"GIVE MONEY, RECEIVE DRAGON BALL!"
—Perfect Cell
Original Airdate: July 24, 2019
The story races through the Cell Saga.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptation Distillation: Reduces episodes 43-60 down to six minutes.
- Badass Decay: Invoked by Piccolo. When Gohan wonders what's next for him now that Goku is dead, Piccolo states he peaked here. When Gohan lampshades that he gets stronger in the Buu Saga though, Piccolo points out he does, but he doesn't. Considering how Gohan is treated in the Buu Saga, Piccolo's statement doubles as a Call-Forward.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- Mr. Satan admits that his characterization isn't really changed all that much from his canon self.
- When Gohan goes Super Saiyan II, Cell in confusion asks if they just entirely skipped the sequence with the Cell Juniors.
- Super Perfect Cell launches into a brief rant about the episode itself, complaining that it keeps skipping over his best scenes, and bitterly mentioning how Team Four Star had ranked him as merely the fourth best villain in the franchise, under King Piccolo, during DBcember a series of videos on their YouTube channel.
- Gohan wondering whats next for him is shot down by Piccolo, who says Gohan peaked here as a character. When Gohan points out he still gets stronger, Piccolo says he technically doesn't. This being a massive reference to how Gohan was supposed to replace Goku as The Protagonist after the Cell Saga, but due to the decision to bring Goku back Gohan succumbed to Badass Decay and got pushed to the side in favor of Goku during the Buu Saga.
- Call-Back:
- During his first fight with Piccolo, Cell proudly declares that he's "nine guys".
- The PornHub screen includes the scene where Trunks splits Mecha Freeza in half, and it's titled "Hot Young Guy Splits F.A.G. in Half". F.A.G., of course, means freaky alien genotype, which started as something Krillin called Freeza.
- Cell sarcastically wishes Tien a happy Hanukah, as the latter had previously been established to be Jewish.
- The Cameo: Alucard shows up asking if they're still doing "Cell VS" videos. They're not, so he leaves.Goku: I like that guy's coat.
- The Comically Serious: Tien, of course. It also references his line in Kai 1.Tien: Hey, dick lips! This is the last cool thing I'll ever do. There is no joke.
- Continuity Nod: The PornHub screen includes the scene from the original Dragon Ball where young Goku touches Bulma's panty-covered butt, as well as the scene where Master Roshi spies on Bulma in the bathroom.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Several times, due to it's fast pace.
- After becoming Perfect Cell, he curb-stomps Krillin, Vegeta and Trunks in short order by bitch-slapping them.
- Gohan returns the favor and slaps the perfect out of Cell after going SSJ2.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: As per tradition, the Solar Flare attack contains one: a close-up of a Freeza toy with a spring-loaded projectile-firing mouth.Krillin: Oh my god; is his mouth his dick?Cell's Crotch: SOLAR FLARE!Krillin: AH, DICK IN MY EYES!
- Gratuitous Japanese:
- Cell introduces himself to Android 17 as his "onii-chan". The Canadian subtitles also call him "IMOUTO 17".
- Vegeta and Cell let out loud "NANI?"s a piece.
- Groin Attack: An inversion, in that Imperfect Cell's crotch talks again and attacks with Solar Flare, blinding everyone.
- Insult Backfire: Vegeta’s attempt at a Your Mom jab on Goku falls flat because, as the latter indignantly points out, he doesn’t have a mom. And then Vegeta remembers that neither does he.
- Low Count Gag: In the PornHub scene, all of the extra vids have view counts in the tens or hundreds of thousands... except for Yamcha's, which only has 35. Still the fact that it has a full 100% like rating is nice at least.
- Mood Whiplash: Goku's death is played off sadly with the operatic death music from DBZ Kai, and then is immediately followed up with Perfect(er) Cell killing Trunks unceremoniously, set to the Ultra Instinct theme itself from Super.
- Mythology Gag:
- The year-long delay before Episode 60 is alluded to.
- In the PornHub scene, the video of Gero stabbing Yamcha has only 35 views. In the abridged series this happened in episode 35.
- Offscreen Inertia: Between 3 and 3.5, Cell really did just sing the entirety of "All Star", and Piccolo wordlessly sat through the entire thing.
- Precision F-Strike: Goku gets two (censored), the first time in ANY TFS production Goku makes an actual swear; telling Semi-Perfect Cell he's going to f(BEEP)ing die, and telling Mr. Satan (along with Perfect Cell) to "shut the f(BEEP) up". Whenever Goku said one of these swears, it would be censored by a scouter beep rather than the usual bleep sound effect, and the first one puts a Dragon Radar over his mouth.
- Rage Breaking Point: Gohan hits his again. This time however, its Goku saying the episode was gonna abruptly end at Gohan about to fight Cell and adding the next episode would take another year to come out, Gohan powering up even destroying the "To Be Continued" message.
- Running Gag: Perfect Cell gets his own version of the original Nappa line:Perfect Cell: I am perfect. And you will quote everything I say.
- Shout-Out:
- During the Piccolo/Android 17 fight, Android 18 remarks they're now in Looney Tunes due to the cartoony nature of the punches. This then devolves into the cast name-checking their favorite characters.
Android 16: I like the Road Runner.Imperfect Cell: And I like Pepé Le Pew!Piccolo: I'm a fan of Sam Sheepdog.- The absorption of Android 17 becomes a video on PornHub. His exchange with Cell right beforehand also references the "Pomf" meme.
- Instead of singing "My Way" by Frank Sinatra, Cell sings "My Way" by Limp Bizkit when he's killed.
- Just like what happened in the main series, Dragon Ball Fighter Z is referenced. Specifically in Tien's "last cool thing I'll ever do" scene. They go all in on it, with the same UI (with custom character icons showing Cell Saga Tien and Imperfect Cell), Tien's health going down as he uses Shin Kikoho and JustinBriner's "Down" as he passes out.
- Spared by the Adaptation: They forgot Android 16's death, as Gohan went Super Saiyan 2 almost immediately, so he just appears from nowhere in The Stinger, pointing out how he didn't die in this version.
- To Be Continued... Right Now: After Goku stating that Gohan will get to fight Perfect Cell in a year from now, we cut to a "To Be Continued" card... and then we hear Gohan screaming loudly, enough to shatter the card itself, leading into Gohan's first SSJ2 transformation because of it.
- Villain Respect: Semi-Perfect Cell, rather than contemptuous dismissal or a state of being nettled, answers Tien's "last cool thing I'll ever do" with "Respecc".
- You Keep Using That Word: Trunks is left confused by how the Cell Games is supposed to function as a "tournament" when it essentially just amounts to a one-on-one match between Cell and Goku.Cell: Hey, don't hate the Cell Player...hate the Cell Games.
- Your Mom: When Goku confronts Vegeta about trashing the Lookout:Vegeta: I F*CKED YOUR MOM!Goku: I don't have a mom!Vegeta: Neither do I... (sheds Manly Tears as sad piano music plays)
