There Are Some Spoilers In Our Dragon Ball Super Episode 128 Review – Episode Discussion
So episode 128 of Dragon Ball Super just aired and in this one Goku and Vegeta continue to fight against Jiren as the last remaining warriors of the tournament of power. With each episode, this arc gets closer and closer to its end and it seems like there’s almost no way Jiren can be defeated.
I was quite excited for this episode. After last week’s big episode which saw the end of 17 in this tournament, we were left with just Goku and Vegeta to defeat Jiren. But unlike a few episodes ago where both Goku and Vegeta were filled with energy, both are now stamina drained and can barely stand up. Which means that for the most part Universe 7 is in a lot of trouble here.
The first half of episode 128 is entirely focused on Vegeta. Vegeta’s character has slowly been building throughout this arc and his motivations which drive him to continue to fight in this tournament are well known. It was Vegeta’s motivation to keep his promise to Cabba and also his motivation to save his family and his newborn child which pushed him forward in this episode. We see Vegeta continue to fight on, even though he has almost no energy left in his body and simply doesn’t give up. His pride and his willingness to save those he cares for pushes him to continue. It’s something that I think demands quite a lot of respect, the character is giving everything he has here and already gave it all to knock off Toppo and he keeps going.
Of course, Jiren is not tired or exhausted at all. So Vegeta’s attempts while noble are no match for Jiren in his current state. Jiren as we all know spent the tournament mostly standing around and has very few knockouts or major fights so has his full stamina available. Vegeta and Goku on the other hand do not. When Vegeta is finally defeated and Jiren knocks him out of the arena, it’s a touching moment in the show. Unfortunately Vegeta alone was not able to save everyone and get his wish, but he went out in the most noble of ways. With his final act being to give some energy go Goku so he can fight on.
If you remember a while ago, Vegeta did withhold his energy during the Spirit Bomb attack against Jiren. I think his finale act shows a certain change in his character in the tournament as he went through it. I loved how everything ended with Vegeta, it was the perfect way for a character so strong in pride to go out and Jiren’s acknowledgement of that in his opponent was a nice touch too.
The second part of the episode was based on the newly energised Goku. Goku is strangely the only character in the show to have at this point in the saga a slightly odd motivation for his participation there. For much of the arc his motivation for competing was that he wanted to fight the strongest fighters in all the universes. Much like 17’s motivation to go on a cruise as his final wish, Goku’s one I always felt was a little odd. I’ve noticed in the arc that when characters fight at their best, it’s when their motivation is in the right place. 18 for example fought at her best when her motivation for going on with her fight was directed towards her love for her family as was Vegeta’s. Goku on the other hand hasn’t had this type of change in a strong way yet, that is until this episode.
Goku’s fight with Jiren didn’t go all that well. Although he was given energy from Vegeta so that he could fight Jiren, Goku was just no match even in his blue form. Goku gets quite the beating and looks like he’s about to be out of the tournament himself. Jiren is about the land his final punch and end everything, with all on lookers watching in shock. But just as he is about to knock Goku off, Goku starts to think about why he is fighting. How everyone has placed their trust in him to be the final warrior for Universe 7. Vegeta’s energy was a symbol of that trust, but we also see flashbacks from other teammates who all trust and believe in Goku to do his job there.
I thought that it was interesting that we saw a comment from Jiren in Goku’s mind where he said “Trust begets nothing” just before Goku started to think about all the trust his friends have placed in him to do well in this tournament. Last week we learnt quite a bit about Jiren’s character and we know he has a hard time getting close to people and probably has trust issues himself, so what happened here I think is that the writers are trying to put a big contrasting difference between Goku’s and Jiren’s motivations for fighting. After this Goku unlocks his Ultra Instinct form again and this time deals a massive blow to Jiren.
It looks like next week will be the start of the big Goku v Jiren fight, the final one for the tournament. With Goku now able to control his Ultra Instinct form better than before, I wonder how Jiren will adapt? It surely looks to be quite interesting.
Also on a side note, where in the world is Frieza??? He’s not on the sidelines and no one has commented about where he is at all. What more could come from this character I wonder?
Overall this is a great episode of the show. It was the final big battle for Vegeta and I loved the development of his character in this one. In this arc Vegeta sure did come a long way. It was good to see Goku fighting for his friends in this episode and seeing his motivations change in that direction. The upcoming fight between Goku and Jiren looks very interesting and I can’t wait to see next week’s episode.
