English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Frieza and Frost! A Mutual Malevolence?”

Evil loves to make friends.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Goku is still occupied fighting Ribrianne, the elite warrior of Universe 2 who fights not with a fighting spirit, but love. Goku admits that he respects her strength, and the two go back and forth launching powerful attacks at one another.

Meanwhile, in other parts of the arena, the rest of the Universe 7 crew continues fighting. Gohan, in particular, is fighting another Universe 2 warrior, Jimizu, a fighter capable of using the instant transmission to great effect. Gohan tries to use his expert martial arts against him, but Jimizu’s ability to teleport is just too great. He outmatches him at every turn and starts knocking him all around the arena.

Just then, Frieza decides to show his face and stands between Gohan and Jimizu. Frieza chastises Gohan for holding back and not beating Jimizu, which makes Jimizu want to fight Frieza instead. He starts going at it with Frieza, but finds that his instant transmission is ineffective since Frieza can just match his teleportation and counterattack him whenever he needs to. It’s over in only a minute. Jimizu is nearly killed and knocked out of the tournament.

Gohan berates Frieza for his cruel methods, but Frieza isn’t interested in hearing it. While they’re talking, Frost soon arrives, and the two reveal that they’ve actually worked a plan to work together and achieve their own ends during the tournament. Frieza cements his betrayal by attacking Gohan. The two go at it until Frieza eventually knocks Gohan to the floor, defeating the Saiyan.

Frieza then turns to Frost and explains to him his ability to turn golden and to power up his body to 100%. But just as it seems the two have become fast friends, Frieza reminds Frost that he shouldn’t trust anyone and blasts him away with an energy blast. He knocks Frost out of the arena, ending his time in the tournament. Frieza then provokes Frost’s anger by calling him an amateur. In his rage, Frost is about to attack Frieza, but is then teleported away by Zeno, reminding everyone that that is against the rules.

Frieza admonishes Gohan for not going full power in his fight but reminds him that he’s on his team and that they should all do their best. The episode ends with everyone being uncertain as to where Frieza’s loyalties actually lie.

Our Take:

Who doesn’t love a good villain? Those cackling, malevolent fools that continuously show up the heroes and act like they’re the smartest guys in the room, sometimes because they actually are. Here in Dragon Ball Super, we’re lucky to have one of the most iconic and menacing villains in anime history, Frieza. The alien dictator who, to this day, remains as one of Goku’s most notorious adversaries. It’s nice to see that he hasn’t lost his touch.

This is an episode light on action, but big on character. It’s basically one long expose on Universe 7’s worst dude and why, even when you’re a pretty evil bastard in your own right, you still can’t mess with the best. Though I can’t say that I believed Frieza would make an alliance with Frost and had my suspicions about his true intentions from the get-go, I love how well this episode executed it’s audience expectations to make for an incredibly tense episode. The audience knows that Frieza cannot be trusted under any circumstances, but as a good poker player, Frieza never reveals just how much deception he’s actually doing. It feels as if he could ally with Frost at any time, though one knows he wouldn’t be willing to share his power with him in the long term.

What’s especially interesting about this episode is the strange sense of pride one gets in seeing Frieza “Out bad guy” the bad guy from another universe. He’s a sick, sinister monster, but he’s our monster, the one we grew up watching when we were kids. Seeing him knock out a pretender to his villainy is extremely satisfying. You’re almost rooting for Frieza because of how smart and powerful he is; you’ll nearly forget that he’s causing a whole lot of trouble for our heroes.

There isn’t really much for me to complain about save for maybe the lack of a good fight here. Though, to complain about that would be to attack the very foundation of what this episode is about. However, considering that I wasn’t fooled by Frieza’s deception, it’s pretty likely that a lot of fans weren’t fooled by that either, so it’s only fair to knock off a few points because the mystery wasn’t strong enough. At the end of it all, though, this is a wonderful, sinister episode that gives Dragon Ball Super’s best villain a chance to shine.