English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “A Chaotic Victory Party! Showdown at Last? Monaka vs. Goku!”

“I love the way you lie”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

In the aftermath of the “Tournament of Destroyers” arc, Bulma throws a victory party with Beerus & Whis also getting invitations. But when Bulma asks them to also invite Monaka,  Beerus & Whis in-private decide not to invite him knowing that Goku will attempt to have a match against Monaka given Goku’s proverbial hard-on for combat. When the party begins, Bulma has set up a backup plan to keep Beerus at his good side in case Buu tries anything stupid like the last time by giving him enough food to keep him distracted while Chi-Chi explains that Goku would be a little late. Jaco reveals that he hired Monaka’s delivery service to bring some other-universe desserts & delicacies to the party much to the shock of everyone who still thinks Monaka is more powerful than Goku.

As Monaka begins to drop stuff off, Hercule mentions a previous conversation they had about making him a mascot for his gym and shows a human-sized Monaka outfit to pitch the idea, but when Bulma offers him to join the party, she discovers that Beerus didn’t tell him anything. When Beerus & Whis show up at the party, they’re shocked to discover an injured Monaka with Bulma confronting the two about not inviting Monaka along with the truth about Monaka being a weakling. Since Goku isn’t here yet, Beerus demands everyone to keep this a secret but when Goku shows up seconds after saying that, via-teleporting, Chi-Chi buy’s Beerus time to explain himself by telling Goku to go home and clean himself up first. It turns out that a big part of Goku’s training is the motivation to surpass someone stronger than him, and since using that motivation helped them win against Champa’s Universe 6 team, Beerus & Whis wish to keep the lie going so Goku can further improve himself for Grand Zeno’s upcoming “Multi-Universe Tournament” and any potential threats Earth might encounter.

When Goku returns in a cleaner outfit, he notices Monaka and asks Beerus permission to fight but everyone else distracts Goku long enough to have Beerus wear Hercule’s mascot outfit, thereby giving Goku what he wants without him knowing the truth. With Beerus in disguise, Goku thinks Monaka has transformation powers but when their match begins, Goku spends much of the episode in his base form and doesn’t power-up. Beerus is at a disadvantage since he’s taking the disguise he’s wearing into consideration but ends up having too much fun to the point that Whis interrupts to stop them after the two cause an explosion. Goku now thinks Monaka can split his body like Buu and the episode ends on a comedic note when Goku decides to eat while we the audience find out who was disguised as Beerus during Goku’s presumed Monaka battle.

Our Take

I kinda predicted this given Toriyama’s track record of having each new Saga start with filler episodes. It’s also funny to see how much Beerus & Whis have sort-of got along with the people within Goku’s circle compared to the “Battle of the Gods” arc and I couldn’t help but laugh at the elaborate methods they used to keep the charade going in ways that reminded longtime fans that Toriyama hasn’t forgotten his past characters but is very meticulous on when to use them when the plot demands it.