English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super ”Rematch With Goku Black! Enter Super Saiyan Rosé“

This is how you make the color Pink, terrifying.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Immediately picking up from the last episode, Goku, Vegeta and Future Trunks journey 17 years into the future, only for Goku to be under attack by a group of paramilitary freedom fighters within this dystopian, war-torn, shit-hole of a future, but it’s understandable given that they think he’s Goku Black. As they waste no time firing like crazy, they quickly stop when the soldiers recognize Future Trunks as he explains to them that these are the people sent to help them as they were previously informed by Future Bulma’s master plan in regards to Trunks going back to the past. But another piece of good news is that Future Mai is not only alive but filled them in on this info. As they head on over to the Resistance base (which turns out to be an abandoned subway), Future Trunks and Mai are reunited once again. Mai at first thought Future Trunks died but if you’ve watched the previous episodes, we all know that wasn’t the case.

At this point, the episode shows us how dire the situation has become, as every survivor within the base is the only known humans left in this world. Luckily, Mai was able to save some kids although they’re understandably frightened by the face of the normal Goku for obvious & aforementioned reasons. Of course, Trunks cheers them up with silly faces while Vegeta gives the survivors food from one of Bulma’s capsules. We also discover that out of all the people from Goku’s circle who supposedly died in this timeline, it had to be the supporting character Yajirobe whom they immediately recognize. The entire scene is a fun watch that helps balance out the bleakness with some much-needed humor & levity, but knowing that Goku Black is still out there being the sadistic & murderous tool that he is, Goku & Vegeta decide to play Rock, Paper, Scissors to figure out who’ll go up against Black first. Vegeta and suggests Future Trunks should keep low and escape back to the past with Mai. However, Mai stays back at the base while Future Trunks flies off with them.

We then cut to Goku Black, who revels in his rampage, only for Vegeta to draw him out, leading to a decent battle between the two as Vegeta straight up goes into his Super Saiyan Blue forms. During the battle, Future Trunks begins to piece together some ominous words Black spews out about how “Mortals are terrible” which further indicates his connection with that twisted Kai Zamasu. Impressed that a mortal like Vegeta is able to last this long against him, Black shows him his new form which he calls “Super Saiyan Rosé” (Pronounced Row-zay). Given that it’d be a much shorter story otherwise, Black makes quick work of Vegeta even in his SS-Blue form and even straight up impales him through the chest with some energy-shaped blade which leaves Goku next to take him on. Of course, Goku stands his ground while Vegeta turns out to just be injured. Much to the shock of everyone, The episode ends in one hell of a cliffhanger when a very familiar face shows up to Stop Black, and it’s not looking good for our Three Saiyan Heroes.

Our Take

After that intense cliffhanger, I’m now left with more questions than answers. As a major villain, Goku Black represents a different kind of Evil compared to the world-conquering assholes like Frieza or chaotic-evil-types like Kid-Buu, as his twisted motivations seem driven by a genocidal philosophy about how “Unworthy” mortals are, and by extension humanity as a whole.

If I had any minor complaints, it’d be that Vegeta keeps getting delegated into getting his ass-kicked first without any moment to shine in his own right, but I hope that changes later on. I’m pretty damn hooked enough to see what happens next as even that twist at the end caught me off guard.