Welcome to the most serious episode of Dragonball Super ever. No food porn, no babysitting, no family matters, no C-list clown characters; just a desolated futuristic wasteland and a truly evil opponent. Every character is focused on defeating the villains, from Bulma repairing the time machine, to Vegeta training so hard he destroys the Hyberbolic Time Chamber. Even Future Mai attempted to snipe the green potara earring off Black. It’s pretty much none stop action. The plot was serious and progressed quickly and logically from point to point, building action and intensity. After her failed assassination attempt, Trunks saves Mai then goes on an all-out assault, using Vegeta’s techniques to beat down Black and almost suicide-bomb Zamasu with a Final Flash. There were some surprisingly serious turn of events like Black blasting the time machine, and Supreme Kai 10 Gowasa and Supreme Kai 7 Shin appearing in the future. While the Kais are shocked at Zamasu’s actions, unable to comprehend the level of violence of his “Zero Mortal Plan,” the Super Saiyan Gods (aka the REAL gods of the show), protect the elven-looking guardians and prepare for battle. Sidenote: they’d been translating Zamasu’s plan as zero “human” but given the context, (referring to humans, saiyans, and barbarians) he meant “mortal” which the latest subtitles corrected. The only joke was that Goku left the jar for the Evil Containment Wave in the time machine, so it was destroyed. Don’t worry, this throwback hasn’t been thrown out yet because Trunks is gluing the clay pot back together. This could’ve been taken more seriously, but at the end of a goofy argument, Goku’d rather settle conflicts with his fists anyways. While Goku takes on the immortal Zamasu, Vegeta gives Black a real lesson in Saiyan pride and fury as he pounds the daylights out of him. My favorite line was when he tells the body-snatching impostor that Goku’s strength comes from his “long, fierce history of combat!” The pacing may be a lot faster, but the overall tone of this episode, and the episodes leading to it, have been the most reminiscent of the old DBZ attitude. It’s finally a show about FIGHTING again! And oh how glorious that fighting is: energy blades, detailed hand-to-hand combat, and ki auras the size of a skyscraper!
The main cause of this shift in tone is the new villain. After Beerus’s cranky post-nap munchies, Frieza’s personal vendetta, and a gooey doppleganger, and a zero-stakes tournament, Black/Zamasu finally presents true threat. I’d really given up on the possibility of true villainy and evil in this show. Initially I was highly skeptical of an evil Goku as the main villain, but that changed once Zamasu was introduced. Watching the apprentice Kai develop his concept of justice and formulate his Zero Mortal Plan, demonstrated arrogance, ambition, and hatred. When Black revealed how he stole Goku’s body, killed his family, and proceeded to murder the Gods of the Future, the severity of the situation became much heavier. The heroes have failed to bring down these powerful foes twice now, emphasizing their incredible strength. This duo has all the villainous qualities that have been lacking in Super so far. Next week we’ll see this evil reach a new level with an unholy fusion. From the green Potara earrings, to the coordinated attacks, we knew from the beginning that Black and Zamasu would fuse. Next week, the Fusion Zamasu, will be born! How can our heroes stop an immortal evil Goku-kai? Perhaps only a fusion can defeat this fusion. I’d love to see a Super Saiyan God Gogeta. Goku knows the Fusion dance, and could teach it to Vegeta, as they did in Fusion Reborn. Two Supreme Kais, with Potara earrings of their own, are also present, so they could also fuse using that method. I’ve got my fingers crossed for God Fusions!
Next week DBS will also hit 64 episodes, the same number of episodes as DBGT. If you revisit GT you’ll notice they wasted less time on food and family, even though there were frequent goofs and laughs. The main characters were lame: Goku was a kid, Trunks was a wuss, and Pan was a mistake. However, there were more serious arcs and villains. In 64 episodes they’d traveled through space to gather Blackstar dragon balls, fought the mutant machine Tuffles, faced Super Android 17 from Hell, and then battled seven shadow shenrons. Personally, I really liked the Tuffle and Shadow dragon sagas better than DBSuper’s first few saga, but Super’s combat and special effects are definitely higher quality. Certainly this latest DBS arc has surpassed DBGT, and it looks like it’ll keep going strong.
thefletchzone 