English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Come Forth, Shenron! Whose Wish Will Be Granted?”

Gohan deserves a “Father of the Year” Award…

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The episode starts off with a series of minor sub-plots that slowly converge as Goku attempts to uphold a promise to King-Kai in resurrecting him due to his past antics costing King Kai his life long ago during the Cell Saga, While Bulma struggles to find another way to power up the Time Machine, but seeks an alternate solution. Eventually, she figures out where that solution is in the form of a crystal which in itself is a herculean task, but before she can find out what to do, Goku suddenly appears requesting her Dragon Radar. Of course, Bulma wants to keep her true intentions a secret knowing that Goku could easily let it slip to Beerus what she’s doing which would be bad given that Beerus & Whis have further pressed the matter that Time Travel is outlawed by the gods. And wouldn’t you know it? Beerus and Whis appear out of nowhere to see Bulma. But are simply there to eat more food, but using her quick-thinking skills, Bulma provides a distraction by taking them to a Crab restaurant of sorts.

 

It doesn’t take long for Goku to find all seven Dragon Balls, and knowing that Bulma isn’t home, he takes it upon himself to summon Shenron while nobody is around. Little does Goku know, however, is that, You can’t exactly keep Shenron a secret when you summon him which prompts Number 18, Oolong and even Master Roshi, Goten and Kid-Trunks to appear. Not to mention they want wishes granted. Shenron is getting impatient yet a lot of people are appearing and no wish has been granted yet. This doesn’t even include Bulma who is still trying to get there after keeping Beerus distracted, but much of the bickering comes to an abrupt halt when Gohan appears out of nowhere with a valid & noble wish. Pan is having a fever and no human medicine can cure her, but it’s easy to assume that it could be tied with a rare disease that affects those of the Sayian Bloodline. What happens next is what’s easily the most effective & heartfelt moment when they all agree to put their wish aside so Gohan can save his baby.

A sense of urgency begins to rise, when the last wish is put on hold due everyone wanting to have their wish fulfilled after letting Gohan’s wish slide, with Android 18 even pointing out that King Kai isn’t important since even in the afterlife, he still lives on the same planet so it’s not like he’s taken away from anything. Bulma then appears at the last second and is entitled to get the wish since without her Dragon-radar Goku getting the Dragonballs wouldn’t have been possible. Bulma then manages to find quick solutions for everyone wanting a wish in some form or another without them having to ask the Shenron, and offers Goku a deal. He’ll let him grant his wish on the condition that he can get the material she wants from the Earth’s core, then he can revive King Kai back, but urges Shenron to stay a little longer. Of course, Goku’s underground quest for Bulma gets the attention of Beerus & Whis who go to check out why Shenron is summoned. Let’s just say that when Beerus finds out, He’s less than thrilled at the idea of humans attempting Time Travel again, but blows up her time machine and spares Bulma’s life on the condition that she’ll never do it again, But the episode ends on a comedic note when Goku’s wish to restore the people on King Kai’s planet is too late leaving King Kai both angry and disappointed that he’ll possibly need to be resurrected another time.

Our Take

Despite this being a filler episode, It also worked in terms of tying up loose ends after the last episode, but it looks like we won’t be seeing any time-traveling-related storylines in DB Super anytime soon. What’s easily my favorite moment was when everyone gave Gohan a free pass to save his baby Pan as they could never say no to the safety and well being of a helpless baby and showed that not everyone in Dragonball is a selfish jerk, Unless you count Oolong who always wants Panties rather than anything spectacular.

We have a long way to go before the next big story-arc, but it’s exactly like Toriyama to slow things down before the real meat of this story begins at some point.