English Dub Review: Dragon Ball Super “A Transcendent Light-Speed Battle Erupts! Goku and Hit’s United Front!”

Hit and Goku, the unstoppable duo!

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The Tournament of Power continues, and this week’s battle focuses on Hit, the lightspeed assassin from Universe 6 who is said to never miss a punch. His opponent is the rabbit-esque warriors from Universe 11, Dispo. No one expects too much from Dispo knowing how powerful Hit is, but Dispo surprises everyone by countering Hit’s punch with an attack of his own, not once, but twice in a row. Dispo’s excellent hearing allows him to react in time before Hit can punch him. It seems like Hit’s Time Skip is going to be useless.

Hit isn’t done, though, he starts going at it with Dispo advancing further down the field of the tournament. Dispo keeps pressing his advantage until they get to the end of the arena and Hit has nowhere to go. However, in a sudden turn, Hit time skips behind Dispo during one his attacks, sending Dispo flying off the arena. The fight would be over, but Kunshi, another Universe 11 warrior, saves Dispo with energy threads animating from his body. He pulls Dispo back into the arena and joins the fight. However, Goku, an unlikely entrant, steps in as well in his Super Saiyan God form to help Hit in his fight. Their temporary alliance yields a devastating combination.

It’s two vs. two, and every fighter involved is a champion. Alternating fighters, Goku and Hit are able to keep up with Dispo and Kunshi blow for blow. Goku is a complete powerhouse, pushing Kunshi to his limits, while Hit starts adapting his speed enough that he can use his Time Skip punches once again. Once that happens, it’s all over. Hit is able to incapacitate Dispo, who gets rescued from the arena by Kunshi. Kunshi intends to use his energy threads to take Hit off the arena with him, but Hit is too fast and knocks him off the arena, rendering the fight over.

Goku and Hit share some parting words with each other, marking the end of their allegiance, and the two go their separate ways in the tournament. Universe 11 only has three warriors left, and the Tournament of Power is reaching its critical point.

Our Take:

This, right here, this is the good stuff. High action, intense battles, turns of fortune and unlikely allies, this is the fabric of Dragon Ball Super, and what’s making it the best show I’ve watched this season. As I was watching this episode of Dragon Ball Super, I wasn’t so much critiquing it as I was just basking in the shounen joy of what I was witnessing. At a certain point, I was no longer a cynical anime reviewer, but a younger me, glued to my TV screen on Saturday morning as I watched alien warriors duke it out in a tournament of gods. The only thing that could make the scene more complete is a bowl of Fruit Loops resting in my lap.

The driving force of this episode is the sudden allegiance of old foes Hit and Goku as they face a common foe. This doesn’t come lightly, as the warriors of Universe 11 are some of the strongest warriors that Goku has faced thus far. Jiren and Top are the mysterious top two that we’re all waiting to enter the fray, but Kunshi and Dispo are no slouches. The moment where Dispo manages to hit Hit before Hit can hit him is a shocking moment. Anyone who has been watching Dragon Ball Super up to this point knows that Hit is the powerhouse of this show. And to see him get the smackdown so quickly is shocking, to say the least. That sense of drama is vital to this episode because it establishes the stakes of the fight in one move. You can’t have Goku and Hit join forces to fight any joe schmoe. There has to be a conflict worth their time, and that’s a hard thing to do when you have a character that routinely moves so fast that they can’t be seen and take down apocalyptic-level baddies on the regular.

There isn’t much here that can be said about this episode that wouldn’t be better experienced for yourself. This is an epic battle in the truest sense of the word from start to finish. Great animation, cheesy but awesome one-liners, and turn after turn after turn make you remember why you started watching “Dragon Ball” in the first place. This is an episode that needs no justification, no explanation. Flowery language and clever witticisms don’t do it justice. This is an episode that you need to see, and a series that you need to watch.