Super Episode 126 (4 February 2018)

[OLKv3]

I just wish they continued off of what the last episode set up. Instead they ignored all of it and had him win with brute strength

[Totamo]

Can we please put this show out of it's misery now? The writing for an end of big anime shouldn't be this bad.

Actually, its incredibly common for the ending of a shonen to be the worst part of the entire show. Fairy tail, bleach, naruto, soul eater and hitman reborn. All of it was straight garbage.

It being common doesn't make it any better. Though I still don't want Dragon Ball to end in the long run and hope we get another series in the future.

The issues vary but the main one is always come down to bad planning. Now super never had good planning to begin with.

[Artorias]

That was awful. One of the weakest episodes in the series. So many bad decisions I can't even count.

Why is Toppo spamming Hakai spheres even though it supposedly takes a while to charge them? And why is he using them to blow up some rubble when his normal attacks should do that just fine? Why did #17 think that trapping Toppo under some rubble was an effective strategy when even the weakest fighters in the tournament could blow up the arena? I appreciate them trying to make #17 out to be some kind of tactician but that was a dumb strategy. And yet again with the rocks, if base Freeza (somehow) managed to trap Toppo, why did he waste his time throwing rocks and blasting him instead of just throwing him out of the arena like he did on Namek with Goku? Why is Jiren calling Goku and Vegeta "impudent bastards"? I want to say it feels out-of-character, after the way he keeps praising them both, but Jiren is just such a piece of boring cardboard that I can't even make that assertion. They claim that splitting up Goku and Vegeta is bad because then U11 would have the upperhand... how, exactly? If they split up Goku and Vegeta, then #17 and Freeza will fight Jiren alongside with Goku. U7 has the numerical advantage, how would splitting the fighters up be to THEIR detriment and not to U11's?

Hakai was just wasted completely. I won't dwell on the fact that any character touching Toppo should be destroyed (due to his Hakai aura), because Toppo obviously doesn't want to be DQ'd so he probably "turns it off" when attacking physically or when he's being attacked, but the fact that the Hakai balls can be destroyed by punches and Ki attacks is just stupid. Why bother going through the trouble of introducing this different kind of energy if it's no different from everything else? This problem already applied to last episode with Freeza surviving the Hakai sphere but it just gets amped up to absurdity in this one. "I'll give you an attack too powerful to destroy" is up there with "I'm too fast for your Time-Skip now" and "My power surpasses my own understanding." I shouldn't have to explain why Vegeta getting a power boost thinking of his family and friends is a bad thing. It was bad when he first transformed, it's bad now. Dragon Ball doesn't do power-ups like that and, when it does, they come from rage and/or amount to nothing.

The decision to use his self-destruction move was stupid. He did it against Boo because he was losing and, even if he was stronger, he'd have to blow him up so he wouldn't be able to regenerate. Here, he was winning and all he had to do was throw Toppo out of the arena. Why sacrifice your Ki and health over a fight that you had the upper-hand in? And the scene itself was terrible. You don't defeat a major antagonist with a rehash of a previous moment. That's not memorable, that's new, that's not exciting. That's stupidly trying to piggyback on the old series' name and status without actually having the balls to go through and kill the character off like Z did. Let's throw a bit of character regression by switching Goku's name in his speech to Cabba's. Furthermore, the excuse they used was just incredibly stupid. He survived because he's stronger now than he was back in the Boo arc? Uh... his fucking attack is stronger now, too! Or are they trying to imply that Vegeta just eliminated Toppo with an attack that couldn't even kill Majin Boo? And, of course, Toppo amounted to nothing after his display last episode. You thought he was going to be defeated by some strategy after they stressed how he must have a weakness in his perfect defense and he needs to charge his attacks. But nope, he just gets overpowered.

The stamina thing is getting out of hand. If Goku wasn't enough, Freeza is back up this episode after getting absolutely destroyed in the last one (and his presence didn't serve any purpose, either. He's out of sight after his attack and isn't even present in the NEP). Vegeta, too, used all of his power, only to get back to full power next episode. I also think this needs to be stated, the episode was filled with an excessive amount of padding. 2 minutes at the start showing us the end of the previous episode plus 2 minutes of a flashback of Majin Vegeta's sacrifice. What's the point?

There were some things I appreciated, but they were plagued with problems also. I liked #17 being treated as a tactician as I said, but I've already highlighted the problems in his strategy. I like Jiren belittling Toppo, because I feel that one who holds justice at such a high level would have no respect for someone like Toppo who chose to cast it aside, but without the knowledge we have on his character from the manga, it feels contradictory with the way he's been portrayed so far and even out-of-character (as well as his little smirk at the end). I did like him one-shotting Goku though, since that's what he should be capable of doing and what he should have done all along. Thematically, I like the idea of Vegeta, who takes a more selfless pride on who he is and who he's surrounded by, defeating someone who chose to cast away his ideals for the sake of power, but, again, the way it was executed was awful.

I don't usually rant like this, but this was beyond terrible, it even surpasses episode 12. I didn't think the ToP could be this bad before, but it just keeps proving me wrong. I fear for the finale.

I think Dragonball just isn't for you anymore.

This isn't an episode worth defending with statements like that. There's no need to be like that here. If he had ranted in this way about the special or something, then yea, you might have a point. But the common opinion on this episode is that it's not good, so his rant makes sense here. This episode deserves the criticism, it has nothing to do with "Dragonball not being for him".

[prince212]

As a vegeta fan I’m satisfied the way they portrait him both fighting - narrative talk. Awesome
As dbs fan ... man I don’t like to watch Freeza sleeping at the end of previous chapter and in this one beginning he’s like after taking a shower ( at least show us the morning coffee ) it’s a proof that ... there’s no good communication with every chapters writer . Rush fever
It’s dope that vegeta eliminate a god of destruction but my favorite moment was Jiren surprisingly trashtalking over Toppo , non expected at all ... finally gaining points as a villain

[Kaiosama]

Where did he get a power up in this ep? He did not, he just unleashed his sacrifice move. If you mean Blue sparkles in general, at least it happened 3 eps ago.

And how did Toppo job hard? He wasn't even fully beaten, just knocked out of the ring and did extensive damage to Freeza, 17 and Vegeta beforehand.

Are you kidding me??? Vegeta was wrecking him after he made his big speech. He was fodderizing Hakai Energy! The Final Explosion was just the finishing touch to this fiasco.

He was able to attack him, he didn't get a power up in this ep, all we saw before was Vegeta fighting Jiren.

How did he get a power up in this ep? He did not.

He went from getting his ass kicked by Toppo and being on the ropes to turning the tables and trashing him. How is that not a power-up? This episode was straight garbage writing. I'm sorry, this episode has every right to be criticized.

[Kinokima]

This might have been better if Vegeta's resolve moment happened here instead of back in 123, the simple acknowledgment of his family alongside his promise to Cabba made it that much more effective, plus it would have been spaced out so as not to get two heroic speeches back-to-back like in 122/123. Also, trying to homage the legendary Majin Vegeta sacrifice with ToP Vegeta is like getting a spoiled fat kid to run against Usain Bolt in the 100m sprints.

Yeah, this was dreadful. No good character writing whatsoever. Toppo and Jiren both came across as unlikeable wankers; there seemed to be a theme throughout this episode of holding onto your principles, how Toppo was wrong to give up his, while Vegeta was right to hold onto his and that's why he was able to win. Vegeta mocks Toppo for giving up justice (despite having never heard him say it before), Toppo mocks Vegeta for caring about Saiyans, Jiren insults Toppo for losing, then praises Vegeta for winning without giving anything up. Aren't you two meant to be superheroes?

The core problem with that idea is "justice" and "pride" are such nebulous concepts that we're being asked to care about. I can get behind emotional outbursts fueling powerups, that's Anime 101 and Dragon Ball practically invented it. The problem is, there's no emotion here. Characters are literally just Describing How They Feel. "I No Longer Feel Justice, Therefore I Am Strong". "I Feel Pride Therefore I Am Stronger". I've seen people accuse the Tournament of Power of feeling like bad pro wrestling before, this is the first time I've really felt it.

Not to mention the issue of 17 and Freeza still being in despite how last episode went, Vegeta still being in despite supposedly sacrificing himself (and any tension that left in the arc). I fear for the finale. Please come back Ultra Instinct, please save this show.

It wasn’t really Justice vs pride but a battle of philosophies not about who is stronger. Toppo threw away everything of who he was to survive and Vegeta said that is nonsense I don’t need to throw away who I am because that’s where I get my strength.

And if you recall this is exactly what he says to Jiren in 122. I may be Arrogant but I can never throw away who I am.

I am not saying the episode didn’t have flaws of logic here and there but I loved the concept of two opposing philosophies going at each other. Toppo thought he needed to throw away everything he believed (his Justice) to be true to survive that only survival mattered. But Vegeta proved to him that this isn’t true. Vegeta held onto his family, his promise and his pride. I guess the episode asked in this fight for survival can you remain true to yourself and your ideals and still survive. Toppo thought no but in the end he was wrong.

[TheShadowEmperor8055]

Oh yeah, what happened to Toppo needing to charge to use Hakai offensively? Man, this episode has confused things about the previous and next episodes

[Freeza9000]

Yeah, I can't take this recurring shtick of characters low on stamina and gas seriously anymore and I bet the writers didn't expect us to either. Especially when they can magically recooperate to the point where they're capable of tapping into their strongest forms. It's already egregious as it is with Goku v. Kefla, Roshi firing Mafuba 3 times in a row and now they're doing it again with Vegeta in the NEP, who could barely stand after his seemingly sacrificial technique.

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

Toppo got the Vegeta treatment by Vegeta. Usually, Vegeta's the guy that achieves a high level of strength, kicks the villain's ass for a bit, only to soon be overwhelmed in the end and then get completely bodied and humiliated by the villain.

Here though, Toppo achieved the GoD power last episode, only to be completely overwhelmed sooner than expected by Vegeta. it's as if Toppo is Vegeta, and the Vegeta we know now has grown and is able to redeem himself through his new strength and the people he holds close to him. It's actually kinda touching.

[Ice85]

I....actually think this episode was kinda dissapointing.

Animation : Pretty average again.

- Did they seriously need to reuse Vegeta's Final Flash from the last episode and the mountains breaking from 104 again?

- The second half of the episode is good though. Yamamuro's storyboarding skills have seriously improved, props to him.

Plot : Less than average in my opinion.

- They built up Destruction Toppo so much in the last episode just for him to get eliminated so easily?

- Vegeta became powerful enough to overwhelm Hakai Toppo just because he thought of his family and Cabba? This could have been handled way better.

- Intresting character development for Jiren though, looks like his righteousness was just a facade.

- I like the fact that Frieza used paralysis and telekenisis again, but what was the point of him coming back against Toppo now? And it looks like he's hiding again.

[sintzu]

Vegeta has FINALLY (took them long enough) beat someone on his level in the anime and to make things better, it was a destroyer.

I guess we won't be hearing "Toppo will destroy Vegeta" anymore.

[Artorias]

That doesn't mean anything, Vegeta could have used most of his energy and left some for himself this time around. In the Buu saga he was going all out because he wanted to make sure Buu was gone and knew he was going to die. His power in Blue form now is also so much higher it can keep him afloat.

Why would he arbitrarily "save some for himself" this time? He also wants to make sure Toppo is eliminated...Why would he hold anything back in one instance but not the other?

And your second point just ignores everything I said.

I think you are missing something crucial in your argument. Yes Vegeta is stronger so the blast is stronger but because he is stronger he doesn’t have to use up all his energy to blast Toppo.

Not to mention he was trying to blast Toppo off the stage not kill him like he tried to do with Buu.

So what Piccolo says actually makes sense because Vegeta is stronger he can handle channeling even more energy. He also didn’t necessarily need to kill himself to just knock Toppo off the stage.

It’s basically the same idea behind the attack it’s just no longer a sacrificial attack. At least that’s how I see it.

"Yes Vegeta is stronger so the blast is stronger but because he is stronger he doesn’t have to use up all his energy to blast Toppo." That point doesn't make any sense to me. If Vegeta is stronger, then the blast should be stronger IN PROPORTION to how strong he is, correct? AND he's doing this to a GOD OF DESTRUCTION level character, Toppo. So why exactly would he survive here, but not in the Buu saga? The entire point of the move is that he's using all of his energy to essentially blow himself up. Again, the blast is stronger this time as well, so his body still shouldn't be able to handle it. It's not like Blue somehow makes you more resilient.

And again, if it's no longer a sacrificial attack, then there is ZERO point in doing the callback and having us sit through that 2 minute flashback. The ENTIRE POINT of the move is that it kills him. That's WHY they inserted the flashback to begin with. The fact that it's "no longer a sacrificial attack" renders the whole attack and scene pointless. Just have him power up and pull off a giant generic explosion, there's no need to callback to the Buu arc suicide at that point.

[precita]

Are you kidding me??? Vegeta was wrecking him after he made his big speech. He was fodderizing Hakai Energy! The Final Explosion was just the finishing touch to this fiasco.

He was able to attack him, he didn't get a power up in this ep, all we saw before was Vegeta fighting Jiren.

How did he get a power up in this ep? He did not.

He went from getting his ass kicked by Toppo and being on the ropes to turning the tables and trashing him. How is that not a power-up? This episode was straight garbage writing. I'm sorry, this episode has every right to be criticized.

He literally got hit a few times in the beginning of the episode and that's it. Why can't a character take hits now without it being considered a power up when he started winning?

[dragon boss z]

The episode was meh. Poor writing for the most part, but it was a good episode for Vegeta. Frieza seemed out of place, it made his beating last episode feel meaningless. They also took Toppo's hype away. And what was with that strategy thinking some rocks could stop Toppo? lol.

Maybe I’m just not remembering something, but I thought the gods of destruction were bheing erased with their universes when they lost? I see Beerus and the god from the Pride Troopers universe, but I keep seeing a third one who’s a little grey guy wearing yellow. Am I missing something?

He's a god from one of the universes that isn't competing.

[Artorias]

I can't wait for people to STILL complain when Vegeta inevitably gets eliminated by Jiren. Toei has given us more Vegeta fan service and shine than I ever thought possible in this arc. I think everyone should be grateful that he just essentially single handedly defeated a God of Destruction. He's done his part, please don't whine when he goes out.

[Doctor.]

He literally got hit a few times in the beginning of the episode and that's it. Why can't a character take hits now without it being considered a power up when he started winning?

Because he was about to lose, thinks about his family and friends, and suddenly starts stomping Toppo. That's a power-up.

[Melee_Sovereign]

Actually, its incredibly common for the ending of a shonen to be the worst part of the entire show. Fairy tail, bleach, naruto, soul eater and hitman reborn. All of it was straight garbage.

It being common doesn't make it any better. Though I still don't want Dragon Ball to end in the long run and hope we get another series in the future.

The issues vary but the main one is always come down to bad planning. Now super never had good planning to begin with.

I'm sure there are plenty of reason, but it doesn't mean we should lower our standards for good writing just because the most mainstream animes have writing flaws.

With that said, I wouldn't just flat out say DBS's writing is bad. Rather, I'd say DBS has good writing with a lot of flaws. Meaning despite its flaws, I think a lot of good things can be said about the writing of Super.

[Totamo]

That was awful. One of the weakest episodes in the series. So many bad decisions I can't even count.

Why is Toppo spamming Hakai spheres even though it supposedly takes a while to charge them? And why is he using them to blow up some rubble when his normal attacks should do that just fine? Why did #17 think that trapping Toppo under some rubble was an effective strategy when even the weakest fighters in the tournament could blow up the arena? I appreciate them trying to make #17 out to be some kind of tactician but that was a dumb strategy. And yet again with the rocks, if base Freeza (somehow) managed to trap Toppo, why did he waste his time throwing rocks and blasting him instead of just throwing him out of the arena like he did on Namek with Goku? Why is Jiren calling Goku and Vegeta "impudent bastards"? I want to say it feels out-of-character, after the way he keeps praising them both, but Jiren is just such a piece of boring cardboard that I can't even make that assertion. They claim that splitting up Goku and Vegeta is bad because then U11 would have the upperhand... how, exactly? If they split up Goku and Vegeta, then #17 and Freeza will fight Jiren alongside with Goku. U7 has the numerical advantage, how would splitting the fighters up be to THEIR detriment and not to U11's?

Hakai was just wasted completely. I won't dwell on the fact that any character touching Toppo should be destroyed (due to his Hakai aura), because Toppo obviously doesn't want to be DQ'd so he probably "turns it off" when attacking physically or when he's being attacked, but the fact that the Hakai balls can be destroyed by punches and Ki attacks is just stupid. Why bother going through the trouble of introducing this different kind of energy if it's no different from everything else? This problem already applied to last episode with Freeza surviving the Hakai sphere but it just gets amped up to absurdity in this one. "I'll give you an attack too powerful to destroy" is up there with "I'm too fast for your Time-Skip now" and "My power surpasses my own understanding." I shouldn't have to explain why Vegeta getting a power boost thinking of his family and friends is a bad thing. It was bad when he first transformed, it's bad now. Dragon Ball doesn't do power-ups like that and, when it does, they come from rage and/or amount to nothing.

The decision to use his self-destruction move was stupid. He did it against Boo because he was losing and, even if he was stronger, he'd have to blow him up so he wouldn't be able to regenerate. Here, he was winning and all he had to do was throw Toppo out of the arena. Why sacrifice your Ki and health over a fight that you had the upper-hand in? And the scene itself was terrible. You don't defeat a major antagonist with a rehash of a previous moment. That's not memorable, that's new, that's not exciting. That's stupidly trying to piggyback on the old series' name and status without actually having the balls to go through and kill the character off like Z did. Let's throw a bit of character regression by switching Goku's name in his speech to Cabba's. Furthermore, the excuse they used was just incredibly stupid. He survived because he's stronger now than he was back in the Boo arc? Uh... his fucking attack is stronger now, too! Or are they trying to imply that Vegeta just eliminated Toppo with an attack that couldn't even kill Majin Boo? And, of course, Toppo amounted to nothing after his display last episode. You thought he was going to be defeated by some strategy after they stressed how he must have a weakness in his perfect defense and he needs to charge his attacks. But nope, he just gets overpowered.

The stamina thing is getting out of hand. If Goku wasn't enough, Freeza is back up this episode after getting absolutely destroyed in the last one (and his presence didn't serve any purpose, either. He's out of sight after his attack and isn't even present in the NEP). Vegeta, too, used all of his power, only to get back to full power next episode. I also think this needs to be stated, the episode was filled with an excessive amount of padding. 2 minutes at the start showing us the end of the previous episode plus 2 minutes of a flashback of Majin Vegeta's sacrifice. What's the point?

There were some things I appreciated, but they were plagued with problems also. I liked #17 being treated as a tactician as I said, but I've already highlighted the problems in his strategy. I like Jiren belittling Toppo, because I feel that one who holds justice at such a high level would have no respect for someone like Toppo who chose to cast it aside, but without the knowledge we have on his character from the manga, it feels contradictory with the way he's been portrayed so far and even out-of-character (as well as his little smirk at the end). I did like him one-shotting Goku though, since that's what he should be capable of doing and what he should have done all along. Thematically, I like the idea of Vegeta, who takes a more selfless pride on who he is and who he's surrounded by, defeating someone who chose to cast away his ideals for the sake of power, but, again, the way it was executed was awful.

I don't usually rant like this, but this was beyond terrible, it even surpasses episode 12. I didn't think the ToP could be this bad before, but it just keeps proving me wrong. I fear for the finale.

I think Dragonball just isn't for you anymore.

This isn't an episode worth defending with statements like that. There's no need to be like that here. If he had ranted in this way about the special or something, then yea, you might have a point. But the common opinion on this episode is that it's not good, so his rant makes sense here. This episode deserves the criticism, it has nothing to do with "Dragonball not being for him".

My friend, lets not lie to ourselves here. The reason this episode is bad, is the same reason why the worst moments in this arc have happened.
The writers are not bad, they are not coordinating with each other, which leads to my big theory that I really can't prove but I have every reason to suspect.



The Tournament of Power wasn't suppose to happen yet.

[Kefla]

I don’t like that they turned Jiren into a punk, that completely ruined his character. I hope Goku beats him down now.

[ZenkaiBoosts]

Abysmal. I try not to be overly negative when talking about flaws of the show but this episode really hit me hard.

The whole episode is devoid of imagination, whoever wrote this isn't good. Ki spamming for half an episode with a silly tactic, bad but not criminal. Not the first episode to provide this type of tasteless and uninspired action which makes one write down the episode number to avoid a re-watch. Freeza was in mix because I guess it was fun to pummel him in the last episode and we needed a repetition?

Now for what's abysmal, Vegeta's participation is plagiarism from the Boo Arc while undermining what is copying. The writer(s) added Bulla, gave Vegeta a shonen boost, splashed a bit of Toppo's and destroyed the meaning of a suicide attack because it's easy and for the plot.
There's no being stronger or having Blue, if you release all of your energy you're dead. What Vegeta did in this episode is the same he did in the Saiyan Arc and what Piccolo did in the 23rd TB an "explosive wave".

You can't reuse material constantly, put it above key moments from this so called new story and make it worse. This episode made me happy Super is ending and that's a not right, this was actually saddening. Even worst it happened on "Vegeta's episode" who's my favourite character.

Oh and I guess Jiren is an even bigger asshole? All of a sudden he's bad mouthing Toppo..., it's painfully obvious they are making him a villain, a dull portrait.

So many posts of "what's up with Jiren suddenly thrashing Toppo?"

In episode 125, Jiren was disappointed that Toppo chose "God of destruction powers" over his duty of justice to the Pride Troopers.

Jiren is some one whos all about morals and justice. Jiren is Dragon Ball's Superman

So Jiren was basically like, "serves you right choosing against justice, that's what you get Toppo, now I'm going to show you how it's done while remaining true to the essence of the Pride Troopers"

It boggles my mind how many can not seem to understand this