#caroni

First off, we see Trunks handing out senzu beans to the others.   Once again, I find it really gross when they just stuff a bean into their tiny-tiny mouths and it looks like the thing is so big they could choke on it.    

Starting off, it looks like things are playing out like Cell fight with Goku, where most of the battle is two evenly matched guys struggling to land a blow.    The difference is that Cell’s trying a lot harder this time, and Gohan’s not smiling.   

Then there’s a part where they just punch each others’ fists, which makes it seem like they’re evenly matched, but really, how much skill would it take to do this on purpose?   What’s really happening here is that Gohan is mirroring Cell’s offense, blocking him in such a way as to make it clear that Cell can’t hit him and he never will.  

At this, Piccolo realizes why Goku wanted to fight first, even though his plan was always for Gohan to actually save the day.    By fighting Cell first, Goku gave Gohan a chance to see Cell in action, so that he’d be familiar with Cell’s fighting style.   

But Goku doesn’t see it that way.    I mean, I’m pretty sure Piccolo is right and Goku went first to give Gohan an extra edge if he needed it, but Gohan’s so powerful now that it really doesn’t matter.  

Meanwhile, the rest of the world has no idea what’s happening right now, because ZTV lost their connection with Jimmy Firecracker and Larry.   Triangle Woman and the others begin to fear the worst.

Look at this GIANT-ASS TV.   I think it’s easy to overlook this detail, since all these shots of civilians fearfully watching the screen sort of run together.   But geez.    This TV is meat-normous.   

At one point during the fight, Satan’s group runs to avoid the combatants, but Piroshki freezes up and nearly gets caught in the crossfire.

Cell stikes...

But no sale.   Gohan saves himself and Piroshki at the same time.  

And now Cell is starting to get flustered.    Yeah, it looks like they’re fighting evenly, except Cell is the one losing his cool, basically admitting that he can’t land a blow.    Gohan, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to care, which implies that he could hit Cell whenever he wants, and he just hasn’t done it yet.   

So then Cell threatens to reveal his true power for the first time.    This shocks everyone, because Cell’s been eating their lunch ever since he became perfect, and he still hasn’t been trying until now?

This is why I don’t buy the idea that Goku could have found a way to win if he’d just eaten a senzu bean or tried a little harder.    Cell was hustling him from the start, and Goku knew the whole time.    He only fought Cell so Gohan could benefit from watching the battle, and to satisfy his own interests as a martial artist.   Not that Goku would have complained if he had won, but he knew he was outmatched the day he came out of the Time Chamber.  

So Cell starts powering up, and the whole planet starts shaking, and Mr. Satan keeps insisting it’s all a big trick.

Here’s the weird thing about the Japanese score of this episode.   They play the Spirit Bomb theme from Movie 7.    Start this video at about 4:53 and take a listen.

I mean, of all the things to play... Cell’s the villain, and they went with something uplifting.     Maybe they were trying to be ironic?  

So after all of that, Cell asks Gohan what he thinks.

And Gohan doesn’t care. 

So Cell demonstrates by hitting Gohan in the mush, and it’s super fast and brutal.    One of the most awesome punches in the series.... or it WOULD HAVE BEEN...

Only it doesn’t hurt Gohan at all, and he responds with a punch of his own.

One.   

Then there’s this really dumb part where Trunks is reacting to this, and Goku just sort of floats down in front of him without moving otherwise.   This is based on a panel from the manga, but I have no idea why they thought they needed Goku to move in this shot.    It’s just dumb.   

Cell finally recovers from the shock enought to get pissed, and he tries to hit Gohan again, only--

Two.  

Then Cell falls on his ass.     Gohan took his hardest blow and didn’t even flinch, and Cell got hit twice and he can’t even stand up.  

Also he coughs up some green stuff.   I thought he had purple blood, but who knows with this guy.    He might have two circulatory systems.   

There’s a line in the dub here where Cell goes “He only made two punches that connected!   So why am I so... damaged?”   It seemed sort of awkward to me, so I always wondered what the original line was, and it’s pretty much the same thing.    Cell even says the word “damage” in English.    No wonder Funimation went to the trouble to keep it.  

What I love about all of this is that even the good guys are shocked.   I wasn’t sure I wanted to call it, but now that I’ve rewatched these episodes, I’m convinced that this is my favorite DBZ fight.    Team Four Star did a countdown last year and they mentioned how Gohan vs. Cell didn’t make the cut because it was so unbalanced.    First Cell dominates Gohan, then Gohan dominates Cell.     It’s a fair critique, but I don’t know, I really dig that.  Besides, most of the battles in DBZ sort of work that way.   This one just benefits from having Cell dishing out and taking the punishment.   

I don’t have a problem with the way TFS trimmed down the “Gohan wins” part of the battle.    In a situation like this, you basically have a couple of options.    You can whittle down this battle to just the parts where Gohan hits Cell, and turn it into this brutal takedown.    That’s DBZA Episode 60 Part 2.  Cell doesn’t even get to touch Gohan in that fight.   It’s awesome.