What made this fight stand out so much to people despite barely even being a fight?

What made this fight stand out so much to people despite barely even being a fight?

It was a bunch of events.
>Transformation into SS2
>Gohan decimating Cell Jrs.
>Gohan toying with Cell
>Gohan punching Cell so hard he coughs up 18
>Cell explodes and kill Goku/King Kai
>Cell comes backer arguably stronger than before
>Trunks gets shot through the chest, dying
>Vegeta rage boost
>Gohan breaks his arm
>Father Son Kamehameha beam struggle
>All Z fighters chip in to help Gohan
>Finally Vegeta overcomes his pride and fear to hit Cell

So yeah, these are the reasons.

>Gohan doesnt want to fight
>Takes 16 to talk sense into him
>Actually he likes toying with cell
explain this plot hole

Each level of Super Saiyan increases the user's malicious intent. Gohan had no clue how to control it, so he lost himself in punishing Cell

The build up. Gohan's potential had been hyped since the begining of the saiyan saga, finally seeing it realized was amazing.

It's a good case to study. It may be the best example of PURE HYPE done right. Like you, I analyze the fight and see that there's barely any fight to it, Cell himself only took 2 punches and was already defeated... but everything was done right. The atmosphere, dialogue, character interactions, whatever, it was a satisfying conclusion and a trophy of DBZ's quality. I know DB Super wouldn't be able to pull that off, the dialogues and general writing took a nosedive in quality, it would simply feel rushed and we'd be like "What the fuck Toei you advertised this fight for 5 months and it ended in a beam struggle?"

Honestly it didn't really make sense for 16 to even give the speech to Gohan, it really should have been Piccolo. Not only that, Gohan being pacifist/sadistic was honestly out of nowhere too. Sure Gohan would get hesitant when it came to fighting but he was never full blown pacifist, especially during Namek. Neither was there some a sadistic streak to him in those times he would get hella mad.

>Not only that, Gohan being pacifist/sadistic was honestly out of nowhere too.

Gohan wasn't pacifistic during the Cell Games, this is just one of the many misconceptions people have regarding DBZ. He was overwhelmed and scared of the sudden pressure Goku put on him, which caused him to be more defensive rather than offensive. His speech he gave Cell was just his attempt at trying to scare Cell away, since Gohan knew he couldn't control his hidden power at will. He wasn't trying to push some pacifist agenda, nor was he just too afraid of his own power like some people believe. He was just a kid that suddenly had the whole world's fate on his shoulders.

As for Gohan's sadism, that can easily just be chalked up to his Saiyan genes kicking into overdrive once he turned SSJ2.

SSJ2 being this slow but impending and unstoppable force.
It was different than any DB battle before or after it, Gohan wrecked Cell in like 3 hits.

I really like this idea user. Shame it was never realised

Something actually happened.

>Gohan finally achieves the true "ascended Super Saiya-jin." Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks all trained so hard, but they each got an imperfect or immature version of the true transformation. Gohan, our underdog who was overshaowed by all three Saiya-jin, surpassed them and succeeded where they failed.
>This was Gohan's coming-of-age battle. We knew he had hidden abilities, but he couldn't manifest them for an extended period of time. This is the first time Gohan used his hidden power and succeeded. This is also where Gohan ultimately surpasses his father to become the next defender of the Earth.
>We see a change in Gohan during this fight. He hated being forced into battles and even hurting people, but through 16, Gohan realized that fighting and even killing threats to protect those he cares about is not evil.

Where was this when he first turned SS? If anything he should be having the most trouble because if we compared him to Vegeta when he first achieved SS, we saw how it affected his behavior. But Vegeta's a grown man and Gohan was a still developing child with several instances of being unable to control his anger.

>SSJ2 being this slow but impending and unstoppable force.
It's funny because that's exactly what Super Saiyan was before the Androids, the Ascended forms for like a minute before Cell became Perfect.

What are the most hype moments in Dragon Ball?

Yeah, was hoping for some raged out destruction, but it was calm and chill and cold rage.
The whole GOHAN GOT COCKY AND THAT WAS HIS UNDOING thing was all because some editor didn't like how Goku looked like a piss poor father compared to Piccolo and so Gohan(who was in fact doing EXACTLY what Goku did with Frieza)got fucked over and he had to eat humble pie.
Besides, an angry sadistic arrogant raged out gohan would be even more of a hardcore bastard then Vegeta.

Kids self inserting like there was no tomorrow. I bet SAO was built around that part of DB.

Well, mainly because it was the ending Toriyama had planned originally, Goku dying and Gohan accepting his fate to defend the earth, it was narratively perfect. Buu ending was even better, they changed Gohan for a random hindu kid though.

>>We see a change in Gohan during this fight. He hated being forced into battles and even hurting people, but through 16, Gohan realized that fighting and even killing threats to protect those he cares about is not evil.

He already knew all of this since the fucking Saiyan arc. Gohan never had any moral qualms about fighting for his friends, he just did it. Even during the Cell Jr. beatdown, he's actively trying to force his power out to save his friends. 16's speech was literally just pure motivation that wasn't trying to tell Gohan anything he didn't already know.

Both these endings were garbage.

>MUH GOKU

>Finally Vegeta overcomes his pride and fear to hit Cell
The sudden pan up + SS Vegeta theme is so goddamn good there.