Dragon Ball Super Episode 14
“Just because you’re a God doesn’t mean you get to decide a person’s limits.” After many episodes worth of fighting, this fight finally ran its course. The installment begins with Goku in a severe disadvantage. After the events of last episode, Goku’s God powers appear to be absent and he’s left with the abilities of a normal ol’ Super Saiyan at his disposal now (and thank God Vegeta’s been standing still for four episodes now to catch the guy when he falls). Unsurprisingly, Beerus knocks Goku out with extremely minimal effort and begins his work to destroy the planet. Business as usual for a God of Destruction. It’s helpful here that at least the final leg of Goku and Beerus’ fight is a beautiful sight to behold. Watching them go back and forth while tearing up the ocean floor makes for a great juxtaposition to all of the fighting that’s taken place in outer space lately. It also doesn’t hurt to see Goku so woefully outclassed during this fight as well as the grander reveal that Beerus was still likely “playing” through most of this fight. Make no mistake, in this Battle of Gods Goku is undeniably the loser (which takes some guts on the show’s part), it just tries to reverse this decision as soon as it makes it. Or not. The episode pulls an incredibly lame trick over on its audience as its resolution. There have been plenty of battles in the Dragon Ball canon that have gone out with disappointing conclusions, but this one is borderline insulting and reeks of cowardice. It’s initially deeply disappointing to learn that this fight ends by Beerus simply falling asleep after expending too much energy (it’s revealed that Beerus is basically one big child whose habits consist of sleeping, eating, and watching anime). Well, at least when Beerus wakes up and Goku has his energy restored this battle will be able to continue, right? Not so much. In reality, what’s likely going on here is that Akira Toriyama wanted to keep Beerus in the picture after his introductory arc, with this being an answer that allows for that to happen with neither Goku nor Beerus needing to die. That being said, Toriyama also knew what he was getting into here with his direction for the series to find increasingly stronger foes. He surely could have found a better solution here than someone feigning slumber, or if not, he shouldn’t have set the stakes so insurmountably high in the first place. With Beerus and Whis returning to their planet, the Earth appears to be temporarily safe. Now Goku is finally able to focus on what’s important here, Bulma’s birthday party. The gang needs to see that Vegeta is just as competitive in a game of bingo as he is on the battlefield. So that effectively marks the end of Dragon Ball Super’s first arc. Granted, the next few installments are still very much dealing with the aftermath of Beerus and the universal can of worms that he opens up on Earth, but this battle of Gods is officially over. Overall, these first 14 episodes are a perfectly adequate reintroduction to the world of Dragon Ball. It’s pretty much exactly what viewers should have expected, with the continuation series being guilty of copying its progenitor’s best and worst habits. If you’re interested purely in action, checking out the Battle of Gods film might be the better route for viewers (with the same being true of the show’s next arc and its film counterpart). It’s without a doubt the more polished and impressive version of the two, but part of the Dragon Ball experience is having the wind in your sails taken out by ridiculous, “useless” installments like Vegeta going on a family vacation. Admittedly, this first arc is definitely Dragon Ball Super’s clumsiest, so if you’re still on the fence about moving forward into the show’s next saga, the storytelling and pacing does improve. At least the show’s next episode won’t just be the 1/8th of a fight between two people. Plus, we know that whenever a huge battle wraps up and a major obstacle is overcome on this show that it immediately jumps into the next piece of action and adventure. Just kidding. Dragon Ball Super’s dub continues to air on Saturdays at 8pm on Adult Swim, and 11:30pm in their Toonami block
