Episode 90 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on May 14, 2017 and titled Staring Down the Wall to Be Overcome! Goku vs. Gohan in Funimation's dub, is the final exam of Gohan's training. After a tag-team match with Piccolo against Goku and Tien, he asks to face his father one-on-one, at full strength. He loses, but earns something more important: the trust of Goku, who names him team leader.
Summary
Training complete, Piccolo and Gohan find Goku, Tien, Chiaotzu and Master Roshi at a restaurant and propose a two-on-two practice match under tournament rules. They pick a mountaintop as their ring. Tien urges caution, since it is only practice, but Goku suspects they are the ones who should be worried.
At first Goku and Gohan trade blows untransformed, while Piccolo stands still, charging an attack. Tien tries to hit him with a Tri-Beam, but Gohan intercepts it, and the Namekian unleashes a massive wave of energy from his whole body, like the one he used against Goku at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Goku withstands it and also blocks Gohan's follow-up, praising the combination: his son has found his feel for fighting again. The mountain, however, has been blown apart, and Tien declares the match over.
Gohan is not satisfied and asks for a one-on-one bout with his father. Tien thinks it pointless; Goku agrees at once. First, though, a detour to Universe 10: Gowasu cannot decide whom to pick for fear of ending up with another Zamasu, but God of Destruction Rumoosh and angel Cus present him with ten muscle-bound fighters led by Murichim, who stop every so often to drink their protein shakes.
On Earth, Goku and Gohan eat senzu beans and begin. Gohan does not go Super Saiyan: he is aiming for an ultimate form of his own, different from his father's. Goku is impressed and admits he went looking for opponents in other universes while forgetting he had Gohan right beside him. The fight, with Goku as a Super Saiyan 2, shakes the ground all the way to West City. Gohan asks his father to go all out, and Goku switches to Super Saiyan Blue with the Kaio-ken. Gohan collapses after one last attempt; Goku catches him before he hits the ground. When he wakes up, his father names him team leader. Four and a half hours remain until the tournament.
Our take
This is the episode that gives Gohan back the place fans had long reserved for him. The series does not let him win, and rightly so: the point is to show that he can force Goku into his strongest form with Kaio-ken, and that he has chosen his own path rather than copying his father. Goku's line about forgetting he had such a strong son is naive and sincere, and perhaps the finest compliment he could pay him.
The tag-team bout also works as a preview of the tournament: Piccolo charging while Gohan covers him is the strategy the pair will try to use in the Null Realm. The captaincy, finally, rewards Gohan's head more than his muscles.
Trivia
- Written by King Ryū and directed by Takahiro Majima and Kōhei Hatano, with Hideki Yamazaki and Masahiro Shimanuki as animation directors. It drew a 5.6% TV rating in Japan.
- The entire episode is an anime original.
- It is the first time a Saiyan goes Super Saiyan Blue starting from a Super Saiyan 2 state.
- Toei's simulcast title was See The Wall That Must Be Passed! Goku vs Gohan.
Did you know? Universe 10's ten fighters were picked by Rumoosh purely for their muscles: "decide with your body, not your head" is his advice to Gowasu.
Characters
- Goku, Gohan, Piccolo and Tien
- Chiaotzu and Master Roshi
- Gowasu, Rumoosh and Cus
- Murichim and the Universe 10 fighters