Manga
(NOTE: Hitoshi's TV series summaries start at episode 122 of Dragon
Ball Z, which begins with volume 28 of the manga. So, I'm
just going to include the personae lists here, up to volume 33.)
Dragon Ball volume 29.
New Characters:
#17 -- The young male android created by Dr. Gero. In Trunk's
future, #17 and 18 both terrorize Earth, and destroy everyone
before travelling to the past to kill Vejita and the rest of
the heroes. Wears a Red Ribbon jersey, torn jeans, and a
yellow scarf. Has earrings and shoulder-length black hair.
VERY strong. Is consumed by Cell in a later volume.
#18 -- Female android companion to #17. Is also consumed by Cell,
but later gets spit back out, and turned more normal. Settles
down with Kuririn and has his baby.
Super Saiya-jin Vejita -- After training in Capsule Corp's 300 g
gravity room, Vejita has achieved his dream. Now has blond
hair when in Super mode. Still has the same bad attitude, and
the need to be the strongest person in the universe.
Dragon Ball volume 30.
New Characters:
#16 -- The tall, muscular, red-eyed male android created by Dr. Gero.
He does not exist in Trunk's future. Gero is afraid of #16, and
doesn't want him activated. Gets destroyed by Cell.
First-Stage Cell: Created by Gero in Trunk's alternate future, for the
sole purpose of destroying Gokuu. Cell kills Trunks and takes the
time machine, and arrives four years before the appearance of
#19 and #20. He has samples of many of the Z Fighters' DNA,
and will become complete after consuming #17 and #18. Kind of
a humanoid lizard with a stinger tail.
Other notes:
The Z Fighters: This is a term, as far I can tell, coined by Hitoshi Doi
(at least, he's the first person I know who used it,) to describe
everyone on Gokuu's side, including Kuririn, Yamcha, Piccolo, and
Vejita.
Dragon Ball volume 31.
New Characters:
Ultra Namek-jin Piccolo: Combined with Kami-sama, Piccolo is faster and
stronger. Physically the same.
Second-Stage Cell: After consuming #17, Cell looks a little more human,
and is a lot more powerful.
Ultra Saiya-jin Vejita: Stronger, but not much different.
Ultra Saiya-jin Trunks: Stronger than Vejita, and doesn't use his sword
anymore.
Other notes:
The Room of Spirit and Time: This is the room at Kami-sama's location (at
the top of Karin Tower) where 1 year inside equals 24 hours of real
time. The gravity is 10 times Earth's, and the air is 1/4
Earth's density. In here, when a Saiya-jin trains, the
Saiya-jin's rage can cause him to reach the next level of power
(ie -- from a Super Saiya-jin to an Ultra Super Saiya-jin.)
Normally, there is a house (normally equipt) which is surrounded
by white space as far as one can see. The white-space area is
about the size of Earth. Lastly, there is a 48 hour
time-limit on the Room; if someone stays inside longer, the
door disappears and that person becomes trapped.
Originally, no one was ever able to last a full year in the room,
but Trunks, Vejita, and Piccolo all last that long while training
for the Cell Game. In fact, Vejita returns to the room several
times over the 9 days prior to the Cell Game. (The first time,
Gokuu could only last 1 month, the second time, he and Gohan
only need to be in the room for about 10 months.)
Super Saiya-jin: This was supposedly a legendary power level. The last
time this had happened was on the Saiya planet, 1000 years before.
Then, Gokuu, Vejita, and Trunks all become Super Saiya-jin within
a couple of years. With volume 31, comes the introduction of the
idea that the heroes can go beyond Super Saiya-jin to become
something else. (Ultra Super Saiya-jin, I guess.)
Dragon Ball volume 32.
New Characters:
Third-stage Cell: After consuming #18, Cell becomes complete. He has
Piccolo's ability to regenerate himself, Gokuu's teleport and
Kamehame-ha, the cyborg's power levels, and the ability to
easily destroy the planet. However, while he'd been programmed to
fight Gokuu, he considers that irrelevent now. He wants the
chance to prove himself stronger than anyone else before
killing everyone. So, he declares the "Cell Game," and waits
for Gokuu to exit the Room of Spirit and Time.
Kamicollo: Gokuu's name for the combined Piccolo/Kami-sama.
Combat techniques:
Hell's Flash: #16's energy blast attack, fired from his forearms.
Shin-Kikou-hou: Tenshinhan's self-killing energy attack, with 'shin'
in front of it (shin == new.)
Other notes:
Robot Controller: Originally, Dr. Gero had built a remote control unit
intended for destructing #17 and #18 if either of the two ever
got out of hand. However, #17 destroyed the controller
shortly after being activated. Buruma and her father succeeded
in building a new unit, which they give to Kuririn. But, he
has to be within 10 meters of the robots for the controller to
work.
Super Saiya-jin: Saiya-jin, since they are not normal Earthlings,
don't age and grow quite like everyone else. When they become
Super Saiya-jin, their hair pretty much stops growing altogether.
Dragon Ball 33
New Characters:
Ultra Saiya-jin Gokuu: Probably stronger than Trunks, but not much more.
Ultra Saiya-jin Gohan: Stronger than everyone, with a crackling white
aura. Can defeat the Third-Stage Cell, but only when he becomes
angry enough. Still doesn't like to fight, but has enough
Saiya-jin blood that it can overpower him.
Other notes:
Tenkaichi-budoukai: Kamesennin states that in the first budoukai,
Gokuu had lost to Jackie; 5 years later, Gokuu lost to
Tenshinhan; 3 years after, Gokuu beat Piccolo. These dates
don't match up with those gathered from earlier volumes, and
Kamesennin also says that there hadn't been a
Tenkaichi-budoukai since then. This counterdicts the idea
that the Budoukai is a consistent event that takes place every
3 years. However, this information is unique to the TV series,
and is not to be taken seriously.
Earth's New Dragon Balls: Piccolo can not separate to allow Kami-sama
to reactivate the Earth's Dragon Balls, so Dende becomes the
new Kami-sama. The Dragon Balls created by Dende are the same
size as the old ones, but can now grant 2 wishes, while still
resurrecting whole groups of people per wish. They also
show up on Buruma's Dragon Radar.
Emperor: The dog that was the world's ruler during the fight with
Demon King Piccolo, is still in charge during the Cell Game. He
remembers the young Gokuu, and recognizes Ma Junior on TV.
Driving: In the TV series, one episode is dedicated to Piccolo and Gokuu
learning to drive. This does not happen in the manga. In fact,
on page 96, Gokuu is shown to be at least a competent driver.
Clothing: On page 146, the Z Fighters are shown in a group. Tenshinhan
has kept his clothing in the same style, having rejected the
option of wearing the same outfit as his killer, Vejita. Vejita
and Trunks both wear the modified Saiya-jin combat suits that
Buruma created. Kuririn still has the fighting uniform that shows
he's a student of Kamesennin, and Gokuu has returned to the same
style, but no longer has a kanji on it. Gohan respects his former
teacher -- Piccolo -- a LOT, and wants to wear an identical outfit.
Story: (Hitoshi's summaries end just before the end of the volume.)
Cell has batted Mister Satan out of the ring, and Gokuu is stepping
in. The announcer is panicking, and asks Satan to comment on having
lost. The pro wrestler says that he slipped. The two argue over the
fate of the Earth, and Vejita is stunned at realizing that Satan's power
level hadn't changed at all -- in fact, Vejita can't believe that the
idiot who has absolutely no power at all is called the World's Champion.
End of story.
Trunks, The Story
It is the future. #17 and #18 have been wreaking havok on the world.
21-year-old Gohan and 14-year-old Trunks are training. They call it
quits for the day, and kill time talking about Gohan's having escaped
the androids, and Buruma's having made Gohan's new uniform in the same
style as the dead Gokuu's. Suddenly, a fireball engulfs part of the
city below them. The androids have returned to this part of the
country. Gohan switches over to Super Saiya-jin mode, and knocks Trunks
unconscious when the boy insists on tagging along. Gohan wants there to
be at least one fighter in the world, if things go wrong.
#18 complains about there not being anyone to kill, as #17 keeps
blasting away. The game is no fun anymore. Gohan shows up, and #18
laughs at #17's having been kicked aside. It's been one year since
Gohan had escaped, and the man intends on ending the androids' rampage.
But, #17 is amused, and says that he's only been fighting at 1/2
strength. Gohan is stunned, and #17 states that he's going to kill the
man. Trunks comes to, realizing that he can't sense Gohan's power anymore.
Gohan is found in the city, dead.
3 years later, Trunks is returning to Capsule Corp. with a lot of
food he's purchased. Buruma talks about the time machine she's been
working on -- 8 months in the making, charging up. She can't test it,
and assumes that it will work as designed. The mother and son argue
over Trunk's plan to attack the androids, and are interrupted by a radio
announcement. The androids have returned again. Trunks flies off, and
gets beaten. He comes to in a hospital. He decides to follow Buruma's
wishes to go to the past. She reminisces about the powerful Gokuu, who
had died from the heart disease so long ago. Trunks wants to meet his
father, too, but Buruma is not so upbeat about that idea.
Time passes, and Trunks gets the medicine from his mother, and
prepares to enter the time machine.
-- Curtis H. Hoffmann
Oct. 30, 1993
Anomalies:
Over time, there have been a few conspicuous anomalies that have
showed up in the series. The main ones have been the silly attacks and
defences that never occur again -- Gokuu's pinwheel flight that propels
him back into the budoukai ring; a whirlwind punch; and Piccolo's
growing to 400 feet tall.
Sensu seeds take a certain time to harvest, and there only seem to be
a small handful at any given time. But, near the Cell game, the group
keeps getting as many of the seeds as they need at the moment.
#18 gets her old clothes back, without any explanation, on page 71,
volume 31. It's to be assumed that she stole them in a large city.
The entire idea of Saiya-jin having tails is inconsistant. Gokuu's
gets cut off a couple times, and it grows back. But, when Vejita and
Gohan lose theirs, the tails are gone for good. Trunks was supposedly
born with a tail, which Vejita removed early on -- but it's not shown in
the manga.
Gravity training, and the Room of Spirit and Time: In volume 31,
Piccolo states that Gokuu was only able to stay in the room for one
month, in the past. The only time this could have happened is during
the 3-year period in volume 14 when Gokuu was training under Kami-sama.
The Room has gravity 10 times Earth-normal -- this supposedly helps
people improve faster. However, when Gokuu dies later, and goes to
Kaiou-sama's planet, he acts like he's never been subjected to
abnormal gravity before. Ie. -- Toriyama has rewritten Gokuu's training
history, and overlooked this contradiction.
==============
The title page for chapter 367 shows the evolution of Dr. Gero's androids.
#1 - 7: Faceless failures.
#8: was a kindhearted creature that became Gokuu's friend, and
therefore was a failure.
#9 - 15: Failures. #13 - 15 were very close to being completed.
#16: Very little is known, but Dr. Gero says he's a failure. It might
be his personality, but there may be other things wrong, too.
(Machine base)
#17: He was too strong, and therefore a failure. (Human base.)
#18: Not as strong as #17, but she didn't listen to Dr. Gero, and was
therefore a failure. (Human base.)
#19: Finally, success. But, is killed by Vejita. (Machine base.)
#20: He made himself into a cyborg. Is killed by #17. (Part machine,
part human base.)
Cell: Dr. Gero wanted to create a cyborg with bio-technology. But,
he couldn't do it in the time he had, so he left the job to his
computer. Cel was made up of a combination of cells from
Gokuu, Vejita, Piccolo, Freeza, and Freeza's father. From
this body, if he merges with #17 and #18, he would become
perfect.
(
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