English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “The Match Begins! Let’s All Go to the Nameless Planet!”

I wouldn’t wear a suit that tight with nipples that big.

Overview (Spoilers, if you could call them that.)

It’s the day of the tournament, and everyone piles in to Whis’ Hexahedron (space cube) to be whisked off. Goku and Vegeta arrive, having trained up to the last possible second. They haven’t done anything but spar in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, even shave or shower. After they take care of their hygiene, the Whis Uber takes off, making only a brief stopoff to pick up Beerus and Monaka (whose name means Big Nipples, apparently). First order of the Tournament, the written test! As much as we all thought this would disqualify Goku, he manages to pass. Buu does not. But the real attraction is the enemy! Universe 6 seems to have its own version of Freiza. There’s also a Saiyan, but where’s his tail?

Yep, another setup episode. One I…. actually kinda… Liked? Okay, I’m a nerd (If’n you couldn’t tell) and I’m really into building deep universes. For the longest time, the Dragon Ball franchise has been really shallow, with Toriyama only revealing what is important to what is immediately going on. What we did see was mired in hearsay and legend. Super, on the other hand, jumps right in with the history and ecology of the Saiyans. I mean, I’ve spent most of my life wondering what the heck destroyed their original planet. Now we know it was a civil war. That actually sounds about right. The original Japanese said it was over a dispute, which sounds like someone just took a family feud WAY too far. In Cabba’s universe, the Saiyans apparently are tailless heroes, and they haven’t lost their original planet, Sadala. That’s a play on salad, by the way. Cabba’s a tiny little guy, but he’s here in the tournament, so he must be strong. He’s also missing his tail, which is always loaded with meaning. Saiyans (at least those in Universe 7) only grow back their tails if they are under a certain level of power. Either Cabba is much stronger than he looks, or his Universe gave the race a different evolutionary line entirely. We actually get to see Vegeta nerd out a bit at the chance to know more about what his race is like in this other world. He keeps his cool, but this is the happiest we’ve seen him in… forever. I don’t blame him. I’ve been wanting to do an article explaining the Saiyan race and their transformations for a while since it’s starting to get a bit confusing how they all work. If you’re interested in that sort of thing, let me know in the comments below.

I’ve taken to watching both the subbed and dubbed versions of the episode lately. I get a bit more information that way, and I get to see how the dub alters things. They take some liberties in this episode, but I think the end result is improved over the original. Before, Whis used a nonsense chant when he used his magic. Now, he simply continues his dialogue or narrates his actions, which makes it more fluid and less hokey. On the other hand, we also get a reeeeeeally awkward line from Goku in this version. When Krillin shows up a bit late from going to the bathroom, Goku loudly asks him if he was “Summoning the Dragon”. Now, in the original, he asked if Krillin took a poop, which is admittedly embarrassing to be asked in public. Goku’s question in English sounds like he was asking about a very different action. Is this a case where the censorship actually made it worse? This is the one instance where I think I preferred the Japanese, which speaks well for the English ADR script.

Our Take

Given that this was the last episode of setup before the new tournament, there wasn’t technically much going on. However, the dialogue was strong and got even better in the English. There was plenty of great trash talk flying around. As we’re used to, Whis and Vados have biting wits. Vados routinely slams her master Champa with sideways insults he never gets. The more we get to these side episodes in this series, the better the character dialogue seems to get. It’s already better than Dragon Ball and Z. Because of that, and the minor revelations that they’ve been doing, the episode feels full without having any action in it.

During the brief scene of Goku and Vegeta sparring, we get a real treat. Quality animation, and choreography that isn’t just rapid punches repeated in a loop. We actually get a neat transition between Dende and Popo’s tennis match and the two boys sparring. It’s some of the best animation I’ve seen from this show in a few episodes. Not long after, we see Jaco introducing the Galaxy King. The motions he does to do so are complex but are fluidly animated. It makes me hopeful that this coming season will be better than the series has so far. The remainder of the animation we see is at the show’s standard level, which isn’t spectacular but doesn’t make me want to gouge my eyes out either.

Lex Lang and Christopher Sabat continue to own the show when it comes to voice acting. Goku and Vegeta are the most vocally developed characters we see… er, hear. The others aren’t bad, not at all. These two just understand their characters well enough that I find them very believable. I’ve also grown to enjoy Vados’ voice. Caitlin Glass gives her a slightly stuck-up air, but without being obnoxious. She sounds almost like a school teacher, which fits because of the written test being given.

So, while not much happens in this episode, and the animation on average doesn’t have a lot going for it, this episode had really strong dialogue, with brief points of excellent animation. The English dub does the show real justice. I give this episode eight Hexahedrons out of ten.