Episode 93 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on June 4, 2017 and titled You're Our Tenth Warrior! Goku Approaches Frieza!! in Funimation's dub, follows through on the saga's boldest choice: Goku goes down to Hell to ask Frieza to fight for Universe 7. The tyrant agrees, but on his own terms. In Universe 6, meanwhile, shy Kale unleashes a transformation nobody saw coming.
Summary
Goku's proposal stuns everyone. The plan is simple: Frieza is still in Hell, never purified, and Fortuneteller Baba can bring him back to the world of the living for twenty-four hours, as she did for Goku and Vegeta. Supreme Kai fears he will not cooperate and Vegeta is sure they do not need him, but Whis passes on a troubling rumor: one of the competing universes has a God of Destruction stronger than Beerus, and a mortal stronger than that god. Beerus insists he only lost to him at arm wrestling, but by now even Krillin is convinced. Goku teleports to King Yemma, secretly watched by a strange man in a hat.
King Yemma agrees, on condition that if Frieza goes on a rampage, Goku deals with him far from Earth. In Universe 6, Caulifla and Cabba try to get Kale to transform, but she feels useless. Insults do not work, until Kale bursts into tears, feeling like a burden to Caulifla: then her energy explodes, her body becomes huge and muscular, and she points at Cabba, announcing he will be her first victim. She pummels him in a blind, jealous fury over his bond with Caulifla, until Caulifla assures her she has no interest in the boy. Kale reverts and passes out. In Universe 4, meanwhile, the spy Ganos reports to God of Destruction Quitela that Universe 7 is recruiting a dead warrior.
In Hell, in a flowery meadow full of teddy bears and fairies that for him is the worst torture of all, Frieza is still trapped in a cocoon hanging from a tree. Goku cuts him down and tells him about the tournament. Frieza jokingly refuses, then sets a condition: if they win, Goku must revive him with the Dragon Balls. He knows exactly how to play the Saiyan, promising he will grow even stronger and that they can fight again. Goku gives in: he will use Earth's Dragon Balls. Frieza's only disappointment is the ban on killing. Fortuneteller Baba reluctantly agrees to bring him back, but refuses Zeno's button as payment: far too dangerous. In Universe 4, Quitela already has a plan to take Universe 7 out. An hour and a half remains.
Our take
Recruiting Frieza upends expectations and gives the saga a powerful narrative engine: an ally nobody trusts, who could betray them at any moment. The Hell scene is written with real mischief, and Frieza is irresistible as he manipulates Goku through his one weakness, the hunger for ever-stronger opponents.
Kale's transformation is an open homage to Broly, from the way she points out her first victim to her destructive rage, and it gives the series a female Legendary Super Saiyan. Jealousy as the trigger is a romantic-comedy touch that adds color to an otherwise merely timid character.
Trivia
- Written by Yoshifumi Fukushima and directed by Takahiro Imamura, with Tsutomu Ono and Shūichirō Manabe as animation directors. It drew a 5.6% TV rating in Japan.
- It marks King Yemma's first appearance in Dragon Ball Super.
- In the manga, Kale first transforms only during the tournament, against Frieza, and it is Top, not Whis, who mentions the mortal stronger than a god.
- In Funimation's dub, the broadcast version of the Hell scene features Daman Mills as Frieza, while the home video release uses Chris Ayres.
Did you know? According to the manga, the God of Destruction who beat Beerus at arm wrestling is Quitela of Universe 4.