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Kanzenban Title Page
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Chapter Information

Chapter Synopsis

Goku, Gohan, and Chi-Chi are having a picnic next to a lake, and Goku points out a huge fish in the lake. Gohan asks if it’s okay to be this carefree, and Goku tells him not to worry, it’ll probably all work out. Gohan doesn’t like the “probably”, but Goku assures him they can win, so there’s no point in training anymore. Chi-Chi tells them their lunch is ready, so they go to eat. Some time passes, and then they’re driving down a road. Goku says that all the shops are closed, and Chi-Chi says it’s because they think they’re all going to die in seven days, so they’re not working. Then a newsman comes on over the radio, and Goku says there’s someone working. The newsman says the Royal Army is on its way to 28 KS Point 5 to attack the monster called Cell. Goku yells at them to stop, since they’ll just be killed.

A bunch of tanks, planes, and soldiers approach Cell’s ring, and the foolish army has arrived. Cell flies out of the ring, and someone says he’s getting away. Cell lands on a nearby mountain, thinking he just doesn’t want his ring to get destroyed. Someone yells not to let him get away, and to start the offensive. A bunch of tanks and missiles are fired at Cell, and Goku’s family is listening to the play-by-play on the radio. The commander calls for the attacks to cease, as they’ve done enough. But, when the smoke clears, Cell is completely unscathed. Everyone tries to retreat, but Cell just waves his hand, and blows them all up. Cell thinks that was a waste of time, as Goku turns off the radio. Goku tells Chi-Chi and Gohan to go home, he has business with Piccolo. He then steps out of the car and teleports away.

When Goku arrives at God’s Palace, the first thing he asks is if Piccolo has been in the Room of Spirit and Time too (Vegeta must be in there now), since his level has gone way up. Piccolo says that he has, but he doubts he’s any match for Cell and Goku affirms it. Piccolo smirks and says he’s really blunt, and then asks why he came here. Goku asks Piccolo if he and God can split again now that they’ve reunited, since he wants to return all the people that Cell killed back to life. Piccolo says no, they’ve split once and can’t do it again. Goku had figured not, and then says he wants to find the planet the surviving Namekians went to. Surely someone there would be willing to come to Earth. Then they’d have another God, and the Dragon Balls would be restored!

Chapter Notes

Vehicles

• The Son family aircar, first seen in this chapter, is an original Toriyama design, though he notes in Daizenshuu 4: World Guide that it was influenced by the Subaru 360, which can be seen particularly well in the upper half of the vehicle. Toriyama notes that the wheels on the bottom are not themselves for propulsion, but to be able to position the vehicle (by pushing) after it lands, like casters. In-universe, the vehicle is fairly unremarkable, of an older style, and it has no special features in particular apart from the (analog dial-adjusted) radio.

Inside Jokes / Easter-Eggs

• The Son family car that debuts in this chapter is marked with the number “43”; this is the same number as the issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (1992 #43) in which it first appeared.
• There is a patch on the left shoulder of Goku’s jacket which has the number “59” on it; this number can be sounded out as “Go-Ku” using Japanese number-punning (goroawase), making it a joke on Goku’s name.

Author’s Comment

• Each issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump features short comments from the various series’ authors, giving fans a brief insight into their current thoughts, ranging from series-related announcements to trivial happenings in their personal lives. Akira Toriyama’s comments from this issue were:
  うっかり仕事場の整理を始めたら収拾がつかなくなり大慌て。大混乱の部屋に呆然です ＜明＞

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  When I absentmindedly started tidying up my workspace, I failed to get it under control and got really agitated. I’m speechless at this incredibly cluttered room. <Akira>

Page Breakdown

The majority of the Dragon Ball series was drawn in black and white, but chapters were occasionally published with color pages. This breakdown notes how many full-color, limited-color, and black-and-white pages appeared in this chapter. As the tankōbon volumes were not released with these colors intact, any color pages shown are taken from the kanzenban release.