Episode 59 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on September 25, 2016 and titled Protect the Supreme Kai Gowasu, Destroy Zamasu! in Funimation's dub, seems to wrap up the saga halfway through. Beerus catches the apprentice red-handed and wipes him out. Only one doubt remains, Trunks', and the episode ends by proving him right.
Summary
Zamasu walks in with the tea and finds the visitors. He greets them all politely while wondering what they are doing there. Beerus invents an excuse: Goku is desperate for a rematch. The Saiyan tries to object and gets a smack on the head. Zamasu says he would be glad to oblige, but Beerus cuts it short: it is nap time, they will fight another day. Before leaving, Whis presents Gowasu with some daifuku.
Instead of returning to Earth, the group stops in space and watches Universe 10 through Whis's staff. Beerus sensed a clear murderous intent in Zamasu, but without proof he cannot destroy another universe's apprentice Supreme Kai. In the future, meanwhile, Black and Zamasu chat about their "Zero Mortals Plan" and the irony of a project that relies on a mortal's strength, the power of Goku's body.
At Capsule Corporation, Future Trunks torments himself for running away again and leaving Mai behind. His younger self confronts him, taunts him, goes Super Saiyan and knocks him down: "You call yourself a Saiyan?" It is the jolt he needed.
In Universe 10, Gowasu enjoys the daifuku with his tea while Zamasu says he has taken the lesson to heart: sometimes evil serves a greater good. He circles behind his master, forms his hand into a blade and strikes. Goku yells for Beerus to act, but it is too late. Not for Whis, who rewinds time by a few moments. On the second attempt, Zamasu's hand ends up inside a cat-paw mitten that cancels the blow. Shin explains the entire plan to a shaken Gowasu: the murder, the rings, the Super Dragon Balls, the copy of Goku, the extermination of mortals. Zamasu does not repent; he is delighted to hear his dream will come true. Beerus erases him with a single gesture.
Back on Earth after yet another rough landing, Beerus assures everyone that with Zamasu dead, the future will return to normal. Trunks is not convinced: when the androids were defeated in the present, his own future did not change. Beerus dismisses that as mortal logic.
Our take
The episode makes smart use of perspective: everyone believes they have won, while the audience, having just watched Black and Zamasu chatting calmly in the future, knows better. The irony lives entirely in the editing, and it works.
The clash between the two Trunks is the best scene. The cocky kid of the present reminds the wounded adult what it means to be Vegeta's son, neatly closing the speech his father started in episode 54. As for Beerus, his confidence is funny precisely because we know he is wrong.
Trivia
- Written by Yoshifumi Fukushima and directed by Kazuya Karasawa; it drew a 5.9% rating.
- It is the second time in the series that Whis rewinds time; the first undid Frieza's destruction of Earth.
- It is also the first time Future Trunks sees his younger self as a Super Saiyan.
- The anime gives Beerus a clear rule for waiting: a God of Destruction cannot wipe out another universe's apprentice Supreme Kai just for wanting to kill; he needs proof.
Did you know? The mitten that stops Zamasu is Whis's doing: a gag prop shaped like a cat's paw that neutralizes an attempted murder between gods.
Characters
- Goku, Beerus, Whis and Shin
- Zamasu and Gowasu
- Future Trunks and young Trunks
- Bulma, Pilaf, Mai and Shu
- Goku Black and Future Zamasu