Episode 94 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on June 11, 2017 and titled The Evil Emperor Returns! A Reception from Mysterious Assassins? in Funimation's dub, finally assembles Team Universe 7 and brings Frieza back to life. But while the heroes get ready, two Gods of Destruction scheme in the shadows: Universe 4's Quitela persuades Universe 9's Sidra to eliminate Goku's new recruit before the tournament. As they leave Baba's palace, Goku and Frieza find a rather unfriendly welcoming committee.
Summary
At Capsule Corporation, Goku explains how things went with Frieza, but he is a terrible liar and has to confess that he promised him resurrection. Everyone scolds him; Whis notes that a free Frieza is still better than the universe being destroyed. Meanwhile, over a crystal ball, Quitela tells Sidra that Universe 7 plans to strike Universe 9 first, and suggests eliminating Frieza before he joins the team, using hired assassins to stay out of sight. With one member missing, he argues, Universe 7 might be disqualified.
Trunks asks who the newcomer drawn on the team board is. Bulma, who has not told the boys about the tournament, claims it is the guest list for Bulla's party, and Vegeta, through gritted teeth, has to swear that Frieza has turned good. Goku persuades Trunks and Goten to guard Android 17's island and asks Krillin to take them there with Android 18. On Korin's Tower, Master Roshi wraps up his training by testing his old techniques on Yajirobe, then gets ready to leap from the railing and remembers he cannot fly. In Universe 9, Roh and Sidra decide to go ahead, while the angel Mohito listens, amused.
On the island, Android 18 sees her brother for the first time in ages. Krillin clumsily tries to make small talk, 17 gets Marron's name wrong and his sister threatens to kill him if he does it again. Marron decides to stay with Trunks and Goten, while a poachers' submarine watches from offshore. At Capsule Corporation the team gathers: Piccolo removes his turban and shakes 17's hand, to Gohan's great relief, and Roshi arrives too, immediately noticing the change in the young man.
Goku waits at Baba's palace, running through the moves of his fight with Grandpa Gohan many years before. Frieza arrives with a halo over his head, sinks a punch into Goku's stomach and says his hand slipped, and Goku returns the favor the same way. Outside, though, a crowd of fighters awaits them, refusing to say who sent them. Frieza wounds their leader with a beam, turns Golden and announces he needs to stretch his legs.
Our take
This episode is packed with small character moments, and that is mainly why it works. Piccolo's handshake with Android 17 gracefully closes an old wound from the Android saga, Krillin's awkwardness with his brother-in-law is irresistible, and Vegeta forced to vouch for Frieza in front of his son is worth the price of admission alone.
The Quitela and Sidra plot, meanwhile, adds a political layer to the tournament, with gods ready to cheat in order to survive. And Frieza's return is staged perfectly: one "slipped" punch and a smile are enough to remind us that the tyrant has not changed one bit.
Trivia
- Written by Toshio Yoshitaka and directed by Masato Mitsuka, with Paul Añonuevo, Eugene Ayson and Yūichi Karasawa as animation directors. It drew a 6.3% TV rating in Japan.
- Nearly the whole episode is an anime original: in the manga, the team gathers on the morning of the tournament.
- The ghost usher at Baba's palace returns for the first time in about thirty years, since the original Fortuneteller Baba arc.
- It is the first on-screen meeting between Android 17 and his niece Marron.
Did you know? When Marron asks his age, 17 answers "seventeen": a joke so flat that, for a moment, all you can hear are the waves.