English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Showdown of Love! The Androids vs the 2nd Universe!”

What is love? Love is a battlefield. But also, the baby doesn’t hurt me.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

A drained Goku tries to recover from his fight with Kefla, while Gohan and Piccolo take on the Universe 6 Namekians and Vegeta faces Catopesra of Universe 3. But the Saiyan prince is eager to catch up to Goku’s Autonomous Ultra Instinct, and so decides the best way to achieve this is to go limp and let Catopesra beat on him until the power activates. Another addition in Vegeta’s long line of brilliant plans, right up there with “Have Krillin Almost Kill Me So I Can Get Stronger” and “Let Cyborg Bugman Absorb Blonde Lady So I Can Have a Better Fight”. Though he thankfully gives this up after a few punches and handily eliminates the would-be superhero.

As this is happening, 17 and 18 get a chance to chat about their plans if either of them gets the wish, while the remaining Universe 2 fighters close in on Goku, so the sibling cyborgs head there to save him. And in some alternate universe, Future Trunks is feeling a chill and he doesn’t know why. Anyway, Ribrianne and Roasie battle 17 and 18 while the other Universe 2’s watch over Goku. 17 defeats Roasie pretty quickly, but Ribrianne and 18 slow things down to debate the definition of love, with Ribrianne seeing it being based on beauty and 18 only caring about protecting her family. She then seems to corner Ribrianne, but this was only a ploy for her to use her “Big Passion” trap and have all of the eliminated Universe 2 fighters to pool their energy into her for one big attack on the helpless 18. However, some well-timed cheering from her hubby Krillin gives her the strength to break free and take Ribrianne out too.

But three Universe 2 fighters remain, and they’re about to take on a still recovering Goku! I’ll give you three guesses how that’s going to go. Also, 15 minutes are left in the tournament.

OUR TAKE

After the high octane Super Saiyan showdowns of the last few episodes, this one definitely feels a lot slower in comparison, but it’s not without some considerable progress. For one, we get some proper sibling bonding time for 17 and 18, who really haven’t gotten to share much screentime before now. It’s nice to see these two have a conversation about how both of them have found lives and families, which feels so rewarding considering where viewers of DBZ have seen them start from. It’s one of the benefits of having another installment of this series that we can see how much some characters have developed and been allowed to grow, especially considering that others have stayed stuck or even backtracked in their own development. This was more 18’s episode than 17’s, despite the title, and I did appreciate her love for her family being able to overpower Ribrianne’s “love” of beauty, but I would’ve appreciated it JUST A BIT MORE if there had been even the slightest mention of Android 16. I dunno, maybe I’m just spoiled.

As for the tournament and its own progress, this serves as the effective climax of Universe 2’s part in the competition. Much like Universe 6 losing its Saiyan Sisters, they’re pretty much a dead team walking now. Sure, they technically still have a handful of fighters left who might hang around a little bit longer, but they’re basically bit players (who don’t even qualify as actual characters, I don’t think). And while Universe 6’s Namekians are up against Gohan and Piccolo, who might give them an even fight for pretty long, the last three U2s are facing Goku. A half-dead Goku, yes, but if it’s not him to get rid of them, it’ll be his plot armor coming through in the form of one of his teammates or one of the other stragglers who end up protecting him. Sooner or later, they’ll all be knocked out and that will be that. And it’s been a while since we’ve seen a Universe eliminated, so we’re pretty much due.

Come to think of it, it’s also been about ten episodes since the last Universe 7 elimination, Roshi, so the next one might be on its way soon too. I never watched the subbed version of this, so I don’t know who it’ll be, but overall I’d say that things are about to get more serious as the Tournament of Power enters its final quarter hour.