English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Accelerating Tragedy Vanishing Universes”

A bittersweet victory.

Picking up from the previous episode, Goku proceeds to battle with whom I like to call the “Universe-2 Trio” in the form of Zirloin, Zarbuto, and Rabanra, while Gohan and Piccolo take on The Universe 6 Namek’s, Saonel and Pilina who aren’t pushover’s either when their power levels suddenly spike-up, and it is revealed that much like Piccolo, they both each fused with many Namekians to increase their power. But compared to Piccolo who’s only fused with two of his kind, the Universe 6 ones have fused with a large number of their species from their universe in advance before coming to the tournament, but the battle itself leads to a great call-back from DBZ’s past which is a heartfelt moment between Gohan & Piccolo.

In response to this, Android 17 & 18 join the fray of helping Goku battle against the Universe 2 warriors with the big reveal from Universe 2’s blue-skinned angel, known as “Sour” has been broadcasting the tournament before a crowd of Universe 2’s inhabitants who are cheering-on the Trio, who are able to transform into super-powered versions of themselves, and retaliate by unleashing their own trump-card attack which traps and threatens to sink Goku and the other two through the battleground.

But of course, Goku isn’t gonna take this lying down and makes quick work of Universe 2’s Trio, while Gohan and Piccolo blast Saonel and Pilina off the ring with a powerful combined attack that eliminates them as well. With all of their fighters eliminated, consequently, the Zeno twins end up upholding to their duty of wiping out these two particular universes out of existence, with Cabba from Universe 6 wishing Vegeta good luck, while in a comedic yet bittersweet scene, Champa taunts Beerus before being erased. With Beerus reacting the most in the face of his brother’s erasure. The episode ends when Vegeta faces off against the Universe 3 warrior Katopesla.

Our Take

Aside from the great character moments and the excellent call-back to DBZ’s past, I wasn’t particularly fond of Universe 2’s team, but that’s not to say I don’t give them points for their ballsy “gung-ho” attitude of theirs. The Universe 6 team’s fate, however, hit me the most on an emotional level. I think it’s because we’ve spent enough time with the Universe 6 characters (including Champa, Hit, Cabba as well as the Saiyan Girls) to develop a connection which helped sell the drama and I think that’s what made this episode work.

Knowing Goku of course, if he wins this thing, he’ll most likely restore the Universes that were erased because at his core, it sounds like something he’d do, but if there’s anything inconsistent with these past few episodes, it’s Goku himself. The show keeps telling us he’s “Tired” or “Exhausted” for a while now but somehow still keeps on fighting at full power I get that this entire tournament between different universes is supposed to happen during the course of two hours, but that’s really stretching it.

We’ll see what happens next episode when Vegeta gets his moment to shine.