Episode 49 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on June 26, 2016, is the explanation episode. Trunks recounts what happened in his future, Whis reminds everyone that tampering with time is a crime even for the gods, and Bulma discovers a message left by her future self. At the end, the enemy with Goku's face arrives in the present.
Summary
Bulma brings Trunks back to his senses with a slap, and the young man is stunned to find Goku alive: as far as he knew, Goku died fighting Cell. When the Pilaf Gang start talking about secret children again, Bulma explains that the two Trunks are the same person from different times. Whis is impressed that a human built a time machine, but warns that time travel is a serious crime, strictly regulated even among the gods. Picking a single flower in the past could change the history of whole planets. Beerus threatens to destroy them all, Bulma pins the blame on her future self, and in the end the god settles for some fish sausages.
Inside the machine, Bulma finds that the fuel has run out, but also discovers a notebook in her own handwriting and a disc with data for repairing and maintaining it. Vegeta asks his son what went wrong: did Majin Buu appear? No, Trunks replies, thanks to the Supreme Kai's instructions he killed Babidi and Dabura before they could revive him. Then came an even worse enemy, who calls himself Son Goku and looks just like him, but dressed in black. In the future they call him Goku Black, a name coined by that era's Bulma. Black declared he would wipe out humanity "for the sake of justice", and after a year of fighting very few people are left. Vegeta scolds Trunks for running away, but Bulma defends him: the notebook is his mother's message, sending him to find help.
Goku asks Trunks for a short sparring match to gauge Black's strength. Bulma raises a barrier around Capsule Corporation. Trunks goes Super Saiyan 2, Goku follows, then turns Super Saiyan 3 and stops his strongest blow with two fingers. Trunks warns that Black is at least as strong as Goku, maybe stronger, and Goku is delighted. Piccolo and Krillin arrive, but a rift opens in the sky: the ring on Black's finger has reacted, and the enemy steps into the present. He and Goku stare each other down.
Our take
A talky episode, but a well-built one. There is a lot of exposition, yet it never drags, because each piece of information carries emotional weight: Bulma's death, the name given to the enemy, the notebook left for her son as a last act of love.
The most interesting part is Whis's speech about time. After decades of time travel treated lightly, Super introduces a cosmic rule and has it delivered by someone with the authority to enforce it. It is the prelude to a saga in which the consequences of time travel will be the heart of the problem.
Trivia
- Written by Atsuhiro Tomioka and directed by Hideki Hiroshima, with storyboards by Yukio Kaizawa and animation direction by Yōichi Ōnishi and Seizo Toma.
- It drew a 6.8% rating in Japan.
- Bulma mocks the name "Goku Black" as a cliché, before learning that her future self came up with it.
- The matching part of Toyotarō's manga falls between chapters 15 and 16.
- The Italian title calls the villain "Black Goku" rather than "Goku Black".
Did you know? When Trunks begs Whis to spare his mother, the angel points out that Beerus is the god: he is merely an attendant.