There Are Spoilers In Our Dragon Ball Super Episode 131 Review – Episode Discussion

So the final episode of Dragon Ball Super just aired and this one wasn’t just a finale for the arc, it was the finale for the entire series (at least for now). In this episode we see things pick up immediately after they ended in the episode last week. Goku having pushed himself to his limits is now out of the fight and on the ground with only Frieza and 17 still standing and having the burden of defeating Jiren between them. But will they be able to do it?

The first half of the episode is devoted to the final parts of the action and the second part of the episode is devoted to wrapping up the series, things happen quite quickly but still are somehow done well enough that it doesn’t seem rushed at all.

Frieza and 17 try their best against Jiren and at first it looks like they have him beaten. Jiren while strong, is quite drained from his fight with Goku as he himself was already beaten last week. But, somehow he’s managed to get back up to fight the two remaining warriors. It isn’t long though before 17 and Frieza have Jiren down again and Frieza moves towards Jiren so that he can defeat him.

Frieza vs Jiren – Dragon Ball Super Episode 131 Review

It’s just before Jiren’s defeat that they do just a little more with the character. Jiren in the series as we’ve discussed has always been a little of a loner and has not trusted anyone for a long time and this contrast has been getting stronger and stronger when compared to a character like Goku who has the full trust of his friends and this was shown in last week’s episode too. This is something that’s been lost with Jiren and the character for a long time but in episode 131 we see that restored in Jiren. Toppo stands up and starts yelling at Jiren that he believes in him and his strength “You may not believe in your own strength but I do, until the end Jiren!” he says. It was this speech that got Jiren back up and I feel that from this that Jiren’s character has in a way been saved and has become stronger due to his participation in the tournament. Towards the second half of the episode when all is won, we see both Goku and later Toppo comment on the moment and it’s really a nice thing Jiren and the character to end in this way.

Jiren’s newfound strength quickly overwhelms both Frieza and 17 who are struggling to hold him back. That is until Goku joins them with his last bit of strength. This is another big part of the episode because although the theme has been trust for some time now and Goku is the character most strongly related to that in the show. We’ve not seen this between Goku and Frieza at all, the two don’t trust each other. It’s been mentioned that over time Goku has been able to turn old enemies into friends but it isn’t something that’s been possible with Frieza. Goku and Freiza have a little chat about keeping each other’s promises to each other and a small bond is formed at a time when they are so close to losing everything, this causes the two old enemies to come together. 17 comments “Are you two done making up” and then from there on out Frieza and Goku for the first time ever start to truly work together, with the full trust of each other and what represents the true strength of Universe 7 (trust).

Frieza and Goku – Dragon Ball Super Episode 131 Review

To defeat Jiren, both Goku and Frieza are taken out of the match as they both took Jiren down together by grabbing hold of him and flying out of the arena. That leaves just 17 as the final winner. Who would have picked it?

The wish part is something I’ve mentioned a few times in other reviews and have been hoping for a long while that the wish is to bring back all the erased universes. As much as it could have been something else, I just couldn’t see them erasing such a rich and diverse character set that had been created in the series so far. To have them all gone in the show forever after this seemed insane to me. Thankfully I was a little right in that 17 wished them all back, however I had thought it would be Goku that would be the one to do this. I guess it did fit in well for 17 to be the one to do this as he’s a park ranger and all, I mean it’s hard to go back and try to save the animals and go on a cruise when you could have saved a whole bunch of universes.

The second half of the episode saw things coming to a close and we were informed by the Grand Priest that if anything else had been wished other than what was wished then everyone would have been erased. Which is insane in itself. Did they want the universes gone or didn’t they? We also see everyone quite happy, and Frieza pouting a little but is made happy when Whis gives him a present from Beerus which restores him to life. There’s some jokes about him returning to his old ways, but Goku is there to stop him if he does. It’s an interesting end to Frieza’s character, when the show does return in the future I would be very curious as to how they portray him. It’s not like I think that Frieza and Goku are going to be best buddies, but I don’t think their hatred of each other is the same as it was in the past. What they will do with the two characters in the future has a lot of potential.

Android 17 wins the tournament – Dragon Ball Super Episode 131 Review

During the final moments of the episode we see a lot of happy family bits from everyone back home on earth and get shown some positive imagery from the various universes as they were restored, it’s all very nice to see. At the very end we see Goku and Vegeta sparring with each other and Vegeta asks Goku where his Ultra Instinct form is and Goku says he can’t do it anymore. Which I guess means in the future when the show will return, there might still be a long way for Goku and Vegeta to go. Although Ultra Instinct is super powerful, it’s hard for me to imagine a warrior just appearing when the show returns or when the movie airs that could match Goku in that form. But i’m very curious as to where they take the characters from here, considering how strong they’ve all gotten I’m curious about who could really challenge them.

Overall this was a very nice episode of the show. I felt things wrapped up quite nicely and it was good to see Jiren’s character have his issues resolved, Frieza and Goku work together and also 17 wishing back all the universes. Although much was resolved in this final episode of Dragon Ball Super, I feel there’s so much potential and a rich pool of content for them to use in the future for these characters. Although I hope it’s not long until we see the upcoming film or a future TV series, I’m certainly going to re-watch Dragon Ball Super from the beginning now as I really loved everything about it. Looking back on the show, it was all quite well done and especially towards the final few episodes the animation really was impressive and the show had a bunch of great themes and character moments.

Thanks to all involved in the making of the show for the great experience 🙂

There Are Spoilers In Our Dragon Ball Super Episode 130 Review – Episode Discussion

So episode 130 of Dragon Ball Super just aired and this one being the penultimate episode of the entire series means that anything that happens from here on out is a pretty big deal. The fight between Jiren and Goku still continues and now that Goku has mastered the Ultra Instinct form, the question is, can he defeat Jiren?

As far as the story goes for this episode, it was a little light. But that’s okay because this episode is not about progressing the plot or trying to bring something new to the arc because where we are currently is the conclusion of the arc. So much of the episode is action based and as a viewer  you are just there to to watch and witness the biggest and greatest fight in Dragon Ball history take place.

There’s no doubt that Jiren is beyond anyone Goku or anyone else from Universe 7 has fought in the past. At this point in time in the show, Goku is also stronger than he has ever been and watching him fight Jiren in this episode was nothing short of spectacular.

As far as the fight went. At first Goku looked to have Jiren on the ropes, the mastered Ultra Instinct form is no match for Jiren in his current calm state and one of Goku’s first moves leaves a massive scratch on Jiren’s left cheek. This goes on for a while with Jiren looking to not be able to do anything against Goku, but then out of nowhere Jiren starts thinking about his past. Jiren’s past was something that was revealed a few episodes ago, but basically his motivation to be strong is because he believes strength is absolute. Jiren powers himself up and the whole arena goes red, with Jiren emanating a red aura around him. In this powered up state Jiren is more able to fight Goku 1v1 and this is where the real fight seems to begin.

Jiren Full Power – Dragon Ball Super Episode 130 Review

The two fighters for much of the episode were pretty much evenly matched, with Jiren making some good progress against Goku and Goku making good progress against Jiren. But then something changed, Goku started talking about his motivation for fighting and it was echoed by Piccolo, Master Roshi and a few others on the sidelines. Goku is essentially fighting for and is motivated by his will to both save and help his friends who have all placed a great deal of trust in him. Even an enemy like Frieza is trusting Goku right now and many of his current friends are past enemies. Both Vegeta and Frieza have given Goku their energy and everyone else did too during the spirit bomb attempt. There’s so much trust and belief in Goku at the moment and he’s there doing his best for everyone that does believe in him.

Why does this moment where Goku’s motivation to fight is brought up create a change in Jiren? It is because it contrasts so heavily with where Jiren’s character is at this moment in time. The Jiren of the past was much like Goku, he fought for the same reasons, had friends, had trusted people, but unlike Goku he couldn’t save those people. He lost and has been focused only on strength since then and has distanced himself from everyone around him, with no real close allies. This causes Jiren to snap a little, Goku has something that Jiren doesn’t, something he lost a long time ago and Jiren reacts by trying to wipe out everyone in the spectator seats with a ki blast. Goku stops it from hitting, but it’s a major shift in the character of Jiren. He’s now lost as far as I see, similar to how Toppo lost his way when he left his pride behind and embraced destruction a few episode ago.

Goku is later motivated much more to stop Jiren after what he tried to do to his friends and defeats him shortly after. When asked by Jiren why Goku won’t just finish him off, Goku says to him “a guy like you probably already realises what I’m talkin’ about”. I’m not sure exactly what Goku means here, but I think it’s in relation to Jiren’s current state, his recent actions and his motivation to fight.

The episode is about to end and the arc looks to be at its conclusion, but then one final twist occurs. Goku, just as he is about to knock Jiren off is wounded, his body gives out and he can no longer control the power of the Gods. Jiren and everyone else are completely shocked and Jiren eventually gets up and reluctantly knocks Goku off, while at the same time not wanting things to end that way. But here’s the twist, Goku is saved once again by Frieza and out of nowhere 17 appears! It’s a little insane and maybe unbelievable to some, but it’s now up to 17, Frieza and possibly Goku if he can get back up to take out Jiren next week.

Frieza and 17 the last hope? – Dragon Ball Super Episode 130 Review

This was a great episode for the show and I must mention in this review that the animation this week was definitely impressive. The animators really did some great work with this one and the fight scenes and shadowing on the various characters looked great. I can’t wait to see next week’s episode and while I’ve been tracking Frieza for the last few episodes and knew he was around somewhere hiding and might come out like he did today, the reappearance of 17 surprised me completely. What could possibly happen next week? Can Universe 7 still win?

There Are Spoilers In Our Dragon Ball Super Episode 129 Review – Episode Discussion

So episode 129 of Dragon Ball Super just aired and in this episode Goku and Jiren continue to fight each other for their right to be the victor in the tournament of power. With only a few remaining episodes left, many questions still remain as to who will win this tournament and be granted their final wish.

I had a lot of anticipation for this episode, having not had one aired last week meant that it had been two whole weeks since I got my Dragon Ball Super fix. Towards the end of episode 128 we saw Goku and Jiren fight each other and just when it looked like Goku was about to lose the fight he managed to unlock Ultra Instinct once again. We were left with that cliffhanger, but now finally we get to see what Goku can do with his new power.

We had in the past seen Goku use his Ultra Instinct form against Jiren in their first fight with one another. But back then it just wasn’t enough. In this episode, I was expecting the form to do a little better but for much of the first half, actually Goku performed about the same.

We had a long drawn out dialogue from Whis and the other characters in the peanut gallery pointing out that Goku with his current Ultra Instinct form is very good at defence, but when it comes to attacking he is putting his thoughts first and isn’t able to utilise the power properly. Belmond and others from Universe 11 have noticed this as well and their confidence increases that Jiren should be able to hold out and win against Goku. Goku even tries the same technique he used against Kefla to defeat Jiren, but Jiren had seen him do this before and was able to block it.

When it looked the most like Jiren had the upper hand against Goku, Vegeta chimed into the conversation Belmond was having about Goku being finished and not being able to attack properly. But Vegeta defended his friend and the Saiyan race by saying that they have surpassed all expectations in the tournament so far. This is in reference to both the Universe 7 and Universe 6 Saiyan fighter performances which have all been exceptional. Vegeta points out that if Belmond and the rest thinks Goku hasn’t mastered the form yet that this means there’s something there, another level for Goku, a Saiyan to reach. Vegeta places his belief in Goku being able to do this and this speech from Vegeta seems to worry Belmond who instructs Jiren to finish things quickly before Goku can do what Vegeta thinks he can.

From my perspective, I don’t think Jiren and Goku can even hear what is being said about their fights except for when they are yelled at, as Belmond does in this episode to Jiren to finish off Goku quickly. But Goku and Jiren are both experienced fighters and Goku himself as we know is very experienced so surely he has noticed in his own use of Ultra Instinct what Vegeta has from watching him fight with it. Either way, as Jiren moves to finish Goku more quickly, we see a change in Goku who powers up slowly throughout the remainder of the episode to eventually unlock what is the true Ultra Instinct.

Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku

The episode however does end in the same way the last one did, with Goku looking to have Jiren beat with a new form. Although this time, it’s a form which we haven’t seen Goku use before and since it’s the mastered Ultra Instinct, I think Jiren is in trouble.

The animation in this episode was quite good. There’s a lot of beautifully drawn shots of both Goku and Jiren in this episode. Although much of the episode is action based and there’s little story in this one. The progression of Goku into his new form was very interesting to watch and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing it all unfold. I can’t wait to see what happens next week in the show.