Episode 113 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on October 29, 2017 and titled With Great Joy! The Fighting Freak Saiyans' Battle Rejoined! in Funimation's dub, is a martial arts lesson dressed up as a fight. Caulifla wants Super Saiyan 3 to avenge Hit and Cabba, and Goku, still running on empty, agrees to teach her his way: by fighting her.
Summary
After driving off Universe 3's robots, Caulifla explains herself: she could not stop Hit and Cabba from being eliminated, and she wants to get strong enough to fight in their place. She asks Goku to show her the third level of Super Saiyan, and he agrees on one condition: she has to beat him first.
Goku stays in base form, since he still has not recovered from Jiren, while Caulifla is in Super Saiyan 2. Champa sees a chance to eliminate him, but Beerus points out that Goku may be the only one who can beat Jiren. At first she drives him back, then Goku takes over: Whis explains it is the difference between martial arts and brawling, because the Saiyan reads her movements and strikes at the right moment. Caulifla adapts, so Goku throws her off with afterimages and Instant Transmission. She complains about the tricks; he replies that if she cannot handle them, she will never reach the third level.
Blow after blow, Caulifla improves in front of everyone, to the point that Whis talks about potential the fight is simply drawing out. Goku moves up to Super Saiyan 2, and she surprises him with an energy attack of her own. To raise the stakes, Goku calls Kale in as well, and she enters her bulky but controlled Super Saiyan form. Together the two start landing hits, and Master Roshi wonders whether Goku is using Ultra Instinct again. Whis rules it out: it is just Goku's senses sharpening under pressure.
In the end Goku has to turn Super Saiyan 3 to repel a combined attack from the girls, but he can hold the form only for a few moments before reverting. It is enough to thrill Caulifla and Kale, more determined than ever to reach it. Kale, however, gets carried away and slips back into her berserk state, and Goku braces to face her. Twenty-two minutes remain.
Our take
This is a breather episode, almost an open-air training session in the middle of a war, and that is precisely its charm. Goku does what he does best: he turns an opponent into a student and a fight into a lesson. Whis's explanation of technique versus raw power is the heart of the episode, and it helps make sense of Goku's growth later on.
The parallel with the previous episode is clear: Vegeta has just played the gruff mentor to Cabba, and now Goku plays the enthusiastic one to Caulifla. Two opposite ways of being a Saiyan, both convincing. The flaw is obvious even to the people in the stands: in a tournament where the universe's existence is at stake, Goku helping his opponents get stronger is pure risk, and Beerus makes sure to say so.
Trivia
- Written by Yoshifumi Fukushima and directed by Hideki Hiroshima, with Hirotaka Nii and Masahiro Shimanuki as animation directors. It drew a 5.1% rating in Japan.
- The title refers to a rematch: Goku and Caulifla had already clashed in episode 100, when he showed her how to reach Super Saiyan 2 again and Kale went berserk for the first time in the tournament. Every form is summarized on our Super Saiyan transformations page.
- In the manga, Goku never fights Caulifla and does not use Super Saiyan 3 in the Tournament of Power.
Characters
- Goku, Caulifla and Kale
- Champa, Vados, Cabba and Hit
- Krillin, Tien and Master Roshi
- Beerus, Whis, the Grand Minister and the two Zenos