DBZ Rewatch

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 103 - It would seem strange that someone from a scientific background like Bulma would've been taught such superstitious things as leaf-based fortune telling when she was a child. Not exactly inconsistent when her parents are far from the most academically minded in everyday life, but it does seem like an odd addition. Would've fit better to have made it a Namekian custom.
Goku quitting the fight despite his rage does say a lot about his state of mind at the time. He'd overcome the initial rage that triggered his transformation and, as he said, he'd achieved his goal of shattering Freeza's pride. Some of this can be owed to his training under Popo in order to further his mental fortitude and balance. It does seem reckless for Goku to let Freeza go with only a warning to not cause trouble like this again or show himself to Goku as well as advising him to train himself, though it does help show Goku isn't an entirely altruistic hero and does place the well being of only those in his vicinity as of the highest importance. Still, you could argue that he believed Freeza would be unable to act as he once did with his pride so tattered.

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Episode 104 - Vegeta's flashback has some problems. The first of these is his attack taking a big chunk out of Planet Shatts, despite this being a planet Freeza wanted to be conquered. Surely something like that is going to bring down the market price. It is good how it shows him as more composed and calculating than Raditz and Nappa, though the later part of Vegeta revealing he knows about Freeza destroying Planet Vegeta is a blatant contradiction to his surprise at Dodoria revealing this. Maybe inevitably ingesting Namekian soil whilst six feet under was showing its side effects on his memory.
It's interesting to note Freeza calling out Goku's attempt at pulling off the same stunt he did against Piccolo's homing blast at the 23rd TB as a pitiful strategy, showing that despite his inexperience Freeza is still immensely skilled. Goku later giving him some Ki when hearing him beg for help is in line with his character and not beating an opponent when they're down as previously discussed with Raditz and the Ginyus, There is some anger in his face whilst doing so that shows it wasn't an easy choice for him, plus him commenting that such a pathetic end was unfitting of Freeza may have influenced his decision. It is pretty questionable how he naturally assumed Freeza would survive despite being cut in half just on an assumption based on his prior durability feats, though I guess it isn't too unbelievable if this guy who's been cut in half can still muster up enough energy to say a coherent sentence.

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Episode 105 - The reveal that Namekian Dragon Balls can bring someone back to life infinitely does seem like a bit too convenient in order to have a happy ending for the arc, though it at least isn't abused due to the Namekians relocating after the end of the arc and there not being a way to conveniently use them whenever until the end of the Boo Arc.
Freeza's defeat is unfortunately dampened by a 7+ minute clip reel of the prior events in the fight just to pad the episode out. When we do get his "death" it doesn't quite hit as strong as in the manga due to something as small but important as the angle of Goku's eyebrows. In the manga, you can tell from his expression that he's unsatisfied at the whole situation, be it due to the pathetic end Freeza gave himself, being forced to "kill" an opponent he knew was no longer a threat or this type of vengeance simply not being fulfilling. It's a very subtle moment that, despite its short length, is one of the most powerful parts of the arc's visual storytelling. The anime, however, damages this somewhat by showing a more angry expression as though he considered Freeza's pathetic state an annoyance more than anything. It works in its own right, but is far from as layered as the manga's version.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 106 - Yamucha's reply to Bulma of "Well, I'm dead, but if you can call me fine, then I'm fine" is pretty funny in reminding us how casual things such as the afterlife have become. Unfortunately, it does serve as a reminder that death will slowly start losing its permanency as the series goes on.
The filler of Vegeta fighting Gohan is an interesting one. Gohan having enough power to make Vegeta bleed combined with Vegeta also potentially having to face Piccolo afterwards (with it being somewhat suggested the Ki Gohan and Kuririn gave him provided a permanent boost) providing Vegeta more reason to stay on Earth when the anime had made him already see Super Saiyan Goku. However, the ending ruins it by having him fly away despite the staff's knowledge of the role he'd play in the next episode.

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Episode 107 - The beginning of the episode completely brushes over the fight from the previous one through not just Vegeta returning for no stated reason, but Gohan thanking him despite him almost killing him in the previous episode. This is why you shouldn't change directors between episodes when making an entire anime exclusive scene, much like the case of the Ginyus on Kaio's a dozen or so episodes ago. Speaking of Vegeta's idea about bringing Goku and Kuririn's souls to Earth, it does raise some questions about the afterlife. We already know souls can exist on the mortal plane from the explanation given about those who are killed by Mazoku such as Piccolo Daimao, yet it does seem like something that could prove chaotic if accomplished and it's questionable that Bulma would naturally assume it to be the case as well rather than consulting the Namekians or Kaio. One interesting change is that to accommodate Vegeta having already seen a Super Saiyan, his internal monologue is changed from wanting to see the Super Saiyan to wanting to see him in combat, which he wouldn't have gotten a proper chance to with the situation they met in.
Continuing on the subject of Vegeta, his shock at Bulma's vulgar attitude is pretty funny with it showing there are things that can break his typical demeanour, with Bulma's mother commenting on how trendy he looks adding to this as well. Vegeta later leaving into space is a mixed bag. It would seem more logical to wait for Goku to return, though he probably assumed he couldn't make great gains from Earth training and neither Piccolo nor Gohan would agree to be a sparring partner even if he asked. This does allow for more tension to exist in the following filler mini-arc than if Vegeta were on Earth (unless he got infected), though it does change Bulma and Vegeta's attraction to each other a bit more without the extra year living together as it makes it become far more of a typical rebound fling than it already was in the manga. Not that it damages things at all, since Bulma's fickle nature is overly apparent.
When restoring Kuririn's body, Polunga says he did so as a bonus. This does call into question why preserving bodies was even a necessity prior, though I guess it could be seen as limited knowledge on the Earthlings' part more than anything. Speaking of preserving bodies though, it doesn't make much sense that Yamucha and Tenshinhan weren't simply revived from the corpses in the cryo-capsules when that was a pretty major plot point at the start of the arc. I guess another of Polunga's bonuses is just randomly teleporting the revived to a place that makes for a more interesting scene. That aside, the other aspects of the ending are good at least with us seeing the Namekians living at Capsule Corporation and Dende's heartfelt goodbye to Gohan rather than everything getting skimmed over like in the manga. Dende's sadness also reminds us that he is the closest thing Gohan has to a friend his own age (Piccolo technically is, though Dende is the only candidate in terms of being physically and mentally a child too), which would make saying goodbye quite hard for the two when their time together on Earth was probably the closest thing Gohan had to a normal childhood since Raditz's arrival.

So, that's the Freeza Arc complete. The early parts of the arc with Vegeta as well as the Goku VS Freeza fight feature some of the strongest writing in the series with some underrated theme exploration of effort vs complacency and most of the cast being utilised fairly well despite some missed opportunities such as exploring more of Piccolo's Namekian roots. It also features one of the most tense climactic fights in series through aspects such as the time limit for Namek's destruction or how different the tone of Freeza's defeat is compared to all other climactic fights before and after it. Its antagonist is also a highlight as despite being irredeemably evil, Freeza works very well as both a narrative tool for Vegeta and Goku as well as not really being a one-dimensional villain. His false courtesy combined with his evil coming from what was essentially a business rather than outright conquering or destruction make him unique and, as we'd soon be shown with his return, his upbringing played a major part in this. On the subject of villains, the arc not only allowed us to see fully what makes Vegeta tick, but also helped inform us of why Piccolo Daimao was so hyperbolically evil when it came to humanity. However, the arc still has some major problems such as how the many power up methods overrode the necessity of training or how 2nd/3rd form Freeza could've easily been cut out (2nd form only having some point retroactively once Cold is introduced) and there are some plot points that could've done with more explanation such as Goku's top tier telepathy towards the end. The anime adds further problems as whilst the earlier filler and some portions of later filler helped improve things such as Goku's training or the dead allies not being completely irrelevant, it further added to the issues when it came to pacing problems and some damaged continuity to the point that this is the one arc that the Kai edit probably improved. I'd rate the manga version about a 6.5-7/10, whereas I can't really rate its anime counterpart higher than a 6/10.

Now, onto the Garlic Jr. Arc. Now this is going to be fun 2 In all honesty, I'm actually interested in being reminded about how bad this filler really was, since it's been at least 9 years since I watched it and it's the one part of the Z anime I've yet to watch fully in Japanese.

 

[Future Warrior]

I think it could be easily said that Kuririn's most impressive role in the story is in this arc, which continues off nicely from the previous arc where he was one of the main contributors to Vegeta's defeat. Maybe to the extent of having a central protagonist-like role from the point in where they landed on Namek until Goku comes in to face off Freeza.

People say that the earthlings were at their best pre-Saiyan arc, but that probably only extends to the likes of Yamucha and Tenshinhan. Kuririn still very much had an influence in the plot long after that point. It was only until the Cell arc where their importance was diminished and became pretty much nonexistent by the Boo arc.

Toriyama could definitely write side characters well as long as he can find a use for them

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Tenshinhan at least got his Shin Kikoho moment in the Cell Arc, as contrived as it may have been with him not using it against #17, so there's that. Despite that, Kuririn still definitely had the most relevancy out of any of the Earthlings as early as the Vegeta fight and definitely played a key support role in this arc (his Taiyoken being the only reason Dodoria didn't kill Gohan, his surprise attack saving Vegeta from ReaCoom, his Kienzan against 2nd form Freeza, etc.).
It's also worth noting that he vicariously had some responsibility in the Earth being saved from Cell. If he hadn't been there, Vegeta and Trunks definitely wouldn't have brought #16 back to Bulma for repairs which may have meant Gohan would've never been given the push he needed to tap into his rage, or would've probably taken at least Goku's death to push him which would result in Cell winning by self-destruction.

 

[Future Warrior]

Also wanted to add a personal thought. The way Goku was speaking to Freeza when he says how he simply wanted his pride to be tarnished by being beaten by a Saiyan, especially with Nozawa's acting made it very off-putting in a good way. It's way different than from how we know Goku is usually characterized as, even in his most serious moments in prior arcs. He was being both pretentious and patronizing, showing a very mature aspect. This is one of the reasons why Freeza's a fan favorite DB villain, he brought out the worst of our main hero that no other antagonist was able to do, even after the fact.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I think a major amount of it comes not only from the rage-filled motivation he had going into the fight, but also how much Freeza kept going on about Saiyans just being monkeys and naturally below him (especially in the anime). Even the more condescending and arrogant villains such as Vegeta or Cell didn't go on about being a super elite or perfect respectively as much as Freeza did in degrading the Saiyans and declaring himself to be the strongest in the universe.

 

[Future Warrior]

I think a major amount of it comes not only from the rage-filled motivation he had going into the fight, but also how much Freeza kept going on about Saiyans just being monkeys and naturally below him (especially in the anime). Even the more condescending and arrogant villains such as Vegeta or Cell didn't go on about being a super elite or perfect respectively as much as Freeza did in degrading the Saiyans and declaring himself to be the strongest in the universe.

All of this along with being in a SSJ state. There's a guide in Kanzenshuu that list the difference in how characters speak with first-person pronouns and lists a difference between base and SSJ Goku.

Goku usually uses “Ora”, the hick form of “Ore”. However, when he first transforms into a Super Saiyan he switches to using “Ore”. Super Saiyan Goku again uses “Ore” when he fights No. 19, but after training in the Room of Spirit and Time he uses “Ora” even as a Super Saiyan, perhaps because he got used to the form. As Vegetto he uses “Ore”, probably due to Vegeta’s influence and the same is true of Gogeta.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 108 - Now, the almost one year gap between Freeza's defeat and his Mecha self's arrival on Earth was an opportunity that Toei definitely should've taken. The content they did fill it with, however, they shouldn't have even tried touching. Inserting a movie villain like Garlic Jr. into the anime's continuity when his film can't work within it at all is a terrible idea. It would be okay if they had at least rewrote his backstory to fit into the anime as they did with DBS Broly decades later, but treating Movie 1 as canon to the anime and expecting the audience to have seen it or to go watch it to understand who he is was a terrible idea.
Speaking of movie aspects that don't work, neither does Gohan having Haiya Dragon without any explanation beyond expecting the audience to have seen DBZ Movie 3. Dialling things back a bit and going to Maron's introduction, Kuririn's attire and car raise the question of how did he even afford it? Even considering a wheeled car would likely be very cheap compared to the common hovercars, Kuririn has no job at all until Super (or maybe post-Cell Arc if making assumptions). Then again, it also raises the canon question of how does Roshi afford all his stuff? Does he go back to the training island to work the fields when he's running low? Does Kuririn's lack of a nose make him eligible for disability money? It wouldn't be much of an issue if not for the fact Gohan even brings up the expenses, which opens up a big can of worms. As for the introduction of Maron, it is funny how she's so fickle that she makes Bulma seem like a saint, seriously thinking about hooking up with Yamucha at Kuririn merely saying they're not exactly sweethearts yet. Kuririn, she be a thot.
The scene with Piccolo and Kami with Kami offering his other half his position does raise some questions. If Kami wanted to retire or felt his lifespan's limits as catching up to him, then why not request Piccolo merge with him? Also, whilst Piccolo had proven his character during his death against Nappa, Kami is definitely overselling him by saying he's the only one with the strength of body and mind for the position. I'm sure a fellow stoic with far less identity issues about the position like Tenshinhan would gladly take it. Hell, Ten would probably be glad to do anything beyond shooting out an obligatory Kikoho at this point. Speaking of which, it is a waste Tenshinhan and Chaozu weren't utilised at all in an arc featuring the support cast with Goku being out of the spotlight.
When the Four Monarchs trap Popo, Garlic Jr. says that even someone of Popo's strength can't escape. Clearly, Toei were already aware of Popo's true power Kami then manages to push Garlic Jr. back in their fight, which would be fine if Garlic Jr. was only as strong as his Movie 1 self, something that's far from the case as seen shortly.
Despite how Toei likes to flanderise Chichi's character, her believing hanging out with Goku's friends would be a bad influence on Gohan has some truth to it. Leaving aside the obvious personality flaws of Bulma and Roshi, most of them are indeed lacking when it comes to professional lifestyles aside from Yamucha with his baseball career and Bulma's occasional dabbling in technological breakthroughs.

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Episodes 109 and 110 - How does Gashew know that he's found Goku's son when looking into Kami's water jar when the only one amongst the group who's met Gohan before is Garlic Jr.?
Chichi arriving by plane is a strange choice when a hovercar like she used in the Saiyan Arc should've been fine (and the full display of Goku's house in East District that the manga had already shown gave no room for such a hangar). Kuririn also refers to her as the one Super Saiyan Goku was afraid of. Uh Kuririn, even assuming yout spirit heard that before Bulma wished you back to life, you do know Roshi was joking, don't you?
The reveal of the Makyo World and its link to the Mazoku is pretty damaging to what the series has introduced thus far. There being a planet in which aliens who are naturally demons lives muddles the situation of what counts as a demon in Dragon Ball far too much, especially considering Gashew talks in a manner that implies he and Piccolo have some familiarity, despite alien life having been a huge revelation when Raditz arrived (and this is without going into how demon planets in the mortal realm would clash with what we learn about the Makai later on).
Kuririn has a hard time against a possessed Roshi. Considering the Aquamist provided enough of a power boost that Yamucha could prove a distraction to Piccolo, I guess this just proves Z Roshi had already made some Manly GAINZ
Gashew mentioning how those bitten by Aquamist infected people obtain the same affects when only Piccolo is present comes off as very lazy exposition. Speaking of the affects, the time limit does provide some tension for the arc, though allies being mind-controlled makes a good chunk of the conflict against them hollow. At least the arc doesn't focus too much on fighting the infected though.
We get a brief look at Vegeta killing the soldiers on Planet Litt. This kind of premise would've made for a far better filler arc than what we got with Vegeta journeying through space to take down remnants of Freeza's empire or even conquer the worlds before realising none of it would help him in overcoming Goku. Unfortunately, Toei couldn't even avoid screwing this small scene up with how the Litts are shown to be of similar size to him when it was established in the Freeza Arc they were of similar size to Gohan and Kuririn.
Maron commenting on Karin does show a good reason for her character's existence beyond fanservice and to give Kuririn something to do beyond being beaten up. She helps act as a insert for the audience to comment on many aspects of the world and characters such as Chichi's angry nature or Karin being a talking cat.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episodes 111 and 112 - The fight against Garlic Jr's minions present a missed opportunity to offer a few decent wins to Kuririn rather than just having him play support. Instead, Gohan solos those he fights and Kuririn is just treat as a punching bag. On the subject of Gohan killing Zald and Tard (and damn, what a name to have ), this doesn't line up with his character. It's excusable to not take his Cell Arc characterisation into account when that was still far in the future at this point, yet even going with the idea of him having been hardened from his time on Namek doesn't really do justice to how merciless he is here when he didn't even seem that angry. You'd expect him to just beat them up and give them a chance to surrender or something.
The scenes with Maron heavily mischaracterise Karin with him being smitten by her to the point of betting such valuable items as his staff, the bell for the Heavenly Realm and the Nyoibo all on a card game (and not even one with Duel Monster holograms or Shadow Games so you know it's serious business ). Karin is usually treat as quite a serious and level-headed sage that sets him apart from Roshi, so his character here is far too unprofessional for him.
The scene with Vegeta is simply confusing. He senses what he believes to be Super Saiyan Ki and believes Goku would've been training there, despite the chapter of Goku informing the Dragon Team about Yardrat having been out for a few weeks at that point. Moreover, Vegeta says only one such as a Super Saiyan could've caused the crater on the moon, planetoid or planet he was on, despite him having destroyed Arlia with one finger a few episodes after his introduction Also, Toei contradicts Saiyans not surviving in space. The Bardock Special and Arlia were cases you could chalk up to not being too far away from the atmosphere and not being too long out in space, neither of which are the case for Vegeta here.
Gashew states Piccolo will kill the child he trained. He could've indeed assumed Piccolo trained Gohan from the similar outfit, though that seems like quite a big assumption for him when that attire is meant to be worn by demons in general.
The reveal of Piccolo having tricked Garlic Jr. has so many problems. His pink eyes could be chalked up to an illusion he made from his affinity with Mazoku techniques, but what about Kuririn having the same? Did Piccolo just cast a similar illusion around him? For one of the smartest characters in the series, there were far more pragmatic ways to go about his plan such as killing the Four Heavenly Monarchs before feigning his bit from Yamucha to lower the security around Garlic Jr. Most jarring of all is how there's no explanation for how Piccolo was immune despite there being so many that could've been given such as his familiarity with Mazoku techniques, Namekians being immune to the affects of Aquamist, etc. Also, he uses his Ki to heal himself. It's not too big of an issue when Goku did the same to Freeza and Namekians do have regeneration, but the manner it's done is presented as near identical to Dende's healing and no comment is made on it costing Ki.

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Episode 113 - To its credit, the idea of the Shinsenkai is good in exploring more of the mystical elements of the series and giving Kami a chance to be relevant. Its execution is another matter, but more on that later. It is good that the Choshinsui is given some plot relevance, though it does raise some questions. How can it be used to exorcise demonic influence when it's a poison to anyone without a pure heart and great strength of stamina, mind and physicality? Are we to just assume the filter Popo puts it through negates that affect? This doesn't seem to be the case, considering it'd later be used to have someone drink straight from the bottle during similar events of the Baby Arc.
There's some serious scaling problems when it comes to the fight. Kuririn was no match for Tard and Vinegar was confident in taking down a Gohan he saw easily kill Tard, yet Kuririn can land some decent hits on Vinegar to the point of him struggling to get out of the wall for a while. Did Kuririn just immediately get back in shape after his comments about having become rusty in the previous episodes and gained a Toei hax?
Garlic Jr. seeming to not mind killing Piccolo weakens his motivations as a villain. Him wanting to revive his father was a good way to set him apart from the other villains (even if it'd be an impossibility), yet he suddenly doesn't seem to have any qualms in killing Piccolo here. Even if Kami succeeded, Garlic Jr. shouldn't care what happens when he's immortal. It would've made more sense for Piccolo to tell him about the Dragon Balls' limitation which changed Garlic Jr's motivation. Also, Piccolo really shouldn't look so surprised at seeing Garlic Jr. transform when he already witnessed the transformation first hand before and should have a good idea of the boost it provides.
The scene showing the horrors happening below on Earth is pretty dumb in how it plays out with the possessed attacking an empty car. What, do demons just love mindlessly wrecking vehicles for no reason?
I don't really have too much of a problem with Vinegar grabbing the Kienzan, considering he is a demon and they should have some unconventional aspects when it comes to facing regular Ki techniques, such as how magic would later be established to be a strong component amongst their arsenal. Shame the most we see of this with Garlic Jr's men is Spice using his hair to strangle Gohan.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episodes 114, 115 and 116 - The battle with Garlic Jr. presents a lot of problems. Gohan once more kills Spice and Vinegar as though they were nothing, though at least here he was noticeably angry. Garlic Jr. is presented as quite the non-threat as not only can Piccolo outmatch him when not hindered by Kami or using his giant form (we'll get to those), but even Kuririn made him struggle with a Kamehameha...despite being weaker than Vinegar in the same group of episodes. Piccolo's giant form could've been a decent callback to the Great Namekian form he used at the 23rd TB, but it being suggested to boost his power and not hinder his speed creates a plot hole of why he didn't use it in prior or later fights. Him performing just as well without it would suggest it was just for show, but why would he refer to it as how to truly pull off a giant form if that were the case?
Kami telling the four former Kami that he has failed as a Kami yet loves the Earth more than any of them is a surprisingly good character moment as it sums up a lot of his character very well. Still, what's essentially his last hurrah before he's written out of the plot through merging with Piccolo is dampened by the former Kami all having no distinguishing features, personality or even lines. This is especially damaging for the most recent of them, who should've had more of a link with the Kami we know due to teaching him, yet it's all squandered.
The plot line of Piccolo's power being limited due to Kami being damaged creates so many problems when it comes to their fight in the 23rd TB or how Kami was never shown as taking personal injury during the Nappa or Freeza fights. Hell, he was perfectly fine when Piccolo was unconscious and bleeding out. You could make the case of it being due to Kami's spirit being personally attacked rather than just his body as suggested by Kuririn but, if that's the case, how is this any different from when Kami was trapped in the Mafuba? By that logic, doing so should've weakened Piccolo during the start of his fight with Goku.
Garlic Jr. then opens up the Dead Zone for little reason beyond being annoyed, making the same mistake as before. He could've just used his immortality to wear everyone down and bide his time as he's done for years now, yet he decides to be an idiot who didn't learn his lesson. He may very well earn the title of worst main antagonist of a DB Arc for that alone.
Gohan taking so long to decide to destroy the Makyo World loses all meaning when it's shown that even Kami and Popo can avoid being immediately sucked into the Dead Zone. I'm sure it would've been fine to lower the barrier for just a moment to use a Masenko, but he just had to draw the episode out. It doesn't help that a better option was available in adding a moral conflict of Gohan not wanting to destroy what could be an inhabited planet especially after the fight with Freeza, yet all that is brushed under the rug.

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Episode 117 - I find it absolutely hilarious how the narrator refers to the battle against Garlic Jr. as having been seemingly like a dream out of a tv drama. Even the staff who worked on it knew how much of a non-canon fever dream the arc was.
It seems strange Kuririn would imagine Piccolo as attending his wedding to Maron. They've gone through enough Piccolo is technically a friend at this point, but I don't think Kuririn would be optimistic enough to think Piccolo would be one to attend social gatherings at this point.
One surprisingly good thing about the episode is Maron's flirting with Yamucha does add some incentive for Bulma to later flanderise Yamucha as unfaithful from her warped perspective and break up with him. It says a lot that this has more meaning to later events than the entire conflict with Garlic Jr.
A good part of the episode is ruined by Gohan and Kuririn searching for the Mermaid's Tear. It seems to take these two who can fly at incredible speeds hours to scour a small part of the sea and Kuririn struggles with a giant fish despite having but up a fight against the Ginyu Tokusentai and Garlic Jr.
The whole plot line with Maron does make things when it comes to Kuririn's actions towards #18 in the next arc more mixed. His manga self going so far for female attention makes more sense when he never had a relationship prior, though the anime suggests Maron never really offered him anything in their relationship anyway.
Still, this is by far the best episode of this short arc. It says a lot when a slice of life epilogue is far better than the rest of your arc.

So yeah, it goes without saying the Garlic Jr. Arc is absolutely terrible. Though it had the decent premise of using an opportune time gap, giving Kami some relevance and making it a story without Goku's necessity, the execution was terrible when it creates multiple plot holes, has poor understanding of Gohan's character and a woefully incompetent villain; not to mention severe pacing issues that, much like Super's version of FnF, draws out a plot that could be fit in a 1.5-2 hour film to a 10 episode arc. It also says a lot that despite being told mainly though limited cutscenes and narration, the version of the arc presented in Budokai Tenkaichi 2 actually has better storytelling than the anime version with it changing Garlic Jr. to being originally sealed away by Goku rather than Gohan and removing the 1-dimensional Four Heavenly Monarchs as well as Kami limiting Piccolo's power. This arc is without a doubt a 1/10.
The bigger question is, how terrible does it rank compared to the other absolute worsts of the series' 4 main instalments? It at least has decent premises, which still makes it far better than Episode of Bardock or the absolute non-story that is DB Minus, but even some of the worst arcs of Super still provide more merit in their existence by at least getting something right for more than a few seconds. FnF had the positive of Freeza's decision to train being a natural progression of his character in acknowledging his complacency was his downfall, the Universe 6 tournament provided a new scope of the universe to explore, the Future Trunks Arc had some actual repercussions with Trunks' timeline being erased, the ToP had some set-up to excuse it being a thing and the Moro Arc at least gave the support cast some minor shine and good character moments for Vegeta thus far. That said, despite not damaging as much of the plot or characters on a wider scale like most of Super's arcs, the Garlic Jr. adds so little of worth that even a fellow arc founded on a premise that should be utterly impossible like the Moro Arc has more justification for existing.

Now that this mind-numming arc is dealt with, onto the Cell Arc.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 118 - It seems strange Bulma would've formed the opinion of Vegeta being a good guy with little to go off beyond his ambition. Perhaps she saw more sides to him in the 133 days he was at Capsule Corporation or maybe his idea on how to revive Goku and Kuririn made that much of an impact. Speaking of Vegeta, a mistake is present with his armour as the front part is entirely intact rather than the stomach covering and left breastplate being damaged from Kuririn and Freeza's attacks respectively. Vegeta's complaint about the clothes is funny, but doesn't work so well when we see he's wearing a vest underneath the shirt and could've simply have just worn the vest if he wanted.
Gohan's dream tells us a fair bit about Goku and Chichi's interactions from his perspective. Goku doesn't really care about formalities and Chichi's way of showing affection to him is through cooking him food. This sounds pretty basic, though is worth pointing out in showing they are a couple who still show a fair bit of affection for each other, just in different ways to many.
During the scene of everyone sensing Freeza, Piccolo is shown training in a glacial area rather than the wastelands he usually does like in the manga. Odd choice when considering it was suggested his choice of training grounds was a reflection of his Namekian roots and those should be even stronger after merging with Nail. Perhaps he felt like switching things up as a means for new regimes.
We get Freeza calling Cold "Papa". This childish side to Freeza and the introduction of Cold is a pretty necessary one as it brings a new context to Freeza's character and villainy in general. Simply put, Freeza has been raised as a spoiled brat by Cold and it may have been mainly from his upbringing that he saw his evil actions as natural. We do learn through later material that Cold was the founder of their empire and later gave it to Freeza, so Freeza would've seen destroying planets or wiping out races as something normal and expected of him with the belief they were beneath him. The interaction also shows Freeza is still likely very young by his race's standard and is essentially a child given too much power. It's interesting how this could've made him a dark parallel to Gohan under the right circumstances, but more on that later when it comes to an even younger villain who's got a little bit of Freeza in him...

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Episode 119 - It seems strange that Vegeta is the one who has to educate Yamucha and Tenshinhan on suppressing their Ki when they've been adept at Ki control for longer than him. It's a pretty bad case of making the Saiyans naturally superior, since a skill like this being the Earthlings' forte is one that Toriyama could've used to give them more of a purpose. Also, the anime adds Vegeta saying Cold's Ki is much larger than Freeza's. There's also an addition of Vegeta saying Bulma has guts when she gives her reasoning for not hiding. Considering we'd be able to infer through their actions later on and it being confirmed in Super that her fiery nature is what attracts Vegeta to her, this works quite well.
For the scene itself, it's interesting how the arrival of everyone to this new threat can be compared to everyone arriving for the battle against the Saiyans. Both have everyone coming to the same spot, but the Saiyan battle presents everyone as having an optimistic tone before Yamucha's death whereas here everyone is afraid and cautious of even being seen. It helps show how more wary the Dragon Team's experience has made them when everyone there but Gohan and Bulma have died already.
It seems strange the filler scene of Freeza's flashback of imagining Super Saiyan Goku would cause his prosthetic arm to bleed. It makes some sense though as he'd probably need them connected tightly with his flesh for them to function properly. On that subject, it's worth noting how much of a patchwork job the prosthetic areas of Mecha Freeza are. This shows that, as we'd soon see in great amount, Earth has scientists more skilled at robotics and prosthetics than those of the Freeza Empire despite the latter being vastly superior in almost every other branch of science and technology (apart from whatever nanotechnology capsules focus on). This adds a surprising bit of realism to Dragon Ball's world building as it presents various worlds and their societies as having their strengths and weaknesses. In that area, it may not be to the top tier variation as something such as Babylon 5, but is still something Toriyama did quite well. Not only that, but it fits well with the focus of what kind of threats the arc will consist of and it's quite interesting to note that as the scale of enemies increased, so did the complexity of their artificial constructs. You have Mecha Freeza being a patchwork cyborg, then #19 and #20 being entirely androids (bar Gero's brain), then #17 and #18 being enhanced on the cellular level and finally Cell being a an entirely artificially created bio-organic being.

 

[Future Warrior]

In terms of design, Mecha Freeza or Cyborg Tao Pai Pai?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Probably Cyborg Tao Pai Pai as there's more finesse and uniformity to his cybernetic parts and it also adds to his fighting style with new abilities such as his hidden blade or lock-on system, though the lack of consistency with Mecha Freeza's parts was kind of the point as I laid out prior. I might give it to Freeza if he had the bazooka that he did in Super DBZ though.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 120 - One strange addition is Vegeta saying Trunks' Ki is that of a Saiyan. This will go against him saying there's no way Trunks can be a Saiyan in the next episode, though I suppose you could chalk that up to him being in denial about there being another Super Saiyan that isn't him.
The extensions to Trunks VS Mecha Freeza work very well. In the manga, you'd have to assume Freeza can use 100% without buffing up to excuse him seemingly not going all out against Trunks after underestimating a Super Saiyan the first time as making him uncharacteristically incompetent. Here, we see him do a lot more such as launch a Supernova that Kaio states to be ten times stronger than the attack he destroyed Namek with. I wouldn't say there's any scaling issues there, considering his attack on Namek was held back enough to not engulf him and during Freeza's fight with Goku, Piccolo confirmed he could destroy the planet instantly if he wanted to when he couldn't have been using any more than 2% at the time. Kaio also states Trunks may be stronger than Goku, which is something you could easily gather from the events in the manga, though it's good the anime pointed it out. Also, the theme Battle Point Unlimited that plays when Trunks transforms as well as when he kills Freeza is great and truly enhances the scenes, Yamamoto plagiarism or not.
The whole sequence of this mysterious youth coming in, transforming into a Super Saiyan and easily killing Freeza acts as a great opening to the arc as later events will show a good raising of the stakes and a sense of mystery that Toriyama never did prior and wouldn't do again until Zamasu (though unlike with Zamasu, the mystery in the early Cell Arc isn't entirely disappointing).

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Episode 121 - There are many points where the shift between animations studios between one episode to the next are noticeable such as the episodes containing Goku VS Nappa or many parts of the SSJ Goku VS Freeza fight. However, this is the one where the chance in studios and art styles between episodes looks the most damaging. With how great the art of the prior episode was, it's hard not to notice how shoddy the way SSJ Trunks and Mecha Freeza are drawn is. I prefer the change of Trunks' blast not instantly killing Cold, seeing as how it would be fairly pathetic for the father of a creature who can survive being cut in two and having half his head destroyed when in the centre of a planet's explosion being taken down by one Ki blast to the chest.
Vegeta states all Saiyans have black hair. This doesn't work out so well in the anime with Vegeta's flashback prior to his death showing two Saiyans with blonde and red hair (and then there's his original colour palette). I guess the Freeza Force offered free hair dye as part of their deal. 2
One thing I didn't take into account prior with Trunks opening up the fridge capsule and offering beer and whatever Hetap is to everyone is that in a world that's apparently a living hell, how would people have the resources to create a whole new and tasty brand of drinks? Perhaps #17 and #18 like the taste of it enough to keep its manufacturers around and in demand. It's also worth noting that this is a difference from the manga where the can reads "Jetap". From what I've looked into, Hetap is a pun on "hetappi" (crappy) which is ironic with how Kuririn says it tastes very good, though I'm not sure if there's any meaning to the manga's original name. Also, Trunks certainly has quite a bit of beer stashed away for a 17 year old. Not that surprising when someone as lax on rules as Bulma's his mother, plus I guess he might need a few in his daily life to not focus so much on crippling depression.
One thing pointed out by MistareFusion with the scene is how it seems very coincidental and maybe intentional that the three Earthlings that will be made irrelevant in this arc (bar Tenshinhan's Shin Kikoho scene) are all in the same panel/shot in being wary of Trunks' mysterious nature. It does stand out as strange for Yamucha to be one of the sceptical ones, considering he's been characterised as one of the most optimistic and understanding characters in the series. Speaking of which, one thing I forgot to mention for Episode 119 is Tenshinhan saying he doesn't understand how Yamucha can put up with living with Vegeta, something pretty bold of the guy who once broke Yamucha's leg to say. DBZ Kakarot points this out in Yamucha's character bio in showing his forgiving nature, which indeed shows he's probably the best amongst the Dragon Team at turning the other cheek (apart from maybe Gohan).

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Episode 122 - During Trunks' explanation of the Artificial Humans, the anime completely omits their numbering as #19 and #20. Having the common sense to remove what was easily the biggest retcon in the manga's original run was a good idea that probably makes the anime version of the Cell Arc better than the manga for that alone, as well as shows how bad Kai was in retaining the manga's script for this part.
Goku being annoyed he didn't get to fight the Artificial Humans in Trunks' timeline whilst still being scared of the thought of two people far stronger than Freeza characterises Goku well. He has a strong desire to fight, yet still has enough common sense to judge the situation. This alone shows how flanderised and one-dimensional his characterisation is in Super where only the former trait is maintained for the most part. Trunks reaction to this and how he's only just now learning about Goku and Vegeta first hand show what makes Trunks work in this arc. Many would point to his no-nonsense attitude in taking the most efficient route and having no mercy, though that's not much different from how someone like Piccolo operates or how Vegeta did during the Namek Arc. What allows Trunks to stand out most as his own character amongst the cast is in how he's had expectations built up of these legendary figures through second-hand accounts from his mother and Gohan and slowly sees they're far from the perfect figures he built up in his head.
Speaking of him only hearing Bulma's side of the story, there's him saying Yamucha was a playboy, which many have noted is character assassination of Yamucha as a cheap way to not make Bulma seem like an awful person in hooking up with Vegeta despite her unfaithful nature characterised as early as the 21st TB and given hints as late as the Freeza Arc. Given what's been said about Trunks before, I'd deduce this was either a lie or flawed perspective on Bulma's part seeing as how Yamucha has been presented thus far as entirely faithful to Bulma and it's worth noting that a guidebook released around the time the Piccolo Daimao Arc was airing stated Bulma was the only woman Yamucha's fear of women wasn't still activated by. In short, Bulma either had a misunderstanding or straight up paranoia about Yamucha cheating on her and dumped him. The anime omits Trunks saying Yamucha found himself a new girlfriend, which works better as it goes against what's been shown of him and came off in the manga as just a cheap condolence for him, not to mention pretty pointless when we never see her even in casual events.

 

[Future Warrior]

Oh c'mon, they at least did a fine job on replicating Freeza's lower body well, with a shiny new look too!

Also, I've noticed that Freeza's, uh, ''crotch piece'' is suspiciously similar to that of Cell. Coincidence?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

The lower part is fine, the rest of it on the other hand...
Never noticed the similarity to Cell's crotch before, but it seems quite fitting. Still kind of weird how Freeza has one when he was flat there before. I guess it brings up the question of how his race breeds, for that matter. Probably best not thought about.

One important thing I forgot to mention about Episode 121 is an important character moment for Piccolo with him saying he'd find living on New Namek dull. This shows that despite his merging with Nail, his personality is still mostly intact.

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Episode 123 - The flashback to Goku escaping Yardrat has a questionable element to it. When we see Goku's exclamation after leaving Freeza's ship, we then see him go back into it before getting in the Ginyu Attack Ball. Seems like a weird sequence of events when he'd already found out he couldn't take off in Freeza's ship.
So, the characters' reasoning for not killing Gero immediately is a controversial part of the arc when it comes to debating how selfish or consistent the characters are. In defence of Goku, he admitted his desire to fight the Cyborgs, but the one who really forced everyone's hands on the discussion was Vegeta and Kuririn gave the decent explanation that it was best to do the decision that would keep Vegeta on their side. I agree with the notion that they could've come up with better or more interesting plans such as finding Gero to warn him of the future and having this be the catalyst that changed everything but what we got was fine as far as character consistency and motivations go. What I do consider a pretty big inconsistency here that I only now picked up on is Goku telling Bulma to have a healthy baby when he was specifically told by Trunks not to say anything that could jeopardise his existence. It's not that damaging to Goku's character writing and fairly in line with his kind nature, but talk about dropping the ball
One piece of dialogue that comes off as a little odd is Gohan and Kuririn telling Chaozu to much stronger and for Tenshinhan to show them some new techniques in 3 years time respectively. You'd think they would've switched things around as Chaozu is the one with more limited strength who has some useful support techniques. I guess they wanted Chaozu to catch up when he'd fallen so far behind.
Goku and Chichi's argument is a fairly underrated moment in the arc as it's one of the few times we see them discussing a problem as a couple as well as see Chichi compromise on the condition of a promise, showing they are a functional couple despite everything. It's worth bringing up Chichi exclaiming that Gohan's studies are more important than anything. Whilst Toei tend to hyperbolise her character when it comes to Gohan and his studies, it's worth discussing why she has such a mindset. As made apparent before, Chichi has lived a sheltered life and only based her perceptions of marriage on what limited information she'd seen in magazines. In the same sense, it's likely that the time of peace presented to her the idea that those who study to get successful jobs and she latched onto this idea, with her even stating during Saiyan Arc filler to her father that scholars are the ones at the top in these times or something along those lines. Also, Goku says they'll need Gohan for this battle, a good bit of foreshadowing when Gohan would indeed be the hero of the arc by the end.
We have some filler of everyone's training. Despite his current strength, Kuririn wants Roshi to train him. Yet another piece of evidence for Manly GAINZ Roshi having always been a thing. This filler also doubles down on Yamucha being a playboy, something that takes away the nuance around Trunks' statement and instead definitely acts as character assassination of Yamucha.

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Episode 124 - Most of the episode focuses on Vegeta's training and how his ambitious yet injured state provides Bulma what may have been a Florence Nightingale complex of sorts that may have been the origin of their attraction. It's worth noting that when Yamucha is stuck in 300x gravity and managing to turn it off compared to the absolute struggle Goku had in handling 100x gravity is pretty impressive. He then states that he and Pu-erh should go on a training journey, which may have influenced Bulma breaking up with him if he went off and her attraction to Vegeta was growing.
We also see from Goku and Piccolo's training they're fighting as equals, suggesting either Piccolo's grown so strong before the training or he's caught up very quickly, the latter somewhat hinting at the gains he'll have made by the end of the training.

---

Episode 125 - So, the driving filler isn't that good. Don't get me wrong, the premise is entertaining and it's fun to see Goku and Piccolo's competitive side manifesting in a new way, but it really isn't something that should happen. Even assuming the air car we saw Chichi drive in the Saiyan Arc was her father's, it still means she has a licence and we even saw in the Garlic Jr. filler she has a plane. What, did both of them get destroyed during the possessed rampage? The driving test also presents what could be the first hint of Goku's flanderisation in Toei works that would reach its peak in Super with him being so forgetful as to immediately forget what the instructor showed him, despite managing to figure out how to ride a motorcycle from watching Bulma in the very first episode of the franchise. Also, how did Goku manage to reattach the steering wheel after he cut it off? Are the air cars of the Dragon World simply that easy to repair?
This also marks the last appearance of Haiya Dragon in the anime. His exit to the main anime mirrors his entrance....with no explanation. 2

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 126 - The anime has a more direct view of Piccolo's statement about his chances with him saying he's confident in being able to beat the Artificial Humans himself, not that his later feats didn't already make his huge power increase apparent. It's odd Goku wouldn't cover up him knowing Trunks' name by bringing up the technique he used on Kuririn on Namek, though it's in line with his character when he's known to struggle at lying. It's surprising Goku would consider Yajirobe coming to fight the cyborgs. Sure, he's been an asset before, but power creep has made even his best efforts irrelevant beyond being a delivery boy. I'd say Toriyama ought to have had the car's destruction kill Yajirobe off to provide more consequences, considering his plot impact and character development have long since been complete at this point.
The search for the Artificial Humans and Yamucha getting the succ from #20 show why the early Cell Arc with #19 and #20 ranks amongst the best parts of the series. It's one of the few times the series tries to use mystery and the nature of the Artificial Humans could have served as an excellent answer to the power creep that would come from having enemies stronger than Freeza. Not only could their strength have come from stealing the energy of others, but not having any Ki to sense acts as a good foil to the Dragon Team and a need to go back to basics as well as being quite ironic in how their use of Ki control to make scouter readings unreliable has been turned on its head with their Ki sensing being irrelevant. It's a big missed opportunity that this would be scrapped for the most part when Cell entered the picture as it was a very interesting dynamic.
When #19 is reading Yamucha, there is some interesting information on him. Along with getting his address as some trivia and an "Opinion" section that seems like a mix between English and romaji Japanese, it says his weight is 68kg. Considering his height and muscular build, that seems really, really low considering the average weight of most short Japanese women tends to be around 45-50kg and even an average (and slim) Japanese man tends to be around 62.5kg.

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Episode 127 - #20's choice of a battlefield and Piccolo's deduction helps show both as quite tactical. #20 then states that Gero is no longer of this world. You can say he's of course lying, though it may be that he considers himself to have become something new entirely after becoming a cyborg. So what he said was true, from a certain point of view.
It is very questionable how Gero would be sure Goku couldn't make any major increases in power after the Saiyan Arc despite the punch he received before from a Goku who had to be above 3mil should serve as evidence enough Goku did just that. Perhaps he was referring to boosts above the base level such as Kaio-ken, though that's quite a flimsy guess. #19 does somewhat support it though with the anime having him comment Super Saiyan seems fundamentally different from Kaio-ken. Gero calculating Super Saiyan is something #19 can handle, by comparison, makes more sense when he's judging his standing Ki and Tenshinhan implied during Goku's transformation against Trunks that judging someone's Ki when standing about may not be the best idea. The anime also adds an extra flare just before Goku charges forward, suggesting he initially wasn't putting out 100%...or you could just assume making an accurate scouter wasn't Gero's forte.

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Episode 128 - Goku VS #19 is a very underrated fight and what I'd cite as one of the best in the arc, if not in the franchise. It's one of the few fights to have some extra going on as far as tension goes with Goku's weakening condition and how one wrong move can lead to his strength being used against him by #19, making it an interesting race against time. Piccolo's comments on Goku's sloppy performance and Tenshinhan's surprise show how well Piccolo's become accustomed with Goku's capabilities over their 3 years of training and him bothering to warn Goku rather than expect him to figure it out on his own in a manner that he expected a far less experienced Gohan to do in the Saiyan Arc shows the days of being an enemy to Goku are indeed long since behind him.
Unfortunately, half of the episode is bogged down by the filler of Maron's return which is absolutely pointless. Her only real purpose was to give something to Kuririn's character during filler and that purpose has been done. The flashback is nice in having the audience reminisce on early DB, but is overall pointless beyond being a typical recap that shouldn't really be necessary when a story with constant continuity should expect the audience to consider all that came before as required viewing rather than holding their hand in such a manner. It also goes on way too long for what it needed to do. I like the rematch with Tao Pai Pai, but we really didn't need to see that much of it when considering he's not even a member of the RRA. Speaking of Tao Pai Pai though, it's a bit of a missed opportunity that his cyborg self was never utilised amongst the artificial enemies of the arc beyond 2 filler cameos. Him being made into something similar to his Tao Pai Pai X self from DBO would've been a good way of having him return as an enhanced cyborg and perhaps offer a more fitting end to his character than the embarrassment he suffered at the 23rd TB.
Speaking of things related to Kuririn, there's a few seconds where his weighted clothing is removed. On that subject, it's pretty questionable why he'd be wearing it at all. Perhaps it was a gift from Kaio like the gis he sent Goku for Namek, but why was Yamucha left out if that's the case. It seems a bit ill advised for Kuririn to be wearing weights throughout the whole arc when he's already woefully outmatched. The most likely answer is the meta one of Toriyama wanting to make his attire more distinguishable when there were already 2 more members of the main cast constantly wearing the Kame gi.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episodes 129 and 130 - Piccolo's deceptive move is a good tactic and the kind of tactic you don't really see used seriously in DB, the only exception being Kuririn's feint when fighting Goku at the 22nd TB in the manga.
Vegeta's transformation into a Super Saiyan is great for a number of reasons. Along with the more surface level positives of his badass one liners such as "Do Artificial Humans experience fear?" or "My heart is still and pure. Pure evil, that is", it means a lot as far as his character development for the arc goes as it validated his previous sense of self-worth that helps make his characterisation throughout the arc a consistent and logical progression from prior events. Going back to the "pure evil" part, it helps show that what counts as purity in DB has a lot more going for it than some typical lawful good/chaotic evil alignment (though that's not to say such alignments aren't present in some characters) and has more to do with being resolute in your ambitions and drive without doubt. Unwavering determination can be difficult to pull off as there's a fine line between making a character inspirational from how resolute they are and making a character one-note without complexity, though DB does a good job doing the former far more than the latter when it comes to characters such as Goku and Vegeta or even support characters like Tenshinhan by sticking true to this martial artist mindset whilst still providing more to their characters. Vegeta, in particular, is made a good execution of a single minded goal through the journey he's gone through thus far and how well his psychology has been explored. On the subject of Vegeta's psychology, he tells #19 that becoming a Super Saiyan makes one more ferocious than usual. This lines up well with the subtle differences we saw in how SSJ Goku acted against Freeza. Contrary to what detractors of the series may say, it's not an excuse for character rewriting either as the idea makes a fair bit of sense on a psychological and chemical level. It goes without saying that things like adrenaline of the energy boost provided by something like steroids can drastically affect the way someone acts compared to normal. If you're getting a 50x boost whilst tapping into a power of your bloodthirsty, alien race that's only other transformation is a giant ape knowing for being the manifestation of their barbaric nature (and has some ties to the SSJ states even manga-wise with Toriyama initially planning for SS3 to have a tail), it's easy to understand such a change would have an affect on one's psychology. It's good that this is also established so early, since it will serve to foreshadow Gohan's mistake later on.
Yamucha takes Goku away as he admits he's the least useful person there. Not only is this a pretty big slap in the face to him, especially after two episodes having him pathetically say he's just going to watch at this point, but I wouldn't say it's strictly true. Sure, he's the weakest of the group, but he's still quite intelligent and the Sokidan is an underrated support attack (especially seeing as how it's the only technique the Dragon Team has outside of the Kienzan and maybe the Kikoho that likely wouldn't be capable of being absorbed). Honestly, Gohan was probably the least useful one there, considering he was the least experienced and his Ki attacks are very linear.
The anime flashback of how Vegeta attained the form is well done in being consistent with how Goku describes obtaining the form to be later on. It also highlights a reason as to why Vegeta was the one to remain Goku's main rival throughout the series. There's the obvious in that a fellow Saiyan had more chance of staying on an equal playing field once Super Saiyan was brought in, but you can see in the trigger for their forms the key differences between their characters at the time. Goku's rage against Freeza was brought about from a selfless and compassionate motivation whereas Vegeta's was from complete selfishness.
It seems strange Gero would install a fake blood colouring for oil on a fully artificial creation like #19. Perhaps Gero wanted to retain a sense of humanity within his creations? Seems unlikely though, considering he wanted them all to be obedient slaves. Maybe the only kind of oil in the Dragon World that can power up such high level androids is some crimson variety.
Vegeta's Big Bang Attack presents a problem that the series was starting to have and one mainly exclusive to this arc (as far as the series' original run goes, at least). When you look at the techniques Vegeta has in this arc such as the Big Bang Attack or Final Flash, it raises the question of why bother with these new linear Ki blasts when you could just improve the Gyalic Cannon the same way Goku improves his Kamehameha? This makes some sense in how Vegeta's approach of adding more variety rather than improving the basics was the main reason Goku outdid him later on by mastering Super Saiyan, but it does stand out when seeing how less variation was going into new techniques and signature moves for the main cast, the only new additions of the arc that were exceptions being Shunkan Ido Kamehameha and Makuhoidan, compared to previous arcs where most of the Ki attacks had more of a specific purpose or function in how they worked. It does show DB as struggling to make each fighter's style amongst the main cast as varied as some of its peers both prior in its run and at the time of the arc such as Kinnikuman, Hokuto no Ken, Saint Seiya and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. That's not to say it didn't have variation or wouldn't see it later on (Gotenks' skillset being one of the most creative in the series) but the Cell Arc was probably DBZ's most difficult time in standing out in this area.
Vegeta's bluff to #20 is a pretty good move from his part and the kind of tactic not often used in DBZ. It's also worth noting that him ordering Kuririn to give him a Senzu is the first time Vegeta called him by his name, perhaps showing he's gained some level of respect for him after what they went through on Namek. #20 hiding out in the rocks shows why this was when the Cell Arc was at its best not just for the factors mentioned before about the back to basics approach, but how an enemy in hiding and the tension of them jumping out at any moment is one rarely done in the series and helps create an atmosphere unique for one where fights are often more up close and personal.
The filler with Bulma and Yajirobe has its merit in showing Yajirobe as good at looking after babies, though it's a shame this is only used for a cheap joke of Trunks pissing on him and it isn't something to further Yajirobe's character. It's too bad Yajirobe essentially had no role after this, since exploring any sort of deeper thoughts of the future for a guy who lives in a tower and eats all day could've been quite interesting as a means of having him develop in some way.

 

[Future Warrior]

It does show DB as struggling to make each fighter's style amongst the main cast as varied as some of its peers both prior in its run and at the time of the arc such as Kinnikuman, Hokuto no Ken, Saint Seiya and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. That's not to say it didn't have variation or wouldn't see it later on (Gotenks' skillset being one of the most creative in the series) but the Cell Arc was probably DBZ's most difficult time in standing out in this area.

It would have been cool to see Ki being used in other unique ways like in other Wuxia series such as Street Fighter and Avatar, where they manifest it in the form of elements such as fire, electricity, and water.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Yeah. For all GT's faults, at least that kind of variation is one they succeeded with through the Evil Dragons.

Even leaving aside that idea, just having some of the more intricate techniques remain relevant support moves would've been good such as the Kienzan or Sokidan. Don't think the former was even used once this arc in the manga despite Kuririn's prominent role (and even in the anime, it was only used to show how powerful Perfect Cell was and later by the Cell Juniors to show the same purpose with SS2 Gohan).

The Boo Arc could've been the perfect time to fix that with Dabura bringing magic fighting styles to the table, though more on how that was squandered when the rewatch gets there...