Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by SuperCyan2 » Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:42 pm

Let me just say, HURRAY DRAGON BALL SUPER IS FINALLY OVER!

Now, I watched it on FUNimation Now and the title they used made me think DBS would pull an ending similar to GT's but they just ended the battle, No. 17 asked the Yu-Gi-Oh dragon to restore all universes, Freeza became a good guy and was revived and then after the credits showed.. Freeza is back to his old ways again?

I don't get what was the big surprise. I hate when companies overhype their products for no good reason.

P.S. On FUNimation Now they always used the dub name of Freeza as "Frieza". That too kinda sucked.
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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by jeffbr92 » Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:42 pm

RedRibbonSoldier#42 wrote:Hit and Jiren still have no character.
Jiren no, but Hit indeed has a character.
Power levels are not just big numbers:

by Doctor.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by JazzMazz » Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:43 pm

jeffbr92 wrote:
RedRibbonSoldier#42 wrote:Hit and Jiren still have no character.
Jiren no, but Hit indeed has a character.
Both of them have some character to them.

They both go through small scale character arcs from there introduction to final appearance.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by RedRibbonSoldier#42 » Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:48 pm

jeffbr92 wrote:
RedRibbonSoldier#42 wrote:Hit and Jiren still have no character.
Jiren no, but Hit indeed has a character.
He's a super strong assassin, but we don't know how he got like that or what that means to him. He want's to get stronger after meeting Gokuu, but that's Gokuu's power on everyone.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by Extreme_kai » Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:50 pm

ssj4 wrote:Cell is so overlooked. Both Frieza and Buu are alive again and play major roles. He's still dead.
There's still a chance for that seeing as DB has a history of recycling old villains and heroes. I personally don't have a problem bringing him or some other old villain back, I think it's great that DB has a rogues gallery of villains to call back to. To me, DB hell has always been a dead villain waiting room until it's proven that they were erased permanently or reincarnated like Kid Buu. I could really see them bringing back a character like Cell or King Cold, I even came up with a plotline for it. I guess it depends on popularity and toy sales, I think Freeza is the most popular villain in Japan so it makes sense to bring him back first. Dragonball fightersz has made me want to see a team with freeza and Cell, and a Ginyu force revival would be great as well imo. This last episode has got me excited to see what the future of dragon ball has in store for us.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by Asura » Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:52 pm

An incredible first half to end the tournament, Goku and Freeza teaming up was amazing and everything was just done so well. Art, direction, animation, etc.

However, they went with the most boring and predictable ending imaginable, which is really disappointing. I wanted to see the universes come back eventually, sure, but that can come later. Having Freeza be the last man standing and making some wish to become the GoD of Universe 7 or something and ending it on a cliffhanger like that would have been a lot cooler IMO. It does somewhat sour the ending for me.

Still, a great episode, and a good ending.

Oh wait, and I forgot about Jiren's wish, it was never even revealed. Holy shit, the writing atrocities of Super know no bounds.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by Exline » Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:53 pm

Gaffer Tape wrote:After last week's fiasco of an episode, I was quite ready for this one to suck the big one. And yet it didn't. Admittedly, the bar set by 130 was so embarrassingly low there was almost no way this one could be worse, but even that aside... this one was actually pretty darned good. The fighting held my interest for the first time in weeks. I feel I'm actually going to remember some of that. And the conclusion almost put a smile on my face. The ending wish was predictable, but the reveal that only a selfless wish would have been accepted kept it from feeling totally pointless. It's not groundbreaking storytelling, but I do like that it was all a test.

I rolled my eyes at the Freeza tag at the end. Like we really need this again. And it certainly proved that Freeza was really there for nothing more than fanservice. His role could have been filled by anybody. This arc really did nothing special for him. And I wish there'd been a longer, more meaningful coda to go out on. As I predicted, it seemed a bit rushed but not as rushed as I thought it would. But just the fact that it didn't go out on a totally disappointing note is the best I could have hoped for. It doesn't fix the myriad problem this series couldn't seem to shake, but I'm very happy they managed to pull together some competent writing for the end.

I'm still glad it's ending, and I still hope it doesn't come back. But there are a lot of worse episodes this could have ended on.
Now hold on. I feel Frieza was included in this arc to allow him to become an Anti-Villain in the DB Franchise, something we haven't had in a while since Majin Vegeta. And so what if it's fanservice? At least it's done right. I feel he is also a major component to the stories that will follow later in the series. He can't have been brought back for nothing.

I agree with you about how the fight in this episode will be memorable. Goku and Frieza fighting together side by side.. no one would've thought of that it ever happening in a million years besides crappy fanfiction.

I feel you may be treating Episode 130 very harshly. I was not a fan of Shida's work in that Zamasu vs. Vegito fight, but his latest animation with Goku vs Jiren was such a spectacle that I cannot be mad at him. I'm not a fan of this super fast-paced fighting sequence. I actually really hate it, but Shida was able to make it incredibly interesting with his cinematic angles. I applaud the guy for his work.

The only problem I see with 130 is it's writing. Like you and Doctor state, it feels inconsistent. (Hopefully I'm not confusing you two with others.) It was so boring to listen to compared to 129, which had great dialogue, especially the one with Vegeta and the GoDs.
Neo-Makaiōshin wrote:Future Trunks lays in fetal position, in a timeline that doesn't belong to him, after hearing Android #17 saved the multiverse and is now celebrating on his own personal cruise ship.
That is just hilarious!! Toyotaro has to do a Bonus Page of Future Trunks coming back to hear that the Androids saved their universe. He will just be in utter shock hahahahahaaa :lol:

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by gofishus » Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:58 pm

So ... what was the point of the ToP then if Zeno expected all the universes to be wished back? team building ? character building? Goku didn't even retain the Ultra instinct form which means there were no new transformations really learned during the ToP (well maybe Cabba still has SSJ2 but yeah). What about Toppo? I guess he's not GoD candidate anymore?

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by JazzMazz » Sat Mar 24, 2018 11:59 pm

RedRibbonSoldier#42 wrote:
jeffbr92 wrote:
RedRibbonSoldier#42 wrote:Hit and Jiren still have no character.
Jiren no, but Hit indeed has a character.
He's a super strong assassin, but we don't know how he got like that or what that means to him. He want's to get stronger after meeting Gokuu, but that's Gokuu's power on everyone.
I don't understand peoples obsession with learning how villains got their strength, since A) Its doesn't really benefit the character and B) It can usually just be explained as they obtained the power themselves to serve there own ends.

As for Hit, his a super strong assassin because he has pathos to his claim to fame about being able to kill any target in a single blow, and because he established this pathos around himself, his job had become awfully stale due to the complete lack of challenge. Pretty much, Hit when introduced is the end result of being the best and having no one around capable of giving him a challenge, his bored. After fighting Goku however, an opponent that actually challenges to improve himself, his boredom quickly subsides and he regains his lost interest in fighting and challenging himself. Outside of his character arc against Goku, you have his small(and in my opinion poorly handled) character arc against Jiren. Due to being shown as a lone assassin, it becomes clear that Hit only ever relies on his own strength to complete his missions, but with the obstacle of Jiren, and his own strength not being enough to see his mission through to the end(the survival of universe 6), Hit has to rely on others pick up and finish the job he can't complete alone.

I think thats a pretty good summary of Hits character in the anime.
Last edited by JazzMazz on Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:04 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by CriticalThinker » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:00 am

Another thing I liked this episode was the little speech Toppo gave Jiren, I mean it wasn't the most original speech ever but I thought it was nice. Also we never did find out what Jiren's wish was going to be but I guess that doesn't matter anymore. The only thing that I didn't like in the episode was the whole interaction between 17 and 18 at the end, that was pretty dumb.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by Kataphrut » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:03 am

I loved this episode. I had no idea how they could wrap things up with one episode to spare and the fight still in progress, and while there were a lot of issues, this was easily the most satisfying conclusion they could have gotten out of it.

It's funny, everyone was going crazy about the fighting in 130, but this half-episode duel may have actually surpassed it for me. 130 was a lot of (well-done) sound and fury, whereas this one felt legitimately meaningful. Goku and Freeza's final teamup against Jiren, backup from 17, everybody's character arcs coalescing, incredible fight choreography. Everything was amazing! And of course, the return of Ultimate Battle with vocals! Only big issue in this first half was Toppo's speech to Jiren. I get that it was to provide a payoff for Jiren's arc in the end, but this is one of those problems caused by having to cram all the resolution into this final episode. Surely they could've worked this into the previous episode somewhere.

As for the resolution, big ol' happy ending, everybody smiles! I'm honestly ok with this, they tried to do the subversive ending last time and...the less said the better. 17 getting the wish is a nice twist, and of course he did the thing everybody expected would happen. I'm fine with that, it would have been a terrible idea to introduce all this new stuff and have it go to waste after one arc. And the reveal that Zeno and the Grand Priest wanted this happy ending all along actually works! We've assumed for so long that there had to be some evil motive behind all this, but if you really think about it, Zeno making such a cruel and calculated decision never really made sense. It's not like his job was ever implied to be hard for him. At least the GP's comment that a selfish wish would have gotten them erased didn't render the threat pointless.

We got some payoff with the other Universes, and by that I mean 6 and 11, the only ones that mattered. Any issues I had with the universes being restored went away on seeing Caulifla again. And Jiren's denouement with Toppo was well done; it's hard to say if 130 and 131 redeemed his character after so many missteps throughout the arc, but like with everything this episode's done, it was the best of a bad situation. And the ending montage of everybody being happy was lovely, as expected. After so much time in the World of Void, it was nice to see Super end with what it does best; cute slice of life. Goku and Vegeta's final scene was a tad indulgent, but perfectly fine. And while I don't hate the idea of Freeza coming back to life and presumably becoming a regular villain, the method by which it was achieved felt throwaway. The one downside of the Angels not being evil is that it means Whis is still on hand to magic away any lingering issues at the end of every arc, which is unfortunate.

Still, great episode, wonderful finale, they stuck the landing even after the tailspin they'd been in since Vegeta Even Bluer showed up to shit on everything. I'm gonna miss this show, but I'm excited for the movie :thumbup:

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by Asura » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:06 am

Just imagine the type of character we could have gotten had Jiren had the type of characterization we saw in 130 and 131.

130 and 131 made him look like a really good character, but unfortunately that's just two episodes and as an overall product, Jiren was shit.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by JazzMazz » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:08 am

Asura wrote:Just imagine the type of character we could have gotten had Jiren had the type of characterization we saw in 130 and 131.

130 and 131 made him look like a really good character, but unfortunately that's just two episodes and as an overall product, Jiren was shit.
I feel like Jirens big character change would have been more effective if they established his character before 127, because up to that point, he was pretty much just a big strong silent type. Hell, he didn't even have any cool quips or abilities like say Hit, he was just really strong.

I think showing his true selfish nature earlier, could have helped make his turn to the light side have more impact.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by chickensguys » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:15 am

I was really worried about the pacing of the last episode but I think they did an excellent job with what they had. In addition, the first half had excellent animation. I really loved it, and I had tears of joy.

Edit: As an aside the fact Zeno was willing to erase all the mortals if there was a selfish wish, shows that the difference between Zeno and Black's no mortal plan is almost non-existence. Zeno at least gave the mortals a chance to prove themselves first.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by obiwan23s » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:19 am

I'm glad Super has ended for now. For all its flaws, it really showed that Dragon Ball is a story people still care a lot about. The Zamasu arc and TOP arc were decent enough and I would like to see more, but I would prefer it be planned a little better. Most of Super's problems would be fixed with a little more organization in the production process. There were some really well drawn episodes in this arc, especially these last two. I would love to see Super come back with episodes like these being the benchmark for good artwork in this series.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by Nero<>Akira » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:22 am

Another masterpiece. 10/10. Perfection. So much good things came out of this at glance and the underlying things as well. Last 2 episodes have been the best the series has given. Also, I called what would happen with Freeza since last year. He'd revive (though i didn't think Whis could do that nor that he would be responsible) and go off to create his Empire again and potentially face Goku again in the future. That's easily the best thing that resulted from all of this U7 wise. Loved the whole fight. fantastically draw, animated, and choreographed. Loved the resolution to Jiren's character and Toppo himself having a role in that. another fantastic aspect of the writing was Zeno deciding to destroy everything if nobody thought about reviving anyone and predicted someone would do it and it would confirm that mortals can do better. It continues from the Future Trunks arc and serves as a great contrast to Zamasu's character who didn't think mortals could improve and had no hope for them. It makes it better considering Zeno is a pretty gray character as well. Both were. God of all had his own doubts about mortals overall and took it upon himself to make sure they were indeed worth the trouble. Zeno had hope. Beautiful.
Zamasu is the best DB villain besides Freeza (and this is only the case because the current Super arc elevated Freeza to be that good).

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by WittyUsername » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:26 am

JazzMazz wrote:
Asura wrote:Just imagine the type of character we could have gotten had Jiren had the type of characterization we saw in 130 and 131.

130 and 131 made him look like a really good character, but unfortunately that's just two episodes and as an overall product, Jiren was shit.
I feel like Jirens big character change would have been more effective if they established his character before 127, because up to that point, he was pretty much just a big strong silent type. Hell, he didn't even have any cool quips or abilities like say Hit, he was just really strong.

I think showing his true selfish nature earlier, could have helped make his turn to the light side have more impact.
I still maintain that making Jiren a selfless hero would’ve been far more interesting than making him an edge lord who subscribes to the really cliched philosophy of “friends are meaningless and only strength matters”. I really hope the manga is different in that regard.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by Android 21 » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:26 am

Well, the episode was bad, no surprise there. But the last scene with Goku and Vegeta was awesome.

Did...did Vegeta just end Super more powerful than Goku? He looked to be as strong as SSJBKK x20 Goku, but he got even more powerful when he fought Toppo. Since Goku can’t use Ultra Instinct anymore, that would make Vegeta stronger.

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by Nero<>Akira » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:27 am

gofishus wrote:So ... what was the point of the ToP then if Zeno expected all the universes to be wished back? team building ? character building? Goku didn't even retain the Ultra instinct form which means there were no new transformations really learned during the ToP (well maybe Cabba still has SSJ2 but yeah). What about Toppo? I guess he's not GoD candidate anymore?
Don't hurt yourself. Zeno would have erased everything if they didn't do it. He had hope they would revive all of them. His hope was rewarded and knows mortals even in the low level ranks are worth saving and can continue to improve. All explained in the ep.
Zamasu is the best DB villain besides Freeza (and this is only the case because the current Super arc elevated Freeza to be that good).

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Re: Super Episode 131 (25 March 2018)

Post by LightBing » Sun Mar 25, 2018 12:30 am

Some quick thoughts since I'm pretty tired, I'll be re-watching the last two episodes for a more robust opinion.
The good:
- #17 winning the tournament. It's a nice little surprise.
- Excellently directed.
- Cool little fight.

The neutral:
- The final wish as certain as the morning sun. It just had to happen.

The bad:
- Toppo's speech. More shounen crap for a character I don't care about.
- Zeno-chan redemption, it could have been a cool twist, a depraved way how Gods push Universes to better themselves. Except it's absolutely out-of-character, we literally saw him destroy a Universe in the previous arc for no goddamn reason. Besides all the others before and the fear they instill on someone like Beerus and you want to take that all away?
- Ultra Instinct is gone, why? Just..., why?
- Nostalgia at the end, bleh sick and tired of it.

First impression wasn't great, obviously at this point is hard for me to ignore Super's anime baggage.

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