Hey everyone! I know it's late and "technically" Sunday, but here I am! After trouble finding a workable stream and then using Sna- I mean highly advanced editing software, I was working on some pictures to add here as well. I'm gonna be working on italics, bolding, picture resizing and the like but for now bare with me please! Leave some formatting advice in the comments if ya can as well, it would be appreciated!
- First things first! I watched the stream High-Def on Crunchyroll (which I highly recommend) and pulled the images I used from a youtube video of lower quality. And again, this is a SPOILER review!!!
The episode begins with a 30 or-so second preview of... the episode. Closing my eyes to avoid more spoilers, I waited to run into the minute or-so recap of LAST episode! Yay. Finally, the episode begins. We see U7 v U11 in a classic staredown:
... And the staredown was a long one. While I appreciated the wind animation during this scene, it dragged on to DBZ-esque lengths. I had felt like this was pretty unneeded, but the buildup worked for nostalgia.
Goku Moving up to Jiren and going Blue was a really intense hype-builder, and you could start see the attention to animation (budget) that was put into the episode right around here:
- Side note, why are 18 and Krillin not sitting by eachother? Odd little nitpick
Vegeta charging Jiren set the tone for the episode, zooming past Goku even after he saw him struggling against the Pride Trooper for a second time. We got to see some teamwork begin to form between Goku and Vegeta, which I loved seeing. Vegeta's skill as a warrior became relevant early on as he was able to see through Jiren's fist.
While it was great to see Vegeta go full badass, he quickly was overwhelmed by Jiren. Within a few seconds, he was downed and blasted away. I always like how they portray Jiren as not only having next level strength, but speed that is near incomprehensible. Every punch means something, and he rarely misses his target.
With Vegeta's fate unknown, the rest of Universe 7 are getting into the fray as well. Frieza starts testing Dyspo, while Toppo is double teamed by Gohan and 17. Dyspo seems outmatched even by final form Frieza, but still has a chance due to his speed. Golden Frieza I believe, could make light work of him though. Toppo was in rare form this episode, shrugging off the attacks our two heroes threw his way. Toppo's character has grown on me and his screentime this episode didn't go to waste.
Vegeta's pride really shouldn't be toyed with, Jiren! any time someone goes after this guy's pride, he always cranks it to 11. After charging his Final Flash (which Mr. Gray kindly allowed him to build up), Vegeta lets out his strongest beam attack to date. Jiren actually looked a little worried, which is a first for the series. Classic Dragon Ball smoke clears to reveal a downed Jiren, and here come's Begeta's calling card in the next scene.
Gloat in victory, get bodied moments later. While I normally would be angry about this... did anyone REALLY expect Vegeta to beat Jiren when Goku was so easliy handled in Ultra Instinct?! Jiren's new attack was incredible, and I'll only leave the picture of the Prince here to let you see it for yourself ;) Super attack for FighterZ when!!! Our first ep. of the new year comes to a close in a cliffhanger; will Vegeta be able to continue fighting after his pride AND his body being beaten down? Find out on the next episode of Dragon Ball Zuper
All in all, this was a great episode. Vegeta made it further than he should have against Jiren, and gave the episode relevance towards his character even if we knew what the outcome would be.
- Story: 5/7 Dragon Balls
- Animation: 6/7 Dragon Balls
- Pacing: 4/7 Dragon Balls
- Action: 7/7 Dragon Balls
Overall score: 22/28 Dragon Balls. Three wishes! Shenron Genie confirmed. You made us proud this week Vegeta and we expect you to go even higher!
