It’s the final showdown….
What They Say:
The final battle! Dragon Ball Super and it’s fan-favourite Tournament of Power arc come to a thrilling conclusion.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio has a 5.1 release in English and a 2.0 in Japanese for the series– I watched the first disc in English and the second disc in Japanese to compare, despite not saying 5.1 the Japanese release was high quality to the point there was no adjustment to the volume, there were no other issues regarding sound quality, echoing, synching with subtitles, etc – the quality is high overall. The Funimation dub is still superb and whilst it doesn’t feel like a long time because of so many re-releases and previous incarnations, there is clearly a lot of care in and love to the DB fans.
Video:
Similar with the audio, the video is set in full screen format with the show combining animation and colour in a more traditional sense, with no real problems with the subtitles, the sound synching in either language, no pause lag or in general, it is a quality release, especially considering how vibrant the colours are – this is not your old-school Dragonball in least in terms of the looks…
Packaging:
There was no packing for this test release.
Menu:
The menu is pretty standard – we see clips of the show intertwined with music as below the scenes we get the classic Play All, Marathon Play (the same as Play All but only the opening at the very beginning and one ending at the very end) Episodes, Setup and on disc 2, Extras. Easily selectable and like most Blu-Rays gives you the option to choose via a pop-up menu whilst in show some else (bar extras). Fast, quick, efficient and nice looking.
Extras:
Along with the textless opening and ending, the one main extra is an interview with the dub voices of Jiren and adult Gohan in Patrick Seitz and Kyle Hebert respectively. Kyle mentions he has been working on the Dragon Ball franchise for 19 years, whilst Patrick is a relative newcomer with the role of Jiren. Kyle talks about the main differences between Gohan in Z and Gohan in Super, and Patrick mentions he did have some small roles in Kai but Jiren is a different kettle of fish. He talks about Jiren’s motivation and background and how he gets his mindset into a role like that, and how iconic the show has been, with Kyle in particular having a few moments at conventions with this iconic role.
It feels like we’ve been here before, but yes, this is for the time being, the end of Dragon Ball…again. Super has been quite a different story though, with so many returns and bring backs as well as new characters that have been hit or miss, but the show has definitely seemed to have returned to it’s tournament routes of the original, whilst also having that you need to win or the earth is doomed mentality of the Cell and Majin Buu arcs. The threat of Jiren, the elimination of the other Saiyans and Hit, it feels like this can only end one way….but it does give you a few surprises.
So first we have Gohan and Picollo up against the Namekians of Universe 6, with a tired Goku teaming up against the remaining members of Universe 2 with the help of Androids 17 and 18. However, despite their efforts and backstory power ups, in the end the team work of Gohan/Picollo and a returning Super Saiyan Blue Goku is enough to defeat the remaining members of the universes, as Beerus tries not to show being upset that his brother is erased because of this…
…the one person who is surprisingly upset with this though is of all people, Vegeta…as it was quite obvious he was becoming a mentor to the Saiyan warrior Cabba of Universe 6, and with him being erased he feels like he wasn’t a good enough mentor to him – this nearly distracts him as an invisible force takes out his then opponent Catopesra, with Picollo and Gohan also nearly suffering the same fate, however the 4th Universe is using fighters who have this ability, which actually causes Picollo’s elimination as there is a second one out there. Thanks to the brains of Gohan though, they figure out one is invisible but one is just tiny and they manage to eliminate the 4th universe…though this sets up the one weakness is that whilst many of the universes have unique skills and abilities, they are usually only relevant for one episode before one of the main guys takes them out, and with Universe 6 all gone, you know it is going to end between Jiren and Goku so yeah, DBZ is still kinda predictable…especially as they bring the remaining members of the 3rd universe to fight Goku and company, and whilst they have a robot theme led by their leader Dr Paparoni, eventually they are also defeated by the group but with one final push, they merge their remaining fighters with himself into a giant robot named Agnilasa, and like before, they do take out one member of the group (last time was Picollo, this time it’s Android 18) and there is a moment where Goku looks to be beaten…
…but then you remember the surprise factor – namely Frieza. He has calmly been watching and observing, and you always wondered if he would actually betray them….or help them as he did give Goku some energy before. Again, he’s the wild card as he saves Goku (by kicking him back into the arena ^^ well, it worked…) – with the power of the robot Frieza joins the gray and the combined power of the remaining warriors they defeat Agnilasa and taking out the third universe…leaving Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, 17 and Frieza to take on the 11th Universe remaining fighters in Jiren, Top and Dyspo.
So as the spectators get closer, we get initially Gohan/17 against Top, Frieza against Dypso and Goku/Vegeta against Jiren, with mixed results – mainly Jiren dominating Vegeta and then powering up to overwhelm Goku but the two begin to power up to hold him off despite their exhausted states. Frieza again asks if Dypso would resurrect him with the Super Dragon Balls in return for his assistance. Dypso refuses (he does have some honour at least) so we get Golden Frieza but Dypso also increases his speed, which leads to the weird combo of Gohan and Frieza teaming up again to stop Dypso’s insane speed. However Gohan proves why he’s the leader as he comes up with a strategy that manages to trap Dypso via Frieza’s energy cage technique…however it seems to fail as it drains Frieza’s energy. However, at the last moment, Gohan traps Dypso which gives Frieza enough time to blast Dypso and Gohan out of the ring, Gohan seemingly getting both Frieza’s and Beerus’ respect – Gohan has always been more preferred to me as Goku, as he is more set in life, his goals, and whilst no longer as strong as his father, still is a force to be reckoned with, and with his smarts, I felt he was the true MVP of the tournament.
Not forgetting Top, Frieza now joins 17 to try and take him out, but the big reveal is that he is a future Destroyer turns the tide with his amazing power, him knocking out Frieza (though we don’t see him being eliminated, key point) whilst 17 tries to distract him, however they get caught up with the fight between the Saiyans and Jiren, so Top focuses on Vegeta instead and in turn, we get a flashback of when Vegeta uses his entire life aura to try and kill Buu – here, he does it again to take out Top, but this time he actually survives it and eliminates Top to boot. Nice throwback to Z and how Vegeta is stronger both physically and mentally (we see beforehand his memories of his family, wife, Cabba, etc made him stronger).
Now everyone is up against Jiren but Vegeta and 17 are exhausted, Frieza out of action and Goku still not able to keep up with Jiren, and to make matters worse, Jiren now powers up to his maximum. We finally also get a flashback to Jiren’s backstory and why he is so powerful or rather why power is absolute to him as up until now, he was just this super powered being that was a clear obstacle with no rhyme or reason why to care for him. Here, we learn out his family and why the circumstances made him try to remove feelings for all and pretty much be a loner, and whilst they feel for him, 17 says that he was just using everyone to his ends. To which Jiren responds by smacking him in the face. 17, seemingly no match for him, using his remaining energy to help protect Goku and Vegeta and seemingly self destructs…but again, we don’t see the body…hmmm….
So it begins to end with Vegeta and Goku vs. Jiren. However Vegeta is pretty much out of energy, and sadly he does get eliminated by Jiren, but with the last of his energy he gives to Goku, making him go Saiyan Blue, but again, still no match to Jiren. But when Vegeta shouts out and all their faith into him, he goes into Ultra Instinct and finally begins to turn the tide after he slowly becomes to perfect the transformation. And when it looks like he is about to win, his body FINALLY gives out after all the transformations, as Jiren realizes that Goku had beaten him, and this isn’t the way he wanted to win…so despite being upset with how it has ended and respecting Goku, he eliminates Goku…
…until we see Frieza and 17 come up saving him! Yes, told you that was important…so the final episode is Frieza and 17 of all people up against Jiren, with a severely exhausted Goku also there to try and help. Thanks to Goku’s efforts, Jiren is nowhere as strong as he has been allowing Frieza to get the advantage, but this time Jiren gets the motivation from Top to avoid elimination. The final is Goku and Frieza ACTUALLY TEAMING UP IN SYNC (who would have thought it) to try and defeat Jiren with 17 offering support. The end is quite a twist in terms of who actually wins, the wish and the other little things that happen so I’ll refrain from spoilering but I will say it definitely sets up for a sequel….(and of course the new Broly movie comes after this so that’s kind of a spoiler anyway but I digress…)
So Super was…actually quite super. Sure, it was predictable for the most part (the ending was a bit of a surprise though) but there were a lot of great moments in the Tournament of Power arc, with bringing back old characters to be more relevant than they have in years, to bringing us new characters that made an impact, and in this finale, the culmination of Goku vs. Jiren. There are a lot of moments with the other cast as well which were great (17 in particular got a lot of kick ass moments, Frieza’s surprising unity with his comrades by the end but still being the utter bastard we know and love/hate, Gohan also was really outstanding too as he knew what to do for the greater good in almost any tricky situation). Combined with the excellent animation and high impact fight scenes, and even some development for Jiren and Top in terms of their powers made them come a lot more likeable (especially Jiren’s moment where he hesitates in eliminating Goku, knowing he was beat and really not liking how he was about to win, shows you he does have respect for those he deems worthy and by the end of the series it seems like humanity is growing within him).
If you’re a DB fan you’ll love this – Goku was a lot less obnoxious in this arc mainly because he was focused on fighting and realized that the world was at stake, Vegeta’s moments of growth were truly obvious here (his love for his family, respecting Cabba, even giving his energy to Goku) and it ended perfectly as we set up for the future. It’s still typical DB shounen fare but that’s why we love it.
Summary:
Dragon Ball Super ends as we hoped, a clash of titans between Goku and Jiren, but a lot of the other characters get their moments in and the ending definitely sets up a sequel. Whilst the usual predictable nature of these shows is obvious it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable, and with the less annoying parts of certain characters downplayed mostly, it makes this finale really up the ante and end in a way which will make fans ready for more. Definitely the way to go DBZS.
Features:
Japanese Language, English Language, English Subtitles, Interview with Kyle Hebert and Patrick Seitz, Clean Opening, Clean Ending
Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: A-
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: N/A
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Manga Entertainment UK
Release Date: February 24th, 2020
MSRP: £24.99
Running Time: 350 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Playstation 4, Sony Bravia 32 Inc EX4 Television, Aiwa 2 Way Twin Duct Bass Reflex Speaker System.
