Cell (Dragon Ball)

Cell (セル) is a fictional supervillain in the Dragon Ball universe created by Akira Toriyama. The character was created as a main antagonist in the second arc of the series, after the studio responsible for the publication of the material he wrote was dissatisfied with Toriyamas previous concepts for enemies to the main cast of the series.

In the anime and manga, Cell is an artificial life form created using cells from several of the main characters in the series. During the course of his appearance, he undergoes several transformations for which in order to happen he has to absorb two other lifeforms, the androids #17 and #18.

Creation and conception
After Kazuhiko Torishima, Toriyama's former editor during Dr. Slump and early Dragon Ball, expressed dissatisfaction with first Androids 19 and 20, and later Androids 17 and 18, as villains, Toriyama finally came up with Cell. Toriyama has stated some kind of regret regarding the creation of Cell, since he doesn't like characters that require rastering. In addition he didn't initially plan for the character to be able to transform, but was forced to give him this ability after his then-current editor, Yuu Kondou, described Cell as "looking ugly".

Dragon Ball Z
Cell is an artificial life form that was created by the computer of Dr. Gero from cells of different fighters, possessing the attributes of the Saiyans, Piccolo, and Freeza, within an underground complex below Gero's secret research laboratory. Cell's design is to evolve into the perfect being, which can ultimately be achieve only by absorbing Androids No.17 and No.18. However, in the alternate future Trunks came from, the Androids were destroyed and Cell was forced into regressing into an egg while using Trunks's time machine to travel back a year prior to the Androids appearing.

Once hatched and undergoing a metamorphosis into an insect-like humanoid, Cell proceeds to kill off various people and absorb them to increase his power in preparation of absorbing the Androids. Though originally weak at first, Cell manages to absorb the energy of more than 600,000 people prior to finding the Androids and absorbing No.17 to evolve into a large and more human-like form with power exceeding a Super Saiyan. Once absorbing Android 18, regardless of interference, Cell assumes his fully human-like Perfect Form.

Wanting to test his abilities, and enjoy the look of fear on others, Cell decides to hold a fighting tournament called the Cell Games to find a worthy opponent to face him with the intent of destroying Earth once he wins. However, having initially expected a decent challenge from Goku, the tournament finally culminates in Cell being forced back into his near-perfect form by Gohan and decides to self-destruct to ensure his victory. Though Goku sacrifices himself to ensure he dies elsewhere, a mentally unstable Cell returns in his Perfect Form with the realization that the genetics of Saiyans and Namekians have made him near-immortal with the ability to reach further perfection as he attempts to destroy the world and find strongest opponents elsewhere. Luckily, with his father aiding him in spirit, Gohan utterly destroys Cell. Also in the Dragon Ball Z episode Free the Future, Cell makes an appearance in his Time Machine. After asking questions about how Trunks knows about him, the two prepare to fight. Trunks quickly turns Super Saiyan and thrashes Cell around, blocking and deflecting all of Cell's shots but landing several of his own. After knocking Cell into the ground, Trunks grabs his tail, spins him around, and throws him into the air. Cell stops himself half way up in the air and attempts to kill Trunks with a kamehameha wave, but stops abruptly when seeing Trunks shining with light. Trunks proclaims that the nightmare is over and Cell should die, then shoots a heat dome up toward Cell, destroying him and ending the brutal monster once and for all.

In other media
Cell appears in a number of video games and is a playable character in the Dragon Ball Z: Collectible Card Game. He also has a cameo in the anime sequel series Dragon Ball GT, where Goku fights him and Frieza in Hell.

Reception
D. F. Smith of IGN criticized Cell's decision to hold a fighting tournament instead of destroying Earth as a sign of the author having run out of ideas. Dennis Amith of J!-ENT described Cell as "the toughest enemy that the team has fought yet" and liked how the efforts of the other characters trying to stop Cell is the main focus of that part of the series. J. Steiff and T. D. Tamplin used Cell as an example of the concept of "leveling up" in anime and believed Cell follows this concept well.