English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “The Approaching Wall! Hope Placed in a Final Barrier!”

 

 

Jiren proceeds to power up to his maximum level and begins to make his last stand against what’s left of Universe 7 simultaneously, but Jiren emphasizing how much of a heavy-hitter he is, easily overpowers them, but out of sheer dumb luck, Android 17 manages to land a sneak attack that causes actual pain. Jiren also defeats Goku & Vegeta but we the audience know at this point that they’ll be back, and as predicted, Frieza rejoins the fight and tries to take out Jiren by himself in his golden form, but given Jiren’s track record it goes about as well as you’d expect…

 

It’s here when we get to the heart of this episode as Android 17 begins to ask Jiren what his wish on the Super Dragon Balls would be, while concurrently the story is also told by the Universe 11 God “Lord Belmod” as he explains the deep and tragic motivations behind Jiren’s endless pursuit of strength, while also delving into the reasons and thought process behind Jiren as a character along with the the tragic circumstances that molded Jiren into the Loner-type warrior he is today. And while this backstory properly emphasizes how much this wish means to him, it does lead towards one of the best Android 17 moments, as he’s quick to figure out what a such a heavy-hitter like him could possibly wish for.

In response, while 17 admires Jiren’s motivation, he’s also well within his rights to accuse Jiren of using the Universe 11 team for such a selfish desire that only seems to benefit him and nobody else within his own damn universe. Jiren  then rebuffs 17’s words, with a powerful energy blast down at all three of them. In a ditch-effort to save Goku & Vegeta, Android 17 uses an energy barrier to hold back Jiren’s blast and forms force fields around the Saiyan duo to protect them before doing something unthinkable that even I didn’t expect… the episode ends on an intense cliffhanger as Goku is unable to stand, while Vegeta manages to get up faces Jiren with a more hardened resolve to take Jiren head-on.

Our Take

These last few episodes have really been something, but Jiren’s backstory could’ve have been more emotionally effective if they revealed it in a much earlier episode, but now it just feels like pointless filler. I can see what they were going for, but I felt no emotional investment in knowing “why Jiren is obsessed with strength/power” nor do I care what Jiren’s wish is because the pathos of his backstory feels like some last-minute attempt to make us care about an otherwise unsympathetic asshole.

After what 17 just did in this episode, he’s been leaving one hell of a lasting impression for this Tournament and is probably the only character aside from Goku and Vegeta that actually gets attention. Also, What was the point of Frieza attacking when the writers felt the need to just knock his ass out again in less than 30 seconds?

With only four episodes left before DB Super’s grand finale, I’m curious who’s gonna come out on top after all this.