Episode 65 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on November 6, 2016 and titled Final Judgement?! The Ultimate Power of an Absolute God in Funimation's dub, shows what Merged Zamasu can do. He is not just a stronger enemy: he is a deity punishing the world from above, and for the first time the saga shows us the price paid by ordinary people.
Summary
Fused through the Potara earrings, Zamasu and Black have become a single being who proclaims himself the mightiest, immortal god. A halo of light appears behind his back; the power of his body, he says, rises without limit. While Goku and Vegeta keep him busy, Bulma packs the garage back into its capsule and Trunks takes her and Mai to safety. Zamasu then unleashes the Blades of Judgment, a rain of red energy falling from the sky.
In the underground shelter, the tremors force the survivors to the surface, and some are killed by the deadly rain. When things seem to calm down, they send Yajirobe out to check. In the distance they see Zamasu: someone wonders if he is a god, and Haru, one of the children, answers that a god would never wreck a city like this. One resistance fighter loses faith, another tries to lift his spirits; Yajirobe just hopes Goku wins, for the kids' sake.
On the battlefield Goku and Vegeta are overwhelmed. Shin and Gowasu admit that this power lies beyond anything they can comprehend, yet the two Saiyans refuse to quit. Zamasu restates his Zero Mortals Plan, conjures a purple, bird-like energy creature and uses it to fire "Absolute Lightning," knocking both of them out of Super Saiyan Blue. On the outskirts, Bulma sets up the garage again, Mai offers to help, and she gives Trunks a bag with two senzu beans before he heads back.
As the city crumbles, Trunks pulls Maki, the other shelter child, out from under falling debris and asks Yajirobe to lead everyone to the plateau where Bulma and Mai are. Battered but standing, Goku and Vegeta destroy the energy bird together, but against Zamasu himself they are helpless. Seeing his father down, Trunks returns to his blue-aura form: a new world, he declares, will be built by mortals, not by Zamasu. He fires a Galick Gun and Vegeta joins in. The father-son blast overpowers Zamasu's "Holy Wrath," yet fails to hurt him. Another volley of blades comes down and Vegeta shields Trunks, losing his armor. As Zamasu prepares the finishing blow, Goku steps in with a Kamehameha. The two attacks collide, and Goku will not give an inch.
Our take
The best part of the episode is not on the battlefield but in the rubble. Survivors watching a "god" destroy their city embody the central idea of the saga: Zamasu believes he is righteous, but to the people below he is just another catastrophe. Haru's line says more than many speeches.
The Galick Gun shared by Vegeta and Trunks is a gift for fans: a father and son who never got to truly fight side by side in Trunks' timeline unite the same technique. Vegeta stepping in front of his son completes the arc that began in episode 54.
Trivia
- Written by Atsuhiro Tomioka and directed by Ryōta Nakamura; it drew a 5.7% rating.
- The soundtrack uses cues from Dragon Ball Kai, including the "Super Saiyan Three" theme.
- Merged Zamasu's halo, introduced here, will be shattered by Goku in the following episode.
- The Toonami broadcast of Funimation's dub came on June 2, 2018, after a week's break.
Did you know? The Japanese title speaks of an "Absolute God" (Zettai shin): it is the role Merged Zamasu claims for himself, echoed by the names of his techniques like a liturgy.
Characters
- Goku, Vegeta and Future Trunks
- Merged Zamasu
- Bulma and Future Mai
- Gowasu and Shin
- Future Yajirobe, Haru, Maki and the survivors