The twelfth episode of Dragon Ball Super, broadcast in Japan on September 27, 2015, raises the stakes of the duel between Goku and Beerus to a cosmic level. Every time their fists meet, shock waves ripple through space and destroy distant planets, and the Elder Kai calculates that the universe can only withstand a few more clashes.
Summary
Bulma's airship keeps having engine trouble, because the battle is disturbing the atmosphere. On the cruise ship, Vegeta stares at the sky trying to follow the fight; Whis offers to show it to him with his staff, but he refuses. Above the planet, Goku and Beerus decide to start over with no tricks: they power up and strike at the exact same instant. Strange shock waves spread out from the point of impact.
In the Sacred World of the Kais, the Elder Kai explains the danger: the destructive force of those waves grows with distance, and the universe can survive at most two or three more clashes like that before it falls apart. Kibito Kai tries to contact Goku to stop him, but is ignored. The two strike again: in Satan City people are knocked over as if by a gale, and out in space whole planets explode. The press calls Mr. Satan, who claims to be at an auction of stolen goods disguised as a birthday party, pretends the line is breaking up and wonders where Gohan is at a time like this. Just then Bulma's airship comes plummeting toward him, and only Whis stops it at the last moment: Beerus promised not to destroy Earth if he lost, and until the duel is over nothing on the planet may be destroyed.
In space, the two fighters' auras take the shape of dragons that clash with each other. On the third collision the blows seem to multiply, yet the universe holds: Goku canceled out each of Beerus' attacks by answering with a punch of the same speed and angle. He meant to pull it off on the second try, but the god did not give him the chance. When one of Goku's punches grazes Beerus' face and draws blood, the god creates a new atom-like energy sphere. Goku answers with a Kamehameha, the two attacks push against each other and more shock waves destroy more planets. The Elder Kai fears this really is the end.
Our take
This is an episode built on pure scale: for the first time Dragon Ball puts the entire universe at stake, not just a planet. The idea of shock waves growing stronger the further they travel is a TV invention, and an effective one, because it turns a simple exchange of punches into a race against time. The technical detail of Goku canceling blows by matching their speed and angle is the kind of solution longtime fans love.
The Mr. Satan scenes, with the made-up auction and the airship falling on his head, lighten the tone without feeling out of place. The weakness seen in earlier episodes remains: many shots repeat, and the wait for the decisive blow is stretched out yet again.
Trivia
- Written by King Ryū and directed by Masato Mikami, with Masahiro Shimanuki as animation director. Its 4.7% rating makes it one of the least-watched episodes of the saga.
- It is the first episode of the franchise with a narrator other than Jōji Yanami, who from then on was replaced by Naoki Tatsuta, also in the role of King Kai. Toei had announced a medical leave; Yanami, 84, still voiced King Kai's brief scene in this episode but never returned to Super.
- In one shot of the airship, the company name is misspelled as "Capsule Coop".