It's been building up over many many hours. A villian capable of wiping out humanity has challenged the Earth's greatest heroes to one last series of battles. Their last hope rises to the challenge and does battle with the awful creature. All too soon, however, he shocks everyone by forfeiting the match, that is giving up. Everyone think's he's gone insane...if he can't beat this evil, then no one can. He says they're wrong. He says there's someone else who possesses the power to beat their enemy. This person is his own son.
But to you, this isn't a shock, and if you're my age you could probably name the hero, his son, and the villain. This is a story that will live on in my generation forever. That's right, it's Dragonball Z, so if you had no idea what I was talking about before, you do now. I was about 10 when this particular saga of the show aired...so, about the same age as its newly selected protagonist, Gohan. With Goku's choice, so began a battle that viewers would never forget.
I will be second to tell you that Dragonball Z is not the most eloquent or deep work of fiction out there...but that doesn't stop it, and the conclusion of this saga, from being a fantastic bit of it. I will digress and say that the Buu Saga is in fact my favorite, even more so now because I believe that's where Toriyama really let loose with his world and had fun with it, but I'd still say that Gohan Vs Cell is the most memorable battle in the series, and on that point a whole lot of people would probably agree with me. I'd go as far as to say this is the most iconic final battle of our time in almost any media. Obi-Wan vs Anakin, Harry vs Voldemort...among the host of final battles out there. But all of them had to do one thing...they had to not be Gohan Vs Cell.
Gohan begins his battle against Cell. At first, they seem to be evenly matched, but soon Cell takes hold of Gohan and starts beating him. Goku's son loses his edge quickly and seems to become fodder for his opponent...that is, until Gohan mentions, after a plea to Cell to stop the "pointless" battle, a certain bad temper that he has. When Gohan becomes angry, he unleashes a power that far exceeds anything he's done before, and naturally, Cell takes an interest in unleashing this in Gohan, believing it will be the perfect challenge for him. With this, the fight continues, and Cell takes full advantage of Gohan's peace loving ways by smashing him against every hard object he can find. Gohan barely fights back, either because he wants to remain true to his word or because Cell is now truly overwhelming him. This leads to Cell almost crushing the boy's skeleton. Still, Gohan doesn't fight back, so Cell flips the page in his villian's handbook and decides to go after Gohan's father and friends.
There are many points in this battle where you could sum things up with "and the rest is history" and this is one of them. There's a little narm involved getting to the next bit, in which Gohan is urged by the severed head of a previously defeated Android to "Let it go" (honestly though, one of the lines I remember best from the whole entire series). This drives Gohan over the edge, and he unleashes his power...some at first, which seems to disappoint Cell, but then Gohan really blows the roof off the house and his hair style gets much much cooler....which in the Dragonball Z universe means he can now punch through more buildings than he could before.
And this, quite simply, is the turning point in the battle. Gohan wipes out Cell's means of hurting his friends, and when he fixes his gaze on Cell, the villian shivers. Oh, and that's just the beginning. This my friends, begins one of the best moves by an action writer ever. Gohan uses his new power to dodge and deflect everything Cell throws at him. No punch hurts, no energy blast causes damage...the tables have turned. Cell grows angry with the boy, unleashing his full power as well, which stuns the other heroes. And Gohan? He says "Is that all you've got?" ("Whoopee" in the Shonen Jump manga). Everyone, heroes included, have underestimated Gohan, as he responds to Cell's power increase by throwing two powerful blows...enough to cause Cell to convulse, puke up blood, and fall on his ass a good few times, all the while muttering something about how it can't be happening.
And Gohan? He stands there with a straight face. Cell tries attacking again...and again...and each time Gohan knocks him back, keeping his straight face and his eyes locked on his opponent. Cell uses his friends' attacks against him, causing Gohan to perform feats the others thought impossible...without changing the expression on his face. Then Cell plays his trump card: he prepares an attack that will destroy the planet. So what does Gohan do? Fires the same attack, only bigger, outing Cell his horns, an arm, and a leg...and a sizeable portion of his villainous ego. Goku urges Gohan to destroy the monster, but Gohan refuses, saying that Cell needs to suffer. Of course, Cell has regeneration powers, and regrows his severed limbs in a few moments...and he gives all of his limbs a level in muscle, crashing down next to Gohan and threatening to end him.
And Gohan? I think he smirks here...but he continues to avoid the monster's attacks, finally delivering a devastating blow to the enemy...one that causes Cell to loses a tremendous amount of his power...reverting him to a weaker form entirely. At this point, Cell goes a little bit crazy, attacking Gohan despite his decreased power. He soon comes to realize that he's not the real monster here and suddenly wants only one thing: to get the hell away from this kid. Gohan won't have it, however, and Cell is finally forced into the corner.
And the rest is history. Well, of course, not really, as Cell inflates his body in a self destruct sequence that once again threatens the planet's safety. The catch? If Gohan so much as punches him, he'll explode. So Goku steps in and transports Cell to another planet where he explodes...leacing Gohan and the others on a quiet battlefield.
And the rest is history.....except that Cell does not show up in the land of the dead along with Goku and King Kai. Cell's alive, and returns to Earth stronger than ever, making a grand re-entrance by killing a hero and crippling one of Gohan's arms. This doesn't look good. This time, the heroes are all out of tricks and trump cards. Gohan will meet his father very soon....but then, Goku talks to his son, telling him to never give up.
And the rest is history. This is the second (arguably first) most true timing for this statement. Everyone knows what happens next. Gohan and Cell both fire a Kamehameha wave at each other in an explosion of blue light, and a massive tug of war begins with Goku's spirit guiding Gohan in this final clash. The other heroes try to distract Cell, which doesn't work until one hero in particular swallows his pride and throws an attack at Cell, giving Gohan just the moment he needs to blast him into blue oblivion.
That's really the end. If it sounds familiar, that's probably because it is. This style of final battle is used just about everywhere. The villain is winning, the hero gains a new power, and then they clash one final time. I can't tell you if Dragonball Z did it first, but they definitely did it the best, and in a way that has not been replicated to date. Sure it takes a long time, but the payoff is oh so sweet...sweeter, I might say, than a whole lot of other final battles. The narm, the yelling, the constant one-upping of power levels and energy blasts is all part of the grandeur of this spectacle.
What really gets me now, almost ten years later, is the transformation that Gohan undergoes when he makes the power jump that allows him to tear Cell a new asshole. When I was ten, it was another power up...really awesome, but yknow, it was still Gohan. When I'm nineteen, I see that Gohan's appearance and apparent power level wasn't the real thing that changed. Super Saiyan 2 Gohan is a different person. I was reading TV Tropes not too long ago, and they talked about how SS2 Gohan is high octane nightmare fuel: a scary, sadistic, cold fighter that tortures his victim like an insect that's just been sprayed with bug spray. I didn't really believe that...Gohan never came across as scary.
Then recently Youtube gave me a Gohan vs Cell video on my recommendations (I watched a lot of snippets of DBZ over the summer) and that's where this all came together for me, and I realized why this battle was so brilliant. Super Saiyan 2 Gohan is a bit sadistic...but he's not Hollywood sadistic...he's so much worse. Look at Bellatrix Lestrange...she's a sadist and she loves her job very very much, laughing and giggling loudly as she inflicts her pain. Gohan? No, his expression is straight faced the whole damn time. His eyes stay fixed on Cell wherever they are...and they're not looking at him nicely. This image would've haunted Cell's nightmares...had he lived to have any. Gohan gave no indication of what he was doing. He didn't confess to be playing with his victim, nor did he ever even really react to Cell's boasts and threats...only when asked to. For Gohan, until the end, was a gentle gentleman...who just happened to be able to kick copious amounts of ass when someone threatened the innocent.
That might be the craziest bit of it: Gohan's character remains largely intact. He's a different person, but he's the same guy. This isn't Majin Gohan or Dark Gohan or Fight Yourself Final Boss Evil Gohan. He's a good guy. I don't think I've ever seen a character be so good and so bad at the same time. Toriyama (the original author of the DBZ manga (where honestly the transformation is not as well done, if you ask me)) managed to avoid a cliche that would become very very common in the works of his peers and writers as a whole. There's no convoluted magic on this end, folks (on the actually power level end...well, this is DBZ). Gohan does not destroy Cell...he tears him down and rips him apart. He lets Cell use everything he's got, thinking nothing of it, showing that nothing that Cell does can change a damn thing anymore. That's how you beat a villain.
Now the other stages of the battle are pretty par for course...they're an early example of one epic final battle. The early stages build up tension very nicely, and the part where Cell tortures Gohan's friends are a now classic lesson in humanity. All "good" characters seem to fight more effectively when their loved ones are at stake. Gohan is no exception, and is an extreme example as his pacifism leads him to sit there and watch it all as it happens (which admittedly, challenges logic). Sure, nowadays this sort of thing seems antiquated and basic...but Gohan is an excellent hero to Cell's archetypal villain. As far as Cell goes, there's not much except for his origin and power level to separate him from Frieza...so he's not all that interesting except for his laundry list of abilities and real threat level.
Gohan Vs Cell is like an entire movie in one battle, especially when you watch the episodes as a whole and not as a "no filler" youtube series. Though it can drag out, it's all worth it. The drama's high and that makes for one hell of a battle. Gohan's development and overall badassery light this one on fire, and it's chock full of moments that live on in the fans who have seen it. The moment where Goku chooses Gohan as the next fighter, the moment where Gohan explains his powers to Cell, the moment where Android 16 tells him to let it all go, the moment where the newly transformed Gohan destroys the Cell Jrs, when Gohan deflects Cell's earthbound Kamehameha, frying him in the process, when Cell transforms again, when Gohan punches Cell so hard he barfs up Android 18, the moment where Cell blows himself up...and then that final clash of Kamehamehas...maybe you can forget what happens when Yamcha finds Android 20 in Gingertown, but you won't be forgetting this battle.
If it's been a long time since you've watched Dragonball Z, go ahead and find the episodes with this battle on Youtube (Im thinking it's Episodes 184-191). It's a good time to go back and revisit it, like thousands of others already have. It's a lot different now than it was, but in its own way, it's still brilliant, and I appreciate very much as I realize just how much influence the battles and action I envision has been from this one fight. Look at everything that came after it too (remember that the original version of this aired in Japan in the early 90s) and you'll see that maybe it was more than just us kids who were watching...what a very well played, satisfying battle. Part of me agrees with people that say this would have been a better end to the entire series.
No comments:
Post a Comment