same one, but mistakes are hard to forget.
4) “He is still a child” wouldn’t sound too bad, if Piccolo didn’t force him to become a warrior at the age of FOUR/FIVE. Okay, Gohan is a warrior thanks to Piccolo’s training, for better and/or also for worse. Piccolo started what Goku finished. What annoys me the most isn’t rubbing mistakes in someone else’s face, but a former enemy’s nerve to give talking-to when he’s not in the position to talk, regardless of any character development/derailment he went through.

Episode 184 (Jūroku-Gō Muzan!! Ugokidashita Ikari no Son Gohan) aired on May 5th, 1993. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Keisuke Masunaga, with Naoki Miyahara as (uncredited) assistant animation supervisor. 
Key animation: Keisuke Masunaga, Masaaki Iwane, Isao Sugimoto, Naoki Miyahara, Chikako Uesugi, Kuniko Iwagami, Kunihiko Natsume.

-Really nice storyboarding and direction from Hashimoto, with some pretty solid action and interesting framings. 
-As for the highlight, I must say it’s included in a different context from Goku’s first Super Saiyan transformation, since even without this moment, this episode would still hold up on its own thanks to Cockpit’s efforts and Hashimoto’s direction (not the former’s best effort, but still), while episode 95 was a mess:
1) It’s untrue that Gohan snaps ONLY because of Cell squashing #16’s head. Although, we can say #16’s speech opened his eyes quite a bit, as especially thanks to Hashimoto’s imagery, not only Gohan is thinking about his friends risking their lives, but also about innocent creatures that will disappear with Cell still around.
2) Hashimoto executes the scene extremely competently, and in addition to his forementioned imagery, we get a smooth transition from #16’s squashed head leading to a zoom out of Gohan exploding.
3) Much like Masaki Sato on Goku, it makes sense to have Naoki Miyahara directly animate this scene, since he follows character sheets more assiduously than Masunaga. Besides, they also chose the master of impact frames.
4) Nozawa’s performance is outstanding and the Oozaru filter on her scream is perfect.
-As for the rest of the episode, art-wise it’s about Masunaga and Miyahara correcting back and forth until the main event. They’re both capable artists on paper, but they have totally different modus operandi.
-Can you believe Mr. Satan has done more useful things in more or less 10 episodes than Chaozu in over 100?? It’s also the first time he shows his courage as a martial artist.
–Creepy and adorable at the same time.
-For once, due to well-known time constraints, Masunaga didn’t correct a few shots here and there. Some of them look quite interesting…

–some not that much.
–Goku’s “dead” finger.
–As for this bit, let me copy and paste my thoughts, once again.
-Okay, Vegeta’s Final Flash wasn’t full-powered, but Cell Jr. deflecting it like it was nothing is pure BS. Consider that “papa” Cell got mutilated by that blast. Who’s stronger then???

Episode 185 (Fukiareru Shin no Chikara!! Seru Junia Funsai) aired on May 12th, 1993. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Yoshihiro Ueda and animation supervision by Tadayoshi Yamamuro. 
Key animation: Tadayoshi Yamamuro, Noriko Shibata, Hitoshi Ehara, Akemi Seki, Takeo Ide, Naotoshi Shida.

-Last episode of the Cha-La-Head-Cha-La era for both Yamamuro and Ueda. Starting from the latter, he handles the direction superbly: as usual, he makes creative and effective use of different colors throughout the episode, but the aspect people remember the most is Gohan killing Cell Jrs. in black and blue. Definitely sort of makes up for the (reasonable) censorship of Cell Jr’s brains crushed into a pulp.
-As for the supervisor, Yamamuro’s corrections have never been THIS light, and it’s actually easier to spot other artists, in addition to the guest stars Takeo Ide and Naotoshi Shida. Nevertheless, Yamamuro is nearly off the charts during this era.
–Some serious smears.
-During the beginning, Gohan’s transformation gets entirely reanimated (swapping Miyahara for a Yamamuro-corrected Ehara does not impair visual quality at all), and the whole segment is lenghtened quite a bit, with Cell Jr. beating the Z-Warriors and Gohan ordering Cell to stop them. Ueda adds the satisfied shot of Goku from the manga version, which was completely absent in Miyahara’s scene, and in my opinion, works so much better.
-The last ascended Super Saiyan form, Super Saiyan 2: no more muscles on steroids, but with higher hair and electricity on the aura. This form answers to the question ‘Is simplicity the answer’? Absolutely. Regardless of its context on the story, it’s a very balanced transformation: much stronger than a regular Super Saiyan, much faster than buff Super Saiyan forms, and unlike the next stage, it wastes little energy. No wonder this form will be used quite a bit on DBS.

-I wish I could give an even higher rating if it weren’t for Chichi. She was about to commit patricide. How could you defend such an obnoxious character like that? I swear I won’t be sorry if Buu turns her into an egg.

Episode 186 (Seru o Nokku Auto!! Tatta Nihatsu no Chō-Tekken) aired on May 19th, 1993. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Daisuke Nishio and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

-My rating is the average between the 7/10 of Ohara’s sections, the 4/10 of Uchiyama’s sections… alongside a not so good direction.
-Just like the other Last House episodes of this era, Ohara is the saving grace of Uchiyama’s episodes: competent smears, competent shading, competent timing… he’s just too competent on his own. The detail of Vegeta’s thumb fingernail seen through his glove is so touching for how good it is.
–Decent recreation of Toriyama’s panel.

-The Cell Games segment of this arc isn’t certainly very consistent…
-Unlike Ohara, Uchiyama is all but a saving grace. His drawings look so dry, lacking of basic details and his cartoony expressions are really boring. Not to mention his stalactite Super Saiyan hair…
-I gotta say it, Nishio’s directional output has been pretty underwhelming in a while. Not even his choreographies are that good.
-This episode shows what’s probably the absolute WORST music placement: M1120B during Cell’s power up is replaced by M1420 halfway through. A Genkidama theme being used when a villain powers up? THAT’S FUCKING LAME.
–Why does Cell’s blood look more like snot? For the record, wasn’t it supposed to be purple?
-I take it back, these fuck faces look a lot dumber in Uchiyama’s episodes. As an average human being, I’m quite offended by being represented by this morons.

Episode 187 (Seru ni Ihen!! Kuzusareta Kanzentai) aired on May 26th, 1993. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Kazuhito Kikuchi and animation supervision by Masahiro Shimanuki. 
Key animation: Masahiro Shimanuki, Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Masako Misumi, Kazuya Hisada, Naoki Tate.

-Great storyboarding and direction, with some interesting Ueda-esque vibes.
-Last Shimanuki episode of the Cha-La-Head-Cha-La era, and as always, ending with a bang. He is a great supervisor, his animation partners are great and as a whole, Seigasha episodes are always enjoyable.
-FINALLY Cell’s blood is purple. It’s also corrected during the recap.
–Gohan’s Super Kamehameha against Cell’s massive Kamehameha: everything about it is perfect, from his stance to the whole execution.
–Wakamoto’s scream is TERRIFIC.
-“En ese momento Cell sintiò el verdadero terror“.
–Gohan thrashing Cell is the rightful consequence of the latter’s insistence on angering him, therefore it feels extremely satisfying to witness Cell getting his comeuppance for his stupidity.

-However, this is the artificial humans arc, so Gohan is to fuck it up like everyone else, as he decides not to finish off Cell, and prefers to make him suffer more. I know it’s terribly ironic that Gohan became the killing machine he was afraid to become, but he has no reason for joking around against his opponent. He’s not like Vegeta.
-Speaking of which, by now everyone should be aware of Cell possessing Piccolo’s DNA. I honestly don’t get the commotion.
–What about #17?? He was absorbed, too.

Episode 188 (Bai Bai Min’na!! Gokū Saigo no Shunkan-Idō) aired on June 2nd, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Masahiro Hosoda and animation supervision by Yuji Hakamada, with Masahiro Shimanuki as (uncredited) assistant animation supervisor. 
Key animation: Yuji Hakamada, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, Hideko Okimoto, Shinichiro Fukushima, Takayuki Manaka.

–Hosoda’s most compelling work so far. Really good storyboarding, with some interesting coloring here and there. 
-Unlike Hakamada’s last episode, Shimanuki’s additional corrections appear far less frequently here, but when they do, they definitely make a difference.
-Having Nakatsuru animate Goku’s sacrifice is 100% agreeable, especially if you want something better than the manga. He nailed it, indeed.
–Such a stupid question.

–Hakamada’s art is more unstable than usual. Not a big fan of his glossy Piccolo.
–I don’t really think this is a correct perspective.
–Goku is flying and his hair doesn’t move.
–Yes, he could. Then again, everyone acts stupidly in this arc.
-Speaking of which, for some reason I wanted this episode to take a route similar to episode 182, in which Piccolo yelled “You killed Gohan” at Goku. If anything, no matter how insensitive it would sound, but Krillin should have more rights to blame Gohan for Goku’s death, since he’s known Goku for far more years than Piccolo with Gohan. Gohan was busy screwing around until his stupidity put everyone in danger. Instead, Krillin tries to comfort him, despite actually being responsible for Goku’s demise. But Goku is to blame for letting his eleven-year-old child fight.
–What about Dai Kaio? What about Kaioshin? What about the Elder Kaioshin? What about Beerus? What about Zeno?

Episode 189 (Hakuchū no Akuma!! Kyōfu wa yori Kanpeki ni) aired on June 16th, 1993. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Hiroki Shibata and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Toshiyuki Kan’no, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

–That’s an uncharacteristically detailed hair, especially for Ebisawa.
–Krillin gets rightfully angry at Vegeta for his unnecessary rampage after Trunks’ demise. That’s actually something you’d expect Piccolo to say.

-Underwhelming direction from Shibata. To be honest, I don’t like the music placement, either: M920 (a Piccolo-centered theme) during Vegeta’s rampage sounds off and by now M1416 has lost its context. It was used during the Saiyans’ transformation in movie 7, but from then on it’s been ALWAYS related to sad scenes. And it’s NOT EVEN a sad theme. What is his real meaning??
-Okay, having Vegeta change his mind isn’t a bad idea… but feels so random. ONLY NOW Vegeta DOES realize that Trunks indeed exists, after his death by Cell’s hand. And ONLY NOW Vegeta is shown caring about his sake, after his death by Cell’s hand. And ONLY NOW Vegeta gives his all to avenge him. I get it, it’s integral part of his character development, but up to now Vegeta has either insulted or even abused his own son for the sake of his gigantic ego. He only praised him once during his fight against Semi-Perfect Cell, and that’s pretty much it.
–Vegeta’s certainly been collecting tons of Ls during this arc. After all, he’s the one who allowed Cell to become perfect. Although, he seems to pay for his bad actions every single time.
-Needless to say, Vegeta’s energy barrage segment is unbearably long.
-Onto the main topic, how Cell survived his own self-destruction. I’m still going to divide the different points because there’s a lot to discuss.
1) Cell has a nucleus inside his head, which allows him to regenerate every time he wants, as long as it’s kept intact. However, nine episodes ago, Goku’s point-blank Kamehameha damaged Cell’s upper half, and only his lower half was unfazed. Afterwards, he doesn’t mention his nucleus, but only Piccolo’s cells which allowed him to regenerate, even though Piccolo would never be able to regenerate like that.
2) After his self-destructive technique, his nucleus conveniently survived, without any injuries. His regeneration after Goku’s Kamehameha would make a little more sense in retrospect, since Cell is certainly much stronger than Goku, but no matter what, this case would still sound a bit more forced. Somehow, his self-destruction managed to obliterate Kaio-sama and his planet, but not his small nucleus. Which sounds pretty convenient.
3) Cell was able to regenerate back to his perfect form, despite spitting out #18. That’s really stupid.
4) Cell’s Zenkai boost is okay, since he’s got Saiyan cells, so no complaints.
5) Cell learning Goku’s Shunkan Ido after only seeing it is downright S-T-U-P-I-D. Given that Goku mastered that move within a year, it makes this bit extremely convenient, since Dr. Gero stole Goku’s DNA WAY BEFORE he could ever learn the Shunkan Ido. It’s nothing like Cell knowing the Genkidama, since it’s in line with the story continuity. THIS ISN’T. AT ALL. It’s DUMB.
-After 189 episodes, the Gohan eyecatch is laughably out of place. I wish they actually replaced it with something more fitting and less irritating.

Episode 190 (Gokū kara Gohan e… Chichi no Tamashī wa Tsutawatta) aired on June 23rd, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Shigeyasu Yamauchi and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

–The best directed episode of the Cell Games hands down. With a top player like Yamauchi, you always expect gems like this. His output is absolutely terrific, it has everything: sense of scale, solid atmosphere, creative framings, common objects used as reflection, and last but not least, COLORS. The sky turning dark blue with orange clouds is something so unimaginable it actually WORKS. Totally gives the idea of a doomed world.
–Cell’s imagery shattering in pieces is a masterful way to end the first half before the commercial break. So so similar to Broly punching Goku in fragments.
-As expected from a Toda episode, the first half is bombarded by flashbacks, but Yamauchi’s direction is basically flawless during Dr. Gero’s lab segment. Also thanks to Ohara’s contribution, Gero’s execution is made far more brutal than last time. Everything is framed to perfection, despite not looking that gory.
–Vegeta literally apologizing to Gohan. The end is near.
-For the first time, Uranai Baba is voiced by Mayumi Tanaka (Krillin and Yajirobe’s seiyuu), who replaced Junpei Takiguchi for the role. As a result, she no longer sounds like an old man, but more like an old lady.

–Uchiyama’s Cell is so ugly.
-I could easily give a better rating, if the rest didn’t look this rushed. Which is too bad, since Yamauchi deserves so much better.
–This transition demonstrates the gap between the supervisor and the only animator left on his studio.
-Yamauchi is a top director and all, but not even his efforts could hide the terrible pacing of this episode. Was it really that necessary to show flashbacks?? Or even to show how Cell regenerated last time??
–Chichi abusing his father is shamelessly played for laughs (as the funny sound effects suggest). That’s not funny-chan. FUCK THIS GAG-CHAN.
–Gohan’s passiveness is being taken up to eleven during the Cell Games. There’s quite a difference between being a pacifist and being an irresponsible chicken. I hate this sort of exaggeration.

Episode 191 (Tatakai wa Owatta… Arigatō Son Gokū) aired on June 30th, 1993. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Kazuhito Kikuchi and animation supervision by Keisuke Masunaga. 
Key animation: Keisuke Masunaga, Masaaki Iwane, Isao Sugimoto, Taiichiro Ohara, Chikako Uesugi, Kuniko Iwagami.

-The Cell Games segment has been a rollercoaster as a whole, but at least ends with a bang. Freezer might be a better villain, but it’s actually Cell who gets a far better conclusion than his. Kikuchi’s direction is good enough to make this final showdown satisfying enough.
-First episode to use M15XX (eleventh movie soundtrack). M1522 is one of my favorite Kikuchi tracks, and its usage here demonstrates why.
-Entrusting this crucial episode to Masunaga is a brilliant idea. For the first time without any extra corrections.
-Cell’s death is absolutely terrific in the anime, with Masunaga making him crumble and even adding the really cool detail of his nucleus literally crushed into cells. Probably exceeds Toriyama’s version. I dare to admit it, it’s just too good.
-That’s a really serious impact frame feast.
-As you would expect, the Kamehameha struggle is waaaaaaaay shorter in the manga, but the anime actually decides to let the other fighters try to help Gohan. Now that’s a really nice addition, since Piccolo and the others tried all they could to be useful. I also quite like Sumisawa emphasizes their psyche, with each of them explaining their motivation and their will to thank Goku for what they’ve become in these years. That’s bloody deep.
–FINALLY Mr. Satan gets called out on his trick BS. It took you long enough, though.
–I’M COMING, GOHAN.

-The eyecatch timing. I don’t have any more regrets to hate the Gohan eyecatch, because it looks downright stupid after 191 episodes. Why couldn’t they make new ones, like they did in both TV specials? Even DBGT was smart enough to replace them at some point.
-Okay, imagine this scene and read what Gohan says. Considering its real context, would you actually think M1420 would fit this scene? Just as I thought, that’s pretty lame.
-Okay, they could indeed use the DBs to fix damages, but if Gohan lets himself go for real, the DBs will truly disappear along with everything else.
-My guess is that the narrator used to believe this would be the last DB arc, so he bid farewell to Goku, aware of never seeing him again. HAHAHAHA.

Episode 192 (Ora Ano-yo de Shugyō Suru!! Egao no Wakare) aired on July 7th, 1993. 
Script by Katsuyuki Sumisawa, storyboard and direction by Daisuke Nishio and animation supervision by Yuji Hakamada. 
Key animation: Yuji Hakamada, Hideko Okimoto, Shinichiro Fukushima, Takayuki Manaka.

-Vegeta’s been collecting an entire album of Ls throughout this arc, but being surpassed by both Goku and Gohan is by far the most painful. Everything comes full circle.
–I just feel sorry for the guy.
-Even though they kinda played Yamcha’s fear for laughs, I do really like his supportiveness towards Krillin.

–Not a big fan of highlights, even if they are minor.
–Vegeta’s faint grin from the manga is completely removed in the anime. I wonder why.
–Vegeta claiming he’ll never fight again. HAHAHAHA.
–Tenshinhan being racially insensitive.
-Since Dende restored Earth DBs, they always seem to ignore the EXACT number of wishes Shenlong can grant. Here the dragon can grant TWO wishes. I wonder what will happen next time.
-About Goku’s decision to stay in the afterlife, as long as he wants to stay dead just to train and fight stronger opponent, I’m 200% fine with it, as it’s what you would expect from his personality. Unfortunately, his other justification doesn’t hold up at all: he wants to stay dead because Bulma told him he lures bad guys:
1) WHEN did Bulma tell him that? We’ve NEVER heard her say that. And even if she DID, it would be a really stupid thing to say. “By the way, you’re the first friend I ever met, so could you just die already? You seem like a bad influence”. HOW IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE A JUSTIFICATION?
2) “The world would be peaceful without me“. Actually, it would be the exact opposite: the world would be IN DANGER without Goku.
3) “Gohan is already a lot more reliable than I am“. WA WA WA.
-Besides, why would Kaio refuse to come back to life? Because otherwise, they won’t be able to portray him as a douchebag in the future, I guess.
-As an average human being, I refuse to be represented by these idiots.

The ninth Dragon Ball Z movie (Ginga Giri-Giri!! Butchigiri no Sugoi Yatsu or The Galaxy at the Brink!! The Super Incredible Guy) was released on July 10th, 1993. Script by Takao Koyama, direction by Yoshihiro Ueda, executive production by Chiaki Imada and Yoshio Anzai and animation supervision by Tadayoshi Yamamuro.

-Kikuchi’s M16XX soundtrack is pretty decent, but not as good as M15XX. It has tracks we’ll constantly hear during the Buu arc: M1623 is by far the most memorable track of this movie, and unlike M1416, it never lost its context. M1601B, M1606, M1610, M1614 and M1618 are all pretty solid, while the battle tracks M1615, M1619 (an alternate version of M1114) and M1620 are just okay.
-While not as spectacular as Yamauchi’s movie, Yoshihiro Ueda still delivers a really great direction, with his colors being more dominant than ever, especially during the 2nd half. His trademark use of shades and of creative angles definitely make the cinematography stand out quite enough.
–The action is pretty good by itself, and the frequent use of energy blasts feels a lot less like an issue, thanks to Ueda’s chromatic contrasts, which we already saw during the last TV special. A few scenes even look more effective thanks to this idea.
–Yamamuro’s supervision is extremely polished, though not as dominant as his usual.
-Even though it’s a knock off of the original, Gohan’s Super Saiyan 2 scene is the highlight of this movie. Well-animated, well-directed, and it’s always great to see Gohan kick their opponents’ arses.
–Evil Tenshinhan.
–Oh, Big Green, you’ve come.

–As for Bojack, the movie villain, he has a solid design… and that’s pretty much it. His personality is non-existent, he’s evil just because. Unfortunately, his backstory of him being locked inside Kaio’s planet doesn’t even hold up, because they never show HOW he escaped after Cell blew himself up. Instead of it, we get a boring narration from Kaio, and that’s it. It’s nothing like Broly, who at least got some proper flashbacks to demonstrate his true nature, despite not being a perfect villain. Bojack gets nothing.
-The original premise isn’t that unique, but at least feels DIFFERENT, since everything starts off with a tournament. A generic tournament, but still a change. However, after they introduce Bojack’s henchmen, the FORMULA is brought back at full power: new enemies appear, Krillin goes K.O., Yamcha goes K.O., Tenshinhan goes K.O., Uncle Moton Piccolo arrives just in time to save Gohan, Piccolo goes K.O., Vegeta arrives, Vegeta goes K.O.… the only difference with the usual FORMULA is Gohan taking Goku’s place.
-As a matter of fact, this movie kinda recalls the second one for its constant self-reference: Gohan telling to stop the “game” like THAT SCENE, Goku telling Gohan to get angry like THAT TIME, Bojack bear hugging Gohan like Cell, Gohan killing off Bojack’s henchmen like Cell Jrs (Ueda directed both media, kinda makes sense), Gohan passing out after winning like THAT TIME. For that matter, even his WOUNDS are identical to THOSE he got from Cell: one on his forehead and one on his mouth.
-Unlike the 2nd movie, in which self-references were pretty much harmless, they feel so meaningless here. I get it, it’s a shameless callback to his battle against Cell… but given that this movie takes place AFTER those events, WHY THE HELL should Gohan STILL screw around, and wait for the very end to go Super Saiyan 2??? Koyama basically makes him forget that sort of lesson, by bringing back Gohan’s powerlessness, because otherwise, the battle would be over rather quickly.
-And while we’re at it, not every character Toriyama creates is a knick-knack. For example, Uranai Baba’s role is to bring dead people back just for a day, like she did with Son Gohan back in DB, and Goku and Vegeta in the Buu arc. Therefore, I’m fairly sure she’s absolutely necessary for this stuff, which makes Goku using his Shunkan Ido to save Gohan 100% BS. Okay, we clearly saw him teleport to Kaio’s planet before the Cell Games… but he was still alive. In this film, he’s DEAD, and probably not that incorporeal, since he’s able to make Bojack bleed (in his base form). Koyama probably wanted him to represent Gohan’s moral support, but what I see is only a convenient device to make up for Gohan’s unneeded passiveness. AT LEAST it had a point in the Cell Games, in spite of its flaws. Here it’s used for mere fanservice.
-Koyama got us used to terrible usages of characters, and while this movie is not as bad as those, some characters are still used pretty sloppily:
1) Muten Roshi is a pervert and that’s it.
2) Yamcha gets eliminated in a dumb way (and goes K.O. afterwards).
3) Tenshinhan is equally matched with base form Trunks (to be honest, I really don’t give a shit about fussy power scaling since the latter is clearly holding back) (and goes K.O. afterwards).
4) Krillin is a joke, and gets the higher number of humiliations compared with everyone else (and goes K.O. afterwards).
5) Piccolo leaves after Koyama’s Krillin jokes, but then comes back to save Gohan only to go K.O. afterwards.
6) Vegeta saves the day, reminds us he’s still a douche and goes K.O. afterwards.
-As a whole, human characters were better used in the 3rd movie. Sure, still pretty poorly, but still better than this movie.
–There’s absolutely need for Trunks to go Super Saiyan against Tenshinhan. SERIOUSLY?
–Why does Bojack kill Zangya? Is he a moron or what?
-Overall, cinematography-wise, 1993 is a much more satisfying year than 1992. Movies 8 and 9 represent the very first DB Renaissance. The former film takes high advantage of Yamauchi’s powerful cinematography, albeit showing an overhyped villain, while the latter film is good, but not good enough to conceal Koyama’s bad writing.

Episode 193 (Atarashī Hibi… Tōsan! Boku ga Ganbaru) aired on July 14th, 1993. 
Script by Takao Koyama, storyboard and direction by Masahiro Hosoda and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

-Really good storyboarding and direction from Hosoda. This would be his last work in the original series, before the Battle of Gods movie in 2013.
–#18’s “See you later” is a very cryptic line. It could mean anything. Yet, Yamcha realizes her “See you later” doesn’t mean “Goodbye”, but rather more like “I’ll think it over”. I really like his supportiveness.
–Neither do I.
–Nice addition of Gohan and Gyumao getting some screen time. We don’t get this sort of dynamics everyday.
–The pterodactyl from the very first episode always needs a cameo…
-How ironic we get to see Mr. Satan chop a pile of tiles twice in a row, after the movie.

–I didn’t remember the Serpentine Road having some kind of cave…
–Now Yamcha is being racially insensitive.
–WHOEVER TALKS LIKE THIS??? “I’m one of your friends, but we’ll never see each other again. Kiss my ass, bye.” Tenshinhan is such a bad friend. No wonder he only hangs out with a white midget. You know what? I don’t blame Lunch anymore.
-Yes, Vegeta may have gone into a rampage after Trunks’ death… but seriously, does one decent action erase all of his bad actions, including insults and physical abuse?
-That said, this is lazy, yet in-character.
–WHOEVER TALKS LIKE THIS? I thought it was implied they were aware of #17 and #18 being twins.
-Yes, Toei always liked making Goku dumber. DBS didn’t come up with anything new.

Episode 194 (Mō Hitotsu no Ketsumatsu!! Mirai wa Ore ga Mamoru) aired on July 21st, 1993. 
Script by Hiroshi Toda, storyboard and direction by Hiroki Shibata and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

–Some creative transitions.
-It’s quite astounding that Last House episodes recreate Toriyama’s panels so accurately. Way more than the other studios.
–Ohara‘s impact frames certainly escape Last House-esque mediocrity.

–Uchiyama in general. The more rushed his art is, the worse it looks.
–Miscolored eyebrows.
–WHY THE SHIT are #17’s blasts PINK?
-While I do realize #17, #18 and Cell are obviously no match for Trunks, the conflict is so disappointing. We already know Trunks is going to win, but the way it’s depicted is just so sloppy.
-Again, I don’t get Trunks’ positive feelings towards his father. ONE decent action doesn’t erase SEVERAL bad actions.
–And now Trunks’ future won’t ever, EVER be in danger again.

Episode 195 (Dai-Kangeki!! Ita zo! Ano-yo no Sugē Yatsu) aired on July 28th, 1993. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Mitsuo Hashimoto and animation supervision by Keisuke Masunaga. 
Key animation: Keisuke Masunaga, Masaaki Iwane, Isao Sugimoto, Chikako Uesugi, Kuniko Iwagami, Hitoshi Ehara, Hideyoshi Takahashi.

-Really solid storyboard and direction from Hashimoto. This mini-arc starts off strongly.
–Clever cutaway.
-That’s some serious impact frames.
–WAKU WAKU. In over 190 episodes Goku said his trademark line only THREE TIMES.

-During the NEP, Goku goes Super Saiyan, but for some reason, they changed his hair color from yellow to black, like in his base form, but with his closed eye lines like in his Super Saiyan form. What’s the reason behind this change? Judging from the original gengas, Goku was indeed supposed to transform into a GOLDEN (the regular) Super Saiyan.
–Yes, he can fly. Dumbass.
–Goku certainly likes to rub it in. After all, Kaio’s planet was destroyed because of him.
-South Kaio may be short, but he’s undoubtedly a giant prick. He mocks North Kaio for being dead. “Oh my, you’re dead. lol”. Sounds so uncorrect.
–THEY TOOK OFF WITHOUT THEM.
–Dai Kaio-sama is an ante litteram Monaka. Depicted as a powerful deity, but he’s a weakass in reality.
–At least they remembered the Ginyu idiot is still a frog. Even so, I don’t like Freezer depicted as Cell’s underling. The new series did a good job at making Freezer important again. Cell is stronger, but Freezer is still more charismatic.
-Every time Toei introduce a new powerful character, they kinda seem to shoot themselves in the feet. Since Paikuhan is much stronger than Cell, it also means he’s automatically stronger than Goku. I guess they were lucky and/or clever enough to include the ring out rule in the upcoming tournament.

Episode 196 (Ano-yo’ichi wa Ora da!! Rekishi no Yūsha Dai-Shūgō) aired on August 11th, 1993. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Kazuhito Kikuchi and animation supervision by Yuji Hakamada. 
Key animation: Yuji Hakamada, Shinichiro Fukushima, Takayuki Manaka, Akemi Seki, Koji Nashizawa, Jin Inaba.

-Feels so strange to hear BGM from the first DB movies. Especially during this era, in which M13XX and M15XX are used more often.
–Second Waku Waku in a row. Fourth overall in DBZ.
–YOU DON’T SAY?
–Clever gag around Caterpi’s metamorphosis.

–The three Kaios are truly CELEBRATING North Kaio’s death. HOW IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY?? They’re giant pricks.
-The tournament has a decent premise on paper, with tons of different fighters representing their respective universes galaxies, but the first battles are actually played for laughs. And unfortunately, they feel so shallow and sloppy. Not even the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai was THAT shallow, and THAT tournament had a striptease scene. A STRIPTEASE.
-Goku’s battle isn’t much better, either, as it involves tickling as the main tactic. Again, not even the worst tournament battles of the original series were THAT asinine. While I get WHY they would start off happy-go-lucky, I just don’t like HOW they execute the whole thing.

Episode 197 (Dai Kaiō-sei Nekkyō!! Makiokose Gokū Senpū) aired on August 18th, 1993. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Daisuke Nishio and animation supervision by Masayuki Uchiyama. 
Key animation: Masayuki Uchiyama, Taiichiro Ohara.

–Uchiyama’s sun-like impact frame. Kinda nice.
–HAHA.
–Goku’s THIRD W-bomb in a row. While it’s hilarious to hear Nozawa say that line, can you imagine he threw the W-bomb more times in this mini-arc than in the ENTIRE main DBZ arcs? Absurd.
–Olivu takes his defeat extremely sportingly. 

–Uchiyama’s facial features are too flat to allow expressivity. Doesn’t work.
–Is… Goku holding a golf club???
-Nishio’s choreographies used to be his strong point. Used to, because this episode sets QUANTITY before QUALITY: there’s plenty of combats, none of them is good:
1) Played for hilarity, since Tapika gets tired quickly after running around the ring. Take a look at his opponent, who resembles Cell quite a bit: same ears, same skull cap, same body structure, same wings and EVEN the same sound effect when he flies.
2) They inevitably take advantage of Furog’s natural ability of inflating, but unfortunately, the battle is super dull.
3) For some reason, Goku cannot move freely underwater. Tell me about his battle against Freezer, then.
4) Olivu vs Paikuhan starts off decently, but then they remind us spamming instantaneous movements = choreography. Guess what the result is? Another boring combat, with a cheap shockwave device, and overly reused animation. Ohara’s section isn’t that bad, but having it being repeated all the time clearly doesn’t help.
–Yes, these fighters indeed have interesting techniques… but execution is what matters the most. This is not satisfying by any means.
–East Kaio is a pain in the ass. WHEN will Toei create a female character that isn’t a total PITFA??
-Sorry, the HOHOHO works only when Freezer laughs that way.

Episode 198 (Honō no Kesshō!! Gokū ka Paikūhan ka!?) aired on August 25th, 1993. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Osamu Kasai and animation supervision by Yukio Ebisawa. 
Key animation: Yukio Ebisawa, Hideki Inoue, Yuko Inoue.

–Kasai’s return to the series is quite a positive. He came back as he left, with his trademark whimsical backgrounds. All over the place.
–Paikuhan’s awkwardness.
-In this episode Goku doesn’t stick to say Waku Waku once. We also get an encore. FIVE W-bombs in nearly FIVE episodes. That’s a record.
–Let me guess: because of his green skin and weighted clothing? Well, Paikuhan isn’t even a Namekian.

-The long awaited Goku vs Paikuhan bumps into a rough start: Ebisawa’s poses look more awkward than ever, we get a few still shots covered by Arai’s sound effects and a pretty lacking choreography.
-That’s probably the very first time Goku’s frontal lock of hair doesn’t disappear when he goes Super Saiyan. For the record, it’s NOT a Super Saiyan 2, because at this point Goku cannot reach that form yet, and his hair looks totally SSeque. That lightning is pointless.
-I’m so puzzled: last episode West Kaio was rooting for Malaiko (the dinosaur/dragon type), whereas in this one it’s South Kaio who’s rooting for him. Just WHOSE galaxy does Malaiko belong to??? I could excuse this mistake if this mini-arc was written by different people. Unfortunately, Aya Matsui wrote all of these episodes all by herself, and that’s some really bad continuity, even for a filler arc.
-I don’t want to be THAT guy, but the same Paikuhan, who defeated Cell so easily, has a hard time against BASE FORM Goku. And at this point Goku is much weaker than Cell. I guess that’s the main problem of making characters too strong. It’s a mistake Toei still makes nowadays.

Episode 199 (Nogasu na Shōri!! Kimero Chōsoku Kamehameha) aired on September 1st, 1993. 
Script by Aya Matsui, storyboard and direction by Hiroki Shibata and animation supervision by Naoki Miyahara. 
Key animation: Naoki Miyahara, Takeo Ide, Naotoshi Shida, Tetsuya Saeki, Akira Inagami, Koji Nashizawa, Yoichi Onishi, Hiroyuki Yokota, Ken Ueno.

-When a competent staff list makes the difference. Easily the best episode of this mini-arc, and could be none other than an all-star episode.
-Shibata delivers what’s possibly his best output on the show. Everything about his direction is great: from his constant reflections to his smooth transitions, from his sense of scale to his competent choreographies. Each of these moments is seamlessly framed, either involving the main battle or more lighthearted bits.
–Miyahara’s corrections are indeed strong, yet not as dominant as his other episode.
–Hiroyuki Yokota stealing the show with his creative impact frames.
–HA.
-Like I stated previously, the ring out rule of the tournament sort of concealed Toei’s twisted power scaling.

–Goku is still okay after using a Super Kaioken (Kaioken + Super Saiyan). No aching muscles whatsoever. Then again, I guess he cannot feel pain that much while being dead.
-At least I won’t EVER see the annoying eyecatch again. And the Zenkai Powa ending theme. Sounds so dumb.
-Despite being the worst tournament arc to date, it’s not been a terrible mini-arc. Only this episode manages to stand out, and as a whole, I dislike the idea of watching either grotesque or plain boring combats. Unlike the Garlic Jr. arc, this one didn’t age that well.

The Dragon Ball Z Side Story (Doragon Bōru Zetto Gaiden　Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku or Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans) was released on September 6th, 1993. Script by Takao Koyama, direction by Shigeyasu Yamauchi, executive production by Kozo Morishita and animation supervision by Masahiro Shimanuki.
Key animation: Masahiro Shimanuki, Tomekichi Takeuchi, Yoko Iizuka, Kazuya Hisada, Naoki Tate, Tadayoshi Yamamuro, Naotoshi Shida, Hideko Okimoto, Koji Nashizawa, Yoichi Onishi, Jin Inaba.

-Even though this OVA was mainly meant for a NES videogame, it certainly got a remarkable staff list, from Yamauchi to Shimanuki‘s animation team.
-Starting from the direction, it’s not as good as the typical Yamauchi content, but it’s still solid. In any case, we get his trademark layered characters and quirky coloring, including everybody’s favorite purple.
–Shida’s wormy fingers.
-This is probably the first instance of a friendlier Vegeta in the franchise. It’s actually kinda nice for him to say something like “how strong WE ARE“, instead of “how strong I AM”.
–HAHA.
-Weird, yet bold move of not letting Vegeta fight Freezer and the others. The alternate ending is a different case, though.
-According to the OVA continuity, the events on New Vegeta are actually canon, as Goku refers to Hatchiyack as even stronger than Broly.
-This OVA sketches the history of Saiyans and Tsufurus, which would be examined more in depth in DBGT.

-This is the first DB media in which the soundtrack isn’t composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Keiju Ishikawa takes his place here, and overall, his tracks are meh. They kinda sound monotonous.
-In spite of a remarkable staff list, this OVA is pretty boring. The action is super conservative, with tons of reused (even if well-executed) animated clips.
-There are also plenty of continuity errors, like Gohan being both in his normal and Super Saiyan state at the same time, or Piccolo with and/or without his cape and turban on.
–Takeuchi’s derpy-looking euphoric Goku.
-Onto the two main villains: Dr. Raichi is evil. That’s all you need to know. I mean, he does have a backstory, but he’s simply uninteresting. And unfortunately, Hatchiyack is also a pretty generic villain, in spite of his design. He has little to no personality and does not even SPEAK.
–That “I’m not a Saiyan, I’m an Earthling” bullshit again. It’s amazing how Koyama constantly ignores the source material. The more I see this dumb cliché, the more this bit gets satisfying.
-Like they say – old habits never die: OF COURSE we had to expect the Piccolo saving Gohan trope. I can definitely understand why he is not even involved in the final beam struggle: Koyama views Piccolo exclusively as Gohan’s nanny.
–Why does Goku call Dende “Kami-sama” instead of calling him by his real name like he normally does?
–That’s a really stupid question. Did they forget Piccolo can sense KI??? He’s had this ability way before his fusion with Kami-sama.
-To think that Freezer is the only NON-boring villain of the bunch…
–HOW THE FRIG does Slug even know who Vegeta is?
-As for Tullece, he hates Saiyans so much he’s willing to join forces with the Evil Space Tyrant and his uncool brother, who appear to hold a grudge against Saiyans, as well. Isn’t Tullece a Saiyan? That’s kinda stupid.
-I really don’t get why the four enemies literally freeze after Goku realizes they’re ghost warriors. They could fight, in any case.
-While I like the callback, even if Piccolo moves away, he can still hear Gohan’s whistling.
–Are you telling me Goku didn’t warn Chichi they left?? No wonder she’s always a PITFA…

ARTIFICIAL HUMANS ARC – FINAL THOUGHTS: 7/10

-Solid introduction, very cool characters (#16, #17, #18), awesome first form Cell, dreadful Semi-Perfect Cell, alright Perfect Cell. When it gets great, it’s REALLY awesome, but when it gets dumb, it’s INCREDIBLY asinine. The Cell Games section showcases a really satisfying conclusion, despite its general inconsistency.
BEST EPISODE: episode 160 (one of my all-time favorite DB episodes: Shigeyasu Yamauchi is a top player, Gohan’s Super Saiyan transformation is even better than the manga version and it’s a nearly perfect introduction of Perfect Cell)
WORST EPISODE: episode 182 (ep. 176 was bad too, but at least that was to blame mainly for its constant padding. On the other hand, this contains over five minutes of recycled clips, Gohan’s forcibly convenient passiveness, Piccolo’s hypocritical rant, Chichi’s despair played for hilarity and not a very good battle segment)

back to Artificial Humans arc PART 1

Buu arc PART 1