English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Goku vs. Black! A Closed-Off Road to the Future”

Is Black the new Orange?

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The episode immediately picks up after Goku Black rips a hole in time, but is quick to recognize who the real Goku is, along with Beerus and Vegeta. Since in Future Trunks timeline Goku and Vegeta are supposed to be dead, this is a subtle clue that Black might be from a different time period or someone completely different. As Trunks attempts to step in, Vegeta suggests they let Goku battle him instead. As Goku confronts this so-called evil-self with Black stating that it’s an honor to fight him “inside this body”. This could be another clue that Black isn’t even Goku or anyone we know at all, otherwise, why would Black refer to himself in the third person? or indicate that this “body” isn’t even his? Because of Goku’s tendency to test out an opponent regardless if they’re an actual threat or not, Goku always doesn’t immediately go Super Saiyan Blue, as he’s just fighting in his SS-2 form, much to Future Trunks’s disappointment as he knows Goku could’ve gone “all-out” if he wanted to.

In the scenes that are intercut with this excellent battle, a good portion of the episode is spent on Beerus & Whis making a series of interesting observations about Goku Black including a special ring he wears on his right hand, while Beerus notices how Black’s energy is quite different as when he powers up as exemplified when his aura is full of dark & violet colors instead of the bright colors that have already become a standard in DB at this point. Goku manages to weaken Black in the midsection which somehow causes a time distortion glitch as Black gets weaker. But before going back to his timeline, Black powers up all of his energy to knock down Goku, but the attack reverberates the Time Machine to tip over, and what’s made worse is when Future Trunks slips the words “Time Machine” out loud, prompting Black to give Trunks a proverbial middle-finger, by destroying it before retreating back to recuperate.

When we get to the third act, Future Trunks is at a disadvantage as he’s now stranded in the present without a means to go back, but is fully aware that there are still survivors hiding from Black in the future that need saving. As Bulma goes to find a solution that she knows will help Future Trunks, Whis explains that the ring Black was wearing is called a “Time Ring” and only Supreme Kai’s have access to them with Beerus stating that he doesn’t have one since his “God of Destruction” duties function outside of the Supreme Kai’s jurisdiction. Although Krillin mentions that Whis reversed time during the “Ressurection F” Saga, it was only limited to 3 mins and doesn’t extend to time travel. But the episode ends on a semi-positive note when Bulma returns with a solution which turns out to be one of the best call-backs from DBZ’s past, while Future Mai, may not be as dead as we previously thought…

Our Take

Not only was it great to see Goku fighting Black Goku, but we also get new clues that unravel the mystery of Black’s existence. Whoever he is can travel through time through magical means as opposed to using technology like Trunks has been doing for quite some time, along with some degree of knowledge about Goku, Beerus and the other heavy-hitters within Goku’s circle.

It also helped to have Beerus & What’s much-needed exposition on that matter which filled in gaps of information about what forced Black to go back to his time period, but the fact Goku Black that has access to a magical Item that only Supreme Kai’s are supposed to have, raised further questions while leaving me hooked enough to keep watching.