English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “With New Hope! In Their Hearts – Farewell Trunks”

Possibly one of the most polarizing twist-endings to a Dragonball Story-Arc/Saga ever.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

You’d think after that epic ending of Trunks creating a “Spirit-Sword (despite not even knowing how to do the “Spirit Bomb” in the first place) and delivering the final blow to Fused Zamasu Kung Lao-style would’ve been the immediate end right? Well, The episode then takes a different direction when a rift opens up and a cloud of smoke covers the sky with the clear indication that Zamasu isn’t full-on dead after all, but is now a non-corporeal cloud form and laughing maniacally in the sky. It also doesn’t help that this living shroud of himself has further devoured the whole Earth and spreads across the Universe with no way to defeat him given the disadvantage everyone is in.

Arguably, it makes even the efforts of saving the survivors of a dystopian shit-hole of a future even more pointless when Zamasu’s power has pretty much wiped just about anyone who isn’t the main character out of existence with the exception of those who aren’t survivors of this aftermath. As Goku checks his pockets for Senzu Beans, he instead remembers a device he previously received from Grand-Zeno. Leading Goku to ask if the Zeno of this timeline is still alive, in which Supreme Kai theorizes that he should still be around which is Ironic because you’d think somebody would’ve informed Zeno about the shit Zamasu caused during the course of this storyline, but I guess Toriyama kinda wrote himself in a corner with that one. When Goku presses the button, Future Zeno appears before everyone, and after being convinced by Goku, he begins to destroy Zamasu along with the world of this fucked up Timeline, which causes Goku to panic and urges everyone whos able to use the time machine or teleport everyone the fuck out.

As Zeno wiped-out what’s left of this already destroyed dystopian shit-hole of a future, everyone quickly escapes back to the present in the nick of time. Afterward, Goku and Future Trunks go back to see if there’s anything left, only to find Zeno floating around in nothingness. But instead of just leaving him there, they actually bring Future Zeno to the present timeline much to the comedic shock of Beerus. And to uphold a promise Goku previously made to his Grand Zeno, Goku found him a friend to play with who is technically his future-self. I’d make an obvious masturbation joke, but that would be too easy. The rest of the episode is spent on Whis coming up with a quick series of solutions for both the future counterparts that not only cover all their bases to make sure Zamasu doesn’t repeat his attempts again, but offers the two a new timeline to live with the assurance that the future they’ll be going to won’t be so dangerous and everyone will still be alive in which Beerus indirectly created when he previously destroyed Zamasu with the only minor downside is that another version of Trunks & Mai will also exist, but they still take the offer to live there. The episode ends on an arguably satisfying note when everyone gives their proper goodbye (including a hilariously unique one from Vegeta) as Future Trunks & Mai leave to pursue their new life in an untainted time period, free of destruction.

Our Take

What a weird way to destroy a Genocidal Maniac. While the episode is going to have its detractors for a number of obvious reasons, this entire story-arc was the closest thing Dragonball had to a philosophical debate about humanity’s worth, reclaiming a sense of purpose, and the seduction of evil. You’d think it would’ve been more rewarding to see Future Trunks get the final blow and leave well enough alone, but the twist ending felt almost like Toriyama wrote himself into a corner while attempting to give a sense of finality.

We also get a minor epilogue with several other characters, including a scene in Universe 10 where Gowasu laments about Zamasu becoming his greatest failure and has to live with knowing that his apprentice turned out to be an absolute monster. It was also possibly the first Dragonball Story where the major threat wasn’t full-on destroyed by the hands of Goku or Vegeta which is symbolic in itself given that this entire storyline began and ended with Trunks.

I guess we can expect filler episodes once more knowing Toriyama’s track record of delivering a slow-burn before the real cooking starts.

Score
8.5/10