The Super Re-Read

[supersaiyandoctor]

Does anyone know if the Broly light novel was released in English?

[Magnificent Ponta]

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 13 - 16 (Plus Bonus Chapter #2!)



Howdy, folks - The Super Re-Read is back, and busting all the character limits! 60,000 - who knew? (I'm sure somebody knew). Apologies in advance for the double-post...

So, we're finally moving on to Chapter 13, and the end of the Universe 6 Tournament arc, and powering on through to Chapter 16, in Volume 3, where we move on into the Future Trunks arc - by the reckoning of many, one of the most noteworthy high points of Super (including the Super manga) to date, so I'm looking forward to seeing whether that plays out for me in my own re-read.

We're moving into territory where Super's Chapters regularly expand to the 40+ page mark (which is why I only committed to posting updates every fortnight!), so before long, we'll be covering whole Volumes of the manga in each update...we'll also be taking in the Second Bonus Chapter, as it's in Volume 2 and relevant to Trunks's own backstory. As usual, credit goes to Kanzenshuu for a lot of the information in these threads, particularly the Japanese titles, the publication dates, and material from the interview archive. Also, lotsa credit to Herms for his various awesome threads for various information translated from Guidebooks.

(And apologies to the gentleman above me - I don't mean to ignore you, but I fear I cannot answer your query).

Anyway, time to get your manga, and let's get on with the re-read!

Chapter 13 - The Winning Universe is Decided at Last!!/The Winning Universe is Decided!
21 June 2016

Spoiler:

Hit scoffs at the idea that Goku can counter his moves, but Goku gives it a go - he zips about and closes the distance, but as he prepares to strike, 'BAM' - Hit lands the punch first. As Hit smugly puts his hand back in his pocket, Goku reacts quickly and starts a new attack, stopping Hit's movement. Hit vanishes again... but this time, Goku swings at the air, and Hit appears in it! Hit barely gets out of the way, but Goku grazes him. While shocked, Hit dismisses it as luck - Goku attacks again, and Hit vanishes again, but once more Goku strikes at air - and lands a clean hit on Hit's chin! How's Goku doing it? Goku explains that he's figuring out where Hit can move to in 0.1 seconds, and striking there predictively. Hit asks why Goku revealed that information - he can adjust his movements now. Goku doesn't think so - Hit tries to mask his movements completely (such as by putting his hands in his pockets), so he can't change his moves once he's started. Goku turns SSj - "The fun begins now!" Hit asks if he can't go Blue, but Goku tells him that's for later. Hit counters by pulling his hands from his pockets...

A furious exchange ensues, too fast for the crowd to see. Hit is pleased and impressed by Goku continuing to keep up, but says he'll have to skip further if Goku continues to predict him. Goku says he'll just have to predict for that, too, and the blistering pace of the battle continues. Champa gets frustrated that Hit isn't making headway, but Vados says Goku's tiring faster - Hit and Goku both notice this, too. Beerus vents, as Goku sees he has no choice but to go further. Hit smiles - Goku's finally transforming into the Blue... But no! Goku's gone red - he's using Super Saiyan God! Vegeta irritably notes Goku's still trying to save power to use the Blue form later. Hit is surprised, but unconcerned - Goku can't beat him. Goku's confident too - and attacks. Hit stops time as usual, and prepares to attack - but then Goku moves, and strikes! Hit could onlystop time for less than 0.1 seconds! Goku attacks again, and Hit stops time again to dodge - but Goku strikes from elsewhere! That skip was even shorter! Beerus demands an explanation, and Whis notes that Time-skipping only works if you're about the same as, or stronger than, your opponent. Goku's much too strong for Hit now. But what about SSjB Vegeta? Whis explains he used up his energy by transforming too many times - SSjB can only be activated a few times a day; doing it like he did meant Vegeta couldn't even access 10% of his usual power. That's why Hit could beat him with Time-skipping.

Goku attacks with a ki blast, and Hit can't stop time at all! He takes the hit, but seeing he's so outclassed, he smiles - and powers up! This surprises everyone, but Vados notes that Hit hardly needs to use this power most of the time, as he tends to kill his enemies by Time-skipping alone. Hit says he probably can't maintain the power for more than a minute, and he'll only be able to Skip Time once more like this -- but he'll definitely stop Goku now... he hides his hands again. After a dramatic pause, Goku attacks. Hit stops time. He's done it! But what's this?? Goku's gone Blue! He's broken Hit's Time-Skip! He kicks an astonished Hit, and releases all he's got in a massive Kamehameha - the force of it is so strong it punches a hole in the protective dome... but Hit barely dodged the blast. Vados fixes the hole, and Hit tells Goku how impressed he is. Goku divines that Hit still can't give it his all, since he's an assassin and has killing techniques he can't use here - they should fight again some other time. Then Goku hops out of the ring! Hit is the winner! Beerus is flabbergasted, but Goku says he wants to see Monaka fight. Beerus is furious - it's all over! A trembling Monaka stumbles into the ring... but Hit sees what's going on. As Monaka flails pathetically once the match begins, he lands a tiny hit - and, after a pause, Hit throws himself out of the ring! Monaka, and Universe 7, are the winners! Hit smiles, and declines the Cube spaceship. Champa is furious - he can tell Hit threw the match...

...But while Champa's raving, Beerus has noticed something terrifying - Zeno-Sama, the Lord of Everything, ruler of all 12 Universes, has appeared! The Gods rush to pay homage, and welcome Him. Zeno replies that He is here to warn them - He didn't sanction this tournament. But He looked on, and thought it was pretty fun! Maybe next time, they should do it again, with all the Universes. Goku's elated, and pipes, up, getting Zeno to promise. Everyone's terrified, but Zeno takes his hand, and promises. Everyone's relieved, and Zeno goes home. Beerus tells Goku Zeno could've destroyed the Universe if he felt like it..! So, the Tournament ends, and Beerus gets the Super Dragon Balls. What did he wish for? Well, he's not telling, but it looks like Humans are back on Universe 6's Earth, creating tasty meals...

Chapter Notes

• It's interesting that Goku goes into this and pulls out the win from a combination of researching and figuring out what Hit's gimmick is, close observation of what Hit's doing and pulling counter-measures, and a judicious and strategic use of the right transformations at the right time to get the job done. This is one of those instances that shows up Goku's way of thinking (when fighting, at least) as deeper and more effective than the fanbase tends to give credit for (particularly with regard to his depiction in Dragon Ball Super) - it may be the instance where his analytical qualities have been most on show during a fight since he bested Tenshinhan at the 23rd Budokai back in DB #179, and certainly since he pulled his underwater manoeuvre on Freeza in DB #309. Of course, Goku has regular insights into how best to use his power generally throughout both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Super, and he has a well-known gift for adaptability, but this is a really strong showing for him in a dimension that maybe isn't seen often enough - it's really good for it to be showcased here.

• It's a fun contrast to see Goku's analytical sophistication against his characteristically "naive" openness, commented on by both Hit and Piccolo. Hit calls him naive for admitting he needs to stall, and asks him why he's revealed his predictive strategy. Piccolo calls him a fool for revealing so much, including what Hit could theoretically do to counter the problem. It seems to show two sides of Goku well - the fighting genius and the happy-go-lucky fool - while showing that they're by no means in tension. The question of 'openness' will, I guess, become a thematic plot point in this issue generally - Hit is secretive, but says more than he means to by his movements, which Goku can read and counter. Goku is open, but can only be understood by volunteering information, and while he's always clear about what's coming up next, he repeatedly surprises Hit. The fight ends up with Hit revealing what he's about to do, just like he criticises Goku for doing, and Goku says "Your secrets are starting to come out" (but see Cipher's earlier comment on the translation of that exchange, in particular)... but Goku still holds all the real surprises up to the end. Ultimately, Goku knows that Hit is hiding even more than he can use here.

• It's interesting that Hit seems to say he could Time-Skip further than 0.1 seconds at will. Presumably he can't do much more than that, but even in old-school Dragon Ball, 0.2 seconds was enough for a whole gag-fight exchange to unfold between Kuririn and Jackie Chun in the 21st Budokai (DB #42), so this sort of timeframe should be ample for Hit to do whatever he needs to. However, one supposes that this is only possible for fighters well below his level of power, as the possibility doesn't emerge again, even when Hit is at full power.

• To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of Beerus's statement that "Goku's power is supposed to be greater than his!" Is this a typo for 'this', or is it a reference to the fact that Goku isn't using all his power yet? If the latter, it's an awkward phrasing. If we're meant to understand that Goku's ordinary SSj power is meant to be greater than Hit's, that's just straight-up baffling, so I take it to mean that Goku should be stronger than Hit when using his real power...

• We get our first sight of SSjG since the Battle of Gods arc, and damn if it isn't pretty, right down to the sparkles in the aura (interesting that this is a consistent feature of SSjG in the manga - as people have said elsewhere, probably to help identify it in black-and-white). It'd be a contender for favourite art, but there are a bunch of other great candidates - the decisive double-page spread, with its dramatic tension drip-fed through the panels, is probably my real favourite, and SSjB Goku's finishing Kamehameha is a great example, too, similar though it is to the panel from the Revival of F promo. It's good to see SSjG again, though, despite Goten using the wrong name, and Hit throwing shade on the recolours

• I guess one unstated implication of the fact that Hit is caught out by Goku's power stopping his Time-Skip from working is that Hit has never met (or at least assassinated) anyone who was stronger than him, else he would've encountered this problem before. It seems vaguely reminiscent of Ginyu's problems with his Body Switch, in that sense. In power terms, I guess this puts Hit somewhere between SSj3 Goku and SSjG Goku (though his full power is obviously either about equal to, or stronger than, SSjG Goku, since he figures he can stop him); the fact that Vegeta sees the need to go Blue even though it's utilising less than 10% of its "usual power" might mean that even so depleted, one may infer that it could be stronger than his own, freakishly strong, SSj2 (and this statement stands behind the idea expressed in some quarters that at this point, SSjB is perhaps 5x the power of SSjG). Then again, one supposes that if Vegeta's used up a lot of power by this point, going for something more balanced like SSjG (which I assume he can do at this point, although he doesn't demonstrate it until 超 #22) might not give him any benefit anyway by this point in the Tournament, as he's been too profligate (as Goku implies later).

• The transformation power fall-off is pretty radical. As I noted last time, despite the fact that Goku states transforming in and of itself takes a lot of energy, I don't think any of the previous SSj transformations have previously been established to use energy in transforming, though that would make sense looked at a certain way; in 超 #45, Vegeta will have lost too much energy to activate SSjB, and in 超 #50 in particular, we'll see Goku and Vegeta literally drop out of their God forms into lower-level transformations in the midst of using them when they've lost enough energy to Moro. It would make sense to say that they would need to reserve and spend a certain amount of energy for use in activating the transformations that they have, and that as the power afforded by a transformation becomes more radical, the 'access spend' increases as well (unless you take an approach that counters this, such as Goku and Gohan's acclimatisation to SSj as of DB #390). Eventually, of course, Goku's direction will move away from transformations as his path to true power, demonstrated in his use of Ultra Instinct in 超 #64 in particular.

• I find it strange to hear from some quarters that Hit acts "like Cell" in response to being bested by Goku - maybe people are prepared to see it this way because he bears a resemblance to Cell, but I just don't see any parallel in their actions. Hit is astonished, yes, but he smiles and accepts how drastic the difference is between them - even after Goku has demonstrated total superiority over Hit's full power with SSjB, Hit just replies "I never expected to see a man like you in this Universe...Even though you're an enemy, I'm impressed". He seems generally pretty composed to me, despite getting beaten all ends up; not at all like Cell's reaction to being bested by Gohan. The two characters come from fundamentally different directions. In fact, Hit will continue to demonstrate composed maturity befitting his age, when he trains hard in the interim and comes back stronger ("true strength", strong enough to shock SSjB Goku), and with some new techniques as well ("Time Lag", which even works on stronger opponents) in 超 #35, in the hopes of beating Goku next time. The framing of that return (a 2-on-1 against Jiren, with Hit using techniques thought up to fight Goku with) will, to my eyes, make Hit look very much like a 'new Piccolo' in terms of the basic character of his relationship to Goku.

• SSjB Goku is so powerful he blows a hole through the protective dome, to Vados's amazement. Earlier, Frost's ki blasts made it reverberate, but it held very much intact. As a note, I enjoy seeing Chaozu lose his hat to the vacuum of space and start freaking out about how his single hair is on show to the world

• Of course, Goku being upset about getting to go first and mentioning he wanted to have an opportunity to watch the fights (in 超 #8) comes full circle here, as he throws the match so he can watch Monaka. Really, Beerus's intention here was always a double-edged sword (as looked at one way, Goku and Vegeta had the security of 'knowing' that someone even stronger than them is still available), and he'd've no doubt thought better of if he'd paid attention to what Goku in particular is like. No wonder Whis was making fun of him for it.

• The Monaka-Hit exchange is obviously modelled on the resolution to the 'fight' between Mr. Satan and Android #18 in DB #454, and I love the mirrored reactions by Beerus and Champa to the outcome. It's funny that even #18 is totally bemused by the outcome, though, since she should have an insider perspective. Of course, Hit decided to do that off his own back, repaying Goku for his own throwing of the match. In 超 #35, Hit reveals that he's felt some kind of debt to Goku for the Tournament in any case (perhaps the motivation to get stronger and become invested in that kind of stuff again? Hit's reaction to the Tournament up to Vegeta revealing SSjB was one of abject boredom in any case, and he needed to be bribed to show up), which he only considers himself to have fully paid off when he saves Goku from elimination at the hands of Jiren.

• Ah, the introduction of the childish, omnipotent Zeno-Sama, the Lord of Everything. With that, the Divine Hierarchy of the Dragon World cosmos is basically complete, though we see the Grand Priest only in 超 #17-18, and the Gods of all the other Universes by 超 #28 (though we already know by this point that they must exist). The reason why everyone is terrified of Him is explained in this Chapter, and expanded on in the next - He can erase anything He wants at any time. But despite the fandom's prevalent 'nobody likes Zeno-Sama, He's a selfish child they have to appease and that's what's wrong with the cosmos' take, I'd rather say that their terror appears to be counter-productive, as they seem too intent on appeasing Him and this appears to aggravate Him - the natural, comfortable approach that Goku and the Grand Priest each take (though Goku's impositions cause great anxiety to others) seem to meet with better responses from Zeno-Sama, which seems to imply that this is how He'd rather be treated - like He says in 超 #18, He wants a friend, so those who act friendly get on well with Him (just look at Goku hoisting a Zeno on his bicep in 超 #28). Those who seem overly formal, or conscious and assertive of the need for formality, in His presence are the ones who seem to annoy Him and get the threat of erasure most often (as with his guards in 超 #18).

• I like the quiet, eternally aggravated guards Zeno brings with Him. The "Bye-Cha!" is presumably a reference to Dr. Slump's main character, the robot girl Arale Norimaki, who uses "N'Cha!" and "Bye-Cha!" often in her speech (along with various other 'Arale-isms', though technically those are cribbed from her creator, Senbei). Perhaps the guards are also artificial creations? I'd enjoy seeing an N'Cha Cannon again.

• Of course, the Inter-Universe Tournament proposed and promised by Zeno is going to be a full-fledged arc of its own, in the Tournament of Power, but first, Goku has to get Zeno a playmate in the next arc.

• The panel of everyone meeting and greeting is nice, allowing them to establish a sort of rapport. Cabbe, for instance, will regard Vegeta as a sort of mentor figure (though not so formally as in the anime, where he addresses him as 'master'), giving him a respectful bow in 超 #33 and seeking his advice, futilely, in 超 #38. Vegeta doesn't seem any more comfortable with it here than he will there. Of course, this is presumably the time where the interstitial of Goku accidentally molesting the Galactic King fits best - he'll do it again in 超 #43, and the King will reference this.

• Our first sight of Super-Shenron. As a designer, Zalama seems like he must've been a bit of a 90's edgelord The wish is a relatively small one in this instance, but in 超 #42 the Grand Priest will confirm that nothing is beyond Super-Shenron's power, even restoring erased beings and Universes.

• In all honesty, I wasn't sure what I might get out of re-reading this arc; I've tended to mentally pigeon-hole it with stuff like the 21st Budokai, thinking of it as an amusing but basically inconsequential diversion. In the past, I've skipped or skimmed it in favour of one of the big, brash arcs that come after it - so, this has been a really beneficial re-read from my standpoint, as I actually now think it's a bit of a gem. Toriyama said he wanted to go for a much more simple and cheerful story this time around, and Toyotarou's approach has gelled well with it - he believes he should use at least one gag per chapter, too. And so we get plenty of that, but they're well-judged and skilfully deployed in the context of a story that isn't unreasoningly and purposelessly wedded to it's lighter tone, but expands the Dragon World in fascinating and practical ways - facets of Universe 6 with memorable characters; the Super Dragon Balls; the divine hierarchy - and which also sees plenty of good, well-conveyed action, which is clearly and effectively structured: following the introduction of the challenge, it proceeds according to a pattern of comic de-escalation/serious escalation/comic de-escalation/escalation/repeated escalation. This also gives us the opportunity to show our heroes facing down different and unusual challenges in ways that always seem to ring true to their characters, and which ticks along at pace and always gives us something completely new, or else a fresh take on a lot of the things we thought we knew. Fundamentally, I think I most like that the arc has the confidence to be playful with a relatively familiar format (formally close to the Uranai Baba storyline, and similar in some important ways, but mixed about a lot otherwise, as it should be), and it exudes the confidence of its own playfulness, which I find infectious. Unlike the next arc, which I remember as somewhat of a po-faced and occasionally fraught attempt at backstory-mining and canon-welding to make a super-serious story with consequences, this is just Dragon Ball at play. I've really enjoyed it.

So ends the Universe 6 Tournament arc; but there's way more stuff left in this re-read, so let's keep on rolling with the Future Trunks arc in the next post...

[Magnificent Ponta]

Again, apologies for the double-post, as the Re-Read moves on into the Future Trunks arc...

Chapter 14 - An SOS From the Future/SOS From the Future
21 July 2016

Spoiler:

A man runs through a ruined Cityscape; he looks familiar...A newspaper flutters by, declaring the deaths of the Androids...this is Trunks's future world! Trunks seems to be pursued by someone - then, a massive explosion, and a rain of ki blasts! Trunks counters with a blast of his own, punching a hole through a fuel refinery - the fuel leaks out; then a blast, then ignition - a huge, city-destroying explosion! From a distance, Trunks contemplates the ruins of another city...he'll have to take a detour. In the evening, Trunks visits a friend - it's Mai, Pilaf's old associate, and a young woman in Trunks's time. But what happened to Bulma?? A tearful Trunks reveals that she's dead. Mai consoles him, and gives him a can of meat (for Humans!) to eat. Trunks accepts it gratefully, and reveals that they have at last generated the energy for the Time Machine to take a One-Way trip... to 17 years in the past, where everyone is still alive!

Back in that time, we're at Capsule Corp, and even Tights and Jaco are present. Whis and Beerus pick at the buffet, Trunks and the infant Pilaf crew are at lessons, and Goku and Vegeta are sparring. Jaco grills Bulma about trying to make a Time Machine - trying to control time is a serious crime! Bulma tells him to simmer down; she isn't building a Time Machine yet - there's no need. Meanwhile, Trunks's class slips into the concept of Parallel Worlds and how Time Travel can change the past by creating paradoxes - whoops! They're using the wrong textbook... Anyway, this sets Bulma to thinking about the issue - Beerus says that there's nothing to worry about...or is there?? Back in the Future, after dark, Trunks explains that they have to go back to 17 years ago because it's set to that world; the world at peace he helped make - even giving peace to his own in the process...until "he" showed up...

Back in the present, the gang chew over the tournament they just had, and Goku mentions the Lord of Everything didn't seem that scary - Beerus and Whis educate him. Zeno-Sama is terrifying, more powerful than any other being - he doesn't even need to fight; he can erase anything, and everything, in an instant! He destroyed Universes 13 through 18, once; if you annoy him, that's the end of everything... Back in the Future, Trunks and Mai pick their way through the sewers, and emerge at the Capsule Corporation HQ. Trunks has to force entry... they've been noticed by a shadowy figure! A running battle starts, and Trunks tries to hold the figure off to let Mai escape, but can't do anything. Mai joins in with her shotgun because she believes Trunks is the one who needs to escape - but a ki blast throws her from the balcony, and a shocked Trunks picks up her apparently lifeless body from under the rubble. He turns to face their assailant... Son Goku!?

Chapter Notes

• It's difficult to know where our original setting is, exactly. The city is basically destroyed in the encounter, so one hesitates to say that this is West City, with its intact Capsule Corp HQ. That said, Black says Trunks has "returned", so perhaps simply a different district of West City gets destroyed here. A soldier's helmet bears the initials 'KC', which presumably stands for 'King's Castle' (located in Central City, according to Daizenshuu #4), but I guess this only indicates that the owner was a member of the World Army. The soldiers destroyed by Cell in DB #392 bear the same initials on their helmets, and the actual retinue at the King's Castle also wore 'KC' on their hats and uniforms in DB #149. It is also on the castle itself in that chapter (though partially obscured by a fountain), along with the symbol of a lion, which also appears on various Army uniforms. According to DB #153, the King's Castle is quite near West City, however, so we could be close by both of them in this scene. On the subject of the King's Castle, it seems according to that old newspaper that it still exists - either it was spared the rampage of the Androids, or else was rebuilt after their defeat.

• It's noteworthy that the dates that could pin the time down are deliberately obscured on the newspaper - in 超 #15, Trunks will say it has been "more than 10 years" since he last was in the present-day Universe; 超 #4 would indicate Battle of Gods is at least 4-and-a-bit years after the emergence of Buu, which in turn was 7 years after the Cell Games; we must be at least a year (or more) after that due to the Revival of F timeskips, so we'd be talking something like 12-13 years after the Cell Games took place. This would probably line up with the statements made in 超 #16 that the fight with Babidi and Dabura was a few years prior to current events, and it took "over 10 years" to gather the energy for Buu. Even so, by 超 #31, the battle with Cell is still vaguely "more than 10 years ago", even though at least a year must have passed since the Universe 6 Tournament for the Super Dragon Balls to be active again. I'm sure I'll come back to this question repeatedly...

• Trunks is back, with a ragged bandana (an interesting visual connection to the one Bulma's been wearing), a new jacket that goes to the waist (though it's pretty much the same colour as his old one), and a big, fat sword - I don't really get why the colour covers and the manga coloured release both colour his hair blue like the anime, given that he's unsurprisingly stated to have the same hair colour as the (also formerly very purple-haired) kid Trunks in 超 #15. But whatever.

• In Mai's apartment - Capsule Corp are still keeping their priorities straight and doing their apparently lucrative line in fridges during the Apocalypse, I see. Trunks was, of course, able to brandish a well-stocked capsule mini-fridge in DB #333 (including Hetap!). Mai also has a sofa, a rug, a table with some kind of suitcase transceiver hooked up to a makeshift power supply, a walkie-talkie, a couple of water barrels, a cooler chest and a duffel bag, and some shelves storing some bottles and cooking utensils. That is, if this is really Mai's apartment. I guess she owns the shotgun, too.

• Just as we're learning that Bulma is researching Time Travel even without the impetus of murder machines ending the world, the Chapter helpfully gives a rundown on Parallel Worlds, for those unfamiliar with the concept (and therefore the vanishingly small fraction of the fanbase that somehow hasn't engaged with Trunks and his story in any way so far). The explanation is workmanlike, but is leavened by a fabulous little Dr. Slump reference - the clock with legs is Mr. Time, one of Dr. Senbei Norimaki's inventions from Volume 1. The device (which comes with a full diagram in the original issue! See below...) is a 'Time Slipper' (as opposed to Hit, the Time Skipper), which is why he's on a flat surface: he needs to literally slip on the surface, and anyone else on the surface will 'slip' through time with him. Mr. Time can go to the future or the past - Arale and Senbei go back to the time of the dinosaurs at the end of Volume 1, and come back with an egg - this hatches into Gatchan (who later duplicates himself); and in the fullness of time, the Gatchans are revealed to be (mercifully, forgetful) agents of judgement and destruction on Humanity, sent by a deity who bears more than a passing resemblance to Kame-Sen'nin. Explaining gag manga continuity is hard, but apparently replete with parallels...
  
  A diagram, for you:
  

• Of course, this particular linkage between parallel worlds is maintained by the settings on Trunks's Time Machine, which have to stay at 17 years in the past. This stands behind the later revelation that time passes at a 1:1 rate, which has occasioned comment and should probably be looked at a little more closely in the relevant issue. For now, though, I'll say it's kind of unfortunate that Toyotarou has chosen to pay such close attention to the Trunks Special issue, which says he will go back 17 years - Trunks is, of course, 17 years old in DB #333, and in #335 will say he still has 2 and a half years to be born, so he's actually come more like 20 years in the Time Machine. Cell going back 25 years from Age 788 in his timeline to 'ours' will tangle this question up still further. Anyway, enough of this here - suffice to say that the initial error is Toriyama's, but by fixating on the detail so specifically, Toyotarou puts DB Chronographers in a bit of a bind here. And the detail that the Time Machine was created 17 years ago, which Trunks supplies as a rationale for that setting (as opposed to it being the original setting of the Time Machine), is deeply puzzling. Although, if it has been 17 years since the Time Machine was invented, and Trunks returned to the past the first time around during that same year, and time runs 1:1 in both realities, then 17 years will also have passed since then in the main story as well - so, we'd be around Age 781 in the main story now. Okay, stop, no more.

• We get a piece of Epic Foreshadowing from Whis and Beerus, in explaining that Zeno doesn't need to fight because he can erase anyone and everyone, anything and everything, even "the whole world" if sufficiently annoyed (presumably this would be something more like 'reality' or 'existence' in idiomatic English), which is going to be realised when Zeno erases Future Trunks's reality at the ends of all this in 超 #26. We get the tidbit here that there used to be 18 Universes (implicitly, before Zeno got annoyed, for some reason).

• Between this issue and 超 #16, Beerus, Whis, Goku and Vegeta appear to be almost constantly relay-eating. In this issue alone, they polish off some steamed meat buns, bowls of ramen, and plates of dumplings; in 超 #15, Beerus and Whis have some tall drinks, and Whis appears to be picking at some sort of dessert (and Trunks gets a Senzu, so he's good for 10 days), and in 超 #16, Beerus and Whis enjoy a hot beverage before they're all back in the Capsule Corp restaurant, with various dishes including a soup. Makes you wonder about their caloric intake. Maybe doing a rundown of the list of foods Whis and Beerus are seen to chow down on in the manga is a mini-project for a willing soul at some future date...

• In the midst of the fight with Black, Toyotarou briefly forgets that Trunks's sword isn't with him, and draws it back in its sheath in the panel where Black's ki blast is fired at Mai. Continuity is re-established immediately afterwards. He'll be shown grabbing it back from somewhere or other in the next issue.

• Favourite art: Of course, the reveal of Goku's face in the fire is pretty iconic by this point in time. That said, I kind of feel obliged to nominate it, coming as it does in the context of a generally well-drawn but unspectacular issue. I also quite like the panel of Trunks brandishing his sword to try and buy Mai some time.

Chapter 15 - Hope Again!!/Hope!! Once Again
20 August 2016

Spoiler:

An enraged Trunks transforms and attacks 'Goku', but gets quickly overpowered despite a furious assault - 'Goku' doesn't even need to transform. He prepares to kill Trunks with his own sword, but Trunks refuses to give up, and manages to use a ki blast to propel himself out of reach, retrieve his sword, and scramble from sight. 'Goku' can sense where he's gone, but Trunks emerges in the Time Machine! But it's caught on its own power cable - just as 'Goku' prepares to end it, the cable detaches, and Trunks vanishes into the past, leaving a baffled 'Goku' behind...

Back in the present, Beerus and Whis laze around while Goku and Vegeta train. Beerus comments it'll take them ages to become Gods of Destruction like that, and Goku says he doesn't want to do anything so horrible. As everyone prepares to break for lunch... the Time Machine appears! Kid Trunks sees a man who looks like him in there - he's hurt. Bulma asks Goku to get a Senzu Bean, which Goku does - Vegeta feeds the Bean to Trunks, who revives, locks eyes with Goku, and attacks! Everyone's shocked at this; Trunks in turn is shocked when he realises it's actually Goku (he thought he was dead). Goku assumes Buu is the problem, but Trunks reveals he stopped Buu awakening in his time... Beerus twigs that Trunks is a time-traveller - the same as the boy in the present - and Bulma brags about her invention (before being threatened with destruction for her 'crime'). It turns out that the villain this time looks like Goku, but is cruelly annihilating Humans "in the name of justice" - future Bulma dubbed him "Goku Black".

Goku and Vegeta are all for going back to fight this guy - but Trunks says he's unbelievably strong. Goku asks Trunks to spar with him, to see where they stand. Trunks transforms into SSj2, which surprises and impresses Goku, and they both fight as SSj2s - Whis says they're about even, or maybe Trunks is better... Goku says Trunks is much stronger than even Gohan from the Cell Games, but he'll show him something new. Goku goes SSj3. Trunks is surprised... but this isn't his limit - he powers up, and even though he hasn't transformed, he's become as strong as SSj3 Goku! Trunks attacks... but gets decked. Goku 'cheated' and used SSjG for an instant. But he's really impressed - and Trunks was nothing to 'Black'. Goku asks Beerus for help, but while Beerus refuses, he wonders why he's not doing anything about the problem in the parallel Universe. Whis asks Trunks what Kaioshin has been doing since they stopped Buu from awakening - Trunks reveals that Kaioshin died in that battle. Beerus freaks out, and Whis reveals that the lives of a Kaioshin and a God of Destruction are linked - since Kaioshin died...Beerus is dead too!

Chapter Notes

• Trunks will demonstrate the Masenko here for the first time in the manga - pretty sure he could do it in at least some games already (and I think DBZ Movie 8 might have been the first use shown overall?), as a 'logical inference' from his relationship with Gohan - the inference is indeed logical, and now official. Other moves learned from Gohan will include the Taiyoken as of 超 #20; though the line of tutelage is much less clear in that example, it makes perfect sense in a backstory where the underpowered Earth warriors would likely have been forced to flee from the Androids on many occasions, and it isn't always clear how else they might have reliably done this (take, for example, the rather handwavy "You're lucky, like me" explanation for Trunks escaping the Androids in the Special Issue).

• Black in his base form clearly overpowers SSj2 Trunks here - Trunks may not be at the same SSj3-equalling full power we will see later in this issue, but the heavy implication of his exchange with Goku later in the Chapter is that he's been handily beaten even when using that power, and this fight certainly shows a very considerable power disparity. Trunks will comment in 超 #19 that he hasn't seen Black turn SSj in a while (despite the fact that Black says he had been fighting Trunks "over and over"), but Black will also reveal in 超 #20 that early on, he couldn't transform at all, and has only become as strong as he has by fighting and healing repeatedly. It seems his Base power may be disproportionately strong relative to his SSj transformation (which doesn't seem stronger than Vegeta in a broadly equivalent form from a 'past era'), thanks to this process...

• It's interesting that Black uses Shunkan Idou here - I think this is the only time we actually see him using one of Goku's moves in a fight (though he will use Shunkan Idou again to track the heroes, in 超 #20, and I suppose you could interpret his ki blast at the Time Machine in this Chapter as a Kamehameha); otherwise, he sticks to his own repertoire - the ki 'punch-blade', a barrier, and various generic ki blasts. Come to think of it, as an apprentice/attendant to the Kaioshin of Universe 10, he ought to know Kai Kai teleportation rather than Shunkan Idou, but I guess the story is still playing with the uncomfortable feeling of 'evil Goku', since the connection with Zamas had only recently been established in the anime by the time the chapter was published, and the full details won't be fully unveiled until October even in that medium (November-December in this one, with 超 #19-20)...

• Despite the reference in the Chapter title, I don't think we ever see the iconic writing on the Time Machine shown in DB #358 - whether in this chapter of Super, or any other (in fairness, it's hardly shown in Dragon Ball either). Otherwise, it looks identical. We've seen it hooked up to outside machinery for power before, in the Trunks 'Lone Warrior' special issue, but then it was connected to the very bottom of the Machine, rather than to the general underside. This issue will establish that it has it's own special fuel source, as well - "Blue Electric Liquid No. 15". It seems that Black's rampage has been more damaging than that of the Androids, as at that time, a full charge (round-trip) took 8 months, whereas now it seems like a half-fuelling (a one-way trip) took almost 6 months. By contrast, in the 'present', it only takes a day to fully charge the Machine.

• The exchange in this chapter explicitly sparks off the motif of 'Beerus, the Incompetent God of Destruction'. Of course, he's never demonstrated to be very capable, he's obviously capricious in his actions, and he always sleeps too much, but I think this is the first time it's specified that he "rarely does any work these days". Of course, the things Beerus says he likes about the job are the things that show him to be useless, and Whis will give him a ribbing again later in this Chapter, as he wonders why parallel Beerus isn't stepping in (though he himself will confine his intervention to destroying Zamas to protect his own existence in 超 #19, and will refuse to do anything else...). Of course, the cosmic importance of "the work of the God of Destruction" is real enough, and sharpened by the introduction of the Mortal Level of each Universe in 超 #30, by which metric Universe 7 comes off very badly - as the Kaioshin of Universe 12 states, this is contingent on the Gods "taking our jobs seriously", and Shin will blame Beerus for being asleep most of the time. Beerus's incompetence will be sharpened by his failure to intervene against Moro in 超 #46, where he celebrates that "I barely have to lift a finger here in Universe 7, since every so often some planet-buster will come along and do my job for me." He's eventually tricked into showing up at the edge of defeat on Earth, in 超 #63, but is so remiss he allows Merus to erase himself - perhaps, it is indicated, this will have consequences for him.

• The Pilaf Gang have adjusted to a much more comfortable, compliant, and integrated existence with the main group by this point - they came with them to the Universe 6 Tournament in the Cube spaceship, they're attending school with kid Trunks, and Shu refers to Trunks as "Young Master" (as will Pilaf himself in 超 #21), and they'll be generally helpful and pleasant, and Pilaf will have a part to play in the denouement of the arc. Their own World-Dominating agenda, as introduced in DB #18-20, appears to have vanished, for now.

• The one-cat game of twister at Karin Tower is enjoyably absurd.

• An interesting detail about Black that I didn't notice before - apparently, he spent quite a bit of time annihilating the mortal (and Godly) life elsewhere in Trunks's reality. Since 超 #16 will establish that he showed up "a few years ago", in the immediate aftermath of Kaioshin's death in the fight with Babidi and Dabura, but Trunks says "I spent a year fighting him", I guess Black just enjoyed himself by annihilating other mortals in this Universe during the intervening couple of years (and the Kaioshin of other Universes, as stated in 超 #16 and #19). Since, according to Shin in 超 #30, there would only be 28 worlds with mortals, I suppose the Humans could even be the last surviving mortals in Trunks's Universe 7 by this point - though it could go either way, since Zamas will advocate moving to another planet to escape Zeno etc., in 超 #21, which would perhaps make less sense if they were the only people left in that version of Universe 7.

• Bulma coins "Goku Black" to distinguish him from Goku. Toriyama conceives as him as a False Goku, akin to a False Kamen Rider - the name invokes "Kamen Rider Black", a character I looked up briefly, scratched my head at in bafflement, and retreated from further engagement with. I guess I'll just leave the comment at that.

• All the expressions and tiptoeing around Bulma are pretty funny, particularly when Goku moves her arm to talk to Trunks, and Vegeta tries to put an 'asking for something nicely' face on; he's learned a couple of tricks since DB #514, I guess...

• I love Dr. Briefs walking his stupid little Triceratops on a leash. DB #69 stated that he has a soft spot for stray cats, dogs, and dinosaurs, which he lets run free in the Capsule Corp compound.

• Favourite art: The fight between Trunks and Goku consumes the lion's share of the Chapter's artistic energy, but it's surely worth it. I enjoy the reference to DB #336 with Goku using his finger to fend off Trunks's sword thrusts, though he has to work harder at it this time. Trunks's SSj2 max power is not only as strong as Goku's SSj3, but it looks gorgeous, as does everything after it up to the end of the fight.

• I guess there's maybe also a small prefiguring of the solution Vegeta cooks up to fight Black with in 超 #22, here, since Goku uses SSjG for an instant to deck Trunks, just like Vegeta will use SSjB for instants in their fight.

• I've always been a little curious about the precise connection between the Kaioshin and the God of Destruction, given the fact that Buu killed 2 and absorbed 2 out of 5 who were living in Universe 7, including Dai Kaioshin (who, as we will learn as of 超 #42, is technically still alive, and can be awoken fully, as in 超 #47-50). This establishes that Beerus is linked with Shin specifically, who is the only active Kaioshin these days (I guess there must've been a pretty hairy moment for Beerus from DB #501-514, when the Elder Kaioshin - fused with a presumably mortal witch in any case - was dead and Shin was fused with Kibito); so, does the connection hop from Kaioshin to Kaioshin, until none are left? I would guess that Shin is technically occupying the role of 'Dai Kaioshin' in lieu of anyone else being available for it, but 超 #16 and #19 will establish that Black killed the Kaioshin of the other Universes in Trunks's timeline, to kill off the Gods of Destruction as well, so either he's made a very thorough job of it, or else there's only one Kaioshin in most Universes (as seems the case with Gowas in Universe 10, for instance). Toriyama has said the Kaioshin work in shifts (an arrangement which may apply to all Universes, thus showing why there only seems to be one in each - though I accept that's speculative; they may just be their respective Dai Kaioshin), and an inactive Kaioshin would grow like a plant to take over from a deceased Kaioshin, but he has also said that a Kaioshin is born rarely, from a golden fruit of the World-Tree. I guess the latter conception would fit better with the office falling vacant upon death of a Kaioshin, and hence a God of Destruction dying with them. That said, DB #500 seems to indicate that dying doesn't always mean that much for a Kaioshin...

Chapter 16 - “Future” Trunks’ Past/Future Trunks's Past
21 September 2016

Spoiler:

Trunks recounts his attempt to stop Buu's awakening, a few years previously - he trained with the Z-Sword under Kaioshin. Just as they were about to test the strength of the sword using Kattin, Dabura and Babidi made their move! But the fight went badly, and Trunks was overpowered by Dabura, despite getting past Pui-Pui and Yakon. Dabura turned the Z-Sword to stone. Kibito was killed in the fighting trying to protect Kaioshin, who was blasted and strangled. Enraged at the peace being threatened, Trunks awakened to SSj2, and pummelled Dabura - and Kaioshin held him in place, allowing Trunks to kill both Dabura and Babidi, and save the peace of the Universe! But the effort was too much for Kaioshin, who died as a result...and Black, delighted to see that Beerus would not oppose his plans, appeared shortly after, and began to slaughter everyone...

Whis and Beerus divine that 'Black' must be a God to be able to take advantage of the (little-known) link between Shin and Beerus; and perhaps he can travel between parallel timelines as well. Trunks is introduced to Beerus and Whis, and he meets his younger self and kid Mai, who is smitten by the handsome young man... Back in the future, Black can tell Trunks is gone. It seems like no-one can challenge him... but better to wait and see. Meanwhile, a stray cat approaches Mai's body, and licks at her face... Back in the present timeline, at dinner, the heroes consider that if Black is killing the Gods in the parallel timeline, he may exist and plan to do the same in this timeline. They elect to speak to Shin, to see whether he knows of a God who may become evil... Meanwhile, in Universe 10, Kibito faces off against an intense young God named Zamas, previously a Kaio, but now the understudy and eventual successor of Gowas, the Kaioshin of that Universe. His fighting talent is prodigious, and he defeats Kibito after a brief but intense exchange. But there's something about him that unsettles Gowas...

Zamas holds Shin and Kibito in high regard for defeating Majin Buu, but is shocked to learn that this was really the work of mortals, and that mortals have surpassed the Gods - but at least nobody is stronger than the Gods of Destruction; maybe they should've had him defeat Buu. But Zamas is sure Shin did the right thing - after all, "All the unnecessary beings must be terminated". In the awkwardness, Shin and Kibito depart. Gowas resolves to refine Zamas's heart, and shows him a savage species from planet Babari. Zamas is repelled, and advises destroying them; Gowas rebukes him - it's not the Kaioshin's job to destroy; they should observe. The species may change in the next thousand years. Zamas scoffs at this; they've seen creatures like this before. Gowas says, if Zamas is so sure, then maybe they should take a look... he reveals the Rings of Time, and says they will travel 1000 years hence, and see who is right about the Babari...

Chapter Notes

• Obviously, Trunks's flashback is occasion for a blizzard of references to the original series:
  • Trunks is on the planet of the Kaioshin, wearing the same clothes as Gohan in DB #471 and wielding the Z-Sword, introduced in the same Chapter. Trunks's swordplay is very similar to Gohan's from DB #478, which is a bit of an indictment on someone who's wielded a sword since forever (to be scrupulously fair, however, Gohan was given a sword by Piccolo in DB #209, which he would've used for at least 6 months).
  • Kaioshin's attempt to test the Z-Sword, fatefully interrupted though it is, is taken directly from DB #479. Viz have changed their mind and gone with the onomatopoeia of 'Kattin', rather than attempting an equivalent in 'Klangite'.
  • Dabura uses a bunch of moves and actions taken right from DB #455; his spitting at Trunks is a reference to spitting at Gohan; he slices at Trunks with the same sword as he does at Gohan (according to Daizenshuu #7, this is a 'Barbarian Sword', and its edge heightens speed by stressing air resistance), and Trunks catches the swing in precisely the same way (and since Dabura isn't holding it the next time we see him, presumably Trunks breaks it 'off-panel' as well); the blast at Kibito resembles the one breathed at Gohan, though this one appears to be fired from the hand; and his blast at Kaioshin is the same with which he hits Gohan (Kaioshin takes it rather less well, unsurprisingly).
  • Additionally, he kills Kibito in precisely the same manner as in DB #448; and he generates a spear to attack with, just like he does to attack Buu in DB #463.
  • Of course, the Z-Sword breaks here, but presumably, since it is turned to stone before it shatters, it cannot release the Elder Kaioshin (and the interstitial makes clear that he dies as a result).
  • Pui Pui and Yakon, who appear in DB #447 and 450, are also killed here, which is...unsurprising.
  • Babidi finishing off Kaioshin is something he mentions he might do while Kaioshin is prone before him in DB #463, though Gohan intervenes before he can act - this is presumably what he would have done.
  • Kaioshin holds Dabura in place, just like he does SSj2 Gohan in DB #443.
  • ...and finally (I think?), Trunks's finishing move comes directly from DB #331, when he uses it as a distraction on Freeza immediately before killing him.

• Babidi mentions it took "Over 10 years" to gather the energy needed - as this is set "a few years" before current events, if Babidi means that he gathered all the energy from Earthlings, this means he and Dabura would've arrived on Earth and started sucking energy from the populace at about the same time that the Androids were destroyed (Age 785).

• I find Trunks's wristwatch to be a highly distracting detail here (in fairness, I know he's always had one, though it doesn't just tell the time) - from the panel where he's sword-fighting with Dabura, this is happening at about 08.50. I'm sure it isn't consistently portrayed in other panels.

• I don't mean to start the Dabura-SSj2 debate off in this topic (or ever, really, as I'm not 17 years old anymore), but the ease he's having with SSj Trunks, and the extent to which the tables turn with the emergence of SSj2 Trunks, the issue seems to place Dabura firmly between the power brackets of SSj and SSj2 generally, just like Cell (as noted by Goku in DB #450). Assuming this Dabura isn't much less powerful than his main-storyline self (like the Androids), this would likewise indicate that Gohan was just SSj. You know, apart from all the visual evidence we have that he was, anyway.

• The Gods really need to have their next co-ordination meeting, as sharing information really doesn't seem to be a habit - most Gods don't know of the link between the two kinds of God, and Beerus doesn't know that the Kaioshin have tools that allow them to travel between parallel timelines, thinking it to be impossible. Similarly, Kaioshin didn't see fit to tell Trunks, appointed as an attendant, about the Gods of Destruction, or even about his own capabilities as an attendant. And of course, as we'll learn in 超 #23, Dai Kaioshin didn't tell Shin much of anything. Makes Gowas seem like an open book given how much he tells Zamas in later Chapters (as, I suppose, it's meant to)...

• Trunks's chat with himself is interesting, as I guess it points up the differences between what each of them find important. Coming from a terrible apocalyptic wasteland as he does, Future Trunks asks "You're always supporting your friends, right?" (Kid Trunks's affirmation is less than convincing). I really like the anime line that Trunks isn't ashamed of being weak, but fought to protect everyone, and survived with everyone's help; this is probably as close as the manga gets to that sentiment. It's slightly curious that Trunks finds it noteworthy that kid Trunks can go SSj, as kid Trunks should (if this is Age 781) be around 14 now, and the Trunks Special issue showed Future Trunks already able to use SSj at around 14. While kid Trunks obviously could go SSj much earlier, at 8 years old, this doesn't seem to be the intent of Future Trunks's statement.

• Meanwhile, kid Mai's scene, apart from referencing the fact that she's actually older than her child-body suggests, also perhaps subtly references her romantic inexperience by her reaction to Trunks holding her hand (originally displayed in DB #19, where Pilaf blowing a kiss at Bulma is thought to be some sort of degradation which sets them all a-titter, and Bulma's... broader palate... is considered perverted by the trio). Of course, this may also be something of a meta-gag, as I imagine that 14ish-year-old girls no doubt still form a core constituency within Future Trunks's fanbase. The way in which Mai's attentions progress in this arc, swooning over future Trunks now, but deciding she likes kid Trunks better in 超 #26 because future Trunks is too serious after all, dovetails very neatly with Toriyama's observation that Girls like Future Trunks, but Kids like Kid Trunks.

• I really enjoy the transition between the future and the present at the entrance to the Capsule Corp restaurant.

• It gives me a chuckle that Goku, the semi-feral jungle child (and not exactly well-versed in etiquette as an adult) is the only one obviously using a napkin (Dr. Briefs's wife might also have one on her lap); I guess he needs it. I love his joyous expression in the long-distance shot, too.

• Favourite art: Again, it's pretty unimaginative of me to go for a piece that's been picked over as 'the work of the master' or whatever, but I really do like the opening shot of Zamas - his focused intensity is really well-conveyed. But I do like the fight overall, actually - it has an interesting 'feel', given how much of the choreography has moves used at a distance rather than relying on direct contact. This will come up again in 超 #20, where Zamas fights Goku - as he says, "us deities have our own way of fighting."

• Gowas mentions that Zamas is too serious in a way, and Toriyama has characterised his 'tragic flaw' (if you like) as that he was "so fastidious that it backfired". This would seem to be a reference to his resolve to be interventive where he sees what he doesn't like, as we see with his observations of the planet Babari - "Why not clean them up before it's too late? (...) terminate them all, of course." the link between his fighting skill and his fixation on destruction of evil where he perceives it is certainly on display here - he sees a problem, and he considers that he must fight it. Likewise, he admires the divinities of Universe 7 for their strength (though a reference to Kibito, of all people, relativises the worth of that judgement), and regards them highly for defeating Buu (though even if it had been true, it would have been improper action for a Kaioshin, as Shin points out); and part of his bias against mortals assumes their weakness compared to Gods (thus seeing fighting ability/strength as the measure of worth). In his interventive approach to his 'problems', at least, he makes an interesting comparison with Merus, the trainee Angel from the Moro arc, as they are both skilled but relatively inexperienced divine beings who take an inappropriately interventive approach for their positions to justify. Of course, their respective actions are diametrically opposed, but it seems that this is due to their difference in approach - whereas Zamas only ever sees the world of mortals from the lofty perspective of a God, dislikes what he sees, and judges them summarily as unworthy of life (and seizes immortality as part of a plan to destroy them all), Merus takes a 'worm's-eye view' of mortal virtue from his time in the Galactic Patrol, nurturing his sense of justice and provoking the intervention in defence of mortals which spells his doom (as mentioned in both 超 #55 and particularly 超 #63). I personally think Zamas has a more basic and important flaw than 'fastidiousness' - namely, his superficiality and consequent falseness - which realise I need to make a more detailed argument in order for it to be upheld. However, I think that would be best treated next time, as 超 #17-20 are the chapters that really cover the 'meat' of Zamas's character arc.

• Overall, I think this is a competent, workmanlike introduction to the new arc. It's done a good job of filling in Trunks's backstory (though it's a little too fiddly in its execution for its own good, in my opinion - and I think this fiddly tendency will pop up on at least a few more occasions); of setting the (familiar) tone of a hopeless future (now with even more hopelessness!) requiring escape to the past; and of establishing the villain(s) of the piece and the threat that Goku Black presents, though not yet connecting them fully - but it hasn't hit its stride quite yet. I think the strong positive features of this arc - for myself, certainly, and probably for many other fans - are the twin appeal of a villain with a certain 'depth' of depiction in his motive, with a visible change of alignment to go with the motivations he espouses, along with the phenomenal action at the climax of the arc - and that's all still to come, at this point. Still, the caveats I've mentioned aside, this is a solid start to the arc.

Bonus Chapter #2
30 July 2016

Spoiler:

In Trunks's past, the Androids appeared, and the warriors of Earth were cornered without Goku. To try to save the situation, Gohan and Bulma flee to try to gather the Dragon Balls and wish for a miracle...but the Dragon Balls are in the same spot, and the sky goes dark! Shenron has been summoned...by Pilaf and co.! Pilaf wishes for them to be made way younger, despite the protestations of his underlings - Bulma and Gohan arrive...to find Baby Pilaf and co. The wish has made them too young! Shenron bids farewell, but blinks out of existence - Piccolo has died! In the midst of it all, Baby Trunks and Baby Mai exchange a look...

Chapter Notes

• The jokey tone of the Bonus Chapter seems uniquely ill-fitted to Future Trunks's time, where everyone's sad and/or dead, but as my final comment on 超 #15 indicates, Dragon World generally bumps very uncomfortably up against the grim seriousness and finality of death which is a basic truth of our own world. Trunks's timeline is a hugely popular attempt to convey this grimness of tone in a world whose very mechanics don't really accept it. Once you get an offering like this one, which peeks into the (well-established and very open) afterlife of Dragon World by showing us both 'dead Goku' and 'dead Piccolo', and the multitude of opportunities to resolve the problem that it could imply (e.g., Goku isn't strong enough to beat the Androids after 17 years of training in the afterlife? Really? And it occurred to no-one to bring him and any of the others back for a day, when this was established as far back as DB #105? No-one's in touch with Kaio-Sama to figure out any of this? etc., etc.), then the presuppositions of Trunks's world totally fall apart as just all about tone. I guess that's why this Bonus Chapter always feels out of place and unfortunately-pitched, to me - it's reminding me of something that's perfectly true, but I'd rather not think about.

• I think this is our only shot of the fateful battle with the Androids - the background obviously references the immediate scenery of DB #339, where Yamcha gets Yamcha'ed. Speaking of which, he's not among the Earth's warriors in this scene, so maybe he already has been, just leaving Vegeta, Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Kuririn (and, as we will see, Gohan) to fight #17 and #18. Vegeta isn't using SSj, so it is possible that, so far as Toyotarou is concerned, perhaps he never achieved it in this timeline, or else he's tired out enough to no longer be able to use it. Either would make sense.

• Not sure what wish Gohan was planning on making on the Dragon Balls, since DB #212 established that Shenron wouldn't be able to destroy the Androids via a wish - though there are other things that could be wished for, I suppose, like immortality for Piccolo, or moving the Androids to another planet, or whatever.

• Bulma is flying exactly the same type of aircraft that Yamcha is flying in DB #357 onwards, rather than her own aircraft from DB #346-347 (she uses that model in DB #430, however). Daizenshuu #7 gives a considerable about of information on this model, which is Capsule Plane 576: "A large freight plane which flies through a combination of anti-gravity devices and jet engine. Naturally it’s not equipped with any weapons. It can be quickly changed into a large passenger plane if seats are added to its wide cargo bay. It’s one useful vehicle. Its style is somewhat suggestive of a helicopter, but its round, standalone cockpit also gives an insect-like feel to it. This plane is actually based on a 100 yen lighter motif, as are the Red Ribbon small fighter plane and various others.". Bulma is, of course, sporting the same look as that from DB #337, the first time we see her after the 3-year time-skip in the main series.

• Pilaf and co. are depicted as old here - according to the Bouken Character profiles and Daizenshuu #7, Pilaf was born in Age 715, and the Android attack is on 12 May, Age 767 - this would make Pilaf 52 years old (as opposed to in his sixties in the period after Buu), so the wish still makes a certain kind of sense, particularly for the dog-man Shu, as per the gag in the Battle of Gods movie. There's a certain consistency in how Shenron grants the wish, though, which (given my earlier fussing over chronology, I should say) is sort of clever - the gang are all reduced to Trunks's age, both in Battle of Gods and here, where the wish is correspondingly earlier.

[TheSaiyanGod]

We get our first sight of SSjG since the Battle of Gods arc, and damn if it isn't pretty, right down to the sparkles in the aura (interesting that this is a consistent feature of SSjG in the manga - as people have said elsewhere, probably to help identify it in black-and-white). It'd be a contender for favourite art, but there are a bunch of other great candidates - the decisive double-page spread, with its dramatic tension drip-fed through the panels, is probably my real favourite, and SSjB Goku's finishing Kamehameha is a great example, too, similar though it is to the panel from the Revival of F promo. It's good to see SSjG again, though, despite Goten using the wrong name, and Hit throwing shade on the recolours

I like how Toyotaro is always using the various Saiyans transformations as gags in the manga, this really represents the Dragon Ball fandom since DBS started.
In Future Trunks arc, we have Black naming his new form as a way of mocking the choice of Goku / Vegeta's '' Super Saiyan Blue '' name.

In the ToP arc, we have the dynamics of Goku using his various transformations to please Zen'oh in his fight against Toppo (with a funny beat of how the differences between SSJ and SSJ2 were almost imperceptible), and when Freeza witnesses Kale's new form and says there were so many Saiyan transformations that he could barely keep up with at that point

I guess one unstated implication of the fact that Hit is caught out by Goku's power stopping his Time-Skip from working is that Hit has never met (or at least assassinated) anyone who was stronger than him, else he would've encountered this problem before. It seems vaguely reminiscent of Ginyu's problems with his Body Switch, in that sense. In power terms, I guess this puts Hit somewhere between SSj3 Goku and SSjG Goku (though his full power is obviously either about equal to, or stronger than, SSjG Goku, since he figures he can stop him); the fact that Vegeta sees the need to go Blue even though it's utilising less than 10% of its "usual power" might mean that even so depleted, one may infer that it could be stronger than his own, freakishly strong, SSj2 (and this statement stands behind the idea expressed in some quarters that at this point, SSjB is perhaps 5x the power of SSjG). Then again, one supposes that if Vegeta's used up a lot of power by this point, going for something more balanced like SSjG (which I assume he can do at this point, although he doesn't demonstrate it until 超 #22) might not give him any benefit anyway by this point in the Tournament, as he's been too profligate (as Goku implies later)

In-universe, Vegeta could probably already use the SSG against Hit. However, the idea that he had this transformation was only brought up in the Future Trunks arc, when (according to interviews), Toriyama said that SSG Vegeta was Toyotaro's idea and that he approved of it (something that apparently ended up making its way for Toriyama's outline when used in DBS Broly).

So I think we can only assume that even depleted, Vegeta preferred to use the SSB to end the fight quickly instead of using the SSG (despite being more balanced and spending less energy)

The transformation power fall-off is pretty radical. As I noted last time, despite the fact that Goku states transforming in and of itself takes a lot of energy, I don't think any of the previous SSj transformations have previously been established to use energy in transforming, though that would make sense looked at a certain way; in 超 #45, Vegeta will have lost too much energy to activate SSjB, and in 超 #50 in particular, we'll see Goku and Vegeta literally drop out of their God forms into lower-level transformations in the midst of using them when they've lost enough energy to Moro. It would make sense to say that they would need to reserve and spend a certain amount of energy for use in activating the transformations that they have, and that as the power afforded by a transformation becomes more radical, the 'access spend' increases as well (unless you take an approach that counters this, such as Goku and Gohan's acclimatisation to SSj as of DB #390). Eventually, of course, Goku's direction will move away from transformations as his path to true power, demonstrated in his use of Ultra Instinct in 超 #64 in particular.

I agree that this mechanic introduced by Toyotaro for the SSB was quite radical, and it really makes me want to see how his RoF arc would have played considering that one of the reasons why Freeza was defeated in the first place was because his new form used up absurd amounts of energy quickly. With the SSB being similar in this sense, how would the battle have played out?

But at the same time, I think it offered us a good training arc for Goku and Vegeta. Focusing on mastering Blue has made the transformation remain relevant and powerful, with the Saiyans looking for new ways to improve it instead of other transformations. We also had a good dynamic in how Goku and Vegeta handled this weakness, and in different ways.

]The Monaka-Hit exchange is obviously modelled on the resolution to the 'fight' between Mr. Satan and Android #18 in DB #454, and I love the mirrored reactions by Beerus and Champa to the outcome. It's funny that even #18 is totally bemused by the outcome, though, since she should have an insider perspective. Of course, Hit decided to do that off his own back, repaying Goku for his own throwing of the match. In 超 #35, Hit reveals that he's felt some kind of debt to Goku for the Tournament in any case (perhaps the motivation to get stronger and become invested in that kind of stuff again? Hit's reaction to the Tournament up to Vegeta revealing SSjB was one of abject boredom in any case, and he needed to be bribed to show up), which he only considers himself to have fully paid off when he saves Goku from elimination at the hands of Jiren.

I think from here, we see an interesting change between the versions of Hit in the manga and in the anime. Although Hit in the manga developed a new technique (one that does not depend exclusively on the user's fighting power, which seems to be a lesson he learned from Time Skip), his encounter with Goku made him radically change his perspective about fighting, and made him focus for the most part on what he now calls '' true strength ''. Here he is much more integrated into DB's regular fighting style than his anime counterpart, in which his fighting style is still heavily based on techniques (more specifically, techniques focused on murder)

Trunks will demonstrate the Masenko here for the first time in the manga - pretty sure he could do it in at least some games already (and I think DBZ Movie 8 might have been the first use shown overall?), as a 'logical inference' from his relationship with Gohan - the inference is indeed logical, and now official. Other moves learned from Gohan will include the Taiyoken as of 超 #20; though the line of tutelage is much less clear in that example, it makes perfect sense in a backstory where the underpowered Earth warriors would likely have been forced to flee from the Androids on many occasions, and it isn't always clear how else they might have reliably done this (take, for example, the rather handwavy "You're lucky, like me" explanation for Trunks escaping the Androids in the Special Issue).

It's really cool to see Trunks use techniques like Masenko and Taiyoken (which was really useful in this arc, and I would say that in most of the times it was used in the series), since they are techniques that make perfect sense to have been learned by him . The anime goes even further in the saga of '' Trunks showing movements of the original series for the first time '' by making him use his father's techniques (Galick Ho and Final Flash), in addition to Mafuba.

But on a personal note I would really like Trunks to develop some technique of his own considering he has trained hard for over 10 years.

[Cipher]

To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of Beerus's statement that "Goku's power is supposed to be greater than his!" Is this a typo for 'this', or is it a reference to the fact that Goku isn't using all his power yet? If the latter, it's an awkward phrasing. If we're meant to understand that Goku's ordinary SSj power is meant to be greater than Hit's, that's just straight-up baffling, so I take it to mean that Goku should be stronger than Hit when using his real power...

Sounds like a really awkward rendering of the line "悟空の方がパワーは勝っているだろう！," or "Goku's power should be greater than his!," which his immediatley followed up by, "He's just relying on that cheap-shot Time-Skip technique!". I.e., he's upset that Goku, who he expects to have the raw power advantage over Hit, is being given trouble by an unconventional technique. I don't think it's meant to be in reference to Super Saiyan specifically, but rather where the two stand as fighters. After all, whole reason Goku can't confidentally pull out his full strength from the start is that he's worried about doing so before he has a handle on Hit's techniques, which has to be pretty frustrating for Beerus, who tends to privilege power. (Of course, I'm sure he wouldn't be complaining if the unconventional technique were on his side--it's really all about frustration with the idea of losing to Champa, no matter how baseless or hypoctrical the grumbling.)

Of course, Goku being upset about getting to go first and mentioning he wanted to have an opportunity to watch the fights (in 超 #8) comes full circle here, as he throws the match so he can watch Monaka. Really, Beerus's intention here was always a double-edged sword (as looked at one way, Goku and Vegeta had the security of 'knowing' that someone even stronger than them is still available), and he'd've no doubt thought better of if he'd paid attention to what Goku in particular is like. No wonder Whis was making fun of him for it.

I love the panels of Goku casually walking backward out of the ring, then grinning confidentally, having no idea he's just handed his universe over to Champa due to the arc's comedy of errors. (It doesn't turn out that way, in the end, but the humor of the moment isn't diminished for it.)

In general, there's a lot of heart to the end of the Universe 6 arc to round out the comedy and action: Beerus shows a heretofore unseen softer side in using his wish for his brother--and it is a suitably grand wish for the Super Dragon Balls, restoring not only life to a planet across universal barriers, but life with its culture returned or advanced to a particular point. Hit learns to take interest in fighting and expanding his own limits, satisfied enough to leave without the cube-ship that acted as his bribe. The power-drop off that afflicts Vegeta winds up also winds up aiding the sentimentality of his role in the arc, as it's more meanignful that he knowingly sacrifices his chances of seeing out the final round simply to further inspire Cabba.

I'm not sure any of it is meaty, but it closes out the arc as a typical Toriyama-esque comedy, with its mix of absurdity and sincere resolutions, and I think the way Toyotarо̄ executes it--with some Toriyama assists--comes reasonably close to the tone one might imagine for the material under Toriyama's own pen. It's as much as one can ask, and why I'm generally pleased with the Super manga under Toyotarо̄ for the fluffy sequel it is. It isn't always perfect, but at its best--and even quite frequently, really--it captures for me a good chunk DB's intangible tone (while not completely obscuring the proclivities and style of its different author).

Re: The star pattern for Super Saiyan God's aura, which debuts here: I like it, and it does its job at providing a distinct aura in black and white (and being immediately identifiable enough that it allows for fun beats like Goku's cheeky kick against Trunks), though I'm nowhere near as partial to it as I am the globules for Blue's aura, which provide that form's definitive look for me.

It's interesting that Black uses Shunkan Idou here - I think this is the only time we actually see him using one of Goku's moves in a fight (though he will use Shunkan Idou again to track the heroes, in 超 #20, and I suppose you could interpret his ki blast at the Time Machine in this Chapter as a Kamehameha

I read through the initial comments here a few days ago, remembered you mentioning that Black never seems to use Goku's moves, and was ready to come back and comment that he uses a Kamehameha as Trunks escapes, as well Goku's teleportation technique while chasing down the heroes after turning Rosé, only to return and see that you'd already mentioned them!

[Magnificent Ponta]

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 17 - 20
Part 1 (Chapters 17 and 18)



Aaaand just like that, there was a Format Change - as the Chapters get longer, turns out there's more to say (go figure), so I'm switching things up a little in the instalments for the Super Re-Read - it'll still be 4 Chapters per fortnight, but these will be broken down into 2 sets of 2 Chapters each; the first part will be posted early in the second week, and the second part late in the second week - just to make the updates come a little more often, and be a little more digestible (or at least, not falling foul of the character limit and getting awkwardly broken up into 2 posts at the last minute...). Hope that's all good - on we go!

The Super Re-read is now covering the rest of Dragon Ball Super Volume 3, where we get to the middle of the Future Trunks arc - Black's true identity is revealed, Zamas's unmasking as a villain is completed, and the first encounter between heroes and villains takes place, across timelines!

As usual, thanks and credit goes to Kanzenshuu for a lot of the information in these threads, particularly the Japanese titles, the publication dates, and material from the interview archive to elucidate a lot of the talking points in the chapter notes.

Grab your manga, and let's get re-reading!

Chapter 17 - The Candidate for Next Kaiōshin of Universe 10, Zamasu/Zamas: The Next Lord of Lords from Universe 10
21 October 2016

Spoiler:

On Planet Babari, a native is ambushed and beaten for his fish, and the ambushers are, in turn, ambushed, crushed under a rock by another native, who gleefully claims his prize as Gowas and Zamas look on. Zamas is disgusted at their savagery, but Gowas says they may be different in a thousand years - they will use the rarely-used Ring of Time to go to the future and find out. Zamas asks if they cannot go to the past. Gowas replies that is forbidden, as changing history is very dangerous - the other four Rings of Time testify to instances where history has been rewritten, and parallel realities created. Once, Universe 12's mortals invented a device to send people back in time, which created the other Rings - but there's one more than when Gowas last looked..! But Zamas is ready to go to the future. Gowas hands him one of his potara earrings, since only a Kaioshin can use the Ring of Time - Zamas is temporarily being granted that power. Zamaus puts it on his left ear (not his right, as he knows that would cause them to merge), and then the pair use the Ring of Time to travel a thousand years hence...

In the future of Planet Babari, Gowas sees a nascent culture, writing, perhaps a musical instrument - Zamas sees mortal violence on an even greater scale than there was previously - he's convinced; there's no place for such mortals in this world... Gowas sees a hooded elder approach who pacifies even the brawling natives, but before he can show this new figure to Zamas, a native attacks from behind! Zamas repulses it easily, but Gowas's orders to depart fall on deaf ears, as the Babari renews its assault in a rage... and Zamas cleaves it in twain, supremely satisfied. A furious Gowas orders them back to the world of the Kaioshins, and he takes his potara back. Zamas is unrepentant - the mortals were worthless trash, spoiling their Planets; Gowas counters that there are no worthless beings, and the Planets belong to the mortals, not the Kaioshin - if doom comes to the Babari, it will be because they brought it upon themselves. Zamas asks, then, what is the purpose of the Kaioshin? Gowas replies that they watch, they maintain the peace of the Universe, they facilitate solutions where it is lacking. This doesn't satisfy Zamas - they should intervene, and crush evil. But, Gowas says, that is the work of the God of Destruction. Tolerance leads to peace - while Zamas is mighty, it isn't might that makes a Kaioshin. Zamas asks what the point of honing his power was - Gowas says he must see it as an effort to balance his heart. Zamas accepts this, but something has changed in him...

On Earth, the heroes are having a go-kart race! While kid Trunks leads, Vegeta harasses Goku, but veers off on a corner and crashes. Beerus seizes an opening to pass kid Trunks and speed ahead, but kid Trunks has a weapon up his sleeve - a Turtle Shell! He flings it at Beerus's kart, spinning it out, and allowing future Trunks to pass and win the race! It's a Trunks 1-2 finish! But it's a video game, of course. Beerus destroys his controller in fury, and storms off as the kids keep playing, and Trunks reflects on the peacefulness. Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks all resolve to defeat Black and return peace to the future. Vegeta says he'll train Trunks a little first... Meanwhile, Zamas is watching Godtube - watching the fight between Goku and Hit. Gowas enters unexpectedly, and watches it with him - they reflect on how powerful mortals like Son Goku have become, and Zamas learns of the Dragon Balls, which can grant any wish... The next day, as the heroes finish their preparations, Shin pays a visit at Beerus's behest - does he know of a God who hates mortals? Shin thinks...maybe...Kibito! He says some things about mortals that make Shin uncomfortable. Goku's sceptical, but before Whis and Beerus can follow up on this 'lead', Whis gets a message... from the Grand Priest! Zeno-Sama wants to see Goku right away!

Goku decides to blow it off, but Beerus insists he go. Shin offers to teleport Goku and Whis to the Kingdom Palace, where Zeno lives. Beerus tells Shin to keep an eye on Goku, and tells Goku to be on his best behaviour, and not to mention Black, as Zeno might destroy the whole Universe if he finds out. And lastly, he tells Shin not to die on him. With that, they go to the palace, where they are greeted by the Grand Priest...

Chapter Notes

• So, this is the Chapter that reveals the true nature of Zamas's character and his fixations, and particularly the sense of his "inner conflict". This particular chapter is, I think, the main driver behind the broader perception by the fandom that Zamas is a 'deep' character - really, it's all relative, since Toriyama even found Cell to be psychologically "a bit of a hassle" to depict ("With enemies it’s easier to just have them be straight-up bad guys so that they can just get beaten up" - that's the baseline we're working with, here). To be honest, I dispute the idea that Zamas is particularly deep in and of himself (quite the reverse, in fact - as I'll argue in a sec), but rather his depiction is scrutinised more explicitly than is the depiction of other villains. But that's all to the good in a franchise where that's a precious rarity in itself...

• Okay, so it's probably time to make the argument I've been hinting at (and already put up in scattered comments elsewhere), that I don't think Zamas is particularly deep, and (like I said last time) I don't think "fastidiousness/strictness" is his principal flaw. I think the real clue is in Toriyama's statement that he wanted to use the story to do a "False Son Goku" - Zamas's flaw is that he is superficial, and this is what leads him to be false; this is a unifying theme of his outlook and his actions throughout the arc:
  • In his initial appearance in 超 #16, it's clear he only really respects outward strength - he assumes Shin and Kibito are strong on the false conclusion that they must've beaten Majin Buu; after all, who else could've? "No mortal should be able to overpower us Gods." This chapter, too, shows he's gone 'all in' on honing his fighting ability, without giving any consideration to the idea that this doesn't make for a worthy Kaioshin.
  • When presented with the problem of the Babari, Zamas doesn't consider any options beyond the most drastic, obvious, and irreversible - "terminate them all, of course" - even under prompting from Gowas to think differently. Even in this chapter, he only sees what confirms his bias, and isn't willing to "get closer" and actually do the job of a Kaioshin - observe. Incidentally, I think this contrast is skilfully depicted - Gowas gets close to the ground, and sees culture, writing, and music flourishing in the Babari of the future; Zamas doesn't look at that, but literally turns elsewhere, to see, from his lofty perch, the Babari continuing their violence - which is the only thing he considers worthy of note. So, when it comes to the external form of violence, which he's able to exact on that lone Babari native, it's unsurprising that he evinces satisfaction. When he asks what achieving his power was for if he can't just use it like this, and Gowas tells him he should see it as "an effort to balance your heart", Zamas says he understands, but it is clear from his expression that he has made no effort to do so.
  • As a result, Zamas receives no insight as to how to be a Kaioshin, only rationalisations to behave in the way he wants to. The fact that Gowas has to argue that there are no worthless beings in creation shows the poverty of Zamas's outlook, since he only thinks in terms of Gods and Mortals - "necessary" and "unnecessary" beings. At no point in the arc does it occur to Zamas that mortals can become deities (as when Kami became God of Earth as he described in DB #164 , when he offers Godhood of Earth to Goku in DB #194, or indeed when Piccolo confirms Goku has become a true deity in 超 #4, since his ki cannot be sensed) - this is despite the fact that Zamas relies on Goku's godly power for his plan in the first place. It's an irreconcilable contradiction born of a lack of insight from Zamas (clearly, he only privileges Shin-jin, who are only some of the Gods in Dragon World, and frankly aren't all they're cracked up to be), and it's a mark of his superficiality that he never considers it. Shin may be weak, untutored and of little use in battles, but for all the scorn of the fandom, he understands that his job is to "guide [his] Universe to peace", rather than impose his will upon it - it'll be fitting, then, that in 超 #21 he acts when the other heroes are helpless, and in 超 #26 he's the first to usefully react when Zamas duplicates and attacks.
  • Moreover, as he reveals in this issue and 超 #20, he is immediately attracted by Goku's power even as he's repulsed by the fact that he possesses it - he assumes that taking Goku's body will give him Goku's power. As Vegeta points out in 超 #19. Goku put in the work to draw out the potential of his body, so the idea that Zamas can just take it and use it like it's his own is absurd, and again points up Zamas's shallow falsity - he's a false Goku, inhabiting his outward form with none of the truth of his power. Unsurprisingly, he couldn't transform at all when he first took the body (the interstitial between 超 #18 and 超 #19 will point this up as well, even though it's a gag - he takes Monaka's body because it looked like he was the strongest, but it's clear he's actually weak). Similarly, in 超 #22, he's fooled by the outward appearance of Vegeta in SSjG that he has no answer for the power that Vegeta is actually wielding, and he scorns Goku's completed SSjB as "outdated" in 超 #24, without seeing what a difference there truly is to Goku's power, which matches his own with fusion.
  • Similarly, in 超 #18 and 超 #23, it's pointed out that Zamas isn't truly a Kaioshin, either - he simply usurps the position to gain access to the outward forms, such as the Ring of Time and the Potara Earrings. He doesn't understand the significance of his position, which is really that of a false Kaioshin; killing Gowas and stealing his potara doesn't make him a Kaioshin, as the time-limit on his fusion will prove (it also makes him a false student, however, as he betrays his master and his teaching, never engaging with it in good faith - he's even a false fusion, looked at a certain way - as Gowas points out, it is the same soul). Likewise, he assumes that killing all the other Gods in Trunks's time leaves him as the only God able to act, which turns out to be demonstrably untrue, as Gowas, Shin, and eventually Zeno all intervene to stop him.
  • Finally, he's far too easily convinced (by himself, as it turns out) that his plan is flawless - even Goku can see, and point out in 超 #22, that even with immortality, Zamas would be 'walled off' from his goals on his own, and the gulf between his easy aspirations and the difficulty of the reality is pretty obvious; Zamas's only response to this revelation is to scold Black for misleading him, when he has made no effort at insight for himself.
  • So ultimately, that's my argument with regard to Zamas - it's not his strictness that is the problem; it's his superficiality and lack of insight; it makes him false to everything he claims to be, and everything he ends up being throughout the arc is false in turn - a false student, a false Goku, a false Kaioshin, a false ruler of reality. At the last, his pretensions are exposed when Zeno erases him effortlessly. But I think this flaw in his character is depicted in this Chapter well, with economy and to good effect. But enough about Zamas, for now...

• When revealed in this issue, there are 5 Rings of Time - one is presumably for the 'standard' timeline, three seem to be the timelines created by Universe 12's mortals, and one is for Trunks's timeline (created "recently"). Another will appear in 超 #20 as the result of Beerus's actions in 超 #19, killing Zamas in the 'past'. The Ring for Trunks's timeline will break when Zeno erases that reality in 超 #26, but that timeline, and its past, will (curiously) remain accessible for the Time Machine, by means of some mathematical flim-flam. Presumably, once Trunks re-establishes contact with his own timeline at an earlier point, the Ring of Time for that reality would return. Gowas mentions that they can't go to the past - this isn't just a 'norm', it's an actual limitation on their power, as Shin makes clear in 超 #26. So presumably, Shin, Gowas and Black can all use it to go to Trunks's timeline and back to their own time reference in their own timelines, because it is further in the future than all of them, but because Black is from slightly further in the future than Shin or Gowas, he cannot "chase" them back through time to the point from which they come (and presumably that timeline's Zamas cannot go back any further at all by this method, nor the fusion created in that timeframe).

• I'm curious how the Kaioshin of the parallel timelines view the relationship between their own timelines and the others - Gowas speaks as though it's clear that the 'main world' timeline is original and the others are 'emergent', but from what we know of the way the history of Universe 7's Earth is supposed to unfold, our 'main world' timeline is itself emergent from Cell's use of the Time Machine in travelling from Age 788 to Age 763, which Trunks also manages to move into, despite his time settings being different the first time he travels (by serendipity, I guess). Do all inhabitants of a timeline view theirs as the 'original' in some way? Presumably, at some point they all end up being the same timeline - Gowas mentions that time travel was "prohibited" following Universe 12's foray into it, and this is meant literally, as 超 #26 will reveal that the Kaioshin of Universe 12, Agu, confiscated the Time Machine from that Universe and holds it in safe keeping.

• Gowas grants Zamas the temporary status of Kaioshin to use the Ring of Time with him (and the colour of godly Potara indicating this status will help solve the mystery of Black's identity in the next issue), and this sort of liminality is important to Zamas having enough flexibility to do much of what he does in the arc - he's able to use the Ring of Time independently, like a true Kaioshin, but he's also able to use the abilities of the attendant to a Kaioshin (most notably healing), not having been appointed a Kaioshin upon Gowas's demise. But it also serves as a weakness - so, while he can use the Potara to merge (as he knows about that ability), it isn't permanent because neither Black nor Zamas is truly a Kaioshin (which takes him by surprise). So, while in some ways he gets the best of both worlds from his uncertain status, it's also something of an Achilles Heel.

• Favourite Art: I'm not usually one for statements like this, but if you don't love everything about the Mario Kart sequence in this issue, you're a soulless monster. Vegeta's reactions remind me of the Jump Multimedia World Pamphlet Strip
  where Vegeta beats Goku (...at video games - also reprinted in Daizenshuu #1, apparently), though he's appropriately less successful in the main story I also love the shell with the 'Kame' symbol on it. It's just too good.

• Kid Trunks's statement that "This is the combined power of two Trunks!" will resurface in Trunks's decision to return to his own time in 超 #26, despite the fact that another Trunks and Mai will be there already - "Having two of us will double the power."

• Zamas is watching 'Godtube', on which it turns out the fight between Goku and Hit has been "illegally uploaded" (as Beerus says in 超 #18). From how Gowas talks, it seems Zamas has searched directly for "Son Goku" (which is presumably what the godly-glyphs in the search bar say - they seem to be the same sort of characters as those from the obelisks at the Universe 6 Tournament, which would make sense) after hearing Shin talk about him in 超 #16. The Godtube stuff seems like a pretty jarring insert into the world of Dragon Ball without much apparent reason for being there... until you twig that it's a meta-gag for the Volume release, as Toyotarou depicts himself as some kid in the crowd at the Tournament at the front of Volume 2, and again draws himself uploading to Godtube at the front of Volume 3. It links the fact that in the real world, he's the original artist drawing the fight and publishing it to the world with the fictitious persona, who 'films' it to circulation within Dragon World. I'm not sure how it comes off to others, but I appreciate the attempt at a 'meta' plot point behind the main story going on.

• Whis and Beerus are hitting the sauce early - Whis is sipping wine, presumably (with pinky out - how refined), and Beerus gets a barrel of...beer, 'cause he's Beerus, geddit? Had to happen at some point, I guess. Figure they've never heard of the rule that the Sun should be 'over the yardarm' before you start hitting the drink. Though I do love the shot of him spitting it all over Shin when Goku refers to Zeno less formally than he should. Incidentally, Kanzenshuu points out that Goku calls Him Zeno-San rather than the English Volume release, which (in my copy, at least) has Goku call Him 'Zen-Chan'; he won't coin this until 超 #18, which will terrify Shin (and appal Beerus).

• It takes Whis 2 days to get to the Kingdom Palace - compare that with the Cube Spaceship from 超 #7, which could get from Earth to Beerus's planet in 35 minutes, and to the nameless planet in 'neutral space' in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Assuming Whis is about the same speed, the Kingdom Palace is more than 80 times further from Earth than Beerus's planet is, and more than 20 times further than the distance between Beerus's planet and the neutral space between Universes 6 and 7.

• I really enjoy the look of the Kingdom Palace, in the shape of the Kanji. I'm pretty sure the floating crystals with the starry orbs are meant to represent the Universes - I initially wasn't sure, but I think 超 #55 is the first issue that confirms this idea, as it shows 12 of them arranged in a circle around the palace. Also revealed in 超 #55 is the fact that the palace sits atop a huge cosmic jellyfish of some sort that floats above heavenly clouds, which, while consistent with its depiction in all previous issues (including this one, where you can see the same kind of sloping in the 'terrain'), is the first full view of the area, to the best of my recollection.

Chapter 18 - Goku Black’s True Identity/Goku Black's True Identity
21 November 2016

Spoiler:

After having a second go at greeting the Grand Priest, Goku and co. are led into the Kingdom Palace. Goku notices the Grand Priest's true strength, and Whis confirms that he is the mightiest of all beings; but Goku mustn't challenge him - even Whis would stand no chance against him. Goku asks if he can help with Black, but Whis reveals that, as Angels, they must all remain neutral, and can never fight - even to save lives. Besides, the request could lead to an erasure of the Universe; Goku agrees to keep quiet. The trio arrive in Zeno's presence, and Zeno says He wants Goku to be His friend, and to play with Him. Goku's casualness in responding to Zeno, including giving Him a nickname, causes consternation generally (and Shin faints in terror), as Goku blows Zeno off with the promise that he'll play with him later, and even bring someone Zeno will get on with even better! Zeno gives Goku a special button - press it, and Zeno will appear right away. Goku excuses himself, picks up Shin and leaves. Even the Grand Priest is intrigued by Goku...

Meanwhile, in Universe 10, Gowas notices Zamas has gone AWOL - it turns out that Zamas is actually pressing Lord Zuno for answers about the Super Dragon Balls. Zuno tries to cut him off, but Zamas threatens him, and gets the answers he seeks - but he'll have to wait about a year for them to re-activate... Back in Earth orbit, Beerus waits impatiently for Goku and co., who appear on cue. Turns out Goku was lying for conveniences' sake about bringing Zeno a better friend, which even shocks Whis, but they turn their attention back to the identity of Goku Black. Beerus resolves to make Kibito talk, while Goku explains the background of the whole thing to Shin. Bulma shows up, and so does...Kibito. After an awkward moment where Beerus prepares to flatten Kibito for literally nothing (he's restrained by Shin, who's realised his error in unwittingly putting Kibito's neck on the line), Kibito tells his news - Lord Zuno has been visited by Zamas of Universe 10, who has been asking about the Super Dragon Balls, about Goku...and about whether it is possible for them to switch bodies! It seems Zamas must be the true identity of Goku Black. A Kaioshin can even travel to other timelines with the Ring of Time -- but Zamas isn't a Kaioshin, yet... Whis asks Trunks whether Black was wearing potara of the colour specific to a Kaioshin, and Trunks remembers that he was wearing one! Zamas's plan is clear - he will kill Gowas, take his position and switch bodies with Goku, and travel to Trunks's reality with the Ring of Time, where he can act unopposed!

Beerus resolves to save himself and go destroy Zamas in this timeline, before he can act. He tells Goku to wait on Earth, and tells Shin he has a special job for him, and then leaves. Pilaf shows up and tells Bulma the Time Machine has been refuelled, so Goku, Trunks and Vegeta resolve to go beat Black now... Meanwhile, Gowas welcomes Beerus and Whis to his world, but when Whis asks, reveals he is worried Zamas has gone AWOL. Beerus says they'll wait for him to return... On Earth, the trio hop in the Time Machine, and go to the future. Black notices their appearance, and moves to intercept. The heroes notice him in turn, and hide the Time Machine -- but Trunks notices something, and needs a Senzu: it's Mai! She's still alive! She's too weak to eat the Senzu herself, so Trunks kiss-feeds her, to Goku's uncomprehending shock. Mai revives, and Trunks explains he made it to the past, and brought Goku and Vegeta back with him. Vegeta tells Trunks and Mai to stay and hide, and tells Trunks to protect Mai and the Time Machine, and to escape to the past if things go South. Vegeta and Goku take off to a spot where they can fight Black, who duly appears - he really is the same as Goku. Vegeta's decided - he's going to fight first!

Chapter Notes

• The Grand Priest comments that these are Goku's nicest clothes, which Goku confirms. Goku's had a number of outfits in Dragon Ball - none of them particularly formal, and almost all of them a gi of some sort. Very occasionally, he has worn more 'ordinary' casual clothes (as in DB #392-396), and other unsual outfits (like his Yardrat clothes, in DB #333-336 - which it's hard to say are formal or informal, given that 超 #52 depicts all Yardrats wearing the same clothes). Probably the most formal stuff Goku's ever worn in the manga is his cute little suit and hat combo from DB #32-33 (which Roshi dresses him in for the 21st Budokai - when left to his own devices for the 22nd Budokai in DB #113, he shows up in an animal skin). As an adult, he's shown in a gaudy tuxedo once for his wedding, on the cover of DB #171, but otherwise (small examples like the one mentioned earlier aside), he pretty much sticks to small variations on his Turtle Gi as his most formal wear. It's worth giving the Manga Costumes thread a look to see all his storyline (and bonus!) costumes.

• The floating pillars of the Kingdom palace are a nice, ethereal touch - they apparently vanish into the cosmic vastness of the palace, as various panels in this issue and future ones will show.

• Favourite art: Shin's varied expressions, starting at the initial wincing glare and moving up through the gears until it culminates in terror-induced unconsciousness, are pretty priceless. While we're at it, I also enjoy the atmosphere conveyed by the Kingdom Palace generally. Given what I've said elsewhere, I'm pleased to see Lord Zuno again (though he's a little too emotional for my liking). I also like the grim tone of Trunks's memory of Goku Black. The image of Black with his coffee cup is, of course, a legendary meme by this point.

• This is the first direct revelation that Whis is an Angel, and we also get the first exposition of Angelic neutrality. While Whis makes clear that the Grand Priest is "The mightiest of all beings in the Universe", Whis's statement will indicate, and 超 #55 will make clear, that the Grand Priest is as constrained by the Angelic Law of neutrality as any other Angel - as the Grand Priest notes, "Beyond that single law, there are no restrictions on what we can or cannot do." The Grand Priest shows a hint of his might in 超 #29, when he blocks full-force attacks from Quitela and Beerus with a finger. It seems a fitting inversion that the mightiest cosmic beings will never demonstrate it - as 超 #14 has already stated, Zeno-Sama will never fight as He has no need to do so; the Grand Priest and Angels, but contrast, will never fight (for real, anyway) because there is no instance in which they can fight without contravening the neutrality with which they must act. This is shown in 超 #63, when Merus vanishes from reality when he uses his powers to fight Moro.

• The consistency of adherence to neutrality has been questioned a couple of times by the fanbase, most notably Whis's '3-minute reset' to restore Earth when Freeza destroys it - however, it is specified that they may never fight or acquire a bias (presumably which would lead to fighting on its behalf), and arguably in rewinding time in this way, Whis merely allows the scenario to play out once again - it's up to Goku to make the most of it, if he wants - rather than resolving the issue himself. Conversely, he shows no particular willingness to save Earth during the Battle of Gods arc, so one could argue that it's all the same to him whether Earth is saved or not (and in the sense of motive, his love of Earth food, rather than a predisposition towards our heroes, is raised in 超 #55 as his key reason for associating with them). Again, in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, he is involved in the fight eventually, but only because Broly attacks him in his rampage - even then, Whis only dodges these attacks, and is true to his word here in never fighting.

• As I've said before, the reputation of the Grand Priest and Zeno-Sama is undercut by their actual manner - the Grand Priest is very easy-going, and Zeno just wants (and apparently always has wanted) a friend to play with, so they respond well to Goku's easy, informal manner and open friendliness - Zeno in particular, as it gives Him what He wants. I'm not saying Beerus and Shin have got Zeno all wrong when they say how terrifying He is (neither He nor the Grand Priest are benign, as such), but since they always approach Him with the fawning formality of a terrified subject, they'll never give Him what He really wants - they can never really please Him, only mollify or placate Him, and one gets the sense that if Goku acted this way, Zeno wouldn't have decided that He likes him. Of course, the playful terror of Zeno-Sama has already been raised as a key motif since 超 #13, will see practical demonstration when He erases everything in Trunks's timeline in 超 #26, and will be the theme of the Tournament of Power arc, as His terrifying tendencies meet His quest for entertainment, channelled into a fighting context by His promise made in 超 #13 (and Goku's continuing personal influence).

• That said, even Whis is astonished that Goku decided to lie to Zeno-Sama about bringing a better friend, but fortunately the Chekhov's Gun/Zeno-Button given to Goku helps him make good on his promise (and also helps instigate the following arc). I feel like Goku's initial suggestion of Beerus would've been more certain to lead to Universe 7's erasure than anything that could've happened in the Tournament of Power...

• Zuno gives Zamas the oblique information that the Super Dragon Balls remain inactive after a wish for the same span of time "from the moment a cockroach is born until it dies". Unsurprisingly, the actual lifespan of a cockroach varies between species (and the sex of the roach), includes an incubation period in an egg, and spans several phases of development and moulting ("instars") before maturity, which has a further lifespan:
  • German cockroach - 28 days incubation; 103 days development; less than 200 days mature
  • American cockroach - 44 days incubation; 600 days development; up to 362 days mature (male) or over 700 days mature (female)
  • Oriental cockroach - 60 days incubation; 589 days development; 160 days mature (male) or 189 days mature (female
  Since Zuno specifies the period of time is about a year, I suppose he has the adult phase of a male American cockroach in mind. Quibbling over this aside, this exchange shows that the Future Trunks arc is definitely set less than a year after the Universe 6 Tournament, despite some little time clearly having passed (e.g., Goku noting that Vegeta's gotten stronger since then, in 超 #14, and of course Goku has developed SSjB further, as shown in 超 #24-25). Since Zamas has Zuno locate all of the Balls for him, one imagines that Goku Black uses Goku's body from little less than a year from this point - this would track to the kind of body Goku will have around the time of the Tournament of Power arc (as the Super Dragon Balls are active again by that point).

• I like how Goku, of all people, chides Trunks on his attention to detail. Whis notes there is a colour that only Kaioshin can wear, but does not specify. Colour art seems to indicate this is green. Bulma says Zamas will take Gowas's Potara and his title as Kaioshin, just like he was granted the power temporarily when Gowas gave him his potara in 超 #17. However, the Elder Kaioshin gives Goku his potara in DB #501, and Caulifla steals Fuwa's Potara in 超 #38, but presumably just wearing the earring doesn't confer them any change in status or access to power - it must just be that way for divine beings. Even so, having the potara doesn't make a Kaioshin, even if it allows use of their tools.

• Pilaf is, again, being rather subservient and helpful, refuelling the Time Machine to allow the heroes to travel back to the future. He'll gain a fixation on the fate of Future Pilaf in 超 #26, and there will be a super-cute interstitial after that chapter, with him making his own Time Machine to save his future self. I wouldn't mind seeing a future Pilaf one-shot, and I like to think that his 'long play' is to use his new Time Machine to make a whole new timeline where he's the ruler of the world (but it goes wrong somehow...). As 超 #42 shows, though, he's still living at Capsule Corp with Mai and Shu a year later.

• There's a change of dialogue between the original and collected releases. Either way, Gowas hasn't been called Gowas for a while, and is happy not to stand on ceremony with his title. Interestingly, the Viz English Translation cribs from the V-Jump serialised script instead of referring to the Japanese collected release for the line; likewise, it doesn't use the art correction for the Zeno-Button.

• Gowas mentions the possibility of retiring soon. Similarly, the Elder Kaioshin mentions that he himself is retired, as of 超 #32. He may have always been, but his relatively active stance in the Battle of Gods arc may suggest otherwise.

• It may just be an edgy fake design thing of the sort that pops up on T-Shirts in the real world, but kid Trunks's T-Shirt during the first departure scene reads 'C.C. Air Force' (with the Capsule Corp logo beneath, just to make it crystal clear). It would be interesting if, in Dragon World, global players like Capsule Corp had their own private security forces that operated independently of the world army (distinguished, as mentioned last time, by the 'KC' and Lion's Head badges).

• Goku Black's lodge is in a mountainous area, but Goku, standing in West City, refers to it as "that mountain", so presumably Black isn't that far away (certainly within sight of the city). Daizenshuu #4 sites West City near mountains, and DB #419 likewise shows mountains in the background of the ruined city, so this is totally consistent.

• Vegeta mentions they can't fight around the heart of the city, which is why he and Goku will eventually take off. As Kanzenshuu mentions, the scenery where they land appears to be a reference to DBZ Movie 13; apparently this is 'Randosel Tower'. Goku seems to imply they've moved to the outskirts of West City at this point.

• People are seriously put out by the gag about Goku not knowing what kissing is. I'm not sure what the reason is for this po-faced aggro, except maybe that it's shattered a million fanfic romance scenes. It seems generally in keeping with Goku's knowledge of, and attitude to, romance as expressed in DB #171 ("Hey! No grabbing!"). While Goku isn't unaffectionate toward Chi-Chi (and despite her nagging, she is clearly affectionate towards him), and he is shown to care about her specifically, albeit in somewhat of a companionate sense (as in DB #412 - "Tell mom I'm sorry."), his unromantic attitude is a perfect reflection of Toriyama's own approach, as he is very uncomfortable with depicting romance in his work in general - where it exists, he tends to present it as something of a fait accompli, as with Trunks and Mai here, and he also often treats romantic entanglement as simply a new vista for gags (as in Dr. Slump, when he actually gives Senbei his wish of marrying Midori in Volume 9...and immediately sends them on a crazy honeymoon full of hijinks) - romance and sexuality is typically an object of frustrated longing for Toriyama's characters, not actual depiction (and certainly not consummation, if he can get a bunch of gags from that instead), so it's hardly surprising Goku's fought Chi-Chi more often than he's kissed her. To be honest, I find the fact that Vegeta's embarrassed by talking about it to be the funniest thing.

• Speaking of Vegeta, we get a further development of his attitudes generally (which I mentioned specifically in relation to the deepening of his relationship with Bulma in 超 #3), as he is intent on protecting Trunks and ensuring he escapes to the past if things go wrong. Of course, Vegeta already demonstrated that he cares about Trunks (a little late, coming as it did after Trunks's death) in DB #414; and he actually showed some belated affection to kid Trunks just before his own death in DB #467. This time, however, he does things the right way around by starting off with caring and then getting into the fight - he's even angry when he learns Goku left Trunks behind, in 超 #21, and will try again to cover for Trunks's escape in 超 #26. Vegeta will get his next spurt of character growth along this particular dimension in the Moro Arc, where he tries to make amends for the Namekians, and eventually manages to revive at least some of them in 超 #61 (his development is commented on in that issue also). That said, he still enjoys punching Goku

Okay, that's all for now - I'll be back with Part 2 (Chapters 19-20) later in the week, so keep on re-reading..!

[Cipher]

Quick responses to bits and pieces:

But first--Excellent exploration of Zamasu's character! Way to put all that together.

I'm curious how the Kaioshin of the parallel timelines view the relationship between their own timelines and the others - Gowas speaks as though it's clear that the 'main world' timeline is original and the others are 'emergent', but from what we know of the way the history of Universe 7's Earth is supposed to unfold, our 'main world' timeline is itself emergent from Cell's use of the Time Machine in travelling from Age 788 to Age 763, which Trunks also manages to move into, despite his time settings being different the first time he travels (by serendipity, I guess). Do all inhabitants of a timeline view theirs as the 'original' in some way? Presumably, at some point they all end up being the same timeline - Gowas mentions that time travel was "prohibited" following Universe 12's foray into it, and this is meant literally, as 超 #26 will reveal that the Kaioshin of Universe 12, Agu, confiscated the Time Machine from that Universe and holds it in safe keeping.

It's unclear to me that Gowasu actually does consider his timeline the "main" one. Nothing is ever said to that effect. He's mainly concerned about the number of Time Rings increasing period. Whether he's living in the splintered timeline or the one which caused the splintering seems immaterial in comparison.

Re: Trunks: Trunks doesn't "move into" Cell's timeline, but is already set to arrive as a part of its history, since Cell steals and uses the time machine to return to a point in the past earlier than Trunks has already returned to. It's never stated outright, but there's a consistency to time machines in Dragon Ball always returning to the last-altered past. Or rather, when the past is altered, that's the past, even if the traveler's original timeline is now disconnected from it.

In that light, the logic of events would be opposite from you've laid it out: Cell goes to the timeline Trunks created, at an earlier point, and doing so simultaneously causes yet another split both in the "present-day" era, and in Trunks', since he's a round-trip traveler.

On that note: The number of Time Rings is suspect, or at least the way they're presented. In Japanese, Gowasu doesn't say explictly that the number of parallel-timeline rings has only increased by one since he last viewed them. But, from his phrasing, he seems to already have expected more than one parallel-timeline ring to have been there.

Toyotarо̄ may have merely stumbled into depicting the exact right number of rings to make the series' time travel up to this point work (three alternate timelines necessitated by the time-travel of the Cell arc; one for the original time-travel in Universe 12), because the dialogue doesn't support that being the intent. If three of the four parallel Time Rings were meant to cover the events of the Cell arc, Gowasu wouldn't have spoken as if he were already expecting more than one.

Oh well.

To be honest, I find the fact that Vegeta's embarrassed by talking about it to be the funniest thing.

This is really the core gag of the scene, at least in the manga. It's not that Goku doesn't know about kissing--it's that his ignorance forces Vegeta to sheepishly start to explain it. In execution, that aspect is genuinely amusing.

[ankokudaishogun]

-snip-

I also must congratulate on the analysis of Manga Zamas' character.
It did honestly made me rethink and reanalyze my own thoughts on him, making me realize I keep superimpose Anime Zamas over him, while they are quite different characters(if not as different as Manga Jiren and Anime Jiren).
(I'd also like to read your opinion about Anime Zamas)

Thanks, I'll make sure to be actually thinking of Manga Zamas when I'm talking about him.

[Magnificent Ponta]

But first--Excellent exploration of Zamasu's character! Way to put all that together.

I also must congratulate on the analysis of Manga Zamas' character.

Thanks to both of you for the kind words; I appreciate it. I should say that I do enjoy Zamas as he's depicted in the Dragon Ball Super manga - I don't think the difference of depiction makes him more 'generic' or less memorable as a villain; and while I don't think he's deep (deliberately not, as I've said), I still don't think many other villains in Dragon Ball could meaningfully withstand that kind of character dissection in any case. And I do enjoy the moral problem he confronts as well (even though he does so in bad faith), and I'm impressed that it all still seems in keeping with Dragon Ball more generally despite not being like its more typical fare.

It's unclear to me that Gowasu actually does consider his timeline the "main" one. Nothing is ever said to that effect. He's mainly concerned about the number of Time Rings increasing period.

I think it was more an inference on my part as to the wording Gowas employs - he seems to refer to the Parallel realities created by Universe 12 as though they are 'other' realities to the one they live in. Thinking about it, I guess that's a given, as he technically belongs to another 'emergent' timeline (the one created by Trunks), but when reading it at the time I divined some kind of 'our reality-those realities' implication to Gowas's statement.

In that light, the logic of events would be opposite from you've laid it out: Cell goes to the timeline Trunks created, at an earlier point, and doing so simultaneously causes yet another split both in the "present-day" era, and in Trunks', since he's a round-trip traveler.

Thanks for the correction here - I got myself in a muddle when discussing this, because I'd got it in my head somehow that because Cell was chronologically first to appear, he'd be the 'creator' of a newly divergent timeline into which the later Trunks would in turn show up; but I see now that Trunks left first chronologically, so his action is prior even though he arrived later.

[Magnificent Ponta]

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 17 - 20
Part 2 (Chapters 19 and 20)



Well, well, well - fancy seeing you here again. Welcome back! The Super Re-read is now covering the last two chapters of Dragon Ball Super Volume 3, finishing off the second part of this fortnight's instalment - we get the beginning of the confrontation with Goku Black, and the revelation of the Zero Mortals Plan!

As usual, thanks and credit goes to Kanzenshuu for a lot of the information in these threads, particularly the Japanese titles, the publication dates, and material from the interview archive to elucidate a lot of the talking points in the chapter notes.

Grab your manga, and let's get re-reading!

Chapter 19 - Another Zamasu/Another Zamas
17 December 2016

Spoiler:

Goku accosts Black, saying they know the truth about him - this surprises Black, who reveals that he killed Goku after switching bodies with him. Black has questions of his own, but Vegeta's not interested - he transforms, and attacks! After a brief exchange, Black is pleased to have someone new to fight, and transforms as well. The fight begins in earnest, and Vegeta isn't challenged by Black's resistance, gaining the upper hand. In the distance, Trunks and Mai watch the fight, and notice Black transformed, and Trunks is disconcerted - Black is much stronger than the last time they fought... But it doesn't seem to matter. Vegeta is winning, though Black is defending himself from critical damage. Vegeta sees Black is too strong for Trunks, and Black is perplexed by Vegeta's power. Vegeta says it's time to transform to their God forms to settle things, and goes SSjB. He tells Black to do it too, if he doesn't want to die. But Black can't... Vegeta laughs, and beats him up - of course Black can't do it; he's not Goku, after all. Nevertheless, despite being beaten hard, Black gets back up, and resumes the fight - he can't let his plan be ruined!

Meanwhile, in Universe 10, Zamas returns, making the excuse that he was visiting his successor Kaio - he gets a frosty reception from Beerus, who challenges him, saying he was actually at Zuno's. Why did he ask about the Dragon Balls, and Goku, and switching bodies? Zamas makes some flustered and unconvincing excuses, and Gowas demands an explanation - Shin appears, back from the mission Beerus sent him on - he has used the Ring of Time, and seen Zamas's future of evil deeds! Gowas is incredulous, but Zamas drops the act, and says they are acts of justice... Back in the future, Black continues to be beaten with ease by Vegeta, but insists that eliminating the destructive mortals is justice, because they are evil; he is the only God left, so he will bring balance and justice as the supreme god! Goku points out that he's only the last god because he killed the others underhandedly, and Vegeta says there's no need for a god who imposes twisted justice...

In Universe 10, Beerus echoes the point, but Zamas is convinced that he must begin now. If he's succeeded in the future, he can't die now. He attacks - but Beerus destroys him in an instant! He tells Gowas he'll get a beating if he picks another freak like this, but Shin needs to hurry - there's something he must tell Goku and Vegeta... likewise, in the future, Trunks approaches and tells Goku that they need to finish things quickly - Black is stronger than he was before, and Trunks has a bad feeling - Goku accepts this, and tells Vegeta to finish things up. Vegeta's happy to oblige; he fires a Final Flash at the helpless Black - but at the last second, a figure rescues him from the path of the attack! Back on Earth, Shin explains to Beerus and Whis that Black wasn't acting alone - he has the ultimate partner... This partner heals the beaten Black in the future, saying this will help him become the supreme god - it's Zamas!!

Chapter Notes

• Black mentions that he killed Goku in Zamas's body quickly - this was even before he'd gained power from fighting Trunks for a year, and before he could even use the bog-standard SSj transformation. While we don't know the full circumstances (though the interstitial between 超 #19 and 超 #20 shows Goku Black punch-blading Zamas-Goku), I guess this would indicate that Base Goku is probably stronger than Zamas by this point (Goku will also call Zamas "much weaker even than Trunks" in 超 #22). Since Zamas is perhaps the strongest of the Shin-jin (and certainly regards Shin as weak - he's also fought and beaten Kibito with relative ease, and Kibito was stated in Daizenshuu #7 to rival Base Gohan from the 25th Budokai; similarly, Piccolo in the Buu arc is probably somewhere in the Base - SSj region, and Shin is implied to be stronger than him in turn), this may indicate that Goku's Base form is at something around the general level of a Cell Games SSj character in terms of power (probably not his own or Gohan's SSj level from that time, but still). I guess this is generally in keeping with the (otherwise very vague) statement that SSj2 Trunks is "so much stronger" than SSj2 Gohan from the Cell Games, equalling (or slightly bettering) SSj2 Goku as he does.

• Black will transform in his fight with Vegeta - it's somewhat artistically ambiguous as to whether Black is himself in SSj or SSj2. On the one hand, his aura has the sparks typical of SSj2 (which was only just demonstrated, very consistently, in 超 #15), but on the other, his hair is consistent with Goku's SSj form. Similarly, the dialogue, while again a bit vague, indicates only that he's a Super Saiyan, and Toriyama's character design for Black specifies that he "becomes a Super Saiyan like Goku, and a Super Saiyan of a slightly different colour like Goku", which would indicate that he just has analogues of SSj and SSjB to fall back on, rather than the other forms. I guess Black's forms have their own idiosyncrasies, so it isn't impossible for him to have the signs of SSj2 power in a standard SSj form, just like his Super Saiyan Rosé form has a very different style of aura to either Goku or Vegeta's SSjB form. Trunks will mention specifically Black's SSj form is stronger than the last time he saw him use it (which hasn't been for "a while").

• Again, trying to keep a consistent handle on the power scaling here, if we were to accept the multipliers given in the Super Exciting Guide (SSj=50x Base; SSj2=2x SSj or 100x Base; SSj3=4x SSj2 or 400x Base), is trickier than it should be. If Trunks's SSj2^Max = Goku's SSj3, as in 超 #15, then he should be around 400x Goku's Base in that form; however, Black surpasses that, whether in Base or SSj. We see that he can beat SSj2 Trunks in Base, so his Base form would be anywhere from over 100x Goku's Base to over 400x Goku's Base. Trunks might not be using the max power of the form in that scene, though - his fight with Goku seems to treat that power-up as something of a previously unseen revelation. Vegeta's SSj2 form seems to have surpassed SSj3 in 超 #3, and it's also stronger than SSj Black, so it seems as though Black's SSj multiplier must be really quite small. This wouldn't be entirely surprising, given that he hasn't used it much and has instead unlocked massive power in his Base form and doesn't have facility with Goku's transformations - he'll get a correspondingly big power-up in 超 #20 that could, conceivably, net him a full 50x multiplier on the SSj form. That said, this might be a rabbit hole that's not worth going down any further than this...

• There's shades of the Ginyu-Goku Body Switch from DB #287-290 in Black's lack of facility with Goku's transformations, even three years down the line. It's hinted at obliquely in 超 #14, when Whis mentions Goku's habit of controlling their ki during battle. The Earthling tendency to control ki in this way meant that Ginyu was unable to use Goku's true power in DB #288-289, topping out at a Battle Power of 23,000 in a body that could wield a Battle Power of 90,000 even without more esoteric techniques like the Kaio-Ken. Vegeta, who was likewise at that fight, is unsurprised to see something similar occurring for Black here.

• It's interesting that Zamas of this time doesn't know who Beerus and Whis are - particularly given the fact that, about a year from this point, he (as Black) will consider a Universe without Beerus as a prerequisite to his plan. Surely he would've seen them both appear in the background to the Universe 6 Tournament, on Godtube? Though it's consistent that he shouldn't have actually met either of them by this point, I suppose...

• With respect to Zamas's 'Acts of Justice', it's probably worthwhile, in the interests of balance, to actually detail the arguments Zamas makes for eliminating mortals (and thereby "bring balance", as he puts it):
  • Mortals do not create order on their planets (超 #16), but rather, once they gain knowledge, they fight each other relentlessly (超 #19), destroying their planets in the process (超 #17).
  • Mortals are incapable of fixing this problem for themselves, but are rather likelier to ignore the counsel of the Kaioshin to restore order on their worlds (超 #17), as they consider themselves entitled to self-govern (超 #19).
  • Mortals will therefore continue to repeat these mistakes eternally, disturbing the peace of the Universe (超 #21); they are therefore not necessary to the peace of the Universe (超 #21) - and all the unnecessary beings must be terminated (超 #16).
  • A God who can assure this will restore peace to the Universe and rule over it in perfect balance (超 #19). This is "justice", apparently.
  The emphasis on the destruction of planets in Zamas's thinking is interesting - A Kaioshin gives impetus for worlds and mortals to be born, and ensures the maintenance of peace in the Universe as a whole. Zamas has already shown a proprietary attitude to "our precious planets" in 超 #17, and will likewise assure Trunks that he has no intention of destroying the Earth itself, in 超 #21 (just the mortals on it; though, hypocritically, he will revise this position when Goku puts him under pressure); but he has lost sight of the whole point of the Kaioshin role in the process - the planets are made so that mortal beings can be developed and nurtured on them, and thereby increase the quality of the Universes as a whole. Zamas's viewpoint is both pessimistic and also more than a tad nihilistic, since he concludes that scrubbing reality clean of intelligent life is the only way to solve the problem of mortal violence...

• It's good to get a reminder of Beerus's terrifying power once in a while, but I feel like this particular scene, where he gets to challenge Zamas's notion of 'justice' and destroy him for his evil deeds, has impacted the fan view of Beerus too much, and has caused frustration when he reverts to type in the Moro arc as a selfish, lazy, unconcerned God - they seem to expect that because he's done this, he ought naturally to be more concerned by threats like Moro. But as he made clear in 超 #18, he's only acting this time because "We're all gonna die otherwise!", which is likewise the focus of his attention in the Tournament of Power arc. As soon as he's secured his own safety here, he says he won't be doing anything else, but will just wait and chow down (超 #21). Beerus isn't a hero, or even really benign; as with a lot of Toriyama characters, he's totally self-interested, and his horizons only really 'broaden', in this most rudimentary sense, when an issue like this strikes home.

• Favourite art: The Final Flash, both from Vegeta's end and Black's end, is a beautiful piece of work from Toyotarou; there must've been at least some regard for layout across the double-page as well, as these two panels are almost mirrors of each other in that sense, allowing you to see both ends of it from up close and afar at the same time. Great piece.

• The emergence of Zamas from this timeline as the 'ultimate partner' of Goku Black once again throws up the theme of Teamwork as key to Dragon Ball Super, and contrasts their approach with Goku and Vegeta, who will strenuously resist the idea of working together. Here, Zamas declares "To accomplish the Zero Mortal Project...It's essential for the two of us to work together." Their variously-expressed unity overcomes Vegeta and Goku's resistance at almost every point, and the only time they're not really on top, on reflection, is whenever their unity is imperilled. I'll talk more about the theme later (particularly 超 #22, the closest the pair come to falling out), but I just wanted to lay down the marker here. It's interesting to note, though, that Trunks has never seen Zamas up to this point, nor has he been made aware that Black isn't operating alone.

Chapter 20 - 0 Mortals Plan/The Zero Mortal Project
21 January 2017

Spoiler:

The heroes, in the past and the future, are shocked - how can there be two Zamases?? Shin explains - Black is Zamas from the future of 'our' reality; he switched with Goku, and then moved to Trunks's timeline, where he met that timeline's version of himself. They make an ideal pairing, as they think the same way. Zamas is puzzled - how are Goku and Vegeta here? Black doesn't know - but Zamas has been using the Ring of Time to scout parallel realities; it seems like taking over and destroying all the mortals should be easy... but when he puts the Ring of Time away, there's another ring! Has a new timeline been created?? Vegeta explains that the Zamas of the past has probably been destroyed by Beerus - so now there's a timeline without Zamas. Zamas is dismayed, but Black concludes that Vegeta and co. are from the past - so the future belongs to Zamas, and all mortals will be destroyed!

Vegeta attack again, but it's not so easy this time; Black counters his attacks, and even starts pushing him back! Black notes that originally, he didn't have Goku's power when he took his body; he couldn't even go SSj at first... but then he found out about the nature of Saiyans. Trunks understands - Black is getting stronger by using the Saiyan near-death power-up! And, Shin realises, Zamas is using his healing powers, as the attendant to a Kaioshin, to help Black achieve this! Vegeta gets beaten, and Goku revives him with a Senzu Bean - but when Vegeta gets back into the fight, things don't go any better for him; it seems those power-ups don't work for Goku and Vegeta anymore. But they do for Black -- he's happy to see Vegeta inflicting damage, as Zamas heals him again - every time the damaged cells are restored, Black's control over the body - its alignment with his soul - becomes more complete. He's hit the peak of his power now - and transforms again! Everyone's shocked; but instead of SSjB, Black's hair turns a light crimson - Black dubs the form "Super Saiyan Rosé", the godly power of Saiyans controlled by a divine soul...

Goku suggests maybe they should team up now; Vegeta brushes him off, telling him to take care of Zamas instead. Goku faces off with Zamas in SSjB, while Vegeta takes on Black. Goku immediately overpowers Zamas, and when Zamas tries to use debris to assault Goku from afar, he knocks it back, impaling Zamas! Goku (powering down to SSj) gives Zamas a chance to surrender and use the Dragon Balls to undo the damage he's done. Zamas laughs, and extricates himself from the debris - his wound is gone! He destroyed the Super Dragon Balls after he made his wish...for immortality. He seizes Goku's Senzu beans from a distance, and destroys them, and then immobilises Goku - he's not as strong as him, but Gods fight their own way. He starts to beat up Goku, while Vegeta gets wrecked by Black, who gloats about how his new power assures the success of his plans. Trunks tells Goku they must retreat, and Zamas tells Black to kill Trunks now they don't need him anymore... Trunks responds with a Taiyoken! When the light dims, and Black and Zamas can see again, the heroes are gone...

They've escaped to the sewers - Trunks has Gohan to thank for teaching him the move, long ago. But they need a new plan - how can they beat someone who's immortal..? Goku knows a way - he remembers that long ago, when Piccolo Daimao first attacked Earth, he couldn't be beaten either - so Kame-Sen'nin's master sealed him away using the Mafuba technique. Maybe this would work on Zamas, too! Meanwhile, Zamas and Black search for the heroes, but they're hiding their ki... but Mai can't... Black's found her! They teleport to her, trying to escape - but she reveals that she's not with the others! Trunks appears and stabs Zamas, and attacks Black - they fell for the diversion; Goku and Vegeta are already escaping in the Time Machine! Trunks distracts Black from attacking it, as Goku escapes to his own time, promising they'll come back. Black has Trunks helpless, as he leaves it all up to Goku and Vegeta...

Chapter Notes

• It's interesting to note that Zamas's check on all the parallel worlds yields no noteworthy resistance - presumably whatever periods Zamas has checked on don't have Jiren, Toppo, and the Pride Troopers from Universe 11 in them. One can excuse missing the outcast (and still not yet ferociously strong) Broly and (the imprisoned and still extremely weakened) Moro, but Jiren operates on a Universal level, as shown in 超 #30. I quite like the fan suggestion that Zamas is the "monster" Jiren mentions as having slain his master, Gicchin, before he became truly strong, as per 超 #41. However, this probably isn't possible, since Zamas can't travel backwards with the Ring of Time, so I think this should mean that he can only look at each reality from the '17 years in our future' perspective, as that's where he's from. In 17 years time, Toppo may well be the God of Destruction killed when Black kills Kai, his corresponding Kaioshin, and Jiren may already be gone for a number of reasons.

• Though, that throws up another question about Zamas - if the two versions of him between the 'Main Story' timeline (until 超 #19, where he no longer exists) and Trunks's timeline team up, then it's surprising that he doesn't seek out the other Zamases who would presumably exist in the other 3 timelines. Perhaps the changes wrought by the mortals of Universe 12 were vast, and Zamas doesn't exist in any of those alternate realities. Or maybe he intends to come for them later, since they can't add much on their own right now. But it is ironic, and fitting, that before there is a timeline without mortals, there is a timeline without Zamas, and when Trunks's timeline is cleansed of mortals (and everything else) in 超 #26, Zamas dies with it - it just shows the vanity of his presumption that he can destroy mortal life in all the timelines and Universes without consequence.

• I think it's quite clever to re-introduce the Saiyan near-death power-up as the secret to Black's power, at this point. Its fall-off kind of got 'hand-waved' away in the original series after DB #306, with a 'sort-of explanation' in Daizenshuu #7, it's fitting that it should come back as a feature that helps unite a foreign soul with Goku's Saiyan Body every time it's used. Trunks explicitly states that Goku and Vegeta have hit their limits, and can't achieve that power-up themselves anymore. I mean, it just makes official what we know must be true in any case, but it's always good to see them bother to put it in there, while making an actual plot point of it.

• Since Vegeta doesn't make any headway against Black in SSjB even after recovering with a Senzu Bean, I guess SSj Black should be regarded as more-or-less equal to SSjB Vegeta at this point, as this can't just be as a result of Vegeta losing power in the Blue form. Black will get stronger again presently, with his ability to use Super Saiyan Rosé.

• Favourite art: I mean, really, who didn't think it would be Black transforming into Super Saiyan Rosé? What a panel that is, and the colour version is just as good. The power flowing out of Black looks kind of like flames flaring out in his aura, which makes him look suitably demonic. It's also a good deal cooler than the random power blobs that emerge from the Blue aura (just in my opinion). Also, the panels showing Trunks sneak attack Zamas later in the chapter are completely savage, and really well done.

• Unfortunately, there are also some goofs here and there - the most notable one I can see is on p. 188 of the collected release, where Goku hits Zamas into the ground. Goku's shoulder/collar-bone area isn't rounded into his body here, just cut off flat - this makes it really look like his upper body is completely flat, with the unfortunate side-effect of his head apparently floating at some distance from his body. It's a shame, as it would've been fixed (or made less noticeable) with a small amendment - Toyotarou, for his relative consistency as an artist, seems to have trouble with neck placement in particular (and has always done, judging from some goofs in his earlier work in Dragon Ball AF - yes, I've managed to get around to reading it by now); usually it's not that noticeable or a big deal at all, but I thought I'd be fair by pointing out an instance where it's relatively jarring. Goku has a similar pose (from a different angle) on the next page, which seems to be done much better.

• Again, as in 超 #16, Zamas himself seems to favour using esoteric powers to fight from a distance. This time, he levitates and flings city debris at Goku, he seizes the Senzu beans from a distance and incinerates them, and he paralyses Goku using the same technique Shin uses on SSj2 Gohan in DB #444. While I already mentioned that this seems to be a method of fighting peculiar to Gods generally, it seems to suit Zamas's character as well - almost as though he'd rather not dirty himself by actually touching a mortal if he can avoid it (I say 'almost', because he does kick the paralysed Goku - the ki 'punch blade', however, can kill without requiring touch, as Black demonstrates on Gowas). Likewise, in 超 #22, he'll try to paralyse Goku again, and will also use a Bakuhatsu-type move. This tendency will change a fair amount when he merges with the more rough-and-tumble style of Black, but will get a new 'distancing' variant when he uses portals to launch attacks.

• Just as a brief note on Shunkan Idou - Black uses it again for the first time since 超 #15, but it's interesting to see that the aura around it seems much more akin to the typical Kai-Kai teleportation that Shin-jin use than it does to Shunkan Idou, which has no such appearance. If that's deliberate, it's quite a clever merging.

• The re-introduction of two classic moves is welcome - As I said last time, Trunks's path to learning Taiyo-Ken is not entirely clear (Gohan was exposed to its existence once before in DB #256, when Kuririn used it against Dodoria), but it certainly makes sense that it would be beneficial for the Earthling warriors to have learned it so they could escape the Androids. The Mafuba was last used by Kami (as Shen) in DB #181, but mysteriously did not risk killing him or his Human host. Goku knows the story pretty well for a guy who didn't know what Kami was doing at the time, and for someone who doesn't listen to much that Roshi has to say about it in 超 #21 - he even knows that originally Piccolo was sealed in a rice cooker. I guess he doesn't listen often, but when he does, he listens well.

• So, we've made it to the first major clash; we've seen the revelation of the villains, and we've seen the emergence/resurfacing of key themes; to finish off, we have defeat and escape to end this 'Act' of the drama, I suppose. Of the themes, I guess we've seen Teamwork emerge most explicitly towards the end, as Goku and Vegeta attempt individual strategies to defeat the united team of Black and Zamas and come to grief (and will do so again); we've seen The playful terror of Zeno-Sama, which has emerged in wanting Goku for a friend to entertain Him, and will eventually resolve this arc by giving Goku the Chekhov's Gun he needs to destroy Zamas, and set up the next one by pairing up the two Zenos (itself another, darker facet of the 'teamwork' theme, as the two think identically and will simply agree with each other that they should erase most of the Universes - the same kind of echo-chamber dynamic that goes with Black and Zamas); we also have the theme of the duties of the divine beings emerging in this, which has seen expansion throughout this arc, as Zamas and Gowas have clashed over the proper duties of the Kaioshin and the purpose of divine beings in maintaining their Universes, Zamas has attempted to implement his superficial vision, and Beerus has actually done his job as a God of Destruction; meanwhile, Whis has explained the limits of Angelic action, and the threat to the Universe posed by its own ruler. The theme will expand yet further under both strands, as Zeno destroys this timeline, and looks set to destroy many more Universes - which sets up the Tournament of Power arc, the competitors in which are forced to fight because their Universes haven't developed enough under the auspices of their Kaioshin and Gods of Destruction. So, the arc so far has laid a lot of the groundwork necessary for the next arc, but also the moral problem on which the villain's motives turn. This has been depicted in a way that provides an angle on Zamas's character that at once permits us to understand and condemn him (as above), and I think this element of the arc is skilfully done - it's not surprising that Zamas has caught the attention of the fanbase the most of all the antagonists in Super.

• The set-up has been implemented in a way that seems to blend well with the pacing of the arc generally, allowing for a start with slower beats that makes way for a rapid ascent though the gears later on. However, a lot of the world-building mentioned above has also had to reckon with the (already quite intricate) backstory for Trunks and the (already quite confused) concepts of Time Travel in the Dragon World (even Toriyama has said something to this effect: "Around the time of Trunks’ time travel, it was dreadful. I kept drawing, and it just got more and more incoherent."). While the Kaioshin's access to time-travel (and to parallel realities) is simple enough and allows the necessary narrative 'cut-through' required to give all the godly characters enough freedom of action in this arc, I feel like the 'time travel/parallel realities' element of the arc in general becomes a little fussy and over-elaborate, and doesn't hold up so well under scrutiny as the attempt to tell a clean and simple story is sometimes shot through with not-entirely-self-consistent technical details; it's inviting too many messy questions. Fortunately, most of that is out of the way now (though it will resurface, for instance, in the completely unnecessary red-herring that the connection between timelines is weakening, for some reason, in 超 #21), so in retrospect, lining things up this way is probably the best decision that could've been made while juggling so much at once.

• The action is fine so far, and there have been some pretty moments, but it hasn't reached its true peak yet due to the aforementioned running of the themes and setting up of the problems; in my opinion, the action in the latter half of the arc (超 #24-25 specifically) is among the highlights of Super, so that's something to look forward to.

Well, that's enough from me, as we close out Volume 3 - next time, we'll have the whole of Volume 4 to contend with, so we'll be back in about a week with the first two chapters of that. So it's over to you - what do you think of the arc so far? What did you get out of your re-read?

[TheSaiyanGod]

Black mentions that he killed Goku in Zamas's body quickly - this was even before he'd gained power from fighting Trunks for a year, and before he could even use the bog-standard SSj transformation. While we don't know the full circumstances (though the interstitial between 超 #19 and 超 #20 shows Goku Black punch-blading Zamas-Goku), I guess this would indicate that Base Goku is probably stronger than Zamas by this point (Goku will also call Zamas "much weaker even than Trunks" in 超 #22). Since Zamas is perhaps the strongest of the Shin-jin (and certainly regards Shin as weak - he's also fought and beaten Kibito with relative ease, and Kibito was stated in Daizenshuu #7 to rival Base Gohan from the 25th Budokai; similarly, Piccolo in the Buu arc is probably somewhere in the Base - SSj region, and Shin is implied to be stronger than him in turn), this may indicate that Goku's Base form is at something around the general level of a Cell Games SSj character in terms of power (probably not his own or Gohan's SSj level from that time, but still). I guess this is generally in keeping with the (otherwise very vague) statement that SSj2 Trunks is "so much stronger" than SSj2 Gohan from the Cell Games, equalling (or slightly bettering) SSj2 Goku as he does.

Despite feeling that there is a slight dissonance in relation to how RoF portrayed the strength of the base forms of Goku / Vegeta, Cell Games SSJ level seems to be a reasonable assumption for base Saiyans during Super manga and much more down to earth compared to anime counterpart (which by making Base Goku / Vegeta so ridiculously strong, ends up pushing all the other characters to SSJ3 Gotenks levels too, making their strength gains less credible)

Black will transform in his fight with Vegeta - it's somewhat artistically ambiguous as to whether Black is himself in SSj or SSj2. On the one hand, his aura has the sparks typical of SSj2 (which was only just demonstrated, very consistently, in 超 #15), but on the other, his hair is consistent with Goku's SSj form. Similarly, the dialogue, while again a bit vague, indicates only that he's a Super Saiyan, and Toriyama's character design for Black specifies that he "becomes a Super Saiyan like Goku, and a Super Saiyan of a slightly different colour like Goku", which would indicate that he just has analogues of SSj and SSjB to fall back on, rather than the other forms. I guess Black's forms have their own idiosyncrasies, so it isn't impossible for him to have the signs of SSj2 power in a standard SSj form, just like his Super Saiyan Rosé form has a very different style of aura to either Goku or Vegeta's SSjB form. Trunks will mention specifically Black's SSj form is stronger than the last time he saw him use it (which hasn't been for "a while").

Yeah, although the original manga has always been consistent in portraying the SSJ2 sparks, here despite them being present, the narrative definitely treats it as Black's SSJ version, instead of the SSJ2 that Vegeta was using.

Again, trying to keep a consistent handle on the power scaling here, if we were to accept the multipliers given in the Super Exciting Guide (SSj=50x Base; SSj2=2x SSj or 100x Base; SSj3=4x SSj2 or 400x Base), is trickier than it should be. If Trunks's SSj2^Max = Goku's SSj3, as in 超 #15, then he should be around 400x Goku's Base in that form; however, Black surpasses that, whether in Base or SSj. We see that he can beat SSj2 Trunks in Base, so his Base form would be anywhere from over 100x Goku's Base to over 400x Goku's Base. Trunks might not be using the max power of the form in that scene, though - his fight with Goku seems to treat that power-up as something of a previously unseen revelation. Vegeta's SSj2 form seems to have surpassed SSj3 in 超 #3, and it's also stronger than SSj Black, so it seems as though Black's SSj multiplier must be really quite small. This wouldn't be entirely surprising, given that he hasn't used it much and has instead unlocked massive power in his Base form and doesn't have facility with Goku's transformations - he'll get a correspondingly big power-up in 超 #20 that could, conceivably, net him a full 50x multiplier on the SSj form. That said, this might be a rabbit hole that's not worth going down any further than this...

Yeah, the powerscaling of this fight is a complicated issue.
I would just like to address that even if we assume that Trunks did not use his SSJ3 power level in his last confrontation with Black before returning to the main timeline, he still says that it was a long time since he had seen Black transform into SSJ, which implies that Base Black had become strong enough to easily overcome FP SSJ2 Trunks, which brings us to the core of the problem which is the fact that based on all this, SSJ2 Vegeta would be hundreds of times stronger than SSJ3 Goku, which means that Base Vegeta would also be much stronger than Base Goku, which would make him have a considerable advantage in their stronger forms (SSB), which does not seem to be the case because both are treated as equals.

Soooooo, yeah I think it is enough, we will hardly have a definitive answer to that. Particularly it is one of the few cases of powerscaling in the manga where I think none of the explanations are very satisfactory

It's good to get a reminder of Beerus's terrifying power once in a while, but I feel like this particular scene, where he gets to challenge Zamas's notion of 'justice' and destroy him for his evil deeds, has impacted the fan view of Beerus too much, and has caused frustration when he reverts to type in the Moro arc as a selfish, lazy, unconcerned God - they seem to expect that because he's done this, he ought naturally to be more concerned by threats like Moro. But as he made clear in 超 #18, he's only acting this time because "We're all gonna die otherwise!", which is likewise the focus of his attention in the Tournament of Power arc. As soon as he's secured his own safety here, he says he won't be doing anything else, but will just wait and chow down (超 #21). Beerus isn't a hero, or even really benign; as with a lot of Toriyama characters, he's totally self-interested, and his horizons only really 'broaden', in this most rudimentary sense, when an issue like this strikes home.

From what I see, some people were also irritated because they thought that after the risk of being erased during the ToP events, Beerus would undergo some kind of change in his character to be more responsible as a GoD. Honestly, when it comes to DB, I don't see it happening.

U7 is recognized for being a universe made mostly of Gods who don't do their job properly and this ends up translating into villains who are confronted by the Z Fighters or who make this universe a mess. I mean, it is a fact that Beerus is lazy, arrogant and a terrible GoD, who only acts when danger approaches him. And even after he is on the verge of destruction, I can see him as a character who, after these events pass, will not learn anything and just keep doing the same things.

The emergence of Zamas from this timeline as the 'ultimate partner' of Goku Black once again throws up the theme of Teamwork as key to Dragon Ball Super, and contrasts their approach with Goku and Vegeta, who will strenuously resist the idea of working together. Here, Zamas declares "To accomplish the Zero Mortal Project...It's essential for the two of us to work together." Their variously-expressed unity overcomes Vegeta and Goku's resistance at almost every point, and the only time they're not really on top, on reflection, is whenever their unity is imperilled. I'll talk more about the theme later (particularly 超 #22, the closest the pair come to falling out), but I just wanted to lay down the marker here. It's interesting to note, though, that Trunks has never seen Zamas up to this point, nor has he been made aware that Black isn't operating alone.

And I think the theme of teamwork works especially in the manga because if you look back at this point, in fact they never fought the main villain together (not counting fusions like Vegetto). Against Freeza, Black and Merged Zamasu they chose to fight in turns. It was a concept that started at the RoF arc (in which the movie version goes further by saying that with teamwork, the Saiyans could defeat both Golden Freeza and Beerus) and comes to a full circle in the fight against Jiren, when they face the antagonist at the end of the tournament

[Magnificent Ponta]

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 21 - 24
Part 1 (Chapters 21 and 22)



Greetings once again, one and all, and welcome back to The Super Re-read! We're now covering all of Dragon Ball Super Volume 4, where we approach the final battle and climax of the Future Trunks arc - Goku and Vegeta come back stronger from their last beating, the Kaioshin of Universes 7 and 10 get involved, and Zamas fuses with himself to escape imminent defeat and form the "Supreme God"!

As usual, thanks and credit goes to Kanzenshuu for a lot of the information in these threads, particularly the Japanese titles, the publication dates, and material from the interview archive to elucidate a lot of the talking points in the chapter notes.

It doesn't matter whether you've been following the re-read from the beginning, or just hopped on board - grab your manga, and let's get re-reading!

Chapter 21 - Last Chance For HOPE/Last Chance for Hope
21 February 2017

Spoiler:

Back in the past, kid Trunks trains as part of a drive to get stronger. Unfortunately Pilaf, his 'training partner', isn't up to the task. While Mai daydreams off in the distance, something appears - it's the Time Machine! But only Goku, a battered Vegeta, and an old stray cat emerge. Trunks has been left behind...Goku and Vegeta take a Senzu each from the stash they left in safe-keeping, and Goku apologises for leaving Trunks; he'll learn the Mafuba and go back. But can't they use the Time Machine to return to the exact point they left? Bulma says no! They're not travelling through time, but between parallel realities - to change the settings on the Machine would just make another new timeline, so the settings have to stay the same to access Trunks's timeline. So, time has to pass the same between timelines... but the connection between timelines is also weakening - the next return will be the last chance! Shin leaves abruptly, saying he's going to go and update Gowas on all that has happened. Beerus says he won't help any more - he's done enough, so he'll stay here and chow down. Whis says in the future, his function would be suspended until a new God of Destruction appears. They have no allies... Goku says he'll learn the Mafuba. Vegeta flies off on his own, resolving to kill Black...

In Trunks's time, he's at Black's mercy. The irate Black smashes Trunks around a bit; Mai tries futilely to get him to let go, but Trunks uses the distraction to break free. He goes for a Taiyo-Ken - but Zamas interrupts, narrowly missing with Trunks's own sword. He won't be able to escape again. Black calls the position hopeless - Trunks insists that there is always hope, and that Black won't win, even if Trunks dies. Black resolves to make the latter happen, and tosses Trunks through some buildings. Mai tries to intervene, but Trunks warns her off - he's spent. Black tells him he won't destroy Earth, just the mortals, and prepares a final ball of energy to kill him with... but then, Gowas appears! And Shin, too! And then they vanish with Mai and Trunks, leaving Black and Zamas perplexed... They appear on the empty world of the Kaioshin in Trunks's timeline - Shin explains that they both came from the past to help. Gowas humbly apologises for his failures in training Zamas, Trunks's protestations notwithstanding. Shin says they will hide on this world until Goku and Vegeta return...

Meanwhile, Goku is struggling to learn the Mafuba over at Kame House. Goku suggests Roshi come with them to do it, but Roshi replies that it requires immense physical strength to pull off the Mafuba - he'll die if he tries it; Goku is sceptical, and stops listening for a minute. Roshi goes off to write up a talisman to complete the sealing process - Goku'll take him to a Hostess Bar as a reward afterwards, right?? Back in the future, Black and Zamas plot - they won't be able to keep this a secret now that two Kaioshin have got involved. The Lord of Everything might find out now... Zamas says they should go to another planet; Black agrees - they'll leave tomorrow...after they've killed off Humanity. On the Kaioshin world, Shin's herbs are healing Trunks and Mai, who sleep peacefully. Shin wishes Kibito were there - he could've restored them. Gowas muses that maybe the power and usefulness of Kaioshin should be reconsidered... but then, Zamas and Black start to eliminate Humanity! They resolve to leave none alive. Despite Shin's pleas to wait, Gowas resolves to go and persuade Zamas to stop. He's his master - maybe Zamas will listen...

Black and Zamas find the last hiding place of Humanity. Zamas goes to kill them. Then, Gowas appears, and appeals to Black to stop - but then, the last Humans are killed. Black tells him that all Gowas taught him is that mortals make mistakes over and over, and aren't needed for the peace of the Universe. Why then, Gowas asks, did Black kill the other Gods? Black replies they'd've opposed him - Gowas says that proves he's wrong. But they can start over - if Black will agree and take Gowas's hand, they will go and apologise to Zeno-Sama, and then begin anew. Zamas emerges to see this happening, but Shin, Trunks, and Mai appear to stop him from interfering. Goku Black reaches out...and stabs Gowas! He's killed Gowas twice before, after all - in the past, and in this time - what made Gowas think he'd hesitate now?? The fatally wounded Gowas stumbles and falls Earthward... Back in the Main Timeline, Vegeta bursts out of the Room of Spirit and Time, ready to kill Black for good; back at Kame House, Goku perfects the Mafuba to imprison Zamas. They're both ready for the battle to come!!

Chapter Notes

• I think that's the first time we've seen a weird swirly portal prior to the disappearance or emergence of the Time Machine. It certainly didn't appear in 超 #15 or 超 #18.

• Dr. Briefs's old stray cat made it back to the past with Goku and Vegeta. We'll see it playing with (presumably) its past self in 超 #26, as it becomes the only survivor (besides Trunks and Mai) of the destruction of its own timeline. It doesn't seem to go back with Trunks and Mai to join the earlier point in their timeline, so I guess it remains stranded in the Main Story timeline.

• So, the statement that you have to leave the controls the same to access the same timeline instead of just making a branching one makes a lot of sense, in and of itself, and it's supported by the fact that Trunks's own actions did this in the first place with 'our' timeline. This would have to mean that something like 3 years pass in Trunks's time between him first meeting Goku and his return to help fight the Androids, rather than the 8 months typically supposed (taken from the Time Machine's charging time, mentioned in the Trunks Special issue). I suppose Trunks could've left at the turn of 782/3 the first time around to access 764, and still been around 17 (at least, in terms of 'New Year reckoning'), but then left in late 785 to access May of 767. However, in terms of the other stuff we've seen, it's something of a problem, as Cell was able to access this timeline, a year prior to Trunks's first intervention, from further on in time (Age 788). Despite the difference in the settings (programmed by Trunks, as DB #363 makes clear), the Time Machine is apparently able to access the same timeline. In fairness, the concept was already confused and confusing, as Toriyama himself has acknowledged - I'm not sure we needed an added complication simply to prompt Shin to act in the interim while Goku and Vegeta are unable to do so, but at least it's not a totally illogical complication (even if it doesn't entirely link up smoothly with what Dragon Ball has already shown us).

• That said, the 'weakening connection with that Timeline' stuff is totally contrived for suspense purposes, and I don't think it's necessary at all. It just seems to give the impression of chucking the kitchen sink at the plot, just to say 'for real this time, you guys', but since it doesn't bother to give us a reason why the link is weakening now, and it hand-waves the whole thing away entirely in 超 #26 anyway, I can only criticise this as a totally unnecessary story element being ineptly lobbed into the mix here. If you really needed something to heighten the tension in this manner, then even something simpler, like 'we'll have used up all the Blue-15 we've developed so far on this go around, and we won't be able to generate enough for a new trip for x number of months, so if you don't get the job done this time, you'll leave Zamas free to rampage across timelines for months, and he'll come for our timeline next since he knows where we're from', would've done the same basic job well enough (though I suppose then they wouldn't have been able to go get the parallel Zeno right away). Otherwise, it just seems unnecessary.

• Mai is presumably out of bullets by this point, given her resorting to using the butt of her shotgun here, and her attempt to use Trunks's sword later. They're all equally useless at this point, of course (although the sword at least manages to wound Trunks).

• Black uses the same paralysing ray on Trunks that he used on Vegeta in 超 #20 - I'm not sure where this particular technique comes from, as it's not a technique that Goku has, and it's not one that Shin has demonstrated, either - Zamas himself doesn't use it, to boot. In appearance, it's very similar to Roshi's Bankokubikkuri-Shou from DB #50, but with the ability to move its target around as well (not necessarily saying that Roshi couldn't, I suppose, but he probably would've moved Goku out of bounds if he could). I guess this has to be chalked up as a Zamas-specific technique, or something he's seen on Godtube

• Trunks's dominant theme briefly comes out to play here - Holding on to Hope. It last emerged in 超 #14-15 as a principal motivator; Black's mention that "You Humans will all be gone forever, and there will be no hope" triggered Trunks to find the strength to escape then; but in 超 #20, he handed it all over to Goku and Vegeta, and it seems his 'hope' isn't tied up with surviving, but managing to protect others in some small way by ending the threat of Black/Zamas once and for all. It seems fitting that the theme of 'Hope' for Trunks is specifically tied up with the presence of the Time Machine (on which he wrote that totemic word) - at this point, he doesn't have it, and here he's at his lowest ebb; even when Zeno has erased that reality, Trunks still has the Time Machine, and it turns out that he still has the hope of creating an entirely new, peaceful future.

• Favourite art: Black preparing to destroy Trunks is a really pretty page (like Zamas says!); also stand-out are Zamas and Black killing off the Earthlings (simultaneously a good panel in itself and a good visual reference to DB #487, where Buu destroys Humanity), Black stabbing Gowas, and Vegeta stomping down the door to the Room of Spirit and Time. I think that overall, the art quality is a little better than it generally was in the last chapter - while nothing in it quite reaches the heights of Goku Black's transformation, I think it maintains a better average quality.

• So, I get the impression from this and from 超 #20 that the various Rings of Time in the Kaioshin box are simply symbolic of the number of parallel timelines that exist, rather than each giving access to the individual parallel realities to which they correspond. So, just wearing one of them looks like it gives access to all the parallel realities, irrespective of which particular ring is worn.

• Goku's training to use the Mafuba is generally reminiscent of Tenshinhan's training to learn the move in DB #151, including the various divots in the ground where he's missed on previous attempts (am I the only one who reads a groping subtext into Roshi's statement that Goku lacks "a gentle hand"? Even if it's not deliberate, it always creeps me out, just a touch). The characteristics of the Mafuba have been modified slightly now - it's not certain to kill the caster, but requires enough "physical strength from the caster" to avoid death. I guess this is a logical enough development, since the main characters are incalculably stronger than they were when the Mafuba was first introduced. Roshi mentions that he died once using the technique (true enough, in DB #146 - ironically enough, he missed the jar then, himself), and that he would likewise die if he tried it now. When Goku uses it in 超 #22, he uses enough power up that turning SSjB becomes no longer really viable, so it does amount to a pretty radical use of power.

• Zamas and Black plan to leave Earth the next day, for fear of being accosted by Zeno - ultimately, they're only stopped from following through on this because they linger to kill off all the Humans, which gives the Gods, and by extension the heroes, further provocation and time enough to stop them from leaving at all; in the fullness of time, this fixation will secure their demise. I think that's pretty fitting.

• It seems the Kaioshin world not only has some sort of food (which Goku could ask to eat back in DB #478, and is shown doing so in DB #482 - a bowl of fruit, and a decanter of some sort of drink), but also healing herbs that Shin can use to heal Trunks and Mai's wounds, in lieu of an attendant like Kibito, or an apprentice like Zamas (unless they're the same thing - they have the same powers, but Kibito seems like an unlikely apprentice to the position of Kaioshin). Kibito demonstrates the ability to heal first in DB #445, the ability to teleport, 'Kai-Kai' style, in DB #470 (and it's stated to be Kibito's ability specifically, in DB #509), and the good old clothes beam in DB #471. Shin will reveal in 超 #24 that he was once apprenticed, and so had healing powers himself. I'm intrigued as to what Gowas has in mind for reappraising the power and position of the Kaioshin, but this thought is interrupted and not returned to - perhaps he means that given how useless they are, they're too powerful? That would seem to track with the basic moral problem that someone like Zamas presents. However, I think that thematically, Shin answers it overall in this arc - he's not powerful compared to the protagonists or antagonists, but his interventions in the story, as here, are key to providing the opportunities that exist to thwart Zamas, and he always shows the will to make the intervention.

• Humanity ends in Storage Unit 03, in Parsley City, at the hands of a wannabe deity being led by the nose by his alternate-reality self in a body stolen from an alien by means of a magical wish-granting dragon. If you had all that on your Apocalypse Bingo Card, collect your winnings! Unfortunately, you have nowhere to spend them.

• Given what we've already heard, and what we will see of Zeno-Sama, does Gowas honestly believe that he'd accept an apology without further repercussions? In an appeal that ends up seeming shot through with naivete, in which he tries to talk his own murderer down from an omnicidal rampage, the idea that they'll say sorry for genociding all the Earthlings and then go on their merry way seems the most implausible aspect. Unsurprisingly, Black isn't having it (and neither is Zamas, when Shin states it more bluntly as a demand).

• That said, this does also serve as an effective moment that shows up Black and Zamas as completely incorrigible. I find it genuinely impactful to actually see the moments where Gowas has been killed in previous encounters - particularly the second time, juxtaposing as it does the surprised Zamas of that point with his current, twisted smugness to see the murder happen all over again, just to see how far he's fallen from that point under Black's influence. It really looks like Black has done something that Zamas wasn't expecting in that depiction, which seems also to point up the way he's brute-forced himself into his counterpart's life; this'll come back on him briefly when Goku points out that he's been using Zamas, and he acts to command him immediately thereafter, provoking anger in Zamas. Finally, I find the murderous satisfaction in this scene to be a really strong counterpoint to the interstitial after this chapter, where Gowas originally invited Zamas to be his understudy, is a very affecting memory of happier times - which, in turn, blends really well into the opening shot of the next chapter, which shows the dying Gowas - it's almost like the interstitial contains his 'last thoughts'.

Chapter 22 - Zamasu’s Final Resort/Zamas's Final Trump Card
21 March 2017

Spoiler:

The heroes crowd the apparently lifeless Gowas - outraged at this crime, Shin charges Black, but Zamas intervenes and bats him away. Trunks persists with Gowas, and squeezes his hand -- and Gowas gasps for air! He's alive! Everyone is amazed, but Black just says he'll kill the Kaioshin first so Trunks and Mai can't escape again. Trunks tells Mai to get away with Gowas on his capsule motorcycle, while he holds off Black, and attacks. Meanwhile, Vegeta and Goku have returned! The battle is now far from West City, but they can tell Trunks is fading fast - Goku and Vegeta use Shunkan Idou to move straight to the fight, where Black once again has Trunks helpless, and Zamas has Shin beaten. Vegeta tells Goku to heal them, and that he'll take care of Black; Black is amused, and the pair fly off. Goku feeds Trunks a Senzu, and evades Zamas's attempts to stop him by teleporting away. He appears in front of the fleeing Mai, who asks for a Senzu to heal Gowas.

Vegeta and Black face off elsewhere. Black wonders what Vegeta could've done, but says it'll be no match for him. Vegeta transforms...into Super Saiyan God!? Black laughs at him, but Vegeta's composure aggravates him, and he flings a blast at him. Vegeta turns it aside, and flips over another - and then puts on an astonishing burst of speed! Then, he's on the offensive, and an astonished Black is on the back foot! How is Vegeta doing this? Vegeta lands a clean hit that sends Black sprawling through the wreckage of the city. Black's convinced Vegeta must be using some trick. Vegeta mocks him for losing to Super Saiyan God, and they continue. Nearby, Goku's healed Trunks, Shin and Gowas, but now they only have one bean left... Goku hands off the Time Machine capsule to Trunks, and pops out the jar for the Mafuba to seal Zamas. After a huge explosion interrupts, it's clear Vegeta has Black on the ropes. How's he doing that in SSjG? Goku reveals that Vegeta is using the God Form because it is well-balanced and doesn't consume energy - but he's briefly exploding into Super Saiyan Blue when he attacks! But unlike the fight with Hit, he can repeatedly transform, and isn't losing any power, either. He's trained hard. Black realises this, but Vegeta says he won't be able to do anything about it. Zamas blindsides Vegeta and says they'll fight together, but Goku tells him to stay out of the fight - he'll be his opponent!

Black wonders what the jar's about, but Vegeta interrupts, and they go off to fight more. Zamas isn't concerned - he's immortal, he can't lose...Goku disagrees. He goes SSjB, and fires off the Mafuba! Zamas is caught by it, and Goku lands the dunk into the jar. He covers it, and Trunks helps tie it on - just the talisman to go, and Goku slaps it on - but it's a coupon for a Hostess Bar!? He got it mixed up with the talisman Roshi wrote for him... Without the talisman, Zamas bursts out of the jar again! He thought he was done for, so now he'll fight to the finish. Goku responds with Super Saiyan God. He's lost too much energy from the Mafuba to use Blue now, but God is just fine for Zamas. He lays Zamas out quickly, dodging a paralysing move, but Zamas won't take damage - he's immortal. But Black is still losing to Vegeta. Goku notes that Zamas is going to be alone soon - he's too weak to be able to carry out the plan alone. He's been used by Black. Faced with defeat, Zamas loses his composure, and turns on Black when he rebukes him. Its all going to be for nothing!

Vegeta says it's over, and gives them the choice of killing each other, or he'll destroy them both. Black responds by calming Zamas - they still have a card left to play... He takes his earring - Goku can see what's coming, and tells Vegeta to finish it quickly! - and puts it on his other ear. They're fusing!! Goku tries to stop them by firing a blast of his own, but a figure emerges from the smoke - the fused Zamas, the only deity in the Universe..!

Chapter Notes

• Apropos of nothing, I think this might've been the first chapter I ever read when I learned, belatedly, that there was a manga release for Dragon Ball Super.

• Damn, Shin - I know Shin-jin are technically sexless, but you've got a set of something or other on you to go after Black like that. A shame Zamas puts you in your place as a "weak God who can't even protect his own Universe".

• An interesting little touch - blink and you'll miss it - that Trunks removes his bandana to try to stanch Gowas's bleeding a bit. Apart from being pragmatically considerate of him, it also serves to hide the fact that Trunks is able to restore Gowas enough to stabilise him, as we therefore can't see how his wound might have changed from this.

• Vegeta mentions that the battle has moved far away from West City by this point. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, we've moved to Parsley City (which we'll only find confirmation of in the coming pages, when Vegeta kicks Black into Parsley City general hospital. It's appropriate, as Parsley City is the site at which Trunks finally destroys the Androids, in DB #419, so it fits as the site for the climactic battle for the fate of Trunks's Universe here. Parsley City is located at "BBN Point 49" (maybe that would make it a different region to West City itself, which is WST, and mentioned by Piccolo Daimao as being its own region of the world, in DB #153); according to Daizenshuu #4, it exists in the same general map grid as West City.

• Trunks calls the vehicle he gives Mai a "Motorcycle", but it's actually more like a three-wheeled scooter, with a convenient trailer attachment. I guess despite the Time Machine not having a ladder, Trunks's vehicular set-up seems otherwise directed towards strict pragmatism. Though the model is made by Capsule Corp, I don't think we've seen an exemplar of it in Dragon Ball before - it bears vague similarities to Oolong's attempt at a motorcycle from DB #7, if anything.

• I like Vegeta's SSjG transformation, complete with swooshy activation a la 超 #4. For me, it was initially slightly jarring that Black recognises the form, given that it's something he can't do himself - but then I remembered that (of course) he saw Goku do it on GodTube in 超 #17.

• Favourite art: Vegeta's dash at Black is pretty cool, as is Goku's SSjG transformation - I guess in this issue, the SSjG's have it from an art perspective. I also love the panel where Goku whomps Zamas in the gut after he smugly tells him he won't take damage - just expertly executed.

• Staying with SSjG for the moment - in retrospect, it seems that this Chapter is actually the swansong for the form - it gets a run-out with two good showings, but the form is already being relativised into somewhat niche/utility positions, rather than just being capable of straightforwardly defeating the main antagonist, as in 超 #13: Vegeta uses it as a usable baseline from which to repeatedly explode into SSjB (having overcome the weakness in SSjB that laid him low in the previous arc), and Goku uses it as a 'strong-enough' fallback when he doesn't have enough energy left to use Blue properly. In hindsight, it shows all the signs of a form in eclipse, which is sealed in 超 #24-25, when Goku points the way to 'completing' SSjB so that both he and Vegeta can achieve total facility with the more powerful form (as is the case by 超 #27). We won't see SSjG again until Goku is told to use all his transformations against Toppo in #29, and it allows him to stop getting knocked around so much (but again, when he wants to win, he goes SSjB); then, we just don't see it until Vegeta uses it as a more appropriate level of power than (the also obsolete) SSj when he faces off against Moro in 超 #44-45, before using SSjB to actually try to get the win - and after that, it's only seen in passing, when Moro takes energy and the heroes can't maintain SSjB any more. This is therefore, to all intents and purposes, a farewell to the form that started off Dragon Ball Super, so it's good that it goes out on something of a high note before bowing to the inevitable and vanishing from the list of useful transformations.

• Am I the only one who finds it funny that Black literally lands in the hospital admissions lounge?

• Goku mentions that the jar is a pickled plum container; apparently, the character on the jar reads "Ume" (plums). Toriyama managed to get some creative mileage out of this foodstuff already when writing Dr. Slump, with the character of 'Suppaman', a weak, useless, and self-serving parody of Superman. He is an alien from the planet Okaka-Umeboshi who assumes the true identity of 'Suppaman, Champion of Justice' when near a telephone booth - he eats a sour pickled plum and becomes the hero (the name is a pun on 'Suppai', meaning 'sour' - the Hiragana character for 'Su' is accordingly his symbol). Apart from dozens of appearances in Dr. Slump, Suppaman also appeared in DB #81-82, for the brief Penguin Village tie-in. He uselessly confronted General Blue, before seeing Blue was too strong to deal with, upon which he politely handed over his car. Unfortunately, he's not around to deal with this particular problem, and the plums are all eaten, so we just get the jar...

• Vegeta's strategy is particularly interesting, as it makes specifically rectifying his previous weakness when using SSjB (i.e., the act of transforming massively sapping his energy) the cornerstone of his approach, to address one of the broader weaknesses of the form (i.e., that its full power doesn't last very long regardless). I'm not sure we've ever seen Vegeta do proactive work to specifically address and fix a weakness like this (except DB #220, where he and Nappa have protected themselves against the Saiyan tail weakness) unlike, say, with the Beyond SSj forms in the Cell arc, where he shies away from making Trunks's mistake in the first place and settles for a kind of compromise form, before junking that as well in favour of ordinary SSj. While Vegeta will likewise dump this approach in favour of completing SSjB in the same manner as Goku, as of 超 #27, it's perhaps the first indication of Super trying to develop a different approach for Vegeta, which will find further and more lasting expression in SSjB^e, in 超 #40, and "Spirit Control", from 超 #52 onwards. I think the specific adoption of the 'sneakily transforming to use the strengths of various forms' plot point is originally taken from Dragon Ball AF #5 (the draft chapter), where Vegeta uses Maximum Power versions of SSj^III, SSj3 and SSj4 instantaneously to fight Xicor (while still appearing to be just SSj), though this application of it in Dragon Ball Super is less fiddly than the AF plot point, which requires a whole diagram to work out the idea, like so:
  
  
  
  (you don't say).

• The Mafuba obviously takes direct visual reference from DB #135, #146 (in particular, as Roshi and Goku share a posture there), and #181. I really do enjoy the dopey joke where Goku accidentally took the Hostess Bar coupon instead of the talisman - it's certainly a fresh way to screw up the Mafuba, since we've already done missing the dunk, breaking the jar, and getting the Mafuba reflected back at you; it's also a really surprising moment, as it's a pretty big and sudden tone shift, which is pretty ballsy (I can't see this gag working in the Piccolo Daimao arc, for instance).

• I enjoy Goku pausing his assault to reemphasise the fact that Zamas's plan is coming apart at this point, and that Black has used him. The phrase, "It seems like he's taken a lot of psychological damage..!" is a tad goofy to my mind, as it just conjures the idea of an RPG-style HP Bar up in Zamas's noggin, dipping into the red. But Goku's point is important - Zamas can't actually enact the plan himself, only Black can. This leaves Zamas himself as an awkward side-car to the plan, rather than an equal partner. It's fitting that when Black sees Zamas laid out, he then orders him around; unsurprisingly, Zamas takes poorly to being addressed as though he's an instrument, and so this is the closest point we get to the heroes actually winning, in hindsight. I like that the idea of 'breaking the two up' gets some brief treatment (not too much, though, as that would've been a bit too hackneyed) before being resolved in fusion, as both elements work well in the broader themes of teamwork and unity. It's interesting that this happens again in 超 #25, when the pair are quite literally split up (and there's hope of victory) and yet remain fused by means of their unity of soul.

Okay, that's all for now - I'll be back with Part 2 (Chapters 23-24) later in the week, so keep on re-reading..!

[LoganForkHands73]

One thing that I do like in the manga's portrayal of Black and Future Zamasu's dynamic is that Black is clearly the dominant one. While I like the anime's interpretation to make them a perfectly *NSYNC duo, I've recently been conflicted about the fact that Black is folded so totally into Zamasu's identity -- after the reveal, Black pretty much stops feeling like an active agent in the plot, just another identical aspect of Zamasu. It's weird talking about it since Black of course is Zamasu, but let's be real, in all the ways that count Black is a distinct character. Zamasu wasn't the "face" of the arc, the image of an evil, smirking, genocidal Son Goku was. The reveal makes sense from a storytelling perspective and serves the themes of Zamasu's insincerity, but it can be somewhat disappointing to think that Black is nothing but Zamasu in a premium Gamestop exclusive skin.

Manga Black being a bossy dick to his own alternate self only serves to emphasise that he can't even get along with himself, and more importantly gives him a more defined role against his Kaioshin self as the true diabolical mastermind. And damn does the manga often make Black look diabolical. Perhaps one of the only truly scary Dragon Ball designs.

Jesus Christ!

[ankokudaishogun]

yeah, like with Jiren they went in completely different direction between anime and manga with Zamasu&Black.

Specifically, they went in OPPOSITE directions:
Anime Zamasu trusts only himself, but does it absolutely, generating a dark mirror of perfect teamwork.
Manga Zamasu trusts nobody, not even himself, and almost get defeated by internal strife.

[Cipher]

So, the statement that you have to leave the controls the same to access the same timeline instead of just making a branching one makes a lot of sense, in and of itself, and it's supported by the fact that Trunks's own actions did this in the first place with 'our' timeline. This would have to mean that something like 3 years pass in Trunks's time between him first meeting Goku and his return to help fight the Androids, rather than the 8 months typically supposed (taken from the Time Machine's charging time, mentioned in the Trunks Special issue). I suppose Trunks could've left at the turn of 782/3 the first time around to access 764, and still been around 17 (at least, in terms of 'New Year reckoning'), but then left in late 785 to access May of 767. However, in terms of the other stuff we've seen, it's something of a problem, as Cell was able to access this timeline, a year prior to Trunks's first intervention, from further on in time (Age 788). Despite the difference in the settings (programmed by Trunks, as DB #363 makes clear), the Time Machine is apparently able to access the same timeline. In fairness, the concept was already confused and confusing, as Toriyama himself has acknowledged - I'm not sure we needed an added complication simply to prompt Shin to act in the interim while Goku and Vegeta are unable to do so, but at least it's not a totally illogical complication (even if it doesn't entirely link up smoothly with what Dragon Ball has already shown us).

This seems to be part and parcel of the contrived tension-building you get at in the note below--taking advantage of the many unsaids of timeline and time-travel mechanics to ratchet up drama when needed. (We can't go back to that timeline anymore after the next trip! Every moment spent waiting around in the present counts, since we can't just zip back to the moment in Trunks' timeline we left from!) Both the weakening link and the need to maintain particular settings are disproven by the end of the arc, with Pilaf's discovery of the ability to maintain links via the Time Machine's settings, and Trunks' trip to an earlier point in his own timeline for his final venture, definitively putting an end to the notion that timeline links depend on unchanged settings.

I don't mind playing with this lore for that kind of momentary tension-increase though. Yes, there are other ways at it (perhaps not so much a reason that time spent in the present also has to endanger Trunks in the future though), but it's in DB's wheelhouse to play fast and lose with lore like this when it serves drama in the moment. It's a case where I completely see what the series is doing, but where I don't mind it for the kind of series DB(S) is.

Trunks's dominant theme briefly comes out to play here - Holding on to Hope. It last emerged in 超 #14-15 as a principal motivator; Black's mention that "You Humans will all be gone forever, and there will be no hope" triggered Trunks to find the strength to escape then; but in 超 #20, he handed it all over to Goku and Vegeta, and it seems his 'hope' isn't tied up with surviving, but managing to protect others in some small way by ending the threat of Black/Zamas once and for all. It seems fitting that the theme of 'Hope' for Trunks is specifically tied up with the presence of the Time Machine (on which he wrote that totemic word) - at this point, he doesn't have it, and here he's at his lowest ebb; even when Zeno has erased that reality, Trunks still has the Time Machine, and it turns out that he still has the hope of creating an entirely new, peaceful future.

Just want to highlight this, because it's why I feel the ending of the arc works. There's a consistent throughline of Trunks being a character who represents hope in a way that works beyond/outside of simply defeating the bad guys, and it's better served by the particular events of the ending than it would be most other outcomes. He's in a pretty unique spot in that way, among the Dragon Ball cast. This aspect to him is present in the original Dragon Ball, as one of his missions is creating a more hopeful parallel world even without direct influence on his own, but what was merely plot catalyst there has become character focus and message here.

There's also an element of acceptance and growth in his choice, as he was seriously considering in the manga, with Future Bulma's consent, abandoning his timeline and simply living more comfortably in the present. By the end of the arc, he's come to think that giving his era the same kind of second chance he gave the "present" timeline is the route worth taking, even at explicit detriment to his own comfort.

[Magnificent Ponta]

The Super Re-Read: Chapters 21 - 24
Part 2 (Chapters 23 and 24)



Hello, hello, hello - it's been a busy week in Dragon Ball, but the Super Re-Read is back to finish off this fortnight's instalment - we're moving on to the later chapters of Volume 4, as Zamas's fusion takes on the heroes, the fusion warrior Vegetto turns in an appearance, and the final confrontation of the arc begins!

As usual, thanks and credit goes to Kanzenshuu for a lot of the information in these threads, particularly the Japanese titles, the publication dates, and material from the interview archive to elucidate a lot of the talking points in the chapter notes.

Grab your manga, and let's get re-reading!

Chapter 23 - The Potara’s True Worth/The Potara's True Worth
21 April 2017

Spoiler:

The fused Zamas tells the heroes that they'll pay for their rebellion against the Gods. Goku and Vegeta recognise the fusion, as does Shin, who explains the concept to Trunks. Zamas is now a mighty warrior... he quickly proved it by striking Vegeta and Goku so quickly they can't even see it. They fall out of SSjG. An angered Vegeta goes SSjB and attacks; Zamas blitzes him, defeating him easily. Goku tries Blue as well, despite having used too much energy. Zamas deflects all his attacks, and says it's like he's not even moving. Goku charges a blast, and pierces Zamas through the chest! But he recovers immediately - on top of everything, he's still immortal..! He telekinetically chokes Goku and Vegeta, and then blows everything away. There's just a huge crater where the city used to be (though everyone's barely escaped - but Vegeta and Goku are both roughed up, and there's only one Senzu left). Zamas is jubilant. He rejoices in this astonishing power - all the other Gods are unnecessary now; he'll terminate all intelligent life that isn't himself!

He fires off a random volley of blasts, which Goku and Vegeta can barely defend against - Goku protects the bystanders from the fallout as well. Goku tells them to get further away, but Shin hands over his own potara earrings - Zamas could never beat Vegetto! Goku thinks about it, but Vegeta dismisses it out of hand. Fusion will never happen again. Goku agrees, and is about to hand the earrings back, but Vegeta takes off to fight Zamas, and Goku tucks the earrings away and hurries after him - it's his turn to fight, after all! Gowas is mystified that they should refuse fusion and fight alone... Goku stops Vegeta, and goes on ahead to challenge Zamas. He goes Blue, but is overmastered again; Zamas then toys with Goku, shooting blocks of Kattin/Klangite at him. Gowas says if Goku could last an hour, Zamas's fusion will be nullified! Everyone's astonished - isn't the fusion permanent?? Gowas says that's only true for Kaioshin - Zamas isn't one yet. Trunks resolves to buy time to help make this happen, despite Vegeta's protests; this is his world, and he has to make sure Vegeta lives -- for his mother's sake...

Goku is on his last legs, and wonders whether to eat the Senzu now. But Vegeta appears, and tells him to hand over the potara! As Zamas prepares to kill them both, a huge blast lances out and takes off his arm! He regrows it, but who could do this? It's Vegetto, the fusion of Goku and Vegeta! He tells Zamas that their respective fusions will only last an hour, chomps on the last Senzu...and goes Blue! He'll erase Zamas completely, he says, and then attacks. He completely stomps Zamas, who is utterly helpless before his power. He prepares a final blast to erase Zamas, who attacks with his blocks again. Vegetto dodges without trouble, and Shin speculates that he's even stronger than Beerus... but as he prepares to unleash his Final Kamehameha, Vegetto's fusion ends! Goku and Vegeta are struck by Zamas's full force attack! But how??

Chapter Notes

• It's interesting that Merged Zamas wasn't very strong in the original draft, so that either of the SSjBs could've beaten him in terms of power - obviously, as Toyotarou mentions, there are various plot contortions that avoid a straightforward confrontation like this (or at least mean it has to clear a bunch more hurdles first), and I think that's all to the good. So, while Zamas's fusion is nothing like as strong as the fusion of Goku and Vegeta, it still seems like it's supposed to be stronger than SSjB ordinarily is, which sets up the further confrontation when Goku unleashes completed SSjB.

• It's fitting that Zamas's style of movement and fighting has likewise fused here - I've already mentioned Zamas's tendency to often fight from a distance, almost as if to avoid touching his (mortal) opponents. Black, by contrast, has been a much more hands-on brawler. So now, Zamas seems fine with touching his opponents to attack, but there always seems to be a curious detachment and distancing about it, even when being more hands-on - this fusion of approach seems best exemplified in the next chapter, with his use of the portal-based attacks, but it's already there early on in the character of how he moves, particularly in how he repulses Goku and deflects his assaults; it's telling that Zamas isn't physically touched by Goku and Vegeta (unfused) until Goku completes SSjB in 超 #24; this impression of Zamas's success in keeping his distance is backed up by the fact that when Goku actually lands a punch, it's treated like something of a breakthrough.

• Of course, we're treated to a prime example of the inverse correlation between durability and regenerative capacity, when Goku manages to blow a hole in the immortal Zamas, despite being relatively low on power (and it's regenerated immediately, of course). Obviously, we've already seen this feature demonstrated in Dragon Ball by Cell, and most especially by Buu, for whom it's a key ability - it's not surprising that Vegetto's threat to destroy Zamas before he can regenerate directly echoes his threat to the almost, but not quite immortal, Buu.

• It goes towards what we've already seen of (and what I've already argued about) Zamas's character that, drunk on his considerable power boost, he doubles down on his own self-centred superficiality by saying not only that he'll be able to destroy all the mortals this way, but also all the other Gods - so his Zero Mortals Plan becomes essentially a 'Zamas-Only Plan', as he resolves to terminate all intelligent beings other than himself, which is absurd in its grandiosity, and is put firmly in its place when the mortal fusion Vegetto shows him how massive his own power is (which Shin thinks is stronger even than Beerus).

• Of course, in the midst of this, we get another visual reference to Buu's extermination of Humanity in DB #487. Given the context in which it appears, this seems pretty appropriate.

• Of course, Goku and Vegeta refused the Potara fusion in DB #509, so their instincts leading them to refuse it this time is perfectly in character (particularly since the Buu fight contrived to work out okay, so they haven't learned anything from that encounter). Fortunately, Vegeta isn't holding the Potara this time, so they get to reconsider that decision. The argument over 'turns' is pretty funny when framed from a distance, too.

• Zamas keeps his arms folded when Goku attacks, just to underscore the difference between them (and to some extent, it references Vegetto's performance against Buu). I also like Zamas generating the blocks of Kattin/Klangite (Viz decide on Klangite in this chapter, having rendered it Kattin in 超 #16, having rendered it Klangite back in DB #479), but only really when he's toying with Goku, as mockery by beating him with "mere objects"; it looks a tad goofy when he's using the blocks to actually fight Vegetto with later.

• Initially when I heard of the retcon for Potara earrings such that it would get a time limit like Metamor Fusion, I loathed it - the permanence of Potara Fusion having been established for about 20 years by this point, it seemed like an awful contrivance. But then I considered it from the perspective of how many issues this had been canon for, and the answer is 42. By contrast, as an example, Piccolo's 'retcon' from terrifying Demon King to (really pretty weak) Namekian is 79 issues, and Goku's from super-powered Monkey-boy to (really pretty weak) Saiyan is 197 issues, so that helped me relativise how big a deal that change really is. The caveat that it remains permanent if a Kaioshin is a participant helps keep things consistent and so sugars the pill, too - when it was introduced in DB #501, Shin knew nothing of that power at all (and see the interstitial for a nice little nod to the idea that Dai Kaioshin basically never taught him anything anyway), and it makes sense for the (permanently-fused) Elder Kaioshin to have assumed that it's permanent - after all, it's a tool for the Gods to use, so it's unsurprising that they should only have observed it being used in that context.

• Of course, Shin's conclusion that Goku and Vegeta's fusion ended because of the time limit the last time they used it also means that Vegetto messed around with Buu for around an hour back in DB #504-505. But it also is in keeping with what Goku had to say back in DB #506, too - he notes that since Gotenks could remain fused within Buu, fusion can actually work within Buu; he ponders it for a moment, and then it's never discussed again. Generally, I think the hand-waviness of the original manga when considering this problem gives this outing just enough of a 'hook' to be a reasonable conclusion to the whole thing.

• We get a nice bit combining Vegeta's own character development with the more specific theme of Vegeta's bond with Bulma, here, as Vegeta is persuaded to swallow his pride and accept fusion with Goku for the sake of both the Bulma who missed him (as in DB #348) and wanted to see him again - before Black ended that possibility - and for the one still waiting for him to come home safely, who he has acknowledged as "My Bulma" in both 超 #3 and 超 #6 (which will get a tender pay-off in 超 #26). It's also characteristically 'Vegeta' to give Trunks a brusque brush-off here, but it's noteworthy that he doesn't dispute the sentiment, as such - only that Trunks is the one to present it.

• Favourite art: I very much enjoy the scene where Vegetto transforms and smacks Zamas around, up until the point he whacks him into the ground. The linework seems so strong, dynamic and confident, and as a beat in the middle of the whole thing, I really like the panels where Vegetto socks Zamas off into the distance, and comes to a brief stop before launching off again - I really like the work done here (were some of these pages added for the volume release, or did I completely imagine that?). Really, though, I think the art quality of this particular Chapter is stronger than the previous chapters, in the same way that I said Chapter 21 was better than Chapters 19 and 20. It's good to see what I think of as a progressive recovery and improvement in the art after Toyotarou had to take on the 40+ page chapters each month; he seems to have adapted well.

• Of course, it's an established part of his repertoire (as of DB #504), but it's still a nice little bit of table-turning to see Vegetto's ki sabre get the better of Zamas, who is so fond of his ki punch blade. According to Daizenshuu #4 (pp. 110-117), the ki sabre is an 'alteration-type' ki attack, of the same sort as the Kienzan, insofar as they both have "some additional value different from the traditional energy bullet-type ki manipulation attacks".

• The "it wasn't supposed to be like this" sentiment comes from Zamas once again, as his fortunes wane - it's also a reference (I think, not being privy to the original Japanese) to Super Buu's sentiments when fighting Vegetto, in DB #505. I guess he brings that kind of feeling out of people.

Chapter 24 - Son Goku’s Evolution/Son Goku’s Evolution
20 May 2017

Spoiler:

Goku and Vegeta are laid out by Zamas's attack. Shouldn't they have had more time as Vegetto? Gowas hypothesises that the fusion was made unstable by their radical power; Zamas is still a God, so perhaps we just saw the limits of mortal fusion... Zamas is aggravated by their presumption, and opens portals to attack through. Trunks asks how long Zamas's fusion has - Shin says around 20 minutes still remain, but stops Trunks from intervening. There's nothing he can do now. As Zamas beats on Goku and Vegeta, Shin wishes to himself that he were still apprenticed to the old Kaioshin - he'd still have the power to restore, then. But Gowas points out that he could only have come here as a Kaioshin anyway. But wait - Trunks asks what Shin meant by what he said. Shin explains that the servants of the Kaioshin (like Kibito) have the power to restore. Trunks reveals that he's been an apprentice to the Kaioshin of this time! He even went through the ritual - he has the power to restore!!

Trunks realises that he saved Mai and Gowas earlier with that power, without even realising. He gets ready to heal Vegeta and Goku, as Vegeta is thrown from the battle. Shin cautions him that Goku and Vegeta are too powerful - he'll only be able to restore one of them fully. But Vegeta stops Trunks from healing him! If Trunks can heal only one of them -- he should heal Goku. Vegeta accepts that he saw when they were fused, that Goku is the only one who could stand against Zamas now... But they'll all make it home alive. Vegeta takes off back to the battle, where an exhausted Goku is being used as a pinball in Zamas's increasingly enraged portal attacks. Vegeta catches Goku in the middle of it, and tosses him back to Trunks, facing off against Zamas himself. He goads Zamas to buy time for the restoration to take place, and Zamas is easily led in his rage, using Vegeta as a punching bag. Goku asks if Trunks is really okay with healing him over Vegeta, and Trunks replies that even Vegeta has swallowed his pride. With that, he restores Goku's power...

With Vegeta at his limit, Goku returns to the battle. Shin retrieves the beaten Vegeta, and Goku says this time, he'll show Zamas everything he's got. Trunks stabilises Vegeta, allowing him to regain consciousness. Goku goes Blue, which Zamas mocks as dated. But then, Goku's aura vanishes. Zamas thinks he's just been buying time, but Vegeta says this is the answer...Goku attacks! The pair trade blows, blocking and dodging each other, until the pair land a clean hit on each other - they're equal! Vegeta explains that Goku sealed the overflowing Blue power within, and so he's fighting at full power all the time. He's completed Super Saiyan Blue! A fierce fight continues, with each countering each other's blows; Goku isn't letting up - maybe he can last long enough for Zamas's fusion to end - but Vegeta notices Goku's at his limit. The Blue power is threatening to erupt at any time, and Zamas is continuing to restore himself with his immortality - how long can this last before Goku's body breaks from holding the power inside??

Chapter Notes

• It's an interesting little detail that the Potara on Goku and Vegeta's ears break of their own accord after the fusion ends. Since this didn't happen in DB #506 when the two separated, I assume this is meant to be indicative of the instability of the fusion that Gowas mentions on the next page, along with conveniently skirting the question of when and whether they might be able to re-combine at any point (though Gowas selfishly holds on to his own earrings, instead of giving them another go at it...). I'm in two minds about the early de-fusion: on the one hand, it reminds me of the whole thing with SSj4 Gogeta de-fusing early in Dragon Ball GT (that's not a good thing), but on the other hand, I think it makes sense that the Shin-jin would be naturally more compatible with their own tools.

• Shin will note that Zamas still has 20 minutes of fusion time left. Even assuming that he wasted a fair amount of time smacking Goku and Vegeta around for his own amusement (though Gowas says Goku would need to last an hour when he has a second go at Zamas, so it seems that whatever came before that didn't last long at all), it would be reasonable to estimate that Vegetto was able to fight somewhere around 30 to 40 minutes in SSjB, without any visible issues as respects power drop-off, before the fusion ended - which (if upheld) would be pretty remarkable.

• As Zamas opens up the portals here, I thought I'd just add the note that he seems to get more 'handsy' and less detached the angrier he gets, as when he starts choking Goku and only uses the portals to move him through (thus actually smacking him around close up), or when he lays the beatdown on Vegeta when he's standing astride him. I think that's a neat visual depiction of Zamas's mood as he becomes less composed generally - it's also interesting that he starts getting a fixation in having mortals kneel before him, as he says it to both Goku and Vegeta.

• Gowas mentions that if Shin hadn't become a Kaioshin, he wouldn't have been able to use the Ring of Time even though he would have the power of restoration - but really, since all the other Kaioshin have either died or officially retired by this point, Shin could've always done a Zamas and assumed the power without it being officially conferred upon him, and then he'd have the best of both worlds, in that respect - or, more plausibly, Shin could've regretted ending his fusion with Kibito instead, as he had all those powers back then; still, it's interesting to note that Shin once held an apprentice position to serve the Kaioshin - all we knew before this was that he was once the youngest and weakest Kaioshin out of 5 active holders of the title (as per DB #508).

• I like the revelation that Trunks is apprenticed to the Kaioshin (though it's a bit odd that a mortal can be, or that Shin wouldn't make clear what apprenticeship entails) - enough groundwork has been done in saving Mai and Gowas, so that it seems like a natural outgrowth of what we've already seen, rather than just being shoved into the mix (it also answers Trunks's despair at being useless). While Kaioshin saying that Trunks can only heal one of the pair of SSjBs to full is quite a transparent authorial dichotomy, it has a certain amount of support in Kibito seeming to show a certain amount of effort in restoring Gohan's "immeasurable" ki in DB #445. Daizenshuu #7 notes that the power to restore gives ki to the recipient - the full description is as follows: "A technique where one gives ki to bodies that have been injured or whose battle power has dropped from battle, restoring their power. With his dormant power released by Saichourou, Dende gathers the electricity-like ki from his entire body, and emits it from his hands. Kibito uses an ability he got from being born among the people of the Heavenly Realm, restoring people through a kiai that he sends into them." Trunks's power seems to be like something more like Kibito's when used properly, as opposed to latently.

• Vegeta admitting the truth that only Goku can stand against Zamas now and swallowing his pride by telling Trunks to heal him is, of course, another step in the teamwork theme, but of a similar beat that we saw in his fight with Buu; the interesting thing to me is that it's directly juxtaposed with telling Zamas that even if he has to die, he'll never give up his pride. It's interesting to see him simultaneously prideful in scorning his enemies, and humble in giving the heroes the chance at victory. Of course, this will find its clearest expression to date in 超 #41, where he initiates a team-up with Goku against Jiren and sets aside his pride for victory, even after having made a clear statement of pride in his own personal capabilities in 超 #40. It's interesting to see these positions coexisting routinely within Vegeta's character right now, which could only really have happened after the reconciliation he made in DB #510.

• Favourite art: The fight between Goku and Zamas is high-paced and well-choreographed. It's a pity that Toyotarou has got Zamas's left hand the wrong way around in the otherwise lovely 'simultaneous punch' panel, though it makes a certain amount of sense in 'looking' like a stronger hit than doing it the right way around probably would've. But generally, I really enjoy the sequence; I think it's the sign of a skilfully-done sequence when I find my pace of reading increases to match the pace that the sequence is trying to convey, as here.

• Viz's creditable attempts at fitting in English sound effects appears to have had a slight goof in how it reads when the Blue tries to blast out of Goku the first time, when he's holding off Zamas's blast - in my copy, the sound effect appears to say 'BALM', which gave me a small chuckle when I noticed it.

• I've already argued elsewhere what I think is going on with Goku completing SSjB; alternative and contrary interpretations can definitely be (up)held, but as a summary, I think:
  • Descriptions and depictions of SSjB indicate that a significant amount of its power is overflowing into the aura. As it's not within the body, it isn't used. Yet, SSjB's full power is there, even if it can't be used and directed at will. How long this full power lasts depends on the next point.
  • As the user fights and their stamina drops due to expenditure of effort, the power overflowing into the aura leaches away and isn't there any more (the form is no longer at full power). Likewise, the power within overflows ever more out into the aura, and in turn leaches away, until too much power is expended to use the form properly (or at all).
  • Completed SSjB seals the power in the aura within the body, which is therefore more power than an SSjB typically has at their disposal for use. This therefore is a buff in practical terms, and it is capable of continuous use without diminishing even when in a fierce fight that requires high expenditure of effort, as it isn't leaching away.
  • So, Completed SSjB has advantages over 'ordinary' SSjB both in the amount of power it can command, and the duration for which it can do so.
  Just how I interpret the exchange - I think it's supported by the notion of Zamas's fused power being raised much higher than the original draft called for, and the fact that the Oracle Fish mentions in 超 #27 that Goku was stronger than Vegeta outright in this fight (and, as we know, the Oracle Fish is never wrong).

• I guess, as an added element to things, the fact that Goku appears to be damaging himself here (due to not having acclimatised himself fully to this method of using SSjB's power) means he still may not be wielding the power fully, as per Jiren's statement in 超 #39. If so, he'd be getting a sort of power-up in a practical way (if not a strict 'ki size' sense) by the time the Tournament of Power rolls around, where he can use it with complete facility.

• Well, having mostly got the intricate scene-setting out of the way in 超 #14-20, in keeping with the much slower pace of that part of the arc, we've blown into the much more rapid and action-focused second half of 超 #21-26. As I mentioned last time, I think that was the right choice, although sometimes some more elaborate detail will occasionally pop in to keep the story straight or add a new element of tension (e.g. how the Time Machine works, who has what kind of powers - such as Trunks's restoration power - and the additional rules for the potara); fortunately, it generally isn't too jarring an intrusion, though I still get a vague yet pervading sense of (sometimes over-)elaborateness in the plot developments overall; I think it's born from Toyotarou's creditable instinct to give us twists and turns while still remaining basically faithful to the original outline, which is rather more direct. Though sometimes, it does seem a little messy, in places. Overall, I've found the arc entertaining so far, with some surprisingly impactful emotional aspects to it, which I wasn't expecting (particularly 超 #21-22, with Gowas's failed persuasion), and instances of alighting on various aspects of a theme (such as unity and teamwork) to fully round it out. We've only got the final confrontation and resolution of the arc to go, now, but I think 超 #25 is still probably the zenith of Super's depicted action overall, so I'm looking forward to it to round out the arc overall.

Alright, well, that's the first full volume re-read. Though I enjoyed it, I have to say it was about as much of a struggle to get all this down as I'd anticipated, so I'm going for a lie down. Your turn, fellow re-readers - how've you felt about the progress of the arc? Anything from this part of it that you thought particularly noteworthy?

[TobyS]

Yeah I don't mind the potara retcon it makes sense it's not for mortals or they'd put a safeguard to stop mortals being a threat to them.
Elder Kaioshin quite possibly has never seen a mortal on mortal fusion case tested perhaps there never has.
Or as xenoverse says at I think minute 37
https://youtu.be/awWPNwaMylc that he just forgot but the smarter kaioshin remembered.
Which feels like something AT would write.

It's still stronger, quicker to use, unfuckupable lasts longer and requires artifacts from god's.

So it still feels special to me.

I always prefereed the assumption Trunks only had 8months to better explain why vegeta and Goku surpassed him.

But I guess I can go with the hiding from androids poor nutrition and no partner or gravity chamber explanation.

Could it possibly also be argued that it was 8 months before but the difference is that the fading link is what's stopping them being able to change that setting anymore lest it weaken the link further.

Obviously trunks can't go back to further then his previous visit but he should be able to go back anywhere between then and his current year.

Does anything preclude this, otherwise I'll go with the first option of 8 months was never the case idk.

I don't see what him making the new timeline at the end contradicts, that's the point he goes back to a different year and it splits his future.

Do you mean he should be making a split of the main timeline now? Because although the time rings gone his future still exists in so much as a empty void exists there and he's going back in time to the past of the future void to before it was a void, not going back to the main times future or past.

I really like your breakdowns. Zamasu is a dick but just thinking he's noble makes him different to others.

It's assumed if not stated they've emptied the rest of U7 now right? Just killing gods from other universes?

Is it ever specified they want more then one universe or more then one while timeline?
I think they are happy with Just one aren't they?

[Cipher]

Is it ever specified they want more then one universe or more then one while timeline?
I think they are happy with Just one aren't they?

Given their killing off gods across the multiverse, it seems like a given that the initial goal was wiping out mortal life across each of the 12 universes in at least one timeline.

Zamasu will announce just before the end of the arc that the plan (whether as of just then or from earlier on) is to use the time machine kept in Universe 12 to enact their plan in each parallel timeline as well.

[Magnificent Ponta]

Is it ever specified they want more then one universe or more then one while timeline?
I think they are happy with Just one aren't they?

Given their killing off gods across the multiverse, it seems like a given that the initial goal was wiping out mortal life across each of the 12 universes in at least one timeline.

Zamasu will announce just before the end of the arc that the plan (whether as of just then or from earlier on) is to use the time machine kept in Universe 12 to enact their plan in each parallel timeline as well.

I got the feeling when re-reading that Zamas's grandiosity and the scope of his ambition swells with his power; he initially seems to refer to killing the other Gods as a functional necessity to stop them from interfering with what he's doing in Trunks's world, and perhaps to establish his own personal supremacy as the only remaining deity. It's possible that he's just using Trunks's Universe as a congenial test-bed for wider ambitions, but if so, they're latent at this stage.

He only seems to actively consider killing all other intelligent life when he fuses with himself and declares all other intelligent beings unnecessary, and that's also when he seems to get his mad-on for trying to get Goku and Vegeta to genuflect to him. And, as you say, he only seems to plan to destroy mortals throughout time once the heroes attempt to escape to 'the past'.

Could it possibly also be argued that it was 8 months before but the difference is that the fading link is what's stopping them being able to change that setting anymore lest it weaken the link further.

That's a nice thought - there's nothing really to indicate it in the dialogue, from what I can tell; they seem pretty emphatic that simply the setting itself makes the difference between whether you access the same timeline or not - certainly the logic that it's not really just travelling in time, but between realities, seems to emphasise why you can't go to different points in that reality (else Goku and Vegeta would be able to arrive just after they left). But I do like that idea.

I don't see what him making the new timeline at the end contradicts, that's the point he goes back to a different year and it splits his future.

Do you mean he should be making a split of the main timeline now? Because although the time rings gone his future still exists in so much as a empty void exists there and he's going back in time to the past of the future void to before it was a void, not going back to the main times future or past.

Is this in reference to my comment on Chapter 17? If so, what I'm getting at is more that it's a bit odd that the Time Machine can access a destroyed alternate reality at any point along its timeline - the destruction of its Ring of Time implies that this can't happen - so, for instance, this indicates that Shin wouldn't be able to access this 'void world' at any point - though Shin would be travelling to the future, from his own perspective, so there should be nothing to stop him from accessing a point prior to the destruction of that reality, just going by the rules of how the Rings of Time are supposed to work. So I guess it was more a comment on 'contrary indicators' than a 'contradiction' as such.

It's assumed if not stated they've emptied the rest of U7 now right? Just killing gods from other universes?

I would probably say 'yes' to this, if I weren't made to hesitate by Zamas and Black planning to go hide on another planet. Two Gods with huge power 'hiding' from other Gods in an otherwise empty Universe doesn't sound quite right, somehow. I think it's probable enough that Black has spent at least some time in the last few years killing alien mortals; I doubt he's just been killing Gods and recruiting Zamas in all that time before coming back to Earth. So, I'm left a bit uncertain, still.

Just to belatedly respond to another comment:

Yeah, the powerscaling of this fight is a complicated issue.
I would just like to address that even if we assume that Trunks did not use his SSJ3 power level in his last confrontation with Black before returning to the main timeline, he still says that it was a long time since he had seen Black transform into SSJ, which implies that Base Black had become strong enough to easily overcome FP SSJ2 Trunks, which brings us to the core of the problem which is the fact that based on all this, SSJ2 Vegeta would be hundreds of times stronger than SSJ3 Goku, which means that Base Vegeta would also be much stronger than Base Goku, which would make him have a considerable advantage in their stronger forms (SSB), which does not seem to be the case because both are treated as equals.

Soooooo, yeah I think it is enough, we will hardly have a definitive answer to that. Particularly it is one of the few cases of powerscaling in the manga where I think none of the explanations are very satisfactory

I think the unsatisfactoriness of any answer is probably the crux of it - while Vegeta's SSj2 multiplier is, I think, an outlier that doesn't really drag his base power out of line with Goku's (as per Chapter 3), you're right that one would have to contrive an explanation for Trunks not using full power SSj2 against Black recently. One would basically have to argue something like 'the last time Black used SSj was the last time Trunks used Full Power, and ever since he's either been too worn out to use it or doesn't bother because he knows that it won't do anything because Black has SSj in reserve'. Which isn't particularly convincing. Any explanation probably needs the interpreter to squint at it a bit, which I don't think really happens otherwise in Dragon Ball Super - it can be plenty ambiguous at times, but I think this is the only time its power scaling is just a bit wonky.

[TobyS]

Is it ever specified they want more then one universe or more then one while timeline?
I think they are happy with Just one aren't they?

Given their killing off gods across the multiverse, it seems like a given that the initial goal was wiping out mortal life across each of the 12 universes in at least one timeline.

Zamasu will announce just before the end of the arc that the plan (whether as of just then or from earlier on) is to use the time machine kept in Universe 12 to enact their plan in each parallel timeline as well.

I got the feeling when re-reading that Zamas's grandiosity and the scope of his ambition swells with his power; he initially seems to refer to killing the other Gods as a functional necessity to stop them from interfering with what he's doing in Trunks's world, and perhaps to establish his own personal supremacy as the only remaining deity. It's possible that he's just using Trunks's Universe as a congenial test-bed for wider ambitions, but if so, they're latent at this stage.

He only seems to actively consider killing all other intelligent life when he fuses with himself and declares all other intelligent beings unnecessary, and that's also when he seems to get his mad-on for trying to get Goku and Vegeta to genuflect to him. And, as you say, he only seems to plan to destroy mortals throughout time once the heroes attempt to escape to 'the past'.

Could it possibly also be argued that it was 8 months before but the difference is that the fading link is what's stopping them being able to change that setting anymore lest it weaken the link further.

That's a nice thought - there's nothing really to indicate it in the dialogue, from what I can tell; they seem pretty emphatic that simply the setting itself makes the difference between whether you access the same timeline or not - certainly the logic that it's not really just travelling in time, but between realities, seems to emphasise why you can't go to different points in that reality (else Goku and Vegeta would be able to arrive just after they left). But I do like that idea.

I don't see what him making the new timeline at the end contradicts, that's the point he goes back to a different year and it splits his future.

Do you mean he should be making a split of the main timeline now? Because although the time rings gone his future still exists in so much as a empty void exists there and he's going back in time to the past of the future void to before it was a void, not going back to the main times future or past.

Is this in reference to my comment on Chapter 17? If so, what I'm getting at is more that it's a bit odd that the Time Machine can access a destroyed alternate reality at any point along its timeline - the destruction of its Ring of Time implies that this can't happen - so, for instance, this indicates that Shin wouldn't be able to access this 'void world' at any point - though Shin would be travelling to the future, from his own perspective, so there should be nothing to stop him from accessing a point prior to the destruction of that reality, just going by the rules of how the Rings of Time are supposed to work. So I guess it was more a comment on 'contrary indicators' than a 'contradiction' as such.

It's assumed if not stated they've emptied the rest of U7 now right? Just killing gods from other universes?

I would probably say 'yes' to this, if I weren't made to hesitate by Zamas and Black planning to go hide on another planet. Two Gods with huge power 'hiding' from other Gods in an otherwise empty Universe doesn't sound quite right, somehow. I think it's probable enough that Black has spent at least some time in the last few years killing alien mortals; I doubt he's just been killing Gods and recruiting Zamas in all that time before coming back to Earth. So, I'm left a bit uncertain, still.

Just to belatedly respond to another comment:

Yeah, the powerscaling of this fight is a complicated issue.
I would just like to address that even if we assume that Trunks did not use his SSJ3 power level in his last confrontation with Black before returning to the main timeline, he still says that it was a long time since he had seen Black transform into SSJ, which implies that Base Black had become strong enough to easily overcome FP SSJ2 Trunks, which brings us to the core of the problem which is the fact that based on all this, SSJ2 Vegeta would be hundreds of times stronger than SSJ3 Goku, which means that Base Vegeta would also be much stronger than Base Goku, which would make him have a considerable advantage in their stronger forms (SSB), which does not seem to be the case because both are treated as equals.

Soooooo, yeah I think it is enough, we will hardly have a definitive answer to that. Particularly it is one of the few cases of powerscaling in the manga where I think none of the explanations are very satisfactory

I think the unsatisfactoriness of any answer is probably the crux of it - while Vegeta's SSj2 multiplier is, I think, an outlier that doesn't really drag his base power out of line with Goku's (as per Chapter 3), you're right that one would have to contrive an explanation for Trunks not using full power SSj2 against Black recently. One would basically have to argue something like 'the last time Black used SSj was the last time Trunks used Full Power, and ever since he's either been too worn out to use it or doesn't bother because he knows that it won't do anything because Black has SSj in reserve'. Which isn't particularly convincing. Any explanation probably needs the interpreter to squint at it a bit, which I don't think really happens otherwise in Dragon Ball Super - it can be plenty ambiguous at times, but I think this is the only time its power scaling is just a bit wonky.

Yeah I don't have my mangas in front of me but there's basically three scenarios for their ambitions:

1. Kill all gods in Trunks timelines MULTIverse, kill all mortals in Trunks UNIerse.
2. Kill all gods in Trunks timelines MULTIverse, kill all mortals in Trunks MULTIverse
3. Kill all gods in ALL timelines MULTIverses, Kill all mortals in all timelines MULTIverses.

I could be wrong but does Zamasu really move the goal posts/reveal all along that it was option 3?
I thought in the manga he only really mentions the U12 guys time machine as a way to chase Goku and Vegeta, but in hindsight isn't that an empty threat? Wouldn't they only be able to go to the split timeline that guy made or new split timelines based off that?
You could say the time machine works like the perfected time shard time machines from Xenoverse or time patroller time travel in general but it explicitly did make a new timeline and was confiscated, I don't see why it'd be fixed rather then confiscated, if it was to prevent it being used badly later it'd make more sense to destroy it.

Quite possibly Zamasu doesn't fully know how time travel does/doesn't work, doesn't realise the time machine can't be used this way, really he should have threatened to go back for the extra time rings to be able to chase the saiyans home.

If Zamasu was saying he'd now do option 3 ironically his work would never finish because every time he jumps in the machine he makes a brand new timeline full of mortals.

I'm starting to wonder if it's option 1 or 2. He felt the need to kill other gods in case they look over to his universe and see what he's doing, but that didn't extend to other gods in other timelines looking over into his timeline, he must have thought they never would. He knows the GoD's can't do it and the kaioshins are too weak.

But wouldn't he have killed all the gods in all the timelines first if he was going to do it eventually as there's still a non zero chance he might be discovered in the mean time and they'd be ready for him, unless of course he had no plans on ever going there. The bigger evidence imo is that regardless of killing the gods he could have recruited the Unseen, Cell, and U12guy Zamasu's but didn't, because imo he had no intention of clearing their timelines for him. Black only needed one Zamasu to help him secure his/their new home universe/timeline.

The only evidence it was option 1 over option 2 is it would explain how/why he never had to deal with Jiren. I think they had killed all the mortals in Trunks U7 (Stabbing Broly before Paragus and Stabbing Moro before he could do much absorption/surprised is possible)
But it'd make sense if they never bumped into Jiren yet. Perhaps they were just going to do U7 first and would get to Jiren eventually...

But we saw future Zeno floating in the void on his own right, unless the time ring poofing only happened after zeno was removed? I can't recall.

I was going to say you'd need Time nest time travel or a ring to travel to the past of Trunks timeline, but like you say obviously the ring is poofed, the rings only take you to that universe and back to your own don't they?

Using Trunks time machine from the past to go back to an 'earlier future' of Trunks timeline should still be possible BUT it would now, if not always inherently create a new timeline due to not just 'changing the settings' but also to going back to before they were already later there, creating a paradox.

Yeah usually I hate to accept that a multiplier is any different but I think Black is the only character this kind of makes sense for, him having god ki in base ironically in the way the manga retconned out for base saiyans makes his powers different, in addition to the in universe showing of his SS1 having SS2 sparks, it's not headcanon to say "something weird is going on there"

I can also see Trunks being too tired and malnourished to use "SS2 that's a strong as SS3" anymore and Black thus not needing SS to fight it, rather than a Deterrence theory of neither using those forms because it'd be the same difference as base versus base.

But even then we have SS2 Vegeta doing better against SSBlack then presumably Trunks ever has before or implicitly SS3 Goku could do?

Unless Trunks could have still beaten him if he could have hypothetically rested and had a load of food. (But Black would just wear him down and escape and heal again) but it's a bit of a stretch.

EDIT: Yeah Black was dicking around killing Trunks's people fighting trunks, initially perhaps zamasu was stabbing other universes kaioshins but that shouldn't have took long, I assume he started killing U7 aliens when he wasn't healing Black.

Didn't at least in the anime they explicitly say the killed at least the Nameks, no one else in the universe could resist Zamasu like Trunks could so I think it's fair Zammy has done the rest of the universe after all that time even though Earth is only one planet compared to all those, bear in mind zammy can sense ki and teleport.