The thirteenth episode of Dragon Ball Super, broadcast in Japan on October 4, 2015, brings the battle of gods to its turning point. To keep the universe from exploding, Beerus is forced to use one hundred percent of his strength; shortly afterwards Goku loses his Super Saiyan God form without even noticing. And yet he keeps holding his own.
Summary
In the Sacred World of the Kais, Kibito Kai is amazed that the universe is still in one piece, but the Elder Kai warns that the clash has only just begun: Goku's Kamehameha and Beerus' sphere are producing super high-density energy that, if it got out of control, would wipe out everything. The shock waves sweep across the whole planet.
On the cruise ship, Mr. Satan watches the images Whis projects with his staff and wonders if this is the end of the world. Whis admits nobody expected a Super Saiyan God this powerful: even if Beerus wins, Earth and a few neighboring planets will be caught up in it. Satan, thinking of Videl and his grandchild on the way, begs him to protect them with his "magic" or stop the duel; he even offers him a pass to eat for free anywhere in the country. Whis is tempted, but refuses.
In space, the beam struggle ends in a gigantic explosion. Satan and Gohan both throw themselves in front of Videl, but when the light fades everything is intact. Satan is convinced his "power of love" saved the world, and promptly calls his manager Pizza to set up a press conference and an autograph session.
Whis realizes that Beerus chose "that method". In orbit, Goku is panting while the god is perfectly fine: he nullified all the energy, and doing so required one hundred percent of his power. Until then he had been holding back, since it looks bad for a god to go all out against a mere Saiyan, but he would rather look bad than lose. He asks Goku if he has anything left up his sleeve; Goku replies that he has absolutely nothing.
The fight resumes, and Beerus' blows are far stronger than five minutes earlier, but Goku has grown too. At some point the god notices a change: Goku has reverted to a regular Super Saiyan. On the ship, Piccolo, Goten and the others can sense his energy again and realize the divine form is gone. Whis considers the duel settled; Piccolo does not. Goku keeps landing blows, and Beerus explains that he has absorbed the Super Saiyan God power and made it his own.
Our take
This episode is entirely original to the TV series, and it shows: much of it belongs to Mr. Satan, between his pleas to Whis and a meal voucher offered as a bribe. Some will see it as a slowdown, but it is also one of his best scenes in Super, because it shows a man who for once is afraid for his family rather than his reputation. The "power of love" he claims right afterwards is the perfect touch to bring him back to the character we know.
On the fighting side, what matters most is the final revelation. Goku does not go back to square one: the divine power stays inside him even without the red hair. It is an idea the show will pick up again with Super Saiyan Blue, and here it is planted quietly.
Trivia
- Written by King Ryū and directed by Masanori Satō, with Yukihiro Kitano and Tadayoshi Yamamuro as animation directors. Its 6.6% rating makes it one of the most-watched episodes of the saga.
- According to the Spanish Wikipedia it adapts no pages of the manga: it is all anime-original material.
- In Japanese, Goku's line before losing the transformation, "keep yapping and you'll bite your tongue", is ambiguous, and the English versions translate it in four different ways.