Cell

"*You dare challenge ultimate perfection?!*"
— "Combine Your Strength! The Final Kamehame-Ha!"

**Cell** (セル) is a major supervillain who comes from a future timeline in the Dragon Ball manga and the Dragon Ball Z anime. He is the ultimate creation of Dr. Gero, designed to possess all the abilities of the greatest fighters to have ever inhabited or visited Earth; the result is a "perfect warrior", possessing numerous favorable genetic traits and special abilities. Cell is one of the few Red Ribbon Androids not directly completed by Dr. Gero; the others are Android 15, Android 14, Android 13, and possibly Android 8. Cell, Android 13, Android 14, and Android 15's completions involve Dr. Gero's Super Computer.

## Overview

### Concept and Creation

Cell was named after the English word for "cell" because he absorbs humans and transforms. Insects served as the model for Cell's design. Besides his design, the way in which he hatches from an egg and sheds his skin as he grows was also based on insects. Thus Cell very much resembles an insect in both in appearances and in the way he goes through different stages of metamorphosis.

### Personality

"*You fool! Don't you realize yet you're up against the perfect weapon?!*"
— "Save the World"

Cell has as an original personality with various other characters' personalities added in; the computer redesigned the weak parts of the original personality, adding in the personalities of various different characters to make him the perfect weapon. Throughout the Androids Arc, Cell's personality changes drastically with each transformation. At first, Cell's desire to complete his evolution by absorbing both Android 17 and Android 18 is what fuels him. Upon reaching his final form, his eagerness to test the limits of his newfound power is what defines his character. Cell is unique among most villains of the series in that he is quite sophisticated. Because of his genetic composition from other warriors, he is able to psychologically manipulate those warriors and exploit their weaknesses to his advantage. He also found the Dragon Balls' reviving ability to be a nuisance, as evidenced by his relief when he learned that the Dragon Balls were rendered inert due to Piccolo and Kami's fusion.

Initially, Cell is completely single-minded in pursuit of his goals and is very cautious, sneaky, cunning and calculating in achieving his main goal of perfection. Upon reaching his first transformation, he becomes far more brash and impulsive in his actions, relying less on strategy and more on brute force. Upon reaching perfection, Cell displays a number of traits shared by those whose cells he possesses; Piccolo's cunning, Vegeta's pride, Goku's laid-back disposition, Frieza's smugness, and the Saiyan lust for battle. He is also shown to be calm and genuinely polite in this Perfect form. Perhaps Cell's most distinguishable trait in this form is his uninhibited vanity, which he shamelessly puts on display by launching the Cell Games, a tournament organized for the sole purpose of showing off his newfound power. It can also be seen during Cell's confrontation with Gohan when he affirms his true purpose: the annihilation of anything he considers imperfect, a category in which he places everyone and everything but himself.

In the English manga, Cell is referred to as "it", while in the anime (and the Japanese versions of both), he is referred to as "he." He is likely described that way in the English manga to emphasize the fact that he is an artificial being.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai*, 2006
2. ↑ *Dragon Ball Z: Scouter Battle Taikan Kamehameha - Ora to Omee to Scouter*, 2007
3. ↑ Dragon Ball GT (1997 live show)
4. ↑ *Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z*, 2014
5. ↑ *Dragon Ball: Xenoverse*, 2015
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Dragon Ball Q&A" section, *Dragon Ball Full Color* Androids Saga volume 4, 2014