Dragon Ball Kai - Episode 81

Episode 81, "Vegeta's Full-Power Strike! But Cell's Terror Grows and Grows"

Just a small snack for Goku. Beef. It's what's for kindling.

*****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: Gohan continues training in his Super Saiyan form. Meanwhile, Vegeta prepares to fire a massive blast at Cell. He calls the attack "Final Flash". He fires it and it seems to overwhelm Cell. When the smoke and dust clears, a huge chunk of Cell's body is missing and Vegeta thinks he's obtained victory. However, Cell is bluffing at his injury, and regenerates. Vegeta fires at Cell frantically, but it does no damage. Cell knocks Vegeta out, and he reverts out of his Super Saiyan form. Trunks unleashes his power, his body transforming, bulking up considerably. Cell and Trunks size each other up and then begin their combat. Kuririn flies off with Vegeta, with Cell acknowledging that he knew Trunks steered their fight away from Vegeta on purpose. He tells Trunks that his interest is now with him. Trunks begins to power up even more.

NOT QUITE SO FINAL FLASH!lolwut

Comments:

Vegeta gets his ass handed to him here, and he knows it. You can see how desperate he becomes after a while, something we haven't seen since his fight with Freeza. Even his fight with Artificial Human 18 went better than this. Cell completely humiliates him by making him think he's winning and then curbstomping him, really playing off Vegeta's arrogance.

Wow, Ryo Horikawa really needs to lay off the smoking. It was okay back when Vegeta was dying on Namek, because Horikawa already sounds like he's suffering from some ailment, but during his Final Flash, it was a different kind of sad, especially given how amazing his delivery was in this scene in DBZ. After Suzuoki's death of lung cancer, you'd think he would have quit. I'm actually sort of worried about him.

Trunks finally becomes relevant in combat, taking Cell on fairly well for a while to distract him. Of course, it turns out that Cell knew all along and was playing along because he was no longer interested in Vegeta. I like this part, because it shows that unlike some other villains, Cell is pretty clued in on what his enemies are doing. And it makes sense that, being entirely out of Vegeta's league, he would think it wasn't even worthwhile to finish Vegeta off, especially not with a stronger opponent to test his power. Those are those Saiyan cells at work!

What made me laugh was Kuririn admonishing the unconscious Vegeta for his pride getting him in this situation. You know, Kuririn, this is your fault, too. If you had destroyed 18 like planned, Cell wouldn't have reached his Perfect Form. I understood where you were coming from, but you're in no position to criticize Vegeta.

I love the scene right at the beginning of the episode with Gohan training, Gohan in his Super Saiyan form, a symbolic pulse of water beneath him. I think that's supposed to represent change. Of course, Goku interrupts this serious moment with the need to eat, and Gohan goes too far cooking the meat. Surely Popo made at least a George Foreman Grill available. They shouldn't have to go a year without cooked meat, damn it. Nobody should! The later tag game was adorable. Even though it's Masako Nozawa talking to herself, it doesn't seem like it most of the time.

Also, apparently Artificial Human 16, despite being completely robotic, is sophisticated to have complex inner thoughts. Frightening.

Suddenly, Cell's not half the man he used to be... or he is... I guess... QUALITY SHOWDOWN

Overall Score:

4 out of 5



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