Episode 130 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on March 18, 2018 and titled The Greatest Showdown of All Time! The Ultimate Survival Battle! in Funimation's dub, is the series' penultimate episode and the peak of the duel between Goku and Jiren. Two philosophies collide, solitary strength against shared strength, and just when everything seems decided, the tournament brings back two fighters everyone had written off.
Summary
Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku declares that the real battle starts now, and he does overwhelm Jiren. In the stands, Shin already believes victory is assured, while Khai fears the Saiyan has surpassed Jiren by far. But Jiren cannot lose: strength is justice, strength is absolute, and he will not let the day he lost everything happen again. Vegeta and Gohan realize it is exactly that trauma, resurfacing under Goku's blows, that awakens his hidden power. Jiren explodes in a fiery aura, retakes the lead and leaves Goku on the ground.
Krillin refuses to accept it and shouts at him to get up, because Goku always turns desperate situations around. And Goku does get up: he cannot give up, he says, because Android 17 and the others put their faith in him. Jiren replies that such feelings are meaningless, but when they resume, the Saiyan is even faster. In the stands, Piccolo explains he is fighting for others, Master Roshi says they made it this far by supporting each other, and Krillin and Tien recall that many of them were enemies before Goku brought them over to his side.
Goku fights with what he calls "our power", and Jiren cannot accept it without denying his whole life. To prove that bond is worthless, he fires a blast at Universe 7's stands. Goku deflects it, furious: he may not be a hero of justice, but he will not forgive anyone who hurts his friends. He overwhelms Jiren and floors him with a Kamehameha. Jiren, unable to move, tells him to finish it. Goku hesitates, charges the final blast and collapses: his body cannot bear the strain of breaking his limits with the power of the gods.
Belmod screams at Jiren to seize the chance. Jiren is not happy to win this way, but promises Goku he will live on forever in his memory and hurls him off the stage. A blast from behind, however, changes the Saiyan's trajectory, and he lands on a floating chunk of rubble. It is Frieza, still in the tournament. And with him is Android 17: his self-destruction was a gamble on his own survival, and it paid off. While Goku lies unconscious, the two prepare to face Jiren. Almost no time remains.
Our take
This is the episode that spells out the theme of the whole tournament. Jiren's strength comes from solitude and pain, Goku's from other people: from friends who were once enemies, from allies who entrusted him with everything. The series says it a little didactically, with the chorus in the stands explaining, but the moment Goku explodes in anger at the attack on his friends closes the argument better than any explanation.
Just as effective is the choice not to let Goku win. Mastered Ultra Instinct is the greatest power ever seen in the series, yet it carries a cost his body cannot pay. The match is revived by the two least likely characters, the former tyrant and the android, a twist that sets up the finale with a very Dragon Ball kind of irony.
Trivia
- Written by Hiroshi Yamaguchi and directed by series director Ryōta Nakamura, with Naoki Tate and Shūichirō Manabe as animation directors. It drew a 4.7% rating in Japan.
- In several Latin American countries, including Mexico, El Salvador, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua, episodes 130 and 131 were streamed for free in public venues, filling stadiums and drawing thousands of viewers.
- In the manga, it is Vegeta, not Frieza, who saves Goku from falling, and Android 17's survival is revealed only after Jiren's elimination.
Characters
- Goku and Jiren
- Frieza and Android 17
- Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien, Master Roshi and Android 18
- Belmod, Khai, Toppo and Marcarita
- Beerus, Whis, Shin, the Grand Minister, the two Zenos and the gods of the exempt universes