English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Show Them! Krillin’s Underlying Strength!”

Go, Krillin, go!

Overview (Spoilers Below)

A universe has been eliminated in the Tournament of Power, and all the rest of the universes are on edge. No one wants to be the next on the chopping block, so the combatants kick things up a notch in terms of fighting intensity. Everyone is set to fight now, especially the androids, who recognize their ability to never tire is a big advantage in this tourney.

Everyone begins to take on their individual foes, and the Universe 7 warriors start strong against their opponents. Android 18 nearly gets knocked off the arena, but Krillin comes to save her at the last moment in a moment of touching romance. This gives Krillin a chance to fight with his lovely android wife against Shosa, their opponent. The two of them unleash a team attack where they shoot an energy ball back and forth to each other, giving the attack increasing speed and power, until they land it on Shosa, knocking him out of the tournament.

Another opponent comes to face Krillin and Android 18, and Krillin uses his solar flare to try and blind the fighter. However, this attack is ineffective because their enemy is blind and fights purely by smell. Krillin informs 18 that he has a secret plan to beat this guy. The two begin to fight properly until Krillin surprises his foe with a secret attack: his noxious smelling shoe, thrown right onto the fighter’s face. With his sense of smell neutralized, Krillin can land a Kamehameha blast right into him. However, once he does so, Krillin gets smacked from behind by Frost, causing him to fall out of the ring.

Our Take:

With Krillin entering the ring, I feel as if the Tournament of Power has just begun for real. Goku and Vegeta are strong enough that when they fight the victor is basically assured, so a fight with Krillin is a good way to really bring some tension to the tournament. And to that end, this episode does quite well. I enjoyed this episode quite a bit; it offered basically everything that I come to an episode of Dragon Ball Super for. The animation is solid, the fighting is exciting, and it has a fun, if not a bit predictable, ending.

I think the first half of the episode should have been more dedicated to Krillin’s fight and less to the assorted fights that are going on around the ring with the various Universe 7 warriors. Their fights don’t amount to a whole lot and mostly feel like filler, with the major exception being Vegeta, whose next opponent is foreshadowed here. Though it was cool to see the teamwork between the Universe 7 fighters, something I would love to see more of.

Krillin’s fight is fun but way too short for me, and that’s not just because I’m a big fan of the bald boy. Before the tournament even started, Krillin’s usefulness as a technique fighter was foreshadowed to be something important, and knocking him out this early in the tournament feels like a waste. Not to mention, his fight isn’t really emblematic of who he is as a character. His shoe throw is clever, but I wanted to see more from him, something that shows the development he’s had as a character represented in his fight. Those story elements are what make a fight so much fun to watch, but I feel that Krillin has just statically moved in and out of the tournament without accomplishing much.

Without jumping to conclusions, it occurs to me that this might just be the formula that this particular arc is going to go through. I’m not sure if character development is actually going to occur in this show or if its just going to be a series of fights that fulfill the obligation to have everyone in the cast do something that feels important. I think there’s the potential for some exciting developments here, and I hope Krillin’s short-lived time in the tournament isn’t indicative of a larger underlying problem with this arc.