Episode 83 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on March 26, 2017 and titled Field the All-7th-Universe Team! Who Are the Mighty Ten? in Funimation's dub, kicks off the recruitment phase. At Capsule Corporation, Goku and Gohan draw up the list of ten fighters who will defend Universe 7, but there is a snag: Vegeta will not budge until Bulma gives birth. Whis solves the problem in his own way, and Bulla is born.
Summary
Supreme Kai brings everyone back to Earth, where Chi-Chi has prepared a feast to celebrate the imminent birth of Bulma's second child. While Goku eats, Supreme Kai reminds him that time is short. With planets like Vegeta and old Namek destroyed, Universe 7 has only twenty-eight worlds inhabited by mortals, and nobody has ever checked how strong their people are. Earth is the safer bet.
The list takes shape. There are the three from the exhibition, Goku, Gohan and Majin Buu; Beerus rules out Monaka with an excuse about his health. Then Piccolo and Krillin, although Gohan worries his friend is not up to it and pictures him losing to Basil. Goku reassures him: Krillin knows tricks Gohan cannot imagine. Goten and Trunks are strong but too green and would get knocked out in no time. Gohan suggests Master Roshi for his experience, and Androids 17 and 18 come up next: Supreme Kai wonders whether androids are allowed, but they are really modified humans. Gohan would like to bring senzu beans, but Whis suspects they will be banned.
Vegeta, pacing nervously while he thinks up a name worthy of the Saiyan royal line, refuses to take part until the baby is born. Beerus orders him to, to no avail. So Whis goes to Bulma, recites an incantation with his staff, and the newborn appears in her mother's arms. Now Vegeta has no excuse.
Everyone passes the baby around, to her father's growing irritation, and Yamcha drops by too. Trunks, who had been setting up the cradle with Goten, learns he has a little sister and, after a moment of awkwardness, holds her; Vegeta scolds him for doing it wrong. Bulma's father wants to suggest a name and Vegeta has already chosen a Saiyan one, but Bulma has made the decision for everyone: the girl will be called Bulla. Goku heads off to see Krillin, while Yamcha, who overheard everything, is sure he will be asked to join.
Our take
This is a breather, almost a family sitcom, and it works precisely because of that. After three weeks of exhibition fights the characters needed a moment back home, and Bulla's birth provides it with a light touch. The real show is Vegeta: he feigns annoyance throughout, then corrects his son on how to hold his sister with the expertise of a seasoned dad. The Saiyan prince has come a long way since the days he ignored Trunks.
Whis's solution is abrupt, and some found it too convenient, but it fits a character who bends time the way others turn a doorknob. The team discussion is more interesting: in a few minutes the series assembles a roster of almost entirely Earthbound fighters, and justifies it with a grim portrait of a universe emptied out by Frieza's conquests.
Trivia
- Written by Yoshifumi Fukushima and directed by Hideki Hiroshima, with Paul Añonuevo, Eugene Ayson and Kōji Nashizawa as animation directors. It drew a 5.5% TV rating in Japan.
- The name Vegeta had in mind was Eschalot, a shallot, in keeping with the Saiyans' vegetable names.
- In the manga, Whis brings about Bulla's birth with a mere glance, and her name is never even mentioned.
- The imagined scene of Krillin against Basil is an anime addition.
Did you know? In Japanese the girl is named Bra, following her mother's family tradition of underwear-themed names; English releases call her Bulla.