The eighteenth episode of Dragon Ball Super, broadcast in Japan on November 8, 2015, closes the Battle of Gods Saga and sets up the next two. Goku and Vegeta reunite on Beerus' planet as Whis' students, juggling household chores and grueling lessons, while in the final minutes the remnants of Frieza's army and a mysterious God of Destruction from another universe make their entrance.
Summary
Whis and Goku arrive on Beerus' planet, where Goku reunites with Vegeta and finds him much stronger, perhaps stronger than himself; he cannot resist teasing him about his pink apron, though. While Whis and the Oracle Fish enjoy the sweets Bulma sent, Vegeta takes Goku, now in a blue apron, to Beerus' bedroom. The first task is changing the sheets and blankets without waking him, which is extremely hard because the god attacks in his sleep; when Vegeta bumps into one of the alarm-clock bombs floating around the room, Goku teleports it outside to Whis before it goes off. But this is not training: it is just housework, the price of the lessons. Next come the Oracle Fish's bowls and the lawn, which according to Vegeta will have grown back by tomorrow.
Whis gives Goku a new gi, to match the redesigned armor Vegeta received from Bulma. The first exercise is lifting huge weights: Goku struggles, Vegeta offers to show him how it is done and fails, because Whis has doubled his load. Then the two must run around the planet on a road that vanishes behind them: anyone too slow falls into another dimension with no way out. The Oracle Fish warns that Beerus is waking up, Whis brings everyone back to the room and the half-asleep god blasts the two Saiyans with a beam from his mouth before dozing off again. That is enough for one day.
That night Vegeta trains in secret so as not to fall behind. Whis explains to the Oracle Fish why he does not let the two transform into Super Saiyans: training in their base state pays off more, and they figured that out themselves. The next day he takes them both on at once, and neither can touch him: they think before acting, and that slows them down. Every part of the body, Whis explains, must be able to react on its own, something not even Beerus has fully mastered. He can do it, but his shoes cannot, and when he steps in something unpleasant he panics.
In space, aboard the Frieza Force's ship, commander Sorbet, with Tagoma and Shisami, orders a withdrawal from rebellious Planet 448. Moments later something whizzes past the ship: it is the God of Destruction Champa, who has his attendant Vados destroy a planet and heads off to the "next" one.
Our take
This is a bridge episode, but one of the most enjoyable in the first saga. Goku and Vegeta turned into aproned housekeepers set the tone for their whole apprenticeship: the show puts them back in the role of students, as in the days of Master Roshi, and that return to the roots works. The lesson about the body reacting on its own is also a concept Super will come back to much later.
The ending opens two storylines in a few seconds: Sorbet will bring the Frieza saga, Champa the Universe 6 saga.
Trivia
- Written by Yoshifumi Fukushima and directed by Takao Iwai, with Naoki Tate as animation director. It drew a 5.8% rating in Japan.
- It marks Champa and Vados' first anime appearance. Sorbet, Tagoma and Shisami debut in the TV series here, but they came from the 2015 film.
- In Toei's division it is the last episode of the Battle of Gods Saga; from here the series begins retelling the film Resurrection 'F'.