English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Rampage! A Crazed Warrior’s Savagery Awakens!”

Things are about to get legendary.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Krillin has been knocked out of the Tournament of Power, putting the Universe 7 team down one man for the rest of the battle. Its a setback, but not one that the Z warriors can’t overcome since they’ve been able to keep most of their team alive and well.

Meanwhile, the Universe 6 Saiyans get into their own trouble, with Kale coming across two powerful warriors who beat her unconscious. Caulifla steps in to rescue her by going Super Saiyan and knocking them away. Caulifla wakes up Kale and asks why she doesn’t use her full power to defeat their foes. Soon, Goku arrives, who is more than happy to see Kale and Caulifla.

Caulifa asks Goku to teach them how to go Super Saiyan Blue, which he gladly agrees to, thinking it might bring another worthy opponent into the fight. Despite his coaching, Kale and Caulifla can’t reach Super Saiyan Blue, but that doesn’t stop them from trying to give Goku a good fight. Caulifla powers up and starts sparring with Goku, leaving Kale behind. However, the sight of Caulifla fighting with Goku stirs something within Kale, and she releases the power of the Legendary Super Saiyan.

Consumed with furious power, Kale is a fearsome sight who is able to give Goku a run for his money, even with the power of Super Saiyan Blue. Goku tries to use a Kamehameha wave to stop Kale, but she counters with energy blasts of her own that decimate the battlefield and knock out countless competitors.

Enter Jiren, who shows the arena what he’s made of by knocking out Kale in one blue and ending her rampage. After that incredible display, he approaches Goku and confronts him face to face, setting the stage for their eventual battle.

Our Take:

Things get knocked up a notch this week as Kale reveals her true strength to the Tournament of Power. After some nebulous episodes that have been making up the tournament so far, this one steps up its intensity and delivers a strong episode that brings a couple of oft-forgotten characters to a higher level. Though it’s by no means perfect, the fighting was solid and the characters backing the fight were well-developed out.

Kale and Caulifla are the centers of attention this time around, making this episode all about Universe 6. Apart from the brief training moments, we saw before the start of the tournament, these two haven’t had a whole lot to do. But there has been some real anticipation for Kale’s big reveal of her Saiyan powers, and this episode delivers on that anticipation really well. By having Kale get wrecked by a couple of goons before her fight helps bond us to her character, even for such a small moment. That way, once she unleashes, it feels like Kale is “taking the power back”, surprising everyone with her true strength.

The animation underlying the fight is essential to making a good sequence, and that animation is done splendidly. Kale’s energy blasts shot all over the arena echo the same ones that Broly used in his appearances, which only serves to make Kale seem even more fearsome. That intensity is necessary to keep the audience invested in the action.

However, the episode falls short in the same way that Dragon Ball Super has fallen short for a long time, being hamstrung by its simple storytelling. There isn’t a whole lot to the conflict except for a pure exhibition of strength that we already knew would be coming. It seems like this fight could have been more exciting if it wasn’t already told to us that Kale has the power of the Legendary Super Saiyan. What a twist it would have been if Kale is the keeper of a power known to “DBZ” fans that have gone long unused.

Despite some minor setbacks, there’s plenty of Dragon Ball to enjoy here. It’s not spectacular, but what I expect from a good episode of Dragon Ball Super. And, by setting up Jiren, there seem to be some serious challenges on the horizon for Goku. It will be up to the following weeks to see how memorable the Tournament of Power will be for fans of the series.