Episode 101 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on July 30, 2017 and titled Warriors of Justice Close In! The Pride Troopers! in Funimation's dub, sends Universe 11's Pride Troopers into action. Top dispatches five comrades to eliminate Goku and Universe 6's Saiyan women, sparking an improvised alliance between rivals. With help from Android 17 and Android 18, Caulifla and Kale turn the fight around, and Kale finally learns to master her power.
Summary
Goku challenges Jiren, who stays silent, but Top blasts him far away and announces that a squad of five Pride Troopers will handle him: he and Jiren need to save their strength. Goku lands right next to Caulifla and Kale, who has just come to, and there Kahseral, Tupper, Zoire, Cocotte and Kettle arrive, bent on avenging Vewon. Goku tells the two women to get to safety, but Caulifla does not want to miss out on such interesting opponents.
Elsewhere, Master Roshi paralyzes Universe 3's Za Priccio with an electric attack, and Tien finishes him off with a Neo Tri-Beam; Gohan and Piccolo join them to regroup the team, and Frieza shows up too, stealing Vegeta's opponent and tossing out Universe 10's Murichim. Meanwhile Tupper, who can change his body weight, sits on Goku's back while Zoire hits him with a tornado, Kettle pelts Caulifla with blasts and Cocotte traps Kale in one of her pocket dimensions.
Kahseral boasts of their numbers, only to be sent flying by Android 17, who has arrived with his sister without anyone sensing their energy. Now it is five against five. 17 holds off Kahseral and his energy blades, while 18 frees Goku and hurls Tupper toward the edge: the ground gives way beneath him and he is out. Kahseral changes tactics and targets the two Saiyans, whom Cocotte isolates inside a dimensional dome that even Goku cannot teleport into.
Caulifla shields Kale from Zoire's attacks, and Kale's anger at herself transforms her again, this time into a regular, fully conscious Super Saiyan. She breaks out of her prison and stops her attacker. The Pride Troopers answer with a combined beam, the two Saiyans do the same, and Kale, back in her muscular form, breaks through: Kahseral, Kettle and Zoire are out. Android 18 picks up Cocotte, barrier and all, and throws her over the edge. Goku lets the exhausted Caulifla and Kale go so he can face them when they are stronger, unaware that someone is watching him.
Our take
The episode is a concentrate of what the tournament does best: alliances of convenience, imaginative techniques and quick reversals. The Pride Troopers, introduced as a squad of costumed heroes, genuinely fight as a team, which is why their defeat carries weight. That they fall to two novice Saiyans helped by two androids nobody sees coming says a lot about the tournament's variety.
Kale's growth is the emotional heart of the episode. After two uncontrolled transformations, she manages to use her power to protect her friend instead of to destroy, and the series tells it clearly. Goku's decision to let them go is questionable in a tournament with the universe at stake, but that is simply who he is.
Trivia
- Written by Hiroshi Yamaguchi and directed by Makoto Sonoda, with Tsutomu Ono and Shūichirō Manabe as animation directors. It drew a 5.0% TV rating in Japan.
- Chronologically, it is the first time Goku and Android 18 fight on the same side.
- In the manga, all five Pride Troopers are eliminated by Kefla, and Kale never learns to control her Legendary form.
- The beam struggle between the Saiyans and the Pride Troopers echoes Gohan versus Cell, with Caulifla's left arm injured just as Gohan's was.
Did you know? Za Priccio looks a lot like Perfect Cell, and he is taken out by Tien's Neo Tri-Beam: the same move Tien once used against Semi-Perfect Cell.