Super Episode 128 (18 February 2018)

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General Discussion for Dragon Ball Super Episode 128, aired 18 February 2018



気高い誇り最後まで！ベジータ散る！！
Kedakai Hokori Saigo Made! Bejīta Chiru!!
Noble Pride to the End! Vegeta Falls!!

Summary:

No.17 has sacrificed himself to rescue Goku and Vegeta, but Jiren remains unimpressed; he is fully confident that the two are far too weak to possibly defeat him. With Goku still on the ground, Vegeta challenges Jiren on his own, but he’s no longer able to even become Super Saiyan. Undeterred, Vegeta still takes on Jiren in his regular form, but is clearly outmatched. Jiren even tells Vegeta to go drop out of the arena, but he refuses to give up.

Pummeled by Jiren’s blows, Vegeta is knocked onto one of the floating pieces of rubble that surrounds the arena, but manages to hold on with one hand. Though he should be out of stamina, Vegeta remembers his family and his promise to Cabba, and manages to pull himself up and return to the arena. Though he claims Jiren’s punches don’t hurt, as he continues to be knocked around Vegeta feels as if his body is being pulverized. Still, even if he can’t win, it’s fine as long as Universe 7 does. He even tries to pull off one of Jiren’s arms, with predictably unsuccessful results.

Jiren’s attacks knock Vegeta out of the arena once again, but this time by sheer chance his boot catches on another floating piece of rubble. As Vegeta hangs there by his foot, Belmod asks the Great Priest if this is a ring-out, but the Great Priest explains that the rubble counts as part of the arena, so Vegeta is still in the game. Before he can rest too much though, Vegeta hears Bulma’s voice urging him on, and he once again returns to fight Jiren.

Jiren can’t understand what it is that keeps driving Vegeta to fight, but Vegeta says an emotionless guy like Jiren could never understand what it means to fight for others. Hearing Bulma’s voice one last time, Vegeta fires off a Final Flash, but it fails to harm Jiren, who is if nothing else impressed by Vegeta’s pride. Jiren sends Vegeta flying out of the arena once more, and with no way out this time, Vegeta curses himself for being unable to keep his promise. Still, he donates his remaining energy to Goku before falling out of bounds. Revitalized, Goku gets back on his feet and becomes Super Saiyan Blue once more.

As the Great Priest formally announces Vegeta’s defeat, Vegeta materializes in the bleachers, where Kuririn feeds him a Senzu. Beerus congratulates Vegeta for doing so well, and Whis is happy he is safe. In the arena, Jiren still can’t understand the point of Vegeta leaving things up to Goku; what good is trusting others? Goku wonders if that’s what Jiren really thinks and begins to fight, but even with Vegeta’s energy, he is still quickly overwhelmed by Jiren. Jiren says Goku has reached his limit, but Goku knows he can’t lose now that everyone has entrusted things to him.

While Jiren continues to beat up on the helpless Goku, the gods of the exempt universes can see that the gap between the two fighters’ powers is obvious. At last, Goku is one punch away from defeat, but as Jiren closes in for the finishing blow, Vegeta yells his encouragement, and Goku reflects on how 17, Vegeta, and the others have put their faith in him. Suddenly, Goku dodges Jiren’s punch. He has returned to the same silver-eyed form as when he fought Jiren and Kafla before. Not only does Goku effortlessly dodge Jiren’s next few attacks, he even manages to land a heavy blow of his own.

Whis is amazed that Goku would show this form once more at the eleventh hour, while Beerus has been looking forward to seeing Ultra Instinct once more. On the flipside, Belmod is annoyed at how Goku repeatedly breaks through his limits, while Khai thinks it might be troublesome for Ultra Instinct to have activated so close to the tournament's end. Even the U1 Kaioshin Anato thinks that Goku might have mastered Ultra Instinct this time around, while the Omni-Kings are happy to see this cool-looking form again.

Who will remain standing at the end? Goku? Or Jiren? Two minutes remain in the Tournament of Power.

[Kataphrut]

Writing-wise, this was definitely a step up from the last few. Stamina finally matters, with Vegeta not even able to go beyond base and Goku's powerup giving him access to Blue for all of two seconds before Jiren punches it out of him again.

Vegeta and Goku's emotional moments were handled well. It just goes to show how badly handled Vegeta's been this entire arc, since his "muh family" moment was touching, and his beatdown and refusal to quit would have been legitimately gut-wrenching if, well..."muh family" hadn't been made a meme by the last few episodes. A good send-off. but at this point I'm just glad it was done by the first half. And we didn't see hide nor sparkly hair of his new form.

[RedHeat]

This episode reminded me of a Rocky movie.

[Cetra]

For the "5 before 12" moment of the tournament and Vegeta's last stand as well as Goku re-awakening, absolutely fine.

Plus, meta and in-universe +1000 points for Bulma. Once again, rest in peace, Tsuru-san. You were with Vegeta until the very end.

[Super Saiyan Swagger]

Decent episode. This really would've benefitted with better animation and some more battle damage to make the beat down seem more painful. I like what they did with Vegeta. Goku reattaining Ultra Instinct was really cool. Music was on point. My favourite part was when Vegeta made the point that he's stronger than Jiren since he has something to fight for and that Jiren has no personality.

Next episode looks fucking amazing. Cannot wait for that. These next 2 weeks are going to be painful.

[BlueBasilisk]

When the episode title came out I was hoping Goku would be motivated by Vegeta's determination and carry on his wishes after he went out. I'm very happy that he did so. I'm also happy he didn't die like I'd feared. UI in the NEP kinda overshadowed everything else.

[dbzfan7]

A chore of an episode to go through. It dragged on and on and on and just felt like the bullet points were drastically stretched. At long last we can get to the end now. No more intermissions (Show wise, not schedule wise cause no episode next week)

[Xehanort]

I really liked this episode. Animation was nothing special, and no real fights happened, but Vegeta's elimination was very moving in my opinion. Jiren was really terrifying in this episode, showing absolutely no mercy to a guy who is all out of stamina. Same goes for Goku, the energy Vegeta gave him right before dropping was of no use as expected but watching Jiren just pummel Goku continuosly was very intimidating...and then the very expected Ultra Instinct happened.

Not a great episode, but I really liked it and I hope the next episode is as great as the NEP is promising.

[Lord Beerus]

Good episode.

I enjoyed their being lasting effects of Vegeta actually out of power, and I very much enjoyed that Vegeta didn't go down with expressing his resolve. The flashbacks to his family and Cabba were a nice touch. Giving his last bit of energy to Goku before being eliminated and leaving the rest to Goku was a great character moment for. Overall, I'd say Vegeta had a really great tournament. Couldn't have really asked more from him.

The emergence of Ultra Instinct again really reminded me of that moment in Battle Of Gods where Goku mental hears the names of all of friends and family calling his name and it awakened Super Saiyan God again. Great moment.

This episode as a whole was just Jiren beating the shit out Goku and Vegeta until the last 4 minutes, but it wasn't any worse for that because I really enjoy seeing Jiren fight and the other content that came with it.

[jeffbr92]

Apart from the whole Vegeta vs. Jiren part, this was a decent episode

[Amir]

Jiren's character was on point in this episode, and so was Vegeta and the whole conflict about trust, etc...

I like how there was an actual follow up to last episode with 17's death, the trust issues of Jiren and his character basically, I liked the fact he acknowledged Vegeta's pride. Even Vegeta showed his awesome side with his will to protect everyone, and even Goku. Everything felt serious and emotional here. The writing was just good imo, for Super standards at least.

The stamina thing is finally a factor since Vegeta can't transform anymore, he let Goku enough energy to turn Blue but after 5 seconds he got destroyed, just like he should. The beatdowns were also great, but unfortunately the lack of proper battle damage and blood lowered the quality, but that's Super's problem in general so it's not this episode's fault.

Now fir the things I didn't like, I guess the animation was a little slow at times, it still served it's purpose, like a desperate battle and how weak our heroes look right now in their damaged state and the choreography was great, but animation could have been a bit better.
Now for what really bothered me is that after Vegeta got eliminated, he didn't get nearly as much praise from Beerus and Whis as he deserved, no mention about how strong he was and Vegeta himself didn't say anything. I guess it wasn't such a big deal but I would have liked it more if Vegeta had gotten more praise.

All in all, good episode 8/10

[OLKv3]

A chore of an episode to go through. It dragged on and on and on and just felt like the bullet points were drastically stretched. At long last we can get to the end now. No more intermissions (Show wise, not schedule wise cause no episode next week)

Tbh I felt the same way. Sick of Vegeta beatdowns and him seeing Cabba and Bulma, going on about pride. The whole time I was waiting for UI knowing it'd be the end of the episode. The fact that we're really doing the whole "Friendship beats Solitude!" thing like it's an episode of Naruto disappoints me
That said, Can't wait to for the next 3 episodes, they should be some great fights

[Amaterasu]

I really enjoyed the Vegeta moment in this episode, but I'm getting a bit tired of all the flashbacks. Also, Goku thinking of Freeza but not Goten or Chi Chi? I guess they were only showing the tournament participants, but still.
And they really are trying to make the viewers believe that Freeza isn't in, aren't they? No mention in the preview (hurr durr only Jiren vs. Goku in the arena) nor in the spoilers.
That can't not be deliberate, Freeza will do something at the end or at least try to.

[lord turbo]

3/10 episode, too much time was wasted on something that should have been taking care of in 3 minutes or less. Repeated frames of Vegeta and Goku getting punched endlessly was unbearable, kind of like checking your watch every so often when a overly long movies keeps going and going. Through out the entire episode I kept thinking "whoa, its amazing how pitiful Jiren looks, can't knock out two completely drained guys out the arena." Vegeta and Goku's plot armor was on full display it seems. The "emotional" flashbacks did jack for me, I just can't get invested in unneeded padding for episode content.

It was a chore, but the worst of the worst is over, UI from here on out, I dare you to impress me Toei, you only got 1-2 episodes at best to knock it out the park.

[Doctor.]

Well, that was painfully boring to sit through. Not overly offensive as the last couple of episodes, though.

[TheShadowEmperor8055]

I wish the punches Vegeta and Goku were taking were shown to be a bit more heavier than they were, to showcase how impactful those hits are.

Not surprised the showing of Bulma was used as an attempt to make the fans sympathize for Vegeta. It was an attempt, but I won't say it worked for every fan. I liked Vegeta saying he's fighting to protect someone. Wish that were used throughout the ToP and not only in his last moments. The episode itself was meant to be emotionally heavy, which is fine, but I understand those who call it a "bore" or "chore".

Guess "Gamma Burst Flash" stays a manga-only thing. Oh well.

With a lot of the peanut gallery being shown towards the waning minutes of the episode, let's hope we don't see too much of them in the next two episodes.

Perhaps the theory of Freeza appearing at the last moment could still happen, assuming he isn't rising out of nowhere in the next two episodes.

Ok... let's hope UI delivers (which it likely will) next episode.

[WittyUsername]

I like that they didn’t have Vegeta’s fight with Jiren last for the entire episode. We already knew just from the title that Vegeta would get knocked out this week, so it’s nice that they didn’t spend an unnecessary amount of time on it.

As a whole, this episode was a step up from the last couple of ones. There was nothing anti-climactic or contrived about it, and it’s nice that we’re finally at the end game for this arc. Still, I can’t say I’m a fan of Goku getting yet another transformation next week. Seriously guys, enough is enough.

[chickensguys]

This was a slow and ominous episode and I would lying if my eyes didn't welt up just a little bit.

Also they are clearly hiding Freezer at this point

[Bullza]

Is there an episode next week? Or is it in 2 weeks?

[majinwarman]

I liked how Vegeta kept on going even though he couldn't really win. I thought the Bulma moment was good not great. I liked how Vegeta entrusted everything to Goku. I did like how Goku called Jiren by saying that trust is not worthless. I don't know how I feel about Goku getting Ultra Instinct through a friendship moment. But, I don't think others will like it though. I'm interested in what the next episode will show of Goku vs Jiren. I'm interested in seeing how Mastered Ultra Instinct looks like animated. Hopefully it will like good. Overall I thought that this episode was a good one.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10