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.
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.
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?