Episode 71 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on December 18, 2016 and titled Goku Dies! An Assassination That Must Be Executed in Funimation's dub, opens at the end: Goku on the ground, eyes glazed over, apparently dead. The rest of the episode shows how he got there, and it marks the return of Hit, Universe 6's legendary assassin.
Summary
A few hours earlier, Goku is meditating outside his house with unusual intensity. At the table he eats one grain of rice at a time, warns Chi-Chi there are three cockroaches behind the fridge, and flings the door open on a terrified mailman. Chi-Chi has no idea what has gotten into him. On Beerus's planet, meanwhile, Vegeta trains with Whis. Beerus frets: the Tournament of Power could start at any moment, and Goku, whom he considers his best fighter, is nowhere to be seen. Vegeta is offended and suspects Whis knows more than he is saying.
In the city, Gohan and Goten tail their father: Gohan disguises himself as the Great Saiyaman, Goten settles for sunglasses. Goku walks the streets with his eyes closed searching for "him," crosses without looking and gets hit by Bulma's car. At dinner with Gohan and Videl, the boys confront him, and Goku confesses: someone is out to kill him. Chi-Chi must not find out.
Far away, on a planet covered in domes, Hit waits in the rain for his next assignment. Then he walks into a skyscraper using Time-Skip, reaches the fiftieth floor unseen by the guards, turns down a crime boss's money and kills him with a single blow to the heart. He leaves the man's necklace on a statue as proof of the job and receives his next target: Son Goku.
Sensing him approach, Goku flies to a deserted area so no one else gets hurt and transforms into Super Saiyan Blue; Piccolo, Gohan and Goten realize what is happening when his energy vanishes. Hit appears behind him and, out of respect, offers a way out: if Goku disappears, he will report him dead. Goku refuses. His punches pass through Hit as if he were a ghost; as he charges an energy blast, Hit strikes his heart with an invisible attack. Goku collapses, firing the blast into the sky. When his sons and Piccolo arrive, he is no longer breathing.
Our take
Opening in medias res is an effective choice for a standalone story, and Hit confirms himself as one of Super's best characters. The almost wordless skyscraper sequence presents him as a cold, precise professional with a code of honor that makes him far more interesting than a simple villain.
The first half, with a paranoid Goku and his sons playing detective, is well-measured family comedy. Anyone who knows Goku suspects there is more to the story, and the show keeps the mystery going until the very last minute.
Trivia
- Written by Toshio Yoshitaka and directed by Kōji Kawasaki; it drew a 6.7% rating.
- It is the first time Goten sees his father lying dead with his own eyes.
- In Funimation's dub, before the duel Hit says it is "time to make the donuts," an English idiom for getting to work and a nod to one of his lines in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2.
- The Japanese title, "Goku Dies!", gives away the opening scene without any hedging.
Did you know? Hit's rule is to always kill from the front with a single strike: that is why he asks Goku to turn and face him before attacking.