English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Universe 9’s Basil the Kicker VS Universe 7’s Majin Buu”

Even after all this time, Majin Buu is still a badass.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The first fight in the Tournament of Power is between Majin Buu and a fox humanoid from Universe 9 known as “Basil the Kicker.” Basil has been kicking Majin Buu around all over the place, but he remains undamaged, thinking of their fight as more of a game than anything else.

At his brother’s request, Basil unleashes his inner power and reveals the extent of his incredible strength, which seems to suppress Majin Buu into the ground. Yet again, Buu isn’t even scratched, well except for the giant hole in his stomach, but to a guy like Buu, that isn’t much of a problem.

Mr. Satan is injured in an explosion caused by Basil, and seeing this sends Majin Buu into a rage. No longer just playing for fun, Buu proceeds to dominate the fight, teaching Basil that he is not a being to be messed with.

Even with Buu knocking Basil out of the ring, the fight doesn’t end since Zeno isn’t satisfied with the fight. The Universe 9 Supreme Kai takes this chance to give Basil some kind of fruit that empowers the furry fighter. The following clash between these two powerhouses is intense, but ultimately, Majin Buu comes out the winner, taking the first round for Universe 7.

Our Take:

Now, this is what I’m talking about. Dragon Ball Super brings the heat this week with an episode that reminds me of why I loved Dragon Ball in the first place. With a previous couple of episodes feeling like rushed exposition dumps, I’ve been looking forward to some honest man on man combat. Dragon Ball Super delivers the fun and fighting this week in a tight, well-paced episode that showcases the initial fight of the Tournament of Power.

If anything is going to be discussed in regards to the quality of this episode, it has to be the riveting fight between Majin Buu and Basil. It’s a battle that satisfies the expectations of a good shounen; a fight that’s both flashy and somewhat brutal. Basil’s moves have a strong impact and flow to them brought upon by their swiftness and power. This is a great contrast to Buu’s inherent bounciness and silly nature.

While Basil barely lays a scratch on Majin Buu by the end of the fight, sometimes a straight up beat down is just plain fun to watch. There’s a sort of pride that a long-time viewer has for Universe 7, and it’s deeply satisfying to see a powerful ally/former villain of this universe demonstrate just how powerful he is to all of the multiverses. But that’s not to say that Basil never had a chance. The episode does an excellent job of escalating Basil’s powerful enough that he seems like a legitimately strong fighter. It’s not that his power is weak, just that the absurd might of Majin Buu conquers that. Like watching your favorite wrestler take out an arrogant challenger, seeing Majin Buu prove himself, again and again, makes for a good fight scene.

The tradeoff of this episode is, of course, that you aren’t going to get much in terms of actual story development here. The fight is structured to basically be a one episode fight a singular major theme to it, so don’t expect much to happen other than two dudes punching each other in the face for 15 minutes. Believe me, I’m not complaining, but a lot of shounen these days are able to blend their story with their fighting. Perhaps it shows the age of this series, but it seems like with Dragon Ball, we tend to either get story or fighting, but rarely both. Regardless, it’s still a fun and exciting episode that was worth my time and attention.