English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “Unmask Black’s True Identity! Off to the 10th Universe’s World of the Kai’s”

The mystery continues…

Overview (Spoilers Below)

After finding a possible clue on who Goku Black might be, Beerus, Whis and Goku travel into the multiverse. As the possible clue regarding Goku Black’s energy signature is similar to what they felt in Universe 10. It’s here where we are introduced to a yellow Kai named Gowasu (Voiced by Garett Schneck) and his apprentice, the green-skinned Zamasu (Voiced by David Gray) a Kai apprentice who has an “aptitude for martial arts” and is training to attain full Kai Status but may not be as powerful as we may have perceived. As Zamasu is discussing to his master if mortal’s & humanity are worth protecting if they keep destroying themselves in an endless loop of war & violence, but Gowasu’s answer is that humans aren’t perfect but are worth protecting. And much to Zamasu’s extreme disdain towards them, Gowasu presses the matter that Kai’s aren’t supposed to interfere with the matters of mortals no matter how terrible they can be to one another.

With the way the episode is structured, it often cuts back & forth between what’s going on Earth and Universe 10 as Future Trunks has a lot of catching up to do regarding how much has changed in the aftermath of the Cell Saga, including Android 18 being married to Krillin with a child which makes Trunks feel awkward at first, but is given a sense of relief on the matter. When we cut back to Universe 10, Goku’s proverbial hard-on for combat gets the better of him and asks to do battle with Zamasu which is awkward considering that Beerus, Whis, and Goku just immediately introduced themselves but it doesn’t help that Zamasu is implied to be a loathesome misanthrope, but Whis cuts to the chase and talks to both Gowasu and Zamasu about Goku Black, and mentions that Black somehow got his hands on a time ring made by the Kais which leaves both of them confused because they reveal in their vault that the time rings are all present & accounted for unless of course, something happens in the future.

When Goku gets his chance to fight Zamasu. Gowasu approves it with the hope that this experience will help Zamasu gets to know mortals better, despite Zamasu being beyond blatant about not wanting anything to do with them as a whole. As Beerus hypes up Goku’s power, he warns Zamasu not to hold back because much to Zamasu’s shock, as he’s never heard of a mortal being that’s on-par with the Gods before. When Goku powers up to his SS-2 form, he notices that Zamasu has similar fighting techniques and energy signature to Black, but it ends when Goku beats him which leaves Zamasu annoyed. After returning home, they realize that despite Zamasu giving off a similar energy signature to Black, they don’t have enough evidence to pinpoint that they’re the same Individual. And as Beerus expresses his willingness to take Zamasu out, Goku decides to spare him as he doesn’t think he’s evil. The episode ends on a cryptic note when Zamasu & Gowasu talk about how strong Goku is, but it’s vaguely hinted that we haven’t seen the last of Zamasu as his inner-thoughts convey some very unsettling words.

Our Take

In terms of running time, this episode felt really long, but every scene was entertaining enough to hold my attention. The comedic scene when Android 18 met Future Trunks helped balance some of the dark undertones with humor & levity to the proceedings. As for Zamasu’s voice in the English Dub, he comes off as sounding like British royalty with his arrogant tone. In the video game “Dragonball Xenoverse 2“, he was voiced by James Marsters, but here it sounds like David Gray is attempting his best Marsters impression and it’s hard not to laugh.

Given how deeply disturbed Zamasu seems towards mortals and by-extension humanity as a whole, we could be seeing the early well-crafted beginnings of a supervillain. I mean seriously, the clues are beyond blatant that Black & Zamasu are possibly connected. Not to mention, he just discovered the existence of Time Rings for the first time and later fights Goku which only further intensified his hatred, doesn’t any of this feel like a recipe for disaster?

I guess we’ll find out in later episodes.