Episode 39 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on April 17, 2016, is the heart of the duel between Goku and Hit. Every time one of them finds a solution, the other improves, until Goku unveils the technique he had been saving for Beerus: the Kaioken stacked on top of Super Saiyan Blue.
Summary
Goku has worked out how to anticipate the tenth-of-a-second Time-Skip. Vegeta is annoyed by how casually he talks about it, and Piccolo cannot see why he revealed the trick. Hit thinks he can get around it by moving unpredictably, but Goku, now in Super Saiyan Blue, is too fast for his opponent to find room for the technique. Hit admits he has reached his limit. Vegeta realizes Goku studied his moves by watching the previous match.
Hit refuses to surrender and lets out a long scream, as if powering up. Goku is puzzled: nothing seems to have changed. He goes in to end it, and this time the Time-Skip catches him square. Vados explains: Hit cannot transform like the Saiyans, he can only improve, and fighting Goku has shown him he still has room to grow. The skip now lasts two-tenths of a second. Champa orders him to finish Goku; instead Hit waits for him to stand, out of gratitude. But he warns him: while Goku adapts, he keeps getting better. The skip reaches half a second.
Goku goes down again. Hit asks the referee what to do, since he cannot kill him and Goku can no longer surrender, but the Saiyan gets up. It would be rude, he says, to end it like this: he still has an unfinished technique, meant for Beerus, with less than a ten percent chance of working. Champa screams at Hit to strike now; Hit refuses: if Goku gets stronger, so will he. The technique works. It is the Kaioken, added to Super Saiyan Blue. Vegeta works out why it was impossible until now: the Kaioken strains the body, and combined with regular Super Saiyan it would be suicide, whereas Blue offers perfect control of ki. Goku pushes it up to times ten, Hit can no longer keep up, and the Saiyan, knowing he cannot hold it for long, goes for a finishing Kamehameha.
Our take
This is the episode where Super finds the right formula for its fights: two opponents who study each other, respect each other and push each other past their limits. Hit improving before our eyes, almost curious about himself, is a lovely variation on growth in battle, long a Saiyan specialty.
Combining the Kaioken with Super Saiyan Blue is also an affectionate choice. It brings back King Kai's technique, which Goku had set aside after the Frieza Saga, and gives it new meaning instead of inventing yet another transformation.
Trivia
- Written by King Ryū and directed by Ryōta Nakamura, with animation direction by Yukihiro Kitano and Shūichirō Manabe.
- It drew a 7.1% rating in Japan, one of the saga's best figures.
- According to dragon-ballwiki, the Time-Skip goes from a tenth to a fifth and then half a second; English Wikipedia speaks of a full second instead.
- Goku explains that the Kaioken multiplies strength, speed and other fighting abilities, and that King Kai taught it to him long ago.
- The matching part of Toyotarō's manga is chapter 13, where Goku never uses the Kaioken against Hit.
Did you know? Whis asks Beerus whether the thought of having that move used on him is a little scary. The god denies it, saying he is just annoyed Goku did not use it sooner.