Episode 116 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on November 19, 2017 and titled Signs of a Turnabout! The Autonomous Ultra Instinct Erupts! in Funimation's dub, closes the duel between Goku and Kefla and pins down the limit of the new power: Goku's body dodges on its own, but when he decides to strike, the magic stalls.
Summary
Goku's eyes are silver again, and he declares that Kefla can no longer beat him. In the stands, Whis explains that the fusion's enormous energy, comparable to the Spirit Bomb, has cracked another of the shells holding the Saiyan back. Champa yells at Kefla to take him out before he masters the form, and she answers by going Super Saiyan 2: their auras whip up a storm, and Piccolo notes that the two are pushing each other in a vicious cycle, each power-up feeding the other's.
Kefla charges a blast she claims could wipe out a universe, but Goku avoids it while barely moving, and the same goes for her kicks and punches. Watching, Vegeta remembers a lesson from Whis: the body must react without waiting for thought, because thinking is what slows the reflexes. Now that lesson is playing out in front of him. Meanwhile, Jiren wakes from his meditation and rejoins Toppo and Dyspo: he does not want to miss this fight.
There is a catch, though. Goku dodges everything, but his blows are weak, and Kefla keeps getting up. Whis explains: when Goku consciously decides to attack, thought creeps back in and Ultra Instinct cannot work at full strength. With his stamina fading, the Saiyan has to finish fast. Kefla unleashes everything she has left in a barrage of beams in every direction. Goku charges a Kamehameha while dodging, slides over her final spiral blast and fires it point-blank. The Potara earrings shatter, and Caulifla and Kale, separated again, fall off the stage. Caulifla swears she will beat him someday.
Universe 6 is down to Saonel and Pilina. Whis approves of the Kamehameha, which could be charged while dodging, but warns that the trick will not work forever: to beat Jiren, Goku will have to learn to attack on instinct. The Saiyan reverts and collapses. Frieza, watching from above, sees how much the form costs him, while Vegeta vows to master it before his rival. Seventeen minutes remain.
Our take
This is the episode that sets the rules of Ultra Instinct, and it does it well. Transforming is not enough: Goku has to stop thinking even when he attacks, and that is the gap between him and the complete form. The series turns a power into a journey, and the Kamehameha charged mid-dodge is an elegant solution, the move of a fighter before that of a Super Saiyan.
Kefla exits without having eliminated anyone, but with a clear role: she was the catalyst. Vegeta's reaction sets up his own path, which will be different. And the closing dedication to Hiromi Tsuru, the longtime voice of Bulma, who had died only days earlier, gives this episode a weight beyond the tournament.
Trivia
- Written by Atsuhiro Tomioka and directed by Makoto Sonoda, with Yōichi Ōnishi and Shūichirō Manabe as animation directors. It drew a 5.2% rating in Japan.
- The Japanese broadcast ended with a message in memory of Hiromi Tsuru, who died on November 16, 2017; the US airing cut it.
- The word "sign" in the Japanese title, kizashi, is the same one used to label this incomplete version, Ultra Instinct "Sign". Every stage is covered on our Super Saiyan transformations page.
- In the manga, Kefla is eliminated by Gohan, not Goku.