DBZ Rewatch

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 166 - It seems weird that the anime would have Trunks make Kuririn zip it about Trunks having surpassed Vegeta, given Trunks now assumed Vegeta had achieved Grade 3 as well. Maybe that dumb filler addition of Trunks being able to use a slimmer and weaker version of Grade 3 without the speed loss is a form exclusive to him in the Toeiverse. :toei
I wouldn't really mind the recap flashback of what the Tenkaichi Budokai is if not for one noticeable mistake. Roshi says the 22nd TB took place 5 years after the 21st instead of 3. I guess age was catching up to him and Roshi's starting to know what it's like to be Toriyama.
It's surprising how perfectly Cell constructed his arena (or maybe not a surprise at its perfection) when construction isn't really something any of those who's cells he has are known for aside from Piccolo's materialisation.

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Episode 167 - The slice of life parts near the start are pretty good in not only making the support cast feel like less of background characters, but also giving some justification for Chichi's attitude in not wanting Gohan to end up like someone such as Roshi or Oolong. Yamucha says he can't let a second go to waste and is training as much as he can because of it, yet he never goes in the Rosat afterwards. Maybe Ten changed his mind and the three Earthlings went in at some point offscreen to rationalise their performance against the Cell Juniors. In all seriousness though, they should've been utilised in some way such as that when Toriyama unfortunately caused their relevancy in the plot to be over at this point. Another thing Yamucha does is start trash-talking Vegeta for losing to Cell. It's big words for the guy who got succed and fisted by an old man ( ), but it does make sense when considering how Yamucha must feel about Vegeta at this point with the whole Bulma situation.
One addition I think really helps Cell's characterisation here is the whole scene of Cell entering the TV Studio. There's a good juxtaposition in his attitude and actions that shows a fair amount of the Freeza in him, with him destroying the walls of the entrance yet still walking through the door and politely thanking the lady at the desk (even referring to her as "oujo-san", a respectful and formal address for a young lady) before crashing the programme. One thing worth noting about his announcement is the similarities between this and Piccolo Daimao's tv broadcast with both having the main villain broadcast across the world and put a sense of fear and dread at an impending disaster to the population. The arc surprisingly does have more ties and similarities in its narrative to the Piccolo Daimao Arc than it does the Red Ribbon Army Arc, something strengthened even further through the narrator talking about the world forgetting about the boy who beat Piccolo Daimao. There are more similarities, but those will be listed when we come to it.
Gohan's dream is pretty weird. It's funny to see his perception of Piccolo politely apologising for Chichi forcing her way into the Rosat, though it makes little sense why Perfect Cell would appear fully in his dream when he hasn't seen him. I goes such dreams that can show your future opponent's appearance even in another dimension must run in the family in the anime. 2

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Episode 168 - Continuing with the Piccolo Daimao ties, the episode opens with a scene of traffic fleeing from the cities in a panic just like how the anime had similar scenes after Daimao announced he'd nuke Metro West. Cell shows more of his Freeza traits with him playfully tormenting the regular humans, such as saying "you forgot this" when throwing a car at the driver who was fleeing from it or Cell saying he'll come towards them if they don't walk to him (which I can no longer view without thinking of "Oh? You're approaching me?"). I guess it just goes to show why Freeza is considered the best villain in Z, so much so that the best traits of Anime Cell are ones that are mainly Freeza.
The scene of Bulma scanning #16 has a pretty obvious plot hole with #16's files containing data on SSJ Goku and his fight with Freeza, despite Gero having no data on SSJ or the Namek events. I can say this is an episode where the Kai version was indeed better through it cutting out that small segment.
Piccolo confirms that you can only go into the Rosat for 48 hours in your lifetime. Of course, Super disagrees with established facts. 2 It does raise more questions about the Rosat such as not only why this rule exists beyond being a way to provide limits, but also how Popo would know if nobody lasted a whole year in it before Vegeta and Trunks. Further evidence of why the Rosat was a poorly handled plot device despite how interesting some of its concepts were.
The moment of Goku and Gohan taking off their Battle Armour for the outfits they'll wear for the Cell Games is a good character moment though, with us getting Goku say he'd rather fight as an Earthling and Gohan showing how much he respects Piccolo. Some of Piccolo's lines in the episode do make you wonder how much influence Kami is playing in them such as saying he'll make Gohan a "handsome" outfit (the line used is "kakkoi", which tends to mean sharp/stylish) and then later criticising Goku eating with his mouth full. The latter has some of the sharp and to the point aspects of Piccolo, though does have a bit of Kami to it in how much things such as Goku gulping down the noodles in one go gets to him.

 

[Future Warrior]

Goku wearing his traditional dogi truly speaks on where his connections truly lie (kinda wish he stayed with the ''Go'' kanji from the Namek arc). Trunks doesn't seem to be the type to care for such things so long as it proves useful. The Cell Games has the Dragon Team being prepared with all of their personal outfits that defines their characters, almost like this arc was meant to truly be the climax of the entire series.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

kinda wish he stayed with the ''Go'' kanji from the Namek arc

Yeah, I agree. His previous gi changes had some kind of significant meaning behind them such as honouring the Turtle School, a reminder of Kaio's teachings and then realising he was his own master. The gi change for the Cell/Boo Arcs doesn't really seem to mean anything beyond the meta reason of it being simpler for Toriyama to draw and the shift back to it for Super material rather than getting further towards his 28th TB look makes such a change seem quite forced due to it being Goku's most popular gi.

The Cell Games has the Dragon Team being prepared with all of their personal outfits that defines their characters, almost like this arc was meant to truly be the climax of the entire series.

Except for Tenshinhan throwing out Asiatic martial arts sash for a plain shirt. Yeah, he did wear one at the end of the Piccolo Daimao Arc, but that was as casual clothing and just the undershirt of his Crane School gi.

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Episode 169 - So, we start off with an infamous poorly drawn version of Goku that reminds us Super wasn't the first time DB had an off-model drawing flung in the audience's faces. :toei Goku's explanation that their bodies need rest after the Rosat training and that any further strain would be pointless is good in drawing from real life fitness and bodybuilding routines. No gains are going to come from tearing your body apart.
The slice of life scenes with the Son family and Kuririn are hit and miss. Some parts are done well such as both Kuririn and Goku getting nostalgic about their training under Roshi, but then you have Goku believing Kuririn needed his help when in the water even though a major part of their training together was constant swimming laps. The scene of Kuririn throwing a rock at a resting Goku does have some similarity to when Chichi tried to test Roshi's abilities with her helmet blade. Despite having little plot progression, these peaceful scenes of Goku relaxing are good when taking into account what will happen at the Cell Games to Goku. Even in the manga, his desire to rest for 2/3 of the time they had prior to it suggests Goku may have had some premonition much as Yamucha was implied to have prior to his first death of Freeza's feeling towards a Saiyan growing in power, with him wanting to spend the remainder of his time with the people he cared about. It's also good that the anime remembered about Goku fulfilling his promise to Gohan about taking him fishing, though I'm not a fan of how they made Goku forget. The manga makes it quite subtle that Goku's fulfilling his promise with its equivalent during the family picnic and usually presents him as capable of remembering promises when reminded (eg. remembering his promise to Chichi even 6 years later after she jogs his memory).
The scene of Cell testing out his abilities in space works well. Firstly, taking Super into account, it helps explain how his full power became so much greater than Grade 3 Trunks in so little time when he has the cells of someone who can go from weaker than a SSJ to God level in 4 months by using Tagoma as a punching bag. Secondly, a superificial thing, but the frame of Cell posing in front of the Earth is just an undeniably cool image. Also, it's interesting how he decides to put on a show for the Earthlings by sending some rubble from the asteroid down onto Earth, yet it's made apparent that nobody was killed by them. Perhaps he felt like honouring Goku's words of not going about killing anyone until the Cell Games, the royal army being an exception due to them attacking Cell first. It could also be that Vegeta's narcissism combined with Freeza's playful nature made him want to show off a little.

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Episode 170 - So, Chazke Village seems fairly off when it comes to meshing with the nearby areas and creating a believable part of the world due to its Wild West saloon aesthetic being far different from the neighbouring East District. Perhaps it just decided to go with the look for tourism or something. Lime's grandfather is said to have fought in the Tenkaichi Budokai in the past. It's a shame the anime didn't try to make much further ties to his and the series' past when he gives these cues of knowing of Gohan's capabilities from first glance. It would have been nice to have it revealed he once competed in the same Budokai as Goku, seeing as how he does share a vague similarity in attire, martial arts approach and possibly age with Fighter 83 from the 21st TB.
Speaking of blasts from the past, you have Tao Pai Pai's return. I find it strange he's only charging 50 million Zeni for an assassination when that was his 50% discount to Red on account of it being his 20th anniversary as an assassin. Perhaps he lost a lot of reputation after his embarrassing loss to Tenshinhan and had to cut his prices in half. Him running away using his pillar surf manoeuvre is pretty funny and shows how much being fatally injured by Goku had an effect on him. Lime's grandfather being able to put up a fight against him raises a few eyebrows when those capable of doing so were seemingly non-existent outside of the main cast and villains during the 23rd TB and the standard for martial artists has dropped significantly since then. Maybe this guy's been training in secret like Roshi.

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Episode 171 - Chichi saying Gohan will be 11 after his time in the Rosat really doesn't add up. You'd have to assume Gohan was close to turning 5 at the time of Raditz's arrival and was just shy of being 6 during Nappa/Vegeta's arrival to make it work, though this is contradicted later on by the narrator saying Gohan turned 16 when he started High School. You'd think his mother would remember how old he actually is. :toei
The other scenes in the episode continue the well done approach to slice of life that helps make Goku's death have that much more of an impact. The eventuality is also somewhat foreshadowed with Goku saying he wants Gohan to have a peaceful time while he can as he's not sure if they can beat Cell. In particular, the scene at the end of the episode with the photographs and the narrator questioning how long these peaceful days will continue aids in this.
The flashback to when Gohan was named does raise some questions with Chichi having Einstein and Archimedes as potential names for Gohan because of them being suiting for a scholar. Did the Dragon World have its own version of these two who performed the exact same things? I do like the scene of Gohan first showing his hidden power. It's enough to inform Goku of what he may be capable of and line up with his assessment at the start of Z that he thinks Gohan has potential, yet manages to not contradict his awe at Gohan's display against Raditz by it only being enough to go through a part of a tree. Also, it does a good job showing Goku and Chichi as a couple with them looking into each other's eyes when walking together.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 172 - Trunks says Piccolo's level has increased drastically from his training, yet Vegeta says Piccolo hasn't improved much. I'm more inclined to believe Trunks here, seeing as how Vegeta's bias can affect his judgement and his main goal was to surpass the level shown by Goku, with anything below that being irrelevant.
I like the inclusion of Kuririn at the picnic, showing how close of a family friend he is to the Son household. I have less to praise about his attire not being his Kame gi causing some problems with the next episode when considering the short timespan implied to occur between the picnic and Dende being brought to Earth, though the same applies in the manga with Gohan's change from his Chinese inspired outfit to his Piccolo gi and mantle. Much like with the Lime episode, it's good how both the anime and manga showed most areas as being deserted and most people not working out of fear of death with it making Cell's threat feel more involved to the Earth's population than prior villains (and with the lack of working businesses due to a global panic, I guess I really did pick the most relevant time to rewatch this part the series). It's nice how the anime has Goku show his considerate nature towards Roshi by being disappointed he can't get him a present. On the topic of Goku's mentality, him not interfering with Cell killing the army by getting there instantly shows some insight into his morality. The army started the fight and weren't going to back down if Goku told them which made this outcome inevitable, which shows Goku being realistic about the situation that really does show how he stands out compared to the poor man's versions of him that perpetuate throughout modern Shonen.
Bulma not being sure of what #16's power radar is made of is interesting. Perhaps Gero really did get his hands on some katchin.
Goku being frank with Piccolo about him being of no use against Cell does show how honest he is, though it's disappointing and even somewhat contradicting that this had become Piccolo's role in the narrative. So much importance had been placed on the necessity of Piccolo merging with Kami as a ray of hope and even before that him catching up to the Super Saiyans showed he was not to be underestimated, yet the amount of power creep that had happened relegated him to be of more use just splitting in two again if he could. Goku being able to sense Kaio yet not New Namek when the former is in another dimension and isn't that much stronger than the average Namekian farmer (and weaker than Muri according to some sources) seems very questionable. I'd be fine with the explanation that being on the Heavenly Realm allowed him to sense Kaio easier, yet this is never established and later material such as Super suggest he can just sense Kaio from anywhere on Earth.

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Episode 173 - It's worth pointing out that when Kaio sees Goku use Shunkan Ido, he makes it apparent he's aware of the Yardratians and their useful technique, unlike in the dub where he says he knows the technique and could've taught it to Goku. One of the many reasons to not watch the dub of Z as your primary source, with this plot hole being exclusive to it and not the anime itself.
One questionable part, however, comes from Muri working out that Piccolo must be the child of Katattsu when the previous Grand Elder was the only survivor of Namek's cataclysm aside from that child. Did he tell Muri of the event? Did Muri figure it out from his stay on Earth?
We then see the Earth's King making a speech about how someone like the boy who beat Piccolo Daimao may show himself again, further tying this arc and the Piccolo Daimao Arc together.
This episode is where we're introduced to Mr. Satan. I can't help but see it as intentional that Toriyama would introduce such a character in the same part of the story where Earth is given a new God. Despite how fun and a surprising stand-out of the Boo Arc as Mr. Satan will become, his role in the Cell Arc makes it the arc in the series' original run with the most inconsistent world building. It makes no sense how the world could go from the kind of high level competition of the 23rd TB to a fighter who's most impressive feats were normal to 21st TB competitors becoming a world champion of competitive sports (and later soft-retconned in the Boo Arc to having won the Tenkaichi Budokai) and the population seemingly forgetting about such a scale of martial arts ability in less than a decade, despite the likes of Muten Roshi and Chappa having been household names of martial arts back in Part 1. There could've been many explanations offered such as martial artists of such a great calibre fading away out of realisation in their limits or fear of being targeted after the Piccolo Daimao incidents, yet no explanation of the sort is made to make this consistent.
Goku's search for the Dragon Balls shows how the escalation of power and his acquisition of Shunkan Ido killed all potential for the series to go back to its adventure aspect in future arcs with how he could gather all the Dragon Balls so quickly. GT at least tried to fix this in its first arc with Goku's child body not being able to use the technique, though that's not to say the Ultimate Dragon Balls Arc wasn't filled with its share of problems by trying to bring the series back to its roots.

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Episode 174 - Dende having a notepad of studies for using his Dragon Clan abilities is questionable, considering Namekian lifestyle doesn't seem to be one where they'd require paper.
The return of the Panputto's filler manager Vodka is a nice detail and having Tao Pai Pai make another return worked with how he knew he couldn't handle Goku and made it a battle of intelligence. The episode does a good job in reminding the audience that Goku has good problem solving and critical thinking skills, something Super seems to try and make everyone forget. I do find it weird that Tao Pai Pai's eyes seem to have text similar to that of scouters despite the latter being an alien language. Maybe Gero's Spy Robot picked up one of the broken scouters from the Saiyan battle and he and Tao had some interaction that involved an installation of it. Would make the Cybotg Tao Pai Pai feel more involved in an arc about artificial and mechanical fighters, at least.
The filler scene of Mr. Satan showing his limits by struggling to tear apart 3 phone books and pull 4 buses further shows how limited he is compared to Part 1 fighters, even if more impressive than his feats in the manga. What's most perplexing is Chichi's response of "There are some incredible people in the world" really not making much sense when her feats far outstrip what Satan is capable of. Perhaps she was referring to those buying Satan's hype being incredibly gullible...or maybe Toei just forgot she used to be a martial artist.
One of the strangest choices in the anime and manga was how vague Toriyama made the Earth's calendar with the date of the Cell Games being "17th of M". Not only had Toriyama already used real world months with Trunks saying the Artificial Humans would show up on 12th May, but even assuming the DB world's may only had 12 days wouldn't work when the series of events would place the Cell Games on 26th May. I can only assume that Toriyama got his dates mixed up as 17th May is when Cell made his announcement for the Cell Games.

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Episodes 175 and 176 - #16's kind interaction with Kuririn and then his cold response to Goku to not forget he was made to kill him shows how distant his true desires and interests are compared to his programming.
The filler involving Caroni and Piroshiki is pretty bad as not only does it serve no purpose beyond filling time, but even contradicts what comes afterwards. If Mr. Satan is as strong as Piroshiki who is stated to have the strength of 20 elephants and can oneshot a bull, this makes Mr. Satan's later display of crushing 14/15 tiles and hurting his hand from doing so inconsistent. You could assume Pizza was exaggerating, though I doubt it when these showboating fighters would probably have made displays to calculate their strength.

Now, to take a break from the main rewatch as it's at this point that the Trunks TV Special was at this point (well, it aired before Episode 176, but its corresponding chapter was just before Goku fought Cell in the manga, making it more appropriate here).

 

[Future Warrior]

I've always wondered if Dr. Gero was the one who made Tao Pai Pai into a cyborg. Definitely wasn't Toriyama's thoughts back in the 23rd TB, but it could potentially make for good retroactive continuity.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

So, I watched the Trunks Special and it does stand out as a good instalment of the franchise, as well as far better than its manga counterpart. It's ironic that "Trunks the Story" is named such when the manga chapter is barely much of a story at all, skipping over many key details in a rushed manner and not having much of an arc for Trunks, all things that the TV Special fixed. Much like the Bardock Special, it's a story where we know the outcome and, thus, the execution and characters take central stage.

To start off with Trunks, the Special does a good job giving him an arc of trying to become a Super Saiyan, yet it's not until a sense of true loss that he attains it (unlike in the manga where he has it from the start and limits his character growth). There's also a case where a change in power scaling changes the rationale of a line for the better. In the manga, it's easy to believe Trunks has reached Gohan's level when considering Gohan was at best superior to 50% of #17's power. In the special, however, we see Gohan as doing far better than Trunks which may show Trunks' confidence as being his emotions clouding his judgement, showing that link to his father that he ends up shedding at the end after seeing the flaws in being overconfident. On the subject of power scaling, the Special makes things a lot more believable with Trunks being not leagues away from Gohan in equal forms, unlike in the manga where he somehow surpassed Gohan in 3 years of training by himself when he was weaker than Base Gohan as a Super Saiyan beforehand. Also, Takeshi Kusao's performance when Trunks finds Gohan's corpse is easily one of the best scenes of voice acting in the franchise.

Moving onto Gohan, he is the stand-out character of the Special. Though his new self seems like very much of a Goku clone at first, we see more to him with each scene with his training of Trunks showing Piccolo's approach to training manifesting with the scene of Trunks struggling in the water mirroring Gohan doing the same in the Saiyan Arc. There's also the fact that Gohan being the member of the cast least tolerant of injustice during the Freeza Arc makes his characterisation of arriving at the scene whenever #17 and #18 cause havoc a natural progression. What makes him stand out most isn't his combination of character traits from his experiences and role models though, nor is it him "being badass", but it's from him being somewhat of a tragic character. This is one thing the manga counterpart did slightly better with his confidence in being able to make a difference in his rematch with #17 despite the unfavourable odds evaporating in a single panel with the reveal #17 only used less than half his power last time, but the Special does its job in keeping the same elements present by swapping out hubris for selflessness as his downfall, with his decision to save Trunks with the Senzu preventing him from regaining his lost arm that could've helped in the fight. Speaking of his arm, this is one thing that makes the airing date perfect for the Special despite #17 and #18 no longer being relevant in the plot as Gohan being forced to fight with one arm could've served as an inspiration for Toriyama making his present self do the same a few weeks later in the manga, not to mention Gohan sacrificing himself in the hopes a young student with potential may become the world's saviour in a similar manner to what his father would do soon. His battle against #17 and #18 can also be seen as a parallel to what his present self would face against SPC. Future Gohan is brought down when forced to fight alone and outnumbered, whereas his present self prevails against Cell despite an unfavourable situation with Vegeta's distraction and Goku's words.

#17 and #18 work surprisingly well as villains which show they did have the potential if Toriyama had made them the main antagonists. Their playful and destructive nature combined with some level of sadism makes them a good example of what can come from giving irresponsible teenagers so much power when combined with their situation of being manipulated by a mad scientist. There's also some subtle differences between them and their present counterparts to make the divide even further, such as Future #18 not minding the kind of oriental clothing Chichi wears. One interesting character moment comes near the end when #18 tells Trunks they hate humans and get mad every time they see them. Perhaps Future #17/#18's destructive nature stemmed from how much Gero had manipulated their bodies and seeing regular humans reminded them of what they no longer were. A neat bit of trivia is that, after getting his clothing wrecked by Gohan's sneak attack, #17 says he only has 4 of such outfits left. I guess Gero had a lot of the outfits stored away in his lab and Trunks destroying it is what meant #18 had to go clothes shopping.

The support cast do a good job contrasting with their present selves. Bulma's far more protective nature of Trunks' well being helps demonstrate how much these difficult times have changed her. Chichi's brief cameo makes her character more sympathetic with her only wanting to be with her son again and Roshi's brief cameo reminds us this Special would only be a few minutes long if he decided to get out of the submarine and flex his Manly GAINZ.

The action within the Special also does a good job making it stand out. All the battles take place in cities that Toriyama notoriously tried to avoid drawing as much as possible and it leads to some interesting sequences such as the environment of the fair ground combining with the choreography of the fight or Trunks hiding in a building during the climax creating a tense sense of horror that the franchise only delved into with 1st form Cell.

Overall, I'd probably say the Bardock Special was better with how it presented a setting we had less information about, created a completely new and interesting character as well as had some more unexpected turns to its story such as how irrelevant Goku's father was or Freeza's decision mainly being something Zarbon was responsible for, though the Trunks Special is still a solid work that presents a unique take on the franchise's tone as well as explores how different some characters can be from different experiences.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

trunks wanted to help gohan in a fight he seemingly knew he wasn't going to survive & gohan says ok, only to chop trunks in the back of the neck when he wasn't expecting that

trunks wanted to help vegeta in a fight he seemingly knew he wasn't going to survive & vegeta chops trunks in the back of the neck when he wasn't expecting that

...i think

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Speaking of that moment, it's another one the Special improved from the manga chapter. The manga having Trunks fall for a "look over there" lie seemed pretty dumb, whereas Gohan is able to provide a more reasonable lie to make Trunks drop his guard in the Special.

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Back to the main series.

Episode 177 - Mr. Satan commenting that Goku has an amateurish stance whereas the Dragon Team comment on how Goku is leaving no opening further shows Satan is not only out of his depth in judging their power and speed, but even general martial skill. The anime also adds Yamucha and Tenshinhan being able to barely keep up with the fight, which would seem impossible to do at all when it's doubtful either human would be at best much stronger than Namek Base Goku who was 20x slower than 50% Freeza based on Kaio-ken's linear scaling. I guess it shows they really did get a Toei hax when fighting the Cell Juniors. Maybe Roshi offered them a free training session
One part of the choreography from the warm up that works well is Goku using a Kamehame-Ha as a ruse in a vaguely similar manner to how he used it against Freeza during their warm up.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 178 - Cell apparently having gained Tenshinhan's cells and being able to use the Shishin no Ken is a tad contrived with him having never mentioned Ten as being one of those who's cells he has, but I guess you could make the case that he gained them through taking the Shin Kikoho if him killing Goku with a self destruction later on somehow gave him Shunkan Ido. The sequence of him using the Death Saucer, meanwhile, was far more in line with his known moveset.

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Episode 179 - Cell destroying the arena shows that his care for rules and fairness only extends as far as what can entertain him, further showing the most prevalent of his cell groups to be Freeza's. The comment from Roshi that the fight had reached a point where cameras can't track it does cause some problems. It implies the camera was able to track it during the warm up, despite Yamucha and Tenshinhan struggling to keep up with it. Kaio also seemed capable of viewing the sequences of the fight, despite him having been unable to track SSJ Goku and 100% Freeza in the anime.
The mention of how the Earth couldn't endure a full power Kamehame-Ha from Goku does well in showing how important control and positioning is with using such Ki blasts, but the latter point does create some problems. If a downward attack is so risky, then how was Tenshinhan able to use the Shin Kikoho without destroying the planet, or #16's use of the Hell Flash (especially when the latter doesn't have Ki to control)? Despite that, the Shunkan Ido Kamehame-Ha is one of the best tactics in the series with how it's the perfect combination of two techniques for an attack any opponent would struggle to defend against.

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Episode 180 - Cell having such regeneration through Piccolo's cells causes some problems when we've never seen a Namekian regenerate to such an extent. It would be fine if it was mentioned it was through Gero's enhancements and Freeza's incredible injury threshold, though Piccolo's reaction suggests that isn't the case. It also makes you wonder if you could kill Cell by simply draining his Ki reserves, seeing as how Piccolo died from such against Nappa. On the subject of stamina draining, Goku becoming so exhausted from one full power Ki attack does defeat the good purpose of mastering the Super Saiyan state and its stamina to be akin to his base form when we've seen Goku use a Super Kamehame-Ha without losing any of his Ki reserves or stamina during the 23rd TB. You could argue the greater strength of this Kamehame-Ha made the difference, but Goku should also have far better Ki control and stamina than he did back then.
Trunks' comment that they should gang up on Cell is a reminder that he is the most pragmatic member of the main group and Vegeta's scolding of him for such an attitude serves to remind us that Trunks' upbringing hasn't instilled him with the same martial arts philosophies or Saiyan pride as the others. Vegeta's comment that Goku isn't fighting for the Earth is somewhat true when remembering his battle with Piccolo and helps show how more self-centred Goku is when it comes to a tournament match.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 181 - So, with Gohan VS Cell becoming the central point of the arc's third act, some may find issue with Gohan being thrust into the spotlight despite no history with Cell as bringing him into a narrative where he doesn't belong. After rethinking the matter, however, I'd say it works in its own unique way. A conflict of the Dragon Team confronting a dark parallel to their flaws brought about by their own mistakes is an interesting idea, but the running theme of it is each of those responsible for Cell's growth being unable to fix their mistake. With that said, someone unconnected from Cell's story may have been the perfect choice to counter the faults present in the main cast that he amplifies. That said, I'd say the premise of Gohan VS Cell works fine, though it did have potential to be better. For example, the fact that Cell is technically another fighting prodigy child being a parallel that's never addressed that could have helped make this the most interesting confrontation in the franchise if done to its full potential.
Goku's decision is also fine as it's consistent with his reasoning and characterisation. His initial response that Gohan has indeed kept up to and surpassed the others is sound reasoning and he is still considering this a tournament match (hence why he gives Cell the Senzu) and the flaw in his reasoning is brought up later on.

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Episode 182 - Here is where we get Gohan declaring he doesn't want to fight Cell. This may seem inconsistent with how he's fought opponents who've done far less thus far, though as I've went over, that was before enduring a lot of things that would be traumatic for a child on Namek and his only contribution since then was saving Piccolo from being killed by Gero. When taking into account that Cell did have the courtesy to hold a tournament and only killed humans during the wait when they actively attacked him, there is a rationale behind Gohan believing he could talk Cell out of his actions. As Gohan says, he doesn't enjoy fighting and has only ever done it for necessity. Moreover, his main reason for not wanting to fight was due to knowing him being overtaken by rage is what would be required and with what he's witnessed with how becoming a Super Saiyan affected his father on Namek or the many times he's lost control, it is understandable for him to be wary of what could potentially happen if he loses his rationality after having become so powerful.
We of course get Cell desiring to see such power at any cost, highlighting the Saiyan traits within him showing the flaws in their battle lust.

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Episode 183 - Piccolo's calling out the flaw in Goku's reasoning and Goku's reaction makes the decision a well written one with Goku becoming aware of the consequences and his mistake. Piccolo's way of acting is also far different from before, showing how much Kami's influence has on him now. We also have a filler scene of Pizza telling Mr. Satan "not in front of the others," suggesting that she is one of the women Satan is involved with in his womanising as Videl mentions in the Boo Arc.
#16's attempt to blow himself up has a decent character moment with an anime-exclusive statement of him saying this will bring an end to Gero's plans of world domination with the Artificial Humans, showing he indeed wouldn't have gone along with any orders beyond killing Goku and wished to may have seen this as something he felt responsible for in being part of the problem as one of Gero's creations.
Cell birthing the Cell Juniors is an interesting moment. It's most likely the same ability as Piccolo, though him birthing them from his tail rather than mouth does make you wonder if it works entirely the same. Perhaps it sheds some light to how Freeza's race reproduces as well.

 

[SSJ2]

Episode 178 - Cell apparently having gained Tenshinhan's cells and being able to use the Shishin no Ken is a tad contrived with him having never mentioned Ten as being one of those who's cells he has, but I guess you could make the case that he gained them through taking the Shin Kikoho if him killing Goku with a self destruction later on somehow gave him Shunkan Ido. The sequence of him using the Death Saucer, meanwhile, was far more in line with his known moveset.

For some reason you aren't mentioning the possibility that Tenshinhan fucked Cell during the 10 day wait. It's really not contrived when Goku did the same thing with Chi Chi.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

You're right. I completely forgot about Tenshinhan's signature Shin Kicoomho.

 

[SSJ2]

Well it should be obvious. Cell has the utmost respect for Tenshinhan after Ten imposed his will on him. There was ample foreshadowing in the anime. Cell was really enjoying being forced down by Tenshinhan.. I'd find it unlikely if there wasn't more to their relationship after this.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 184 - The fight against the Cell Juniors is somewhat damaged in the anime. I'm fine with the likes of Yamucha and Tenshinhan getting a shot in on the Cell Juniors when considering the latter would be playing around, but it goes immediately from that to Cell saying only Vegeta and Trunks are barely holding their own to the two Earthlings being down on the floor without much of a connective scene. It also comes off as inconsistent with what Cell says when Piccolo is able to knock two Juniors to the ground. There's also a Cell Junior being able to knock back a Final Flash (albeit, uncharged), which makes it a lot harder to believe Vegeta was holding his own.
Almost all that is made up for by Gohan's SS2 transformation scene though, the obvious highlight of the episode. The music, art, voice acting and editing are all perfectly done to have this moment go above and beyond its manga counterpart by far with the best insert song in the anime. As far as the writing of the scene and the payoff go, it's fine. Mr. Satan shows how useful he can be to the plot's sequences despite Toriyama having only considered him a one-off gag character at this point, #16's speech being what gives Gohan the incentive to do this makes sense when he reminds Gohan that Cell can't simply be talked out of this and the appeal he makes to Gohan by drawing on Gohan's love of nature and peace is done differently from Goku's approach that makes Gohan's decision to let his anger free believable. It's fine as it is, though could've gone deeper in exploring Gohan's psychology or the parallels between #16 and Gohan that have particularly come to light in modern material with reveals about Gero's son and such.

---

Episode 185 - Gohan mercilessly killing the Cell Juniors does a good job showing how much more elevated the rage and primal instincts of SS2 are compared to the already rage-fuelled SSJ which further tie into the Oozaru roar being used again during the transformation, combined with it being the manifestation of Gohan's rage in general. We see the Cell Juniors performing a Kienzan and Kikoho. I've already gone over Tenshinhan being a part of cells genes now, but Kuririn too? It can't be from Goku's cells, considering he had yet to learn the Kienzan during the Saiyan Arc. Maybe Cell absorbed Kuririn's cells when he got hit by that previous Kienzan.
The filler of Chichi and Gyumao once again hyperbolises Chichi's "scholarship over everything" approach with how that's what causes an argument. It could've been a good moment to show Chichi caring about Gohan's safety and ability to get out of a bad situation above all else, much like her wanting him to fight and defeat Vegeta in the Saiyan Arc, but defining Chichi by one trait is the norm for Toei at that point.

---

Episode 186 - The music for Cell's full power charge is a strange choice with its calm nature, the track later being considered the Genki Dama theme for its use against Boo. Perhaps it was meant to represent how Cell is the combination of many people's powers and life essence being brought into one in a dark twist on the Genki Dama, though it's most likely Toei were really excited to get this new score from Kikuchi into the anime. Not much to say on the episode beyond that, with it otherwise just being Gohan stomping Cell.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

there's also masako nozawa's voice-acting before i think the commercial-break of episode 184, with gohan's voice sounding like he's almost abt to cry and rly like a child that's in a situation he wants to help every1 but doesn't know how to release his full-power

 

[Future Warrior]

Bruh, imagine if the #16 being Dr. Gero's son would have been part of the narrative for this arc? It would have given even more motivation for Dr. Gero's revenge and would have further elevated the themes of how the ''the apple doesn't fall far from the tree'' idea to be wrong.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 187 - I'm not that bothered by the filler of Gohan swatting away the Makankosappo or stopping the Kienzan, considering the former wasn't charged up and the latter was grabbed from the bottom rather than the sides, not to mention how it stacks up to "muh gaps" is irrelevant when the narrative and soon to come scaling will make it apparent Gohan is Solar System level. One strange change is the narrator delivering exposition on Cell's state of mind with his fear and regret. Not only is it strange to change Cell's internal monologue in the manga into narration in the anime, but is the opposite of the anime going to great lengths to avoid unnecessary narration by having the narration of Vegeta's shattered pride against Freeza being changed to Kaio's observation. It also seems a bit tonally off with how DB usually portrays the delivery of information and isn't really something that we wouldn't be able to gather from the visuals alone. At least it's far from the most needless case of narration in anime, but it does come off as a weird choice.
This episode with Cell's outbursts and him ifnoring rationality by going into his power weighted state is where his role as an antagonist starts to fall apart. Even considering the lack of clear thought Vegeta or Freeza could have when enraged, they never outright ignored something they knew as a fatal flaw to use as a last resort. Cell doing this can't really be defended as him representing the flaws of the main cast and is simply just character inconsistency.

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Episode 188 - Goku's sacrifice is a great moment in the arc with how he shows regret towards having to leave Chichi behind, showing he truly cares for his family. I'm not sure if this is an anime addition or a line Viz left out, but he then states that he's sorry that he always did what he wanted selfishly, but it's a great line. Though the only action of Goku's that could be seen as purely selfish would be him letting Vegeta go, the scene does a good job in showing him as having the hindsight to view some of his actions and wants as having been risky and that this is an atonement of sorts alongside being the only option left, the most relevant of those instances to this arc being having agreed to not stop Gero earlier. These could have been used to great effect in the arc's epilogue, but more on that later..
Kaio tells Goku that he's the most important person in the universe. We'd soon see how false this was with and even Dai Kaio before him in the anime, though I guess you could argue that Kaio was lying as a means of scolding Goku's action further when considering he'd already been addressed as the Kaio of the Northern Galaxy/Quadrant in the Freeza Arc which implies there were more.
One detail I like is Yamucha covering his tears with his arm, showing how much Goku's death has gotten to him and tying in with him being the one on Kaio's planet to have took Goku's presumed death on Namek the hardest. Despite not having spent as much time with Goku as Kuririn, Gohan or Piccolo did, Yamucha has known him for longer than anyone else there and would obviously take this quite hard.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 189 - So, we get Cell's infamous explanation on how he survived. I wouldn't really class it as inconsistent with what he showed against Goku when he specifies that the nucleus in his head allows him to regenerate indefinitely rather than in general and all previous cases of regeneration had him or a bystander commenting on him being able to regenerate "this level of injury". From that, it's easy to infer that the nucleus is purely for if he endures an injury far greater than his regular regeneration can handle. If anything, the more questionable part is him being able to learn Shunkan Ido as a bonus, though you could chalk that up to him having the cells of 2 fighting geniuses that pick up new abilities very quickly and 1 natural prodigy who can destroy planets without a day of training as justification for him learning such an advanced technique so quickly.
One change that damages the scene in the anime is Vegeta's internal monologue of him being the one to beat Cell and not Kakarrot nor his kid. This more composed and internal manner for him clashes with his portrayal in the manga of his reaction being mainly out of instinct, which was more fitting when he had yet to show any in-depth acceptance of his feelings for his son.
Gohan being left to fight with one arm does seem to be a callback to Goku being left with one arm when he defeated Piccolo Daimao, considering how the later parts of the Cell Arc have many ties to the Piccolo Daimao Arc. It may also be to reference Future Gohan, with present Gohan's different experiences to aid him at this stage perhaps serving as a way for Gohan to avenge himself in a sense. It's also interesting how both Gohans lost the use of their arms as the result of protecting someone of Vegeta's family.

---

Episode 190 - Cell's flashback has an interesting detail with it showing Gero as being an Artificial Human in his timeline at the time of his death, which raises many questions when it comes to #19 and #20's seeming absence. Was there a #19 in this timeline? Was Gero #19 instead of #20 here? What chain of events was different from the main timeline?, etc. The internal monologue about all this has one really stupid inconsistency though with Cell saying he travelled 10 years into the past instead of the 24-25 he actually did. It's not as though Toei needed to look far to fact-check something so obvious.
Dende comments that he's never felt such a strong Ki as Cell's, confirming his Kamehame-Ha has a decent amplification or Gohan hasn't been putting out his full power thus far. The scene with Baba seems really pointless. Considering Goku VS Vegeta in the Saiyan Arc was a battle too intense for her crystal ball to be of use, how did she expect to even show a single thing of worth in an infinitely more powerful situation?
Getting back to the more canon material, Vegeta realising his mistakes and apologising to Gohan is a nice moment in showing how he's been humbled by the actions that have allowed Goku and Gohan to gain such strength of Ki and will. One moment not so good, however, is Gohan's immediate acceptance that he can't do anything. It's as though he's making the polar opposite mistake as he did before and essentially wasting #16's words of encouragement. Fortunately, he at least gets back on track with a pep talk from Goku.

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Episode 191 - A lot of the filler in the episode ends up being problematic. It's good that the supporting cast are given more of a presence in the beam struggle and they each have an internal monologue to remind us of how much they've grown as characters, but their distractions against Cell clashes with how surprised Cell was by Vegeta's surprise attack later on and makes the group seem more insignificant than they already were with how one blast from Vegeta has more impact than their efforts, not to mention the latter being enough to leave him open in general when Anime Cell would be more prepared for sneak attacks. It would've been a lot better if Toei had remembered Piccolo's ability to have the Ki of others transferred into him and vice-versa and have him take everyone's Ki to give to Gohan in an attempt to restore his power. This would fix another flaw that came from the episode's padding in just how meandering many parts are when it comes to the message of the beam struggle. Gohan holding back and having more power to unleash seems like something he'd be less willing to hold back if he already accepted Goku's encouragement that he needs to release more of his dormant power beforehand.
Cell being completely obliterated by the Kamehame-Ha is a good end to the fight, though does raise some questions on how likely it was to be completely erased by it when an internal explosion that destroyed Goku still left his nucleus remaining. It's not unreasonable to assume Gero put in a defence mechanism to protect the nucleus from attempted self destruction, but that really could have done with being explained. Gohan being the one to defeat Cell rather than Goku or anyone else makes sense for reasons I've laid out prior, but another one would be how weak the conflict between Cell and Goku would have been. Unlike previous villains, Cell hadn't killed anyone Goku cared about or had any strong ties to Goku's life beyond Goku being a genetic sample, so there really wouldn't be the personal factor there was with Piccolo Daimao, Vegeta or Freeza. This made it a good opportunity for Gohan to be given the spotlight for reasons already mentioned.
Also, an interesting bit of trivia is that this episode is the only time in the anime or any Japanese material outside of Budokai 3 that I'm aware of that Cell refers to his post-Zenkai self as his "Super-Perfect form", whereas all other material refers to it as alternate names such as just "Perfect Cell" or "Full-Power Perfect Cell" despite SPC's popularity in the English speaking fandom.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 192 - Vegeta's declaration to never fight again is a good moment of character development with it showing how much of an impact Goku's death and display of protecting others over oneself had on Vegeta who never got a chance to settle the score, as well as the value of putting faith in your child that he may have instilled within Vegeta's feelings for Trunks. Of course, Vegeta never wanting to fight again will change by the Boo Arc, though we'll explore the situations surrounding that when we get to it.
The filler of Yamucha seemingly having never met Dende before seems strange when considering he and the other Namekians stayed at Capsule Corporation for 133 days with him and Dende in particular would stand out as a friend of Gohan and Kuririn. Gohan talking about how he sensed his father's Ki which allowed him to overcome Cell does bring up how ambiguous the image of Goku behind Gohan was, which the narrator even mentions in Episode 190. I'd prefer to think it was simply a metaphorical display of Goku's encouragement rather than him lending his power, seeing as how the latter route would open up far too many plot holes going forward if so.
The people cheering Satan's name makes you wonder if Mr. Satan's initial purpose was a commentary by Toriyama on the state of society and how anti-Christian and Satanic elements were being glorified in the media compared to the prior generation such as the influence of Anton LaVey. It may be a stretch when he's a gag character and Toriyama hasn't really been vocal on his religious or philosophical stances, though it would be far from the first time he's taken a jab at deeper topics in a satirical manner through gag characters, such as Oolong's initial design.
The anime adds a small plot hole with Shen Long stating he can grant two wishes, whereas Dende explained prior that it would normally be three but would become two if one of the wishes required too much power. We then get Goku's declaration to stay dead and his reasoning. The premise of Goku choosing to stay dead for the greater good was excellent but the execution was sub-par due to how flawed his reasoning is. Leaving aside how Bulma never said he attracted bad guys (it was Kaio who said that in this arc), it isn't really true when pretty much all the villains he fought would have enacted their plans with or without his involvement. Pilaf and the Red Ribbon Army would've gone towards their goals regardless of Goku, Piccolo Daimao's revival and Dr. Gero's machinations were purely a reaction to both of the former respective groups having their plans foiled and even though the Saiyans came to Earth because of Goku and Raditz's familial ties to him, they were the ones who sent him to Earth in the first place. The only threat to Earth legitimately on Goku's hands was Mecha Freeza, someone who was put down before he could kill even one person (bar that one soldier of his in the anime). It doesn't help that there was a far more justifiable reason that tied perfectly into the running theme of the arc, being how Goku's choice not to stop Gero when he could and the elements of himself that bled into Cell being a reminder of the flaws of his desire to fight stronger opponents. The part about Gohan being more dependable than he was does somewhat help make his decision more rational in him having judged the necessity for him to be unnaturally revived as not being there anymore does help, but not too much. The explanation that Kaio remained dead as to guide Goku around the Next World makes little sense either when someone who lives in that dimension and has such authority should be able to do so regardless of their state. The flashbacks of the main cast remembering Goku and how easily he took new situations is good, but doesn't 100% make up for his rationale before. Goku also says he'll be training with the many master martial artists of the Next World, something filler material would explore, though how that lines up in terms of consistency we'll get into soon..

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Episode 193 - It seems weird Yamucha would want to wish a necklace for the imaginary girl he's dating. A high profile baseball star like him should be able to rake in the Zeni like it's nothing. Kuririn's wish shows his good nature and sets up the potential for a relationship between him and #18. Shame the steps for it got ignored through a timeskip because Toriyama doesn't like to write romance at all. Tenshinhan says during his farewell that he probably won't see any of the group ever again. This would make sense with his goal of catching up to Goku now being pointless and him not really being the type to socialise without reason, though the nature of his declaration plays off more like Toriyama trying to write him out of the story. It stands out in particular when considering he'd have Tenshinhan removed from the plot in a more natural way in the early Boo Arc.
The scene of everyone seeing Trunks off does well in bringing a conclusion to the main plot of the arc and really did help it feel like a conclusive end of an era. I'm still glad it continued with the Boo Arc for some of the elements it brought to the series, though it's understandable why many wished this could have been the final arc.

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Episode 194 - Trunks' events in the future aren't that necessary when the outcome was inevitable, though it is a good send off to his character. His time in the series ending here (until Super) helps his reputation as a fan favourite as it meant he never overstayed his welcome or got reduced to a background character like so many other members of the main cast. The short scenes we get of #17 and #18 also help show their different personalities to their present selves that thus far hadn't been shown in detail within one of the numbered episodes, the scene of #17 being about to turn an old man's gun on him showing how much of an intimidating villain he could've been and #18 destroying a city over losing at a computer game (surprised they still have those in the apocalypse) showing the immature nature they possess. The anime also changes the time gap between the deaths of that timeline's #17/#18 and Cell to a few months instead of 3 years, most likely to present the scene of Goku at the end and his events at the Anoyoichi Budokai linearly as well as maybe to tidy up Movie 9's continuity without having to make character redesigns on account of the 3 year timeskip.

---

So, that's the Cell Arc complete. Despite the arc's superficial similarities to The Terminator, there's a film I consider it more relevant to compare it to; Spider-Man 3, of all things. Both the Cell Arc and that film had great premises and could have potentially been the best parts of their series, but ended up being damaged too much by some dumb plot decisions and company influences clashing with the creator's intent. You can see this with how the Cell Arc added a good method of introducing a new threat when it came to #19 and #20's energy absorption, some decent character moments that propelled the plot forward and some strong themes of family and the flaws of the main cast. However, a lot of these elements are damaged by plot holes such as Cell's time travel, the Room of Spirit and Time in general and other things such as the Shin Kikoho that really show the arc as far less consistent than those that came before it, a lot of which is owed to Toriyama being forced to change his plans constantly through editorial pressure. This also made the focus of the arc inconsistent as whilst the main idea of the Artificial Humans being the threat, the individuals and nature of them shifted far too wildly and a lot of it was through as contrived a method as time travel, with some of the interesting concepts such as energy absorption or lack of Ki gradually getting scrapped as the arc moved towards Cell. For all the issues the Boo Arc would have in changing focus from one thing to another, it would at least have a more consistent through line when it came to who was the main threat of the arc. It also doesn't help that what good elements it had have, for the most part, been done better in the Chimera Ant Arc of Hunter X Hunter, particularly with the premise of Cell being executed to true perfection with Meruem. Overall, I'd rate the arc about a 4-4.5/10. I wouldn't say the anime would change that as, whilst I'd consider it better for some of the training scenes, days of peace and not having the massive #19 and #20 retcon, it has so many minor issues through filler material that they all pile up to the extent of almost evening things out.
Now, onto the Other World filler.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Episode 195 - One of the oni states clearly that it's martial artists who are allowed to retain their bodies after death, suggesting that they are the only exceptional people who can do so. It makes sense as other souls would have no need for them, though it does have a bit of what I'd dub "Yu-Gi-Oh card game syndrome" in that the main focus of a work is treat as the most important task in the universe. On the subject of bodies, Cell still having his is a pretty big plot hole when it was only 3 episodes ago that Goku explicitly said Cell wouldn't retain his body after death. Yes, there was the filler with the Ginyus in the Freeza Arc, but Kaio requested they be brought to his planet and it's natural to assume he had their bodies restored for this. I'll give it some leniency when considering the first chapter/episode to introduce the afterlife had it stated that Raditz caused a ruckus before Enma defeated him, so maybe the souls of fighters retain their bodies until their judgement. Considering that, however, Cell having his body after being sent to Hell makes no sense, especially when Goku was the first person Gozu and Mezu had seen with a body in Hell in centuries despite him having made it so that many fighters such as Tambourine would've been sent there.
Freeza also exclaims that he can't believe Goku has become so strong when seeing him beat the Ginyus, suggesting each of the Ginyu Tokusentai is now probably at least on par with SSJ Namek Goku. This would be somewhat easy to swallow when they did retain their bodies thanks to Kaio, but it also suggests Freeza and Cold are still above them, showing they retained their bodies from day 1 of death. Again, a plot hole that isn't even attempted to be explained when the whole purpose of this filler to give Toriyama more time on the manga would've benefitted both internally and from a business angle by spending time on such explanations. What's more, there's also the infamous "Black haired SSJ" Goku. Yes, this was originally his Super Saiyan form before Toei decided they wanted to keep it a surprise to Paikuhan, but keeping the hairstyle and aura intact to make it seem like some intermediate mode without explanation is a problem.
I don't have a problem with Paikuhan being capable of easily beating Cell. If anything, I'd be in favour of it when the masters of the Next World were being hyped up as unbelievable. Problems only come from it in later episodes where Goku can fight on par with him, which we'll get to.

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Episode 196 - The depictions of the short fights in the first few rounds of the Anoyoichi Budokai ruins the integrity of the premise. We've constantly been told that these are the masters of the Next World who should be unbelievable, yet most of them are easily beaten by manoeuvres that would be considered juvenile even for 21st TB competitors. For instance, the quick manner in which Chapchai is beaten despite putting up a good fight against Olivue at first, or how that one fighter didn't realise he was about to hit his head on a moon. This is further damaging when we're not only told that many of these fighters have been training on Dai Kaio's planet for centuries or millennia, but we were told in the Saiyan Arc that 158 days of training on Kaio's planet would be like several thousand years of Earth training. Considering Dai Kaio's planet is even more prestigious, some of these fighters would have the equivalent of millions of years of fighting experience, yet even the better ones seem to just be more of the same of what we've seen before in martial arts skill.

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Episode 197 - Going back to the main point of this being just to fill time, it seems strange Toei would choose to skip straight to the quarter-finals when they could have easily used it to slowly build up or show off more of these martial arts masters. For instance, despite being told how long Migoren and Sate have trained on Dai Kaio's planet, both of them get eliminated offscreen. This focus on just getting to the battles shows another flaw about this arc, being how absolutely lacking in characterisation most of the new characters are. For instance, there's nothing to Olivue beyond "strong kind fighter" and Paikuhan's "stoic but respectful" approach is a trope we've seen many times before in the series with characters who had far more going for them internally. Getting back to the part about skipping over the other matches, this causes a minor plot hole. Goku seems to find Aqua weak and is unaware of his water abilities. Together, these make no sense as Aqua was clearly able to get to the quarter-finals and, if it was purely through his ability, Goku would be prepared for it. This is why skipping to the quarter-finals was a mistake. You then have Goku being able to use the Taiyoken, despite it being shown each time it's used that the sun is required to reflect the sunlight and there is no sun in the sky when it's performed here.
Paikuhan VS Olivue is closer to what the Anoyoichi Budokai should've been with Goku being in awe at them. Unfortunately, it falls short of fully achieving this by how limited their fighting styles are with them just showing some typical clashes without any sort of unique aspect to their style or any creative techniques, despite Paikuhan having shown two worth utilising when he beat Cell. This is made even more problematic by the narrator saying at the end that the martial artists of the Next World have power and techniques beyond the imagination. Sure, inflating your body to a great mass or covering an area in water are better than the standard Ki blast fare, but if this is what counts as being "beyond the imagination" then most of the abilities in the Red Ribbon Army Arc alone may as well be considered some sort of mind-melting event. 2