Episode 121 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on December 24, 2017 and titled All-Out War! The Ultimate Four-Fold Union vs. the 7th Universe's Total Offensive! in Funimation's dub, is a team battle against a giant monster. Universe 3 plays its last card, a four-way fusion, and to bring it down Universe 7 has to truly fight together, even alongside Frieza.
Summary
Paparoni merges with Koiceareta to become Agnilasa, a biomechanical colossus that fires blasts at everyone left on the stage: Androids 17 and 18 and Frieza dodge, while Jiren simply answers with a blast of his own. Vegeta tests it with a Big Bang Attack, which the monster swats away like a fly. Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and the androids regroup and attack together, each going for a different limb, but Agnilasa tracks all of them and knocks them back before they can land a blow.
It is not about ki: Android 17 notes that he and his sister have none, yet they are spotted all the same. The giant is using a kind of sonar emitted from its tentacle-like ears. On top of that, it warps space and sends its fists through portals to strike from afar. One of these punches sends Goku flying off the stage, but Frieza kicks him back in, claiming his leg moved on its own. Goku thanks him and asks for his help.
Agnilasa grabs Android 18 and tries to swallow her; Goku saves her at the last moment. Then comes a barrage of homing spheres: Android 17 blocks them with a barrier, but the impact pushes him over the edge. Android 18 leaps down and kicks him back onto the stage, getting eliminated in his place. From the stands, she tells him not to lose.
The giant sprouts wings and charges a massive energy sphere to wipe out the team along with the arena. Goku and Vegeta go Super Saiyan Blue, Frieza goes Golden, and the five try to hold the attack back while losing ground. Then Android 17 wraps himself in a barrier, plunges through the sphere and strikes the crystal on Agnilasa's forehead, which turns out to be its energy reactor. The monster loses its balance, and one last push overwhelms it, splitting it back into the four original fighters. Supreme Kai Eyre thanks Paparoni for his effort, the Grand Minister announces the defeat, and Universe 3 vanishes with dignity, after a small red devil named Mule pops out of Mosco's mechanical belly. Jiren, Toppo and Dyspo step up to face the victors: nine minutes and eight fighters remain, Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Android 17 and Frieza against Universe 11.
Our take
This is the most "movie-like" episode of the tournament: a giant monster, a team that has to coordinate, a weak spot to discover. It works because every member of Universe 7 has a job, and because the key moment belongs not to the Saiyans but to the two androids. Android 18's sacrifice, saving her brother with a kick, is understated and moving, and it sets up the huge role 17 will play in the finale.
Then there is Frieza. His excuse, "my leg moved on its own", sounds like a joke about Ultra Instinct, the power that moves the body without thought. It is a small wink, but a telling one: the former tyrant is becoming, in his own way, a teammate.
Trivia
- Written by Toshio Yoshitaka and directed by Takao Iwai, with Paul Añonuevo, Eugene Ayson, Yūji Hakamada and Yūichi Karasawa as animation directors. It drew a 4.0% rating in Japan.
- The space-warping punches recall Janemba's in the twelfth Dragon Ball Z film, Fusion Reborn.
- Mosco, the God of Destruction who had only spoken through his Angel so far, turns out to be a suit piloted by little Mule.
- In the manga, Agnilasa is defeated effortlessly by Kale alone, and Android 18 does not sacrifice herself for her brother.