Episode 45 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on May 29, 2016, is the middle chapter of the Pot-au-feu adventure. We learn that the Superhuman Water is actually a living weapon, that the original Vegeta has only minutes before he vanishes, and that saving him requires someone as strong as he is. Luckily, Goku has recovered.
Summary
The purple liquid has taken Vegeta's form, and the copy declares itself the real Vegeta: it proves the point with a Galick Gun, while the original cannot even fire a blast. The duplicate Gryll orders it to absorb Trunks and the others too, but the copy hesitates for a moment, long enough for everyone to run. Jaco holds it off with his ray gun and makes his own escape.
In hiding, Potage tells the truth. The water is called Comméson and was created by the people of Pot-au-feu as a defensive weapon: it absorbed invaders' power and made copies of them. Absorbing so much evil, though, it developed a will of its own and began seeking power for itself. The copies made the originals seem to have powered up, which gave rise to the legend of a miracle water that lured in more invaders. To stop it the planet's people sacrificed themselves to seal it away, leaving Potage alone as its guardian for a century. The duplicate hesitated over Trunks because it copied Vegeta's spirit too, and the real Vegeta would never steal someone else's power. But there is a problem: anyone who is copied disappears after three to five minutes, as the real Gryll did. The only way to save Vegeta is to defeat the duplicate.
Trunks and Goten fuse into Gotenks and then go Super Saiyan 3, making Monaka faint, but even that is not enough to beat the copy, and Vegeta begins turning transparent. On King Kai's planet, Goku senses the battle and teleports in. He sees two Vegetas, one purple and one see-through, and gets a hasty explanation: he has to defeat the copy within three minutes. Goku is thrilled at the idea of facing someone at his rival's level. So is the duplicate: when the duplicate Gryll orders it to absorb Goku, it rebels, reduces Gryll to a shapeless puddle and demands a fair duel. The fight begins.
Our take
The episode takes a B-movie idea, the evil double, and makes it interesting with one detail: the copy inherits Vegeta's pride as well, and ends up betraying its own maker for the sake of an honest fight. It is a witty way of saying the Saiyan prince's character is stronger than any weapon.
Potage's explanation is long but necessary, and it gives the threat a believable history. Gotenks's turn feels included more out of duty than need. Goku's arrival, on the other hand, gets everything moving again with the right energy.
Trivia
- Written by Yoshifumi Fukushima and directed by Ayumi Ono, with storyboards by Yukio Kaizawa and animation direction by Joo-hyon Lee and Yukihiro Kitano.
- It drew a 5.7% rating in Japan.
- Comméson, Komeson in Japanese, is probably an anagram of consommé, the French broth, in keeping with the planet's other food names.
- It is an anime-original episode with no counterpart in Toyotarō's manga.
- Jaco is the only one who can hold the copy back for a moment, thanks to his ray gun.
Did you know? Even powerless, Vegeta openly doubts that Goku can beat his copy: one step away from disappearing, the prince still will not let go of the rivalry.