Episode 114 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on November 5, 2017 and titled Bloodcurdling! The Explosive Birth of a New Super Warrior! in Funimation's dub, closes Goku's bout with Universe 6's two Saiyan girls with a twist. Backed into a corner, Caulifla and Kale put on the Potara earrings and become a single fighter: Kefla.
Summary
Kale is berserk again and even attacks Caulifla. Her partner does not back down: she calls Kale her precious protégée and her best friend, and tells her that together they can beat Goku. It works. Kale comes back to her senses and returns to her controlled Super Saiyan form, now with her power fully under control and even greater than before.
Super Saiyan 2 Goku realizes he has to get serious, because together the two are giving him trouble. The fight even barrels into Universe 3's Catopesra, who was busy taunting Frieza. Caulifla recognizes Frieza as the one who eliminated Cabba and wants to go after him, but Goku asks the former tyrant to stay out of it: the girls are his opponents. Frieza agrees to enjoy the spectacle of Saiyans beating each other up and ignores Catopesra, who switches to Speed Mode and dares him to follow.
The two Saiyans fight smart. In the smoke from their blasts, Goku rushes Kale, but it is a trap: she pins his arm while Caulifla pummels him. When he teleports, Caulifla predicts where he will reappear. So Goku goes Super Saiyan God and answers with fingertip barrages, then with two homing energy spheres. Kale manages to repel hers, but Caulifla takes a direct hit. Goku compliments them and suggests a rematch after the tournament.
Caulifla will not have it and tells Kale to bring out "that thing" they were given before the tournament. Goku fires a Kamehameha that crumbles the edge of the stage the girls are standing on, but as the platform falls there is a flash, and a single fighter leaps back into the arena wearing a familiar pair of earrings: Kefla. Champa had entrusted them with Potara borrowed from Universe 6's Supreme Kai, to be used only as a last resort. Vados explains that the fusion multiplies power dozens of times over, and Kefla's energy distracts even Vegeta, who takes a hit from Toppo. Still in base form, Kefla starts knocking Goku all over the place. Twenty-one minutes remain.
Our take
The first half of the episode is a small story about friendship, and it works better than you might expect. Kale, so far defined by her shyness and her uncontrolled rage, finds her balance thanks to Caulifla, and the scene gives their fusion an emotional meaning before a tactical one: two girls who complete each other literally become one person.
The second half is pure spectacle, with Goku alternating tricks and transformations like a teacher gradually raising the difficulty of an exam. The Potara reveal is carefully set up, with that "thing" left dangling, and Kefla's arrival revives a saga that risked spinning its wheels. The rules of fusion are covered on our page about how to do the fusion dance.
Trivia
- Written by Hiroshi Yamaguchi and directed by Masanori Satō, with Yūya Takahashi, Paul Añonuevo and Eugene Ayson as animation directors. It drew a 5.3% rating in Japan.
- The name Kefla blends Kale and Caulifla.
- According to Catopesra himself, his Speed Mode makes him three hundred times faster.
- In the manga the Potara are not a gift from Champa: Caulifla takes them from Supreme Kai Fuwa, and Kefla appears directly as a Super Saiyan.