Did Dragon Ball Z Really Inspire a Famous Scene from The Powerpuff Girls?

It may seem like yesterday that the Powerpuff Girls were out fighting crime, but it has been awhile since the heroines enjoyed their heyday. The team’s show was one of the biggest running on Cartoon Network for awhile, and it was never afraid to give shout outs to pop culture monoliths. From comics to sports and beyond, anything was fair game for The Powerpuff Girls, and it seems anime wasn’t far from its mind. After all, it seems the animated hit sourced one of its most iconic scenes from Dragon Ball Z, and we can’t fault Blossom for pitching it.

When they push her away, Princess instead decides to use her money to become a villain with enough tech power on her side that she was given superpowers for a brief time. Using an expensive super suit to defeat Bubbles and Buttercup, she then tries to blast Blossom with a laser that Blossom dodges in very much the same cool way as Future Trunks did when he returned to the future in Dragon Ball Z. Check out this side by side shared by @shonentauren on Twitter:

The episode saw Princess Morebucks debut a golden super suit that gave her flight abilities, a force field, laser beams and more, but Blossom was enraged at the fact that Princess took down her sisters so easily. So when Princess fired a laser her way, the battle hardened Blossom simply shifted her head slightly while keeping her focus squarely on the opponent in front of her.

This was the same for Future Trunks, who after the events of the Android arc, returned to his future time line to destroy the Androids once and for all. Trunks was battle hardened in much the same way, and thus took down the two of them with ease and it was a cathartic moment for many fans who had seen how much damage the Androids have done to his life.

The Powerpuff Girls is full of these kinds of references, and even had an anime all its own. That’s why news of a new live-action take on the cartoon franchise had fans worrying that it won’t have the same kind of goofy, cartoonish humor that was able to blend in references like this while still not distracting the children watching. But what do you think? What are some of your favorite pop culture references in The Powerpuff Girls? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or you can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!