Episode 98 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on July 9, 2017 and titled Ah, the Uncertainty! A Universe Despairs! in Funimation's dub, is the moment the Tournament of Power stops feeling like a game. Universe 9 throws everything it has at Goku and Vegeta, but the two Saiyans eliminate the entire team. Right afterward, the two Zenos erase an entire universe.
Summary
Supreme Kai Roh wants revenge for the exhibition loss, and the three brothers surround Goku. The Saiyan welcomes the rematch but stays in base form: as Whis explains, Super Saiyan Blue burns too much stamina for such a long tournament with no healing allowed. Lavender coats his fists in poison, Goku shields himself with an energy barrier he devised with Gohan, and the brothers attack him from three sides at once.
Annoyed, Vegeta steps in, but instead of cooperating he starts fighting on his own. Roh then orders all of Universe 9's fighters to focus on the two Saiyans. Goku pounds away uselessly at Chappil, whose skin is like iron, while Vegeta fends off Lavender's poison and Hop's claws. Then Hyssop freezes his right hand with an icy attack; Hop lunges to finish him, but Vegeta dodges at the last second and she slashes Lavender by mistake.
That slip changes everything. Goku turns Super Saiyan and throws out Chappil and Comfrey, and Vegeta eliminates Hop; then, with his left hand trapped in Oregano's webbing, he transforms too and sends Oregano and Hyssop flying. Meanwhile Sorrel has been eliminated, apparently by Android 18, and Roselle has jumped off the arena just to escape Frieza. Only the three brothers remain, and they try one last combined attack; Goku and Vegeta answer in Super Saiyan Blue, merging Kamehameha and Final Flash, and blast them out.
Universe 9's entire team is gone. The Grand Minister announces the erasure, Roh begs in vain, and the two Zenos join hands and, in a flash, make fighters, Supreme Kai and God of Destruction vanish. Only the angel Mohito is spared, and he seems almost amused. Whis confirms that Universe 9 no longer exists, and across the arena everyone freezes in shock.
Our take
Until now the threat of erasure was a concept; in this episode it becomes an image, and a terrible one. The scene where Roh pleads and the fighters vanish one after another is among the darkest in the series, and it works because it comes right after a fun fight in which the Saiyans almost seemed to be playing. The contrast is deliberate, and it lands.
The fight itself is a good example of how the tournament rewards brains: Universe 9 loses through a coordination mistake, not a lack of strength. And Goku and Vegeta's combined finisher, despite their refusal to team up for most of the episode, is a nice treat for fans.
Trivia
- Written by Yoshifumi Fukushima and directed by Takao Iwai, with Kaori Takamura and Masahiro Shimanuki as animation directors. It drew a 4.8% TV rating in Japan.
- With Sidra's erasure, the series shows the death of a God of Destruction on screen for the first time.
- In the manga, the brothers go after Gohan and Piccolo, most of their teammates are eliminated by Frost, and the three brothers by Frieza.
- In the manga, Mohito sighs after the erasure instead of smiling.
Did you know? The combined finisher merges Goku's Kamehameha with Vegeta's Final Flash, just like Vegito's Final Kamehameha.
Characters
- Goku, Vegeta, Android 18 and Frieza
- Bergamo, Lavender, Basil, Hop, Hyssop, Chappil, Comfrey, Oregano, Sorrel and Roselle
- Roh, Sidra and Mohito
- Beerus, Whis, Supreme Kai, Champa and Vados
- Zeno, Future Zeno and the Grand Minister