Cell is one of Dragon Ball’s most famous villains. He pushed Gohan to unlock his greatest power and gave fans one of the best battles in anime history. But behind the scenes, things were very different. While fans love Cell, the anime staff saw him as a nightmare. Drawing him was so hard that many animators hoped he wouldn’t return. Here’s why the team behind the Dragon Ball anime had trouble every time Cell showed up.

When Frieza returned in Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’, fans wondered why Cell didn’t come back instead. A big reason? He was just too hard to draw. In an old interview, creator Akira Toriyama admitted, “I think giving him spots was a mistake.” The cell's body is covered in tiny dots, and those made every frame take longer to finish.
Animator Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru also said the staff disliked working on Cell. Even key animators found him frustrating. Shading his design took extra time and effort, slowing down production. Compared to other villains like Frieza or Buu, Cell caused the most trouble during Dragon Ball Z’s original run.

In

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

, Cell made a short return in a hand-drawn opening. But even with today’s tools, drawing Cell was still hard. Lead animator

Chikashi Kubota

said he only sketched Cell quickly, then passed the work to another top artist, Naohiro Shintani. Even Shintani got tired of the job and didn’t want to finish it.

To avoid further problems, most of Super Hero was animated in CGI. This move helped avoid frame-by-frame drawing and made it easier to handle Cell’s detailed body. It was a smart choice to keep the movie looking smooth without slowing the team down.

The version fans saw in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero wasn’t Perfect Cell. It was Cell Max a giant monster with no real personality. He didn’t talk, just roared. This made the animation easier but disappointed fans who missed the original Cell’s smart, evil attitude.
Even though the new design helped the animators, it lacked the charm and danger that made Cell one of Dragon Ball’s top villains. Still, his return showed the series is open to bringing back older characters even in new forms.

Many fans still hope to see

Perfect Cell return

in a future anime or movie. But because of the trouble his design causes, it might not happen unless things change. He could return with a new look that’s easier to animate or be done in CGI again.
Cell is still one of Dragon Ball’s most popular villains but he’s also one of the hardest characters to animate. Whether he returns depends on whether the artists are ready to face his tricky design once again.