The Dragon Ball franchise is home to some of the greatest villains in anime history, with Dragon Ball Z in particular harboring perhaps the best of the best. Between Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu, DBZ has no shortage of fantastic villains – doubly so when you throw the non-canon movies into consideration, and get the likes of Turles, Cooler, Broly, and Janemba to work with.
In a new installment of the Toriyama Archives, a column on the Official Dragon Ball Site that spotlights rare artwork Toriyama drew for Dragon Ball during his career, DBZ‘s greatest antagonist returns. Cell is officially back, and he’s just as Perfect as ever, as Dragon Ball spotlights the series’ most compelling and arguably best-written villain.
Cell Returns in a New Toriyama Archives
The latest entry of the Official Dragon Ball Site’s Toriyma Archives is a 2005 piece of promo art Akira Toriyama drew for a Cell figure that came packaged with a DVD release in Japan. The Dragon Ball website makes a point to note that this is “one of the rare illustrations in which Akira Toriyama utilized digital coloring!” The art itself is of Perfect Cell pointing off-screen, likely before the Cell Games, posed against clouds in the sky.
After decades of rumors, it was confirmed last year by Toriyama’s former editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, that he originally wanted to end the manga at the end of the Cell Games. Toriyama also infamously grew to hate drawing Cell, due to his black spots and otherwise complex design. He clearly had a soft spot for the villain, however, as evidenced by Cell Max in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero essentially giving Semi-Perfect Cell a second chance at life.
Cell’s Personality Mirrors Whoever He’s Fighting
A fun detail present in the Cell Saga a lot of Dragon Ball fans miss is that Cell’s personality directly mirrors whoever he’s fighting and happens to be the protagonist of the story at the time. When Cell first appears while Piccolo is the main point of view character, he’s mysterious, demonic, and has his cunning played up. Once Cell becomes Semi-Perfect, he starts acting petulant, impatient, and power-hungry – much like Vegeta, who takes over the plot during this point.
After Cell becomes Perfect, Toriyama actually draws him with Goku-like expressions in the manga, but when he fights Trunks, he cleverly holds back his full power and baits Trunks out. It’s also worth noting that Future Trunks is the smartest Z-Fighters, and Cell kills him in his previous timeline by ambushing him. When Cell fights Goku during the Cell Games, he wants nothing more than a good, clean fight. And once Gohan begins dominating Cell, Cell’s the one who loses control of his emotions.
As an amalgamation of Dragon Ball‘s greatest martial artists, it’s not at all a coincidence that Toriyama has Cell model his mannerisms and personality around who he’s dealing with. It presents Cell as the ultimate foil and rival for each of the main Z-Fighters, forcing them to confront a part of themselves. Ironically, Goku is the only one who never stood a real chance against Cell at any point, which is perfectly fitting considering one of Dragon Ball‘s main themes is accepting there will always be someone better and that you can’t win them all.
- TV Show(s)
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Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball DAIMA
- First TV Show
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Dragon Ball
- Created by
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Akira Toriyama
- Latest TV Show
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Dragon Ball DAIMA
- Upcoming TV Shows
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Dragon Ball DAIMA
- First Episode Air Date
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February 26, 1986
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
