Revisiting Episode 67 of Super

[Freeza9000]

Ahh yes, the sweet loving memories. The heart strings that were pulled and the tears welling out of the eyes. The one conclusive episode to the Future Trunks arc, which aired a year ago today, that sparked quite the controversy among the fanbase. That in itself speaks volumes about how much of a polarizing ending it was overall and I continue to remain surprised at the avenue the writers chose for it.

Before the spoilers for EP 67 were leaked, we fans thought the arc would end "happily ever after" with Goku along with Future Trunks finally heading off to the sunset alive after defeating the main Big Bad, Zamasu. And then somehow gathering all the DBs to undo the havoc the villain has caused beforehand and rejoicing in their victory afterwards, the typical ending cliche to a DB arc. Yeah that trope along with our expectations were finally subverted in this arc.

Our protagonists may have succeeded in getting rid of the main villain, but at the same time, were dealt with a bone crushing defeat (specifically Trunks and Mai). They were too late to prevent Zamasu from contaminating what was left of the multiverse and especially the human refugees that poured all their hope on Future Trunks. To further rub on the wound with salt, it took the sacrifice of an entire timeline to end Zamasu's reign. I don't think we've ever had an actual villain that felt this seemingly unstoppable besides maybe Boo.

Before venturing into the new alternate timeline Whis offered the two survivors, Vegeta bid Trunks a touching father-son farewell. Not your typical farewell hug, but a short sparring scene with his son. Vegeta knew his son was unable to protect what remained of his home world, but still gave him an encouraging smile acknowledging that his son (albeit not in the most logical way) grew stronger than he ever was in his life. It's subtle, but still a heartwarming scene. It does wonders for Vegeta's character and shows that Super hasn't completely regressed Vegeta's character (well, until the ToP arc).

About Trunks seeing Gohan bidding him farewell, I feel like this one speaks for itself. Like I said above, Trunks may have been unsuccessful to save what was left of his home and beats himself over his ultimate failure, but seeing the alternate version of his slained mentor screaming at Trunks to "be well!" was what fueled Trunks's "HOPE". Hope for a blessed future and home despite known for the amounts of tragedies he has been through in his life.

People may criticize the ending for being notoriously inconsistent with its powerscaling, convoluted time travel shenanigans, Super Dragon Balls not used to restore the entire timeline (though it's debatable whether it can accomplish such a wish), or the missed opportunity Future Trunks/Mai not staying in the present timeline to become members of the Z Fighters. As a fan of the series itself, I will be the first to admit that Super isn't devoid of imperfections at all. But I will say that this ending had more of an impact to me than the typical resolution of undoing all the deaths in said arc via 7 magical orbs. Even to this day, I'm still in awe at how the writers had the actual guts try something like this.

[DSB]

Yep. I dont know why people hate it. It was the first that they couldnt beat the villain. And the Villain actually got what he wanted. Trunks truly became Edgar Allen Poe and it just feels sad on many different levels. Considering this came from Toriyama, he should be applauded. He is trying things he wouldnt have done back in the day of the Manga. [If anything Toyotaro ruins the Super Manga]

[Rebel Instinct]

Episode 67 - the episode that decisively killed any and all desire for me to follow Dragon Ball Super in any serious capacity. Easily my most hated episode in all of Dragon Ball.

- incoming emotional rant, buckle up boys -

Up until episode 67, I had been regularly following Dragon Ball Super and enjoying it for the most part. I had my misgivings, but overall, I was happy to have more Dragon Ball content and none of my grievances were severe enough to break my enthusiasm for the series. Episode 67 broke me.

No other episode in the history of Dragon Ball (including Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT) has ever so thoroughly killed my interest in the series. I actually liked GT despite it's faults, but my enthusiasm for Super dropped like a stone the moment Future Trunks' timeline was erased and it became apparent that it was not going to be undone, I had never been more disappointed and frustrated in Dragon Ball as a series. It took an arc full of promise with interesting ideas, excellent villains and the return of a fan favorite character and found a way to make me hate it.

To me, permanently erasing Future Trunks' timeline completely undermines the entire legacy of his character. By the end of the Cell Saga, Trunks had returned to his own timeline with newfound power and destroyed Android 17 and 18 and Cell, thus saving his timeline and fulfilling his promise to his mother and his deceased master. His story arc was complete and tied up in a neat, yet mildly bittersweet little bow. A fitting end for Future Trunks and a satisfying conclusion. The Future Trunks arc completely undoes all of this.

Despite my excitement at the thought of seeing Future Trunks again, his story should've ended at the Cell Saga. In my opinion, the ending was already perfect. There was nothing left to add to it. Anything else was unnecessary. The Future Trunks arc was quite literally my personal worst case scenario - perfectly capped off by episode 67. I genuinely could not have imagined a worse way for the arc to have played out, Though there were several parts of the arc as a whole that irritated me (Black's inexplicable resistance to injury and instantaneous power-ups, Super Saiyan Rage going completely unexplained, Black's ridiculous dimensional smoke clones, the way the Mafuba was handled, the Potara retcon, Trunks' Spirit Sword), I could've tolerated all of it if Trunks had actually beaten Zamasu for good and saved his timeline in the end.

I could have accepted the loss of Future Bulma, the ravaging of Earth and the death of all of the future timeline's gods as collateral for the arc. Even though I wouldn't necessarily like it, that alone was enough permanent consequence for the arc to have weight. However, building up Trunks as the hope of the future, having all of the survivors looking up to and believing in Trunks as their hero, giving the uplifting and inspiring message of never underestimating the power of mortals in the face of adversity, only to then have everyone watch as their hero fails them and have Zamasu kill everyone Trunks swore to protect (including sweet little Haru and Maki) and then erasing everything afterwards was just too much for me to accept. The fact that all of this was permanent and that Future Trunks and Mai went off to spend the rest of their days as refugees in a timeline where they don't belong, amongst copies of themselves and surrounded by doppelgangers of everyone they failed to save is just the horrible, existential nightmare cherry on top.

I hated it. I still hate it even now. I'd never felt that way about Dragon Ball before and I'll unfortunately always remember Super for that. They changed Future Trunks' legacy from "triumphant hero and savior of the future" to "colossal failure and broken refugee". I couldn't believe Dragon Ball of all things could do something so screwed up to a character whose story was already satisfactorily concluded, to one of my favorite characters no less, and just leave it that way. Not only that, the ending rendered the rest of the entire arc pointless. Nothing of value was gained by the end of the arc. The only thing that really changed was the addition of a second Zeno. So far, the two of them together haven't accomplished anything for the narrative that one Zeno couldn't do alone, so what was the point? All the arc served to do was to permanently destroy Future Trunks' peaceful life for no good reason. Was a second Zeno really worth that?

Since the end of the Future Trunks arc, I've only been loosely following Dragon Ball Super and that saddens me greatly. It wasn't just episode 67 alone though, it was just my breaking point. When Super was first announced, I was just as ecstatic as everyone else, I relished the return of Dragon Ball after so many years and was eager to watch each new episode every week. Over time though, I started having more and more issues with the series. I was feeling a little underwhelmed, but I stuck with it and enjoyed it for what it was. It took until episode 67 to finally break me. No one can say I went in wanting to hate it or didn't give the series a chance. 66 episodes is more than fair, I should think. I now follow Dragon Ball Super purely out of a morbid curiosity to see what will become of one of my favorite franchises. More specifically, I primarily follow the manga since it has avoided many of my personal issues with the anime (I'm fair in my grievances though, since I still don't like the same plot points from Toriyama's outline that I didn't like in the anime and I still hate the way the Future Trunks arc panned out regardless of version). That said, I do stay abreast of the goings on in the anime so that I can at least continue to have informed discussions. I simply don't take Super as seriously anymore and a lot of my enthusiasm is gone.

Yep. I dont know why people hate it. It was the first that they couldnt beat the villain. And the Villain actually got what he wanted. Trunks truly became Edgar Allen Poe and it just feels sad on many different levels. Considering this came from Toriyama, he should be applauded. He is trying things he wouldnt have done back in the day of the Manga. [If anything Toyotaro ruins the Super Manga]

This post here is the perfect antithesis of my own feelings (doubly so including that last remark about Toyotaro... ). People are free to feel however they want about the Future Trunks arc and I would never begrudge anyone for feeling differently than me (so please don't be offended by my statements, they're just my personal feelings - I'm not attacking anyone ). That said, the idea of applauding Toriyama for, in my opinion, ruining Future Trunks' legacy and undermining everything he stood for, makes me throw up a bit in my mouth... I get that people appreciate the break from the status quo and don't see the ending of the Future Trunks arc the same way I do, but this was not the way I wanted the status quo broken. Not like that. Not to Future Trunks.

[precita]

I could never understand why people wanted Future Trunks to stay in the present timeline, besides being a fan of the character. It would also create obvious problems when kid Trunks eventually grows up, we'd have two identical looking Trunks in the show. Only one with blue hair and the other with purple hair.

[Asura]

*snip*

This beautifully sums up my feelings about the Future Trunks arc as well. Trunks did not need to be revisited, and certainly not in this way. It really undid everything Trunks ever achieved and completely raped the character beyond repair. Episode 67 will go down for me as the worst episode in the entire franchise as well, it was just horrendous all around.

Can you imagine if at the end of GT, Goku's Universal Spirit Bomb didn't kill Omega Shenron? And then Omega Shenron kills all of our beloved characters, and Goku goes on to live somewhere else or become Shenron or something after everyone was already dead and gone forever? Yeah what a great ending that would have been.

[Rebel Instinct]

*snip*

This beautifully sums up my feelings about the Future Trunks arc as well. Trunks did not need to be revisited, and certainly not in this way. It really undid everything Trunks ever achieved and completely raped the character beyond repair. Episode 67 will go down for me as the worst episode in the entire franchise as well, it was just horrendous all around.

Can you imagine if at the end of GT, Goku's Universal Spirit Bomb didn't kill Omega Shenron? And then Omega Shenron kills all of our beloved characters, and Goku goes on to live somewhere else or become Shenron or something after everyone was already dead and gone forever? Yeah what a great ending that would have been.

Glad my feelings resonated with you! (Should I really be glad though? I wish everyone had been able to love the arc and it sucks that some of us couldn't...) The ending to the Future Trunks arc was certainly polarizing, if nothing else. I know some people will disagree with me/us, but it's how I've been feeling about the end of the arc for a long time now, so it feels nice to know others share those feelings. I really did want to love it, but that ending was such a kick to the balls. It especially stings for someone like myself, since Future Trunks was one of my favorite characters for over a decade. To think that this is how his story actually ends...

I'd have been totally down to see Trunks really come into his own and save the future once again with the combination of his own power and the help of the people who believed in him. An evil god banished by the collective will to survive of the mortals he despised. Would've been poetic. Instead the evil god basically wins. To me, Dragon Ball was always about overcoming your limits in the face of danger and doing the impossible. A depressing, wholesale loss like that just feels wrong, especially after all the build up Trunks had as a "hero of hope". Turns out to be the most hopeless battle in Dragon Ball history.

[precita]

The episode is probably one of the best episodes of the entire franchise, and an exciting if depressing ending to Future Trunks character. Him failing to save his timeline is the best direction they could have taken with him.

[Rebel Instinct]

The episode is probably one of the best episodes of the entire franchise, and an exciting if depressing ending to Future Trunks character. Him failing to save his timeline is the best direction they could have taken with him.

I don't mean to start anything, but this comment feels like it was only meant to deliberately fly in the face of my and Asura's posts. Was that your intent or were you really just posting to contribute to the discussion? If it's the latter, can you elaborate on why you think this ending is "the best direction"?

[Venus]

The episode is probably one of the best episodes of the entire franchise, and an exciting if depressing ending to Future Trunks character. Him failing to save his timeline is the best direction they could have taken with him.

I don't mean to start anything, but this comment feels like it was only meant to deliberately fly in the face of my and Asura's posts. Was that your intent or were you really just posting to contribute to the discussion? If it's the latter, can you elaborate on why you think this ending is "the best direction"?

Probably a bait, or sarcasm.

Episode 67 was certainly... something which should never have happened.

[MaskedRider]

To quote another user on how I felt...

That Hope!! on his time machine has no meaning now. The meaning of his journey in the Androids arc is compltely nullified now.

Under a more critical lens, that journey now has far greater meaning than it ever did in the original run because the arc posits that the worthiness of Trunks' actions is inherent, rather than dependent upon a series of favorable outcomes outside of his control as in the Cell arc. What he does is valuable for the lives he touches, personal happy ending or not. It's the first time, in fact, the series ever dares leave its audience with such a lesson.

Trunks' time travel is one of the elements that allows Zamasu to carry out his plans, which both Black and Future Zamasu taunt him with, but in the face of their (largely unfair, but somewhat accurate) accusations, Trunks stands up for the morality of his actions regardless of how they've chosen to use the world he created. Once his timeline is erased, at his lowest ebb of self-confidence, in which he's bemoaning his inability to save the world his Gohan entrusted him with, he's seen off by a version of Gohan who, thanks to his actions, has gotten to live the life his couldn't. He's seen off by Vegeta, by Goku, by Bulma—all people who can and should be dead, but are alive and thriving thanks to him. The goodness and optimism of his actions, imperfect a solution as they may offer, carry over into his and Mai's decision to introduce the same cosmic second chance to the friends they knew in their future. The "Hope!!" on the side of that time machine has never meant more than when it's presented as a shorthand for all imperfect, inconvenient ways of doing what good one can.

The arc is a rocky, rocky thing, as executed in the anime, but its ending is among the more worthwhile bits of the entire meta-series. On the whole, and especially through its finale, the arc manages to take Trunks, who exists more or less a plot device and catalyst for action in the original run, and turn him into a poignant character all his own.

If anything, my stance on the storyline is that it's a great ending in want of a substantially better arc.

[Rebel Instinct]

The episode is probably one of the best episodes of the entire franchise, and an exciting if depressing ending to Future Trunks character. Him failing to save his timeline is the best direction they could have taken with him.

I don't mean to start anything, but this comment feels like it was only meant to deliberately fly in the face of my and Asura's posts. Was that your intent or were you really just posting to contribute to the discussion? If it's the latter, can you elaborate on why you think this ending is "the best direction"?

Probably a bait, or sarcasm.

Possibly, I don't want to assume the worst though. If they're serious, I'd like to hear them out.

[Asura]

*snip*

This beautifully sums up my feelings about the Future Trunks arc as well. Trunks did not need to be revisited, and certainly not in this way. It really undid everything Trunks ever achieved and completely raped the character beyond repair. Episode 67 will go down for me as the worst episode in the entire franchise as well, it was just horrendous all around.

Can you imagine if at the end of GT, Goku's Universal Spirit Bomb didn't kill Omega Shenron? And then Omega Shenron kills all of our beloved characters, and Goku goes on to live somewhere else or become Shenron or something after everyone was already dead and gone forever? Yeah what a great ending that would have been.

Glad my feelings resonated with you! (Should I really be glad though? I wish everyone had been able to love the arc and it sucks that some of us couldn't...) The ending to the Future Trunks arc was certainly polarizing, if nothing else. I know some people will disagree with me/us, but it's how I've been feeling about the end of the arc for a long time now, so it feels nice to know others share those feelings. I really did want to love it, but that ending was such a kick to the balls. It especially stings for someone like myself, since Future Trunks was one of my favorite characters for over a decade. To think that this is how his story actually ends...

I'd have been totally down to see Trunks really come into his own and save the future once again with the combination of his own power and the help of the people who believed in him. An evil god banished by the collective will to survive of the mortals he despised. Would've been poetic. Instead the evil god basically wins. To me, Dragon Ball was always about overcoming your limits in the face of danger and doing the impossible. A depressing, wholesale loss like that just feels wrong, especially after all the build up Trunks had as a "hero of hope". Turns out to be the most hopeless battle in Dragon Ball history.

I know you said you've lost interest in Super after that episode but I'd encourage you to check out the ToP arc, it has some really fantastic moments and it's real fun to watch. It's not perfect, but when it's good it's damn good, and when it's bad it's... well it's not good, but honestly even the bad isn't that bad.

[Rebel Instinct]

I know you said you've lost interest in Super after that episode but I'd encourage you to check out the ToP arc, it has some really fantastic moments and it's real fun to watch. It's not perfect, but when it's good it's damn good, and when it's bad it's... well it's not good, but honestly even the bad isn't that bad.

Well, I do keep up with it still. I appreciate the recommendation though! Like I mentioned earlier, I like to stay informed so that I can competently discuss the series with all the info I need. I mostly do it through reading episode summaries and watching various clips of relevant scenes just so I get the full picture. Misinformation in this community is death.

All that being said, I have seen Goku's Ultra Instinct battles and I agree, they are fantastic scenes. The depiction of Ultra Instinct is one of the best things in the show so far. Super has some genuinely awesome moments, but the excitement is sort of tempered now if that makes sense. Prior to the Future Trunks arc, I'd get all excited over the cool and flashy battles. I still recall how pumped I was during Goku's final clash with Hit in the U6 tournament (in retrospect, I realize how much SSB Kaio-ken x 10 destabilized the balance of power, but at the time I was excited). I was still excited about Super and hadn't hit that critical moment yet. My loss of "hype", as it were, came pretty abruptly and it hit hard. I had smaller quibbles up until then, but it quickly hit a point of no return as the Future Trunks arc went on. Now while I can still appreciate the cool looking battles, I don't get that buzz anymore.

Btw, I appreciate how respectful you've been with me! It's a far cry from the time I spent over on /r/DBZ... *shivers*

[sintzu]

It wasn't the popular thing to do but I'm happy they went that rout cause it showed they're willing to still go against people's expectations.

[precita]

I was being serious. Future Trunks is one of my favorite characters both in DBZ and Super, and I felt the ending of episode 67 was one of the pinnacles of the franchise. If Future Trunks himself got erased then I would be pissed, but to see him get a happy ending with a love interest was fine. It's nice to see permanent damage done and not be fixed with the Dragonballs, reminded me how Planet Vegeta remained permanently destroyed or stuff along those lines.

Trunks world was already on the brink of destruction, barely any humans were left and Bulma already died at the start of the arc. Whatever they could rebuild likely wasn't worth it.

[Asura]

I was being serious. Future Trunks is one of my favorite characters both in DBZ and Super, and I felt the ending of episode 67 was one of the pinnacles of the franchise. If Future Trunks himself got erased then I would be pissed, but to see him get a happy ending with a love interest was fine. It's nice to see permanent damage done and not be fixed with the Dragonballs, reminded me how Planet Vegeta remained permanently destroyed or stuff along those lines.

Trunks world was already on the brink of destruction, barely any humans were left and Bulma already died at the start of the arc. Whatever they could rebuild likely wasn't worth it.

How on earth do you consider his entire universe being destroyed including his mother, his friends, his comrades, and even those little kids, to be a happy ending for Trunks? Everyone he cared about (from his timeline) died except for Mai. That is definitely not a happy ending.

[precita]

Bulma already died at the start of the arc, that's way separate from the universe being erased at the end.

It's not a happy ending, but it's an ending. You should track down one of Cipher's old posts on this ending, he made a really well done post about why the ending was great and explained it a hell of a lot better than I can.

[Rebel Instinct]

I was being serious. Future Trunks is one of my favorite characters both in DBZ and Super, and I felt the ending of episode 67 was one of the pinnacles of the franchise. If Future Trunks himself got erased then I would be pissed, but to see him get a happy ending with a love interest was fine. It's nice to see permanent damage done and not be fixed with the Dragonballs, reminded me how Planet Vegeta remained permanently destroyed or stuff along those lines.

Trunks world was already on the brink of destruction, barely any humans were left and Bulma already died at the start of the arc. Whatever they could rebuild likely wasn't worth it.

Future Trunks was one of my favorite characters too (arguably my most favorite) and yet I had the diametrically opposite reaction to the end of the arc and felt it was one of the lowest points in the series. The whole situation has even retroactively lowered my overall appreciation for his character. I'm not saying you're wrong for thinking that way, just that it's ironic and something I honestly cannot fathom being happy about considering he was one of your favorites.

I was glad that Trunks had Mai, but I'd hardly consider his ending happy. I imagine that living in a world he knows he doesn't belong in, surrounded by copies of the people he failed to save serving as constant reminders of his failure is something that will haunt Trunks for the rest of his days. He'll live knowing that all the familiar faces around him aren't really the same people he knew and loved, that the originals are all dead and he couldn't save them. While I too feel like Dragon Ball has far too many safety nets, the last thing I wanted was for Trunks' entire character to be undermined in order to buck the trend. As much I loved Future Trunks, I'd have rather never seen him again than have what happened to him in Super. I don't want permanent consequences so badly that I'd be happy sacrificing a character's entire legacy just for the sake of it. Besides, losing his mother and having his world ravaged a second time felt like consequence enough. It could've been left at that and the narrative would still carry a weighty impact.

We're not really certain how many people were left on Earth, but there were pockets of survivors all around the world. I don't agree that rebuilding wouldn't be worth it, especially considering we're talking about human lives. Literally any chance at rebuilding is favorable to saying "fuck it" and throwing away the lives that remain in order to start over elsewhere. Provided that Zamasu hadn't killed everyone on Earth, Trunks would've still had all of the people in the resistance, Yajirobe, Haru, Maki and Mai ( as well as any other people left alive from around the world). They were practically like family at that point and rebuilding the world alongside them would be worth a shot in my eyes. Honestly, in an ideal world, the narrative would never have gotten to that point to begin with and Trunks would have beaten Zamasu before the world was reduced to such a sorry state.

[Asura]

It's not a happy ending, but it's an ending.

But you just said it was a happy ending?

If Future Trunks himself got erased then I would be pissed, but to see him get a happy ending with a love interest was fine.

[Whatever]

I liked it,it was not a happy ending but it was an original and good one.
It also helps that the villain won in the end and the heroes could not stop him and it took Zeno to put a stop to him.