A Hero's Farewell

is the twenty-third episode of the Cell Games Saga and the one hundred eighty-eighth overall episode in the uncut version of the Dragon Ball Z series. This episode first aired in Japan on June 2, 1993. Its original American airdate was December 19, 2000.
==Summary==
Gohan's awesome powers have proven to be too much for Cell. After being forced to regurgitate Android 18, Cell's perfect power starts to vanish. He desperately attempts to reach for 18, although Krillin barely yells out at Cell to not touch her before Piccolo stops him. Cell's body reverts to his incomplete form in a painful manner, while Mr. Satan's camera crew humorously attempts to commentate on the situation despite their camera equipment still being shot from Gohan's earlier transformation. Enraged with Gohan, Cell attacks him, but to no avail. Knowing that his chances of winning have disappeared with his perfect power, Cell engorges himself with a buildup of ki, in a last ditch effort to defeat Gohan by destroying himself and the Earth. Gohan then realizes that there is no way that he can save the Earth, and as a last resort, Goku steps in and decides to make the ultimate sacrifice.
After a heart-felt goodbye to his son and his friends, and requesting his son to look after Chi-Chi for him, Goku uses his Instant Transmission technique to transport Cell to King Kai's Planet moments before he explodes. Unable to stop himself, Cell destroys the tiny planet along with Goku, King Kai, Bubbles, and Gregory.
Back on Earth, Gohan and the other Z Fighters mourn Goku's sudden sacrifice. Realizing his own cockiness, Gohan blames himself for his father's death. Krillin comes to comfort Gohan and helps him up, when he realizes that he forgot Android 18; he leaves Gohan and goes to pick her up.
Meanwhile, Goku, King Kai, Bubbles, and Gregory are on the Snake Way, with King Kai also berating Goku for adding him and his pets towards his sacrifice for Earth. Goku then realizes that Cell's soul is not with them in the afterlife. After a startling revelation, King Kai realizes that if Cell is not with them, then Goku's sacrifice was in vain. Among the rubble of the destroyed planet, Cell regenerates. By destroying himself, Cell received Saiyan Power and regenerated into his perfect form once again. Cell also somehow absorbed Goku's incinerated remains, therefore gaining the knowledge of how to perform the Instant Transmission and returns to Earth. Gohan is still standing in the same position when a gust of wind appears, alongside a power up flash among the gust, causing Vegeta and Piccolo to recognize who was responsible in disbelief, as well as Future Trunks to wonder what was causing it before Piccolo revealed that "he" was back. Afterwards, Cell fully reveals his survival by mortally wounding Future Trunks and saying it is good to be back, shocking the Z Fighters.
==Major Events==
*Cell regurgitates Android 18 and reverts to his Semi-Perfect form.
*Goku, King Kai, Bubbles, Gregory, and Android 17 are all killed by Cell's self-destruction.
*Cell begins his final transformation via regeneration, thus becoming Super Perfect Cell.
*Future Trunks is mortally wounded by Cell's Full Power Death Beam.
==Battles==
*Gohan (Super Saiyan 2) vs. Cell (Semi-Perfect)
==Appearances==
===Characters===
*Goku
*Gohan
*Vegeta
*Future Trunks
*Krillin
*Tien Shinhan
*Yamcha
*Piccolo
*Mr. Satan
*Caroni
*Pirozhki	
*Miss Piiza
*Jimmy Firecracker
*Lionel
*Android 18
*King Kai
*Bubbles
*Gregory
*Master Roshi
*Bulma
*Trunks
*Cell
===Locations===
*Earth
**Cell Games Arena
**Kame House
*Other World
**King Kai's Planet
**Snake Way
===Objects===
*Battle Armor
*Champion Belt
*Halo
===Transformations===
*Super Saiyan
*Super Saiyan 2
===Techniques===
*Unforgivable! - A self-destruction technique capable of destroying an entire planet. Used by Semi-Perfect Cell in an attempt to destroy the Earth and the Z Fighters.
*Regeneration - Used by Cell to regenerate himself after self-destructing, using his nucleus.
*Instant Transmission - Used by Goku to transport the self-destructing Cell to King Kai's planet and by Cell to teleport back to Earth after regenerating.
*Full Power Death Beam - Used by a returning Super Perfect Cell, intending to kill a random Z Fighter. He ends up killing Future Trunks.
===Bruce Faulconer tracks===
*"Hyperbolic Time Chamber (soundtrack 1)" - When Gohan is beating Semi-Perfect Cell.
*"16 Rips Off Cell's Tail" - When Cell reverts into his Semi-Perfect Form.
*"16 Rips Off Cell's Tail" - When Super Saiyan 2 Gohan kicks Cell into the hole, in which Cell subsequently flies back up before being hit by Gohan.
*"16 Rips Off Cell's Tail" - When Cell starts self-destructing.
*"King Kai Dies" - When Cell self-destructs.
*"Frieza's Death" - When Goku sacrifices himself to save Earth from being destroyed by Cell's self-destruction.
*"Goku Dies" - When the Z Fighters mourn over Goku's sacrifice.
*"Goku's Spirit Bomb" - When Super Saiyan Gohan starts crying and blaming himself after Goku's sacrifice.
*"Cell Transforms" - When Cell returns to Earth.
==Differences from the manga==
*Due to Caroni, Pirozhki and Miss Piiza being created for the anime, all scenes involving them are exclusive to the anime.
*After regurgitating #18 in the anime, Cell grabs at her as if to re-absorb the android so as not to lose his Perfect Form. This and Krillin's protest, along with Piccolo stopping the former, isn't in the manga.
*In the manga, after Cell reverts to his Semi-Perfect Form, he immediately balloons himself up in preparation to Self-Destruct. In the anime however he first tries attacking Gohan only for it to be no use.
*Goku in the manga says "bye guys" just before teleporting Cell off the Earth in an act of sacrifice. In the anime, he specifically addresses his farewell to Gohan just before doing so.
*Gregory is shown as also being on King Kai's Planet and killed with the others. In the manga the character does not exist.
** On a similar note, the time between Goku's warping to King Kai's planet and Cell fully self-destructing was made slightly longer in the anime by having Goku and King Kai engage in small talk where the latter said that Goku could have at least called in and warned him that he'd be appearing with a currently self-destructing Cell first. In the manga, there wasn't any time for a conversation beyond Goku apologizing due to it being the only place he could think of to deliver Cell before Cell blew up and killed everyone on the planet.
*Master Roshi telling Bulma that he can no longer sense Goku's energy, and he must have died is exclusive to the anime.
==Trivia==
*This is the second time Goku dies, as he is killed in Cell's explosion along with King Kai, Bubbles and Gregory. The first time he died was in "Gohan's Rage".
**Goku is later revived again in "The Old Kai's Weapon".
*After dying, Goku finally reverts from his Super Saiyan form, having maintained it without changing back to normal for the last 20 episodes.
*This episode marks the first time Future Trunks dies in the series.
**The exact reasons why Cell attacked Future Trunks, or more specifically, whether he intended to do so, vary between the versions. In the initial Funimation dub, it is clearly intentional with Cell's line: "My aim is as good as ever! It's so good to be back!". In the Japanese version, as well as the remastered Funimation dub, however, it's implied that he had been firing randomly, as he says, "Who was it that I hit? Trunks?".
*In the Japanese version, Goku says his goodbyes to Gohan and the others in English.
==Gallery==
==Site Navigation==
es:Episodio 188 (Dragon Ball Z)
ca:Episodi 188 (BDZ)
pt-br:Adeus a todos!
fr:Dragon Ball Z épisode 188
it:Goku salva il pianeta
Category:Episodes
Category:Dragon Ball Z episodes
Category:Cell Games Saga
Category:Uncut Dragon Ball Z episodes