Episode 128 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on February 18, 2018, is Vegeta's last battle in the Tournament of Power. With no energy left to transform, the Saiyan prince stands up to Jiren on pride alone, and before falling he entrusts Goku with everything he has left.
Summary
After Android 17's sacrifice, Jiren is convinced that Goku and Vegeta are far too weak to beat him. Goku is still down, so Vegeta challenges Jiren alone, unable even to turn Super Saiyan. In base form he is hopelessly outmatched, and Jiren advises him to step off the stage himself. He refuses.
One blow knocks him onto a floating chunk of rubble beside the arena, where he hangs on with one hand. He thinks of his family and of his promise to Cabba, and climbs back up. He claims Jiren's punches do not hurt while his body is being pulverized; he even tries to tear off one of Jiren's arms. When another blow sends him flying off, his boot snags on a floating rock by sheer luck. Belmod asks whether that counts as a ring-out, but the Grand Minister explains that the rubble counts as part of the arena: Vegeta is still in the game. Before he can catch his breath, he hears Bulma's voice urging him on, and returns to the fight.
Jiren cannot understand what keeps him going. Vegeta replies that someone without emotions could never understand what it means to fight for others. Hearing Bulma's voice one last time, he fires a Final Flash, which does not hurt Jiren but impresses him with the pride behind it. The next blow sends Vegeta off the stage with nothing to grab. As he falls, he curses himself for failing to keep his promise, but at the last instant he gives Goku all the energy he has left.
In the stands, Krillin feeds him a senzu bean and Beerus congratulates him. On the stage, Goku goes Super Saiyan Blue again, but even with his rival's energy he is overwhelmed by Jiren, who cannot see the point of trusting others. Pushed to the edge of the arena, one punch from defeat, Goku hears Vegeta shout and thinks of Android 17, Vegeta and everyone who has believed in him. Jiren's punch hits nothing: Goku's eyes are silver again, he dodges effortlessly and lands a heavy blow. Whis did not expect to see Ultra Instinct again right now; Beerus has been waiting for nothing else. Two minutes remain.
Our take
Vegeta leaves the tournament in the most Vegeta way possible: beaten, but never bowed. The episode does not grant him a victory; it grants him something better, a fall full of dignity. The boot snagging on the rock is almost comic, but it gives Vegeta one last chance, and his answer to Jiren about fighting for others sums up his entire evolution.
The final gesture weighs even more. His lifelong rival, the man who always wanted to beat Goku with his own hands, hands over his energy and with it his promise. And it is precisely the trust of others, the thing Jiren despises, that rekindles Ultra Instinct. Bulma's cries carry a weight beyond the story too: they are among the last lines recorded by her longtime Japanese voice actress.
Trivia
- Written by Toshio Yoshitaka and directed by Masanori Satō, with Osamu Ishikawa and Yūji Hakamada as animation directors. It drew a 4.9% rating in Japan.
- In a statement dated February 15, 2018, Toei announced that Bulma in this episode was voiced by Hiromi Tsuru, recorded before her death, and that the role would pass to Aya Hisakawa.
- In the manga, Vegeta is eliminated much later, while fighting alongside Goku, and does not give him his energy.
Characters
- Vegeta, Goku and Jiren
- Bulma (voice)
- Krillin, Android 18, Gohan and Piccolo
- Belmod, Khai, Toppo and the gods of the exempt universes
- Beerus, Whis, the Grand Minister and the two Zenos