Episode 67 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on November 20, 2016, closes the story of Goku Black and Zamasu in the most radical way imaginable. When even Trunks' sword is not enough, Goku presses the button Zeno gave him, and the king of all solves the problem by erasing an entire future. Then it is time to say goodbye.
Summary
Cut in two, Zamasu keeps ranting for a few moments, then dissolves. Goku compares Trunks' sword to the Spirit Bomb, and Bulma and Mai arrive to thank him. But the sky fills with dark clouds bearing thousands of Zamasu's faces: the god has lost his body and is trying to merge with the universe itself. Goku and Vegeta no longer have the energy for Super Saiyan Blue, and their blasts, like Trunks', have no effect.
The clouds blanket the Earth and rain energy across the planet. Goku and the others shield Bulma, Mai and the time machine, but everyone else dies, Turtle and Android 8 among them. Even the sky of the present shows Zamasu's laughing face, and Beerus and Whis realize something is wrong. When the smoke clears, Trunks cannot sense a single other energy: they are the last people on Earth.
Digging in his pocket for one more senzu bean, Goku finds Zeno's button. Shin confirms that Zeno should still exist in this future: no one could ever defeat him. Goku presses it and Zeno appears. But this is that timeline's Zeno, who has never met Goku. He finds the laughing faces in the sky annoying and, rather than removing just those, decides to erase everything. The heroes flee in the time machine, Shin and Gowasu with their Time Rings.
In the present, Future Mai meets her younger self. Beerus advises Gowasu to choose his next pupil more carefully. Goku has an idea: he returns with Trunks to the void of the future to collect the lonely Zeno and, via Shin's teleportation, brings him to the present-day Zeno. Now Zeno has a friend to play with, and the Grand Minister, who turns out to be Whis's father, is impressed. Whis suggests that Trunks and Mai travel to a point in their timeline before Beerus and Shin died, so Zamasu can be stopped and sealed there: a new future will branch off, one with its own Trunks and Mai, but they accept. The next day everyone sees them off, Vegeta trades a few last blows with his son, and Gohan and Piccolo fly up to wave. The time machine vanishes.
Our take
The ending is the most debated point of the saga, and it is easy to see why. After so much struggle, victory comes from a button and an all-powerful child who wipes out a universe like switching off a TV. It leaves a bitter taste, but it has its own logic: Zamasu wanted a world without mortals, and he gets a world without anything.
The rest of the episode is a heartfelt farewell. Trunks tearing up as he thinks of Gohan, his old mentor, and Vegeta's brief final sparring session are the highlights. Super closes the chapter of a character loved for over a quarter century, leaving him at least the hope the title speaks of.
Trivia
- Written by Atsuhiro Tomioka and directed by Takao Iwai, as Toei Animation's episode page confirms; it drew a 6.7% rating.
- It is the first time the series shows Zeno using his erasure power.
- It is also the last episode of the anime featuring Future Trunks and Future Mai.
- In the Japanese title the word "hope" is written in English, HOPE, just like in the title of episode 48.
Did you know? Whis points out that Beerus, by destroying the present-day Zamasu, also created a new Time Ring and a new timeline: so he is in no position to scold Trunks.