Dragon Ball Super — Episode 75 Review

Slight spoilers may be talked about below, so please be sure to watch the latest episode before reading on! This review is based off of the dub version of Super that currently airs on Toonami. 

With the focus shifting back to Goku this week with his quest to train and get even stronger, it finally feels like we’re getting back on track with the main plot of the series as we march towards the final saga of the series. We also get a few other character tidbits sprinkled about throughout the episode, like how everyone acknowledges Goku to be way too overpowered and that no one can be at his god-like levels of power anymore.

The episode starts off recapping the previous mini-saga of how Gohan defeated the parasite-possessed Barry Kong during the production of the Great Saiyan Man movie and saying that Goku was the only one who didn’t like the movie fights at all. We then pick up a day after those events with Goku and the rest of his family at the farm that Goku works at. Here Goku is trying to train on his own but it’s just not clicking at all until Chi Chi asks for Gohan to train against him. At first Gohan doesn’t want to do it and ask his mom if Vegeta and the other fighters can do it, but all of them are busy doing other things, with Vegeta’s reason being actually hilarious in that he just glared at Goku a silent “no” and that was that.

Eventually Gohan agrees to training with his dad and switches to his Great Saiyan Man costume ala Power Rangers style. Hilariously though, both Goku and Goten say how lame it is for Gohan to be in his Great Saiyan Man character and that the costume is horrible, to add to this Gohan even changes his voice and gets super into character defending himself. The father-son duo finally spar at the farm.

Initially, Gohan notices just how fast his father has become and that it’s super scary fast for him. But, Gohan is able to hold his own in the fight causing the both of them to take it up a notch and transform into Super Saiyans. Here they fight even faster and Gohan is able to get a few good hits into Goku with one of them actually sending him flying away. They then charge up and begin destroying the farm, where eventually Chi Chi yells at both of them for getting carried away and ending the sparing session as a cliffside collapses.

Later Goku is doing push ups with Goten on his back as Chi Chi wonders why he can’t just train with Whis like he normally does. Goku says that he wanted to but Whis says that him and all the other Gods of Destruction Attendants are all meeting up at Zeno’s place to discuss things for sometime — effectively leaving Goku without a master to train under. Eventually, Goten suggest for Krillian and Goku goes rushing out the front door much to Chi Chi’s anger.

Next we pick up with Krillian, fully decked out as a cop, trying to capture a few robbers in the city.They get into a scuffle and Krillian dives to push the other officers out of the way as the robbers shoot them with assault rifles. One of the bullets grazes Krillian and he starts limping, then him and the cops get pinned down behind their patrol car. Luckily though, Goku shows up and in typical superhero fashion, he bends the robbers assault rifles and allows the cops to capture the robbers. Goku then notices Krillian’s arm limping and wondering if he got shot, which Krillian says yes and then wonders why Goku is there. Goku says he needs someone to train with and that it wants it to be his best friend since childhood, him.

We then find Goku and Krillian back at Krillian’s place. Krillian’s daughter is playing with Goku as Goku tries to persuade Krillian to train with him again but Krillian objects since he knows just how strong Goku is now and that he just can’t keep up with him. Android #18, Krillian’s wife, then walks in and actually belittles her husband and says that he got so weak that an ordinary bullet injured him. This then stirs something inside Krillian to get stronger and he finally agrees to train with Goku. They both head outside and are about to train when suddenly they both get the same exact idea and that’s to go to Master Roshi and have him train them just like when they were kids!

After the commercial break, Goku and Krillian are flying to Master Roshi and Krillian quips that Goku is so strong that training with him still wouldn’t make a difference to him, but Goku being Goku doesn’t hear this and Krillian then plays it off. The best friends finally arrive at Turtle Island and try to get the old hermit to train them again, but Roshi doesn’t want to do it since he knows that Goku is way beyond his teachings. But then Krillian states that by teaching him to get stronger, he can be a better cop, husband and effectively train with Goku too. The old hermit then ask if Krillian has anything worth in return, causing the cop to give Roshi an issue of a girls magazine. With Roshi being Roshi, he instantly agrees to train Krillian and by proxy, Goku.

Outside on the beach, Roshi dresses Goku up in a heavy turtle costume and orders Krillian to hit Goku as Goku must dodge each hit. Krillian goes all out but misses each and everyone of his hits due to how fast Goku is. It gets to the point where Goku eventually gets carried away himself and is about to hit Krillian without thinking but Roshi stops it instantly. It was so close of a punch that Krillian starts sweating but Goku think’s nothing of it, forgetting how strong he’s gotten himself.

As night falls, Goku is fast asleep but Krillian is out training at the beach still with Roshi approaching him and asking him questions. Krillian says that he’s doing this not just to help Goku spar but to also be both a better cop and husband/father for his family. He wants to protect people and not be a weakling anymore.

The next day, Roshi gives out a new training exercise/task to the friends. He says that there’s a reason why he’s been able to stick around for so long and that’s due to a special herb, the Paradise Herb, that only grows in the most remote area of a mysterious island. He then adds, that this will be a race and whoever gets it first will get his supply of female magazines. But Goku and Krillian complain and instead get Roshi to give them the training that they want.

Goku and Krillian then arrive at the island, and start walking by foot trying to find the herb but are stopped by mysterious laughing and they get ready to fight when suddenly it’s a character we having seen in ages finally appearing again. It’s Babba the Witch, Master Roshi’s sister! She says that she’s only there to act as a monitor for the two and tell her brother what’s up and then points the two to the entrance of where they can find the Paradise Herb. The friends end up going through the ominous entrance and end up in a spooky forest.

The spooky forest they’re in is very different then the one they were just in. Instead of the green, lush jungle forest that they met Babba in, this spooky forest is covered in thorns, vines and a mysterious fog. This fog itself becomes sentient and starts spawning enemies. Not just any ordinary enemies but instead enemies that both Goku and Krillian had defeated over the years way back in Dragon Ball Z like Frieza, Nappa, Kid Buu, evil Vegeta, the Ginyu Force and even Perfect Cell! The episode then ends on this cliffhanger with the duo trapped!

This was such a back to basics kind of episode, while okay, it was a filler it didn’t actually feel like it was one, if you know what I mean? That’s mainly because we got the focus back again on Goku and him trying to train along with Krillian trying to get stronger again too. We also got a very brief plot update in the form of Whis talking about his upcoming special meeting with Zeno. So there was some movement in here when it came to the plot, it wasn’t a lot but it was still something.

We also didn’t get any filler characters whatsoever, compared to the previous mini-sagas, and instead had characters that actually had roles in the series over the past few decades like Chi Chi, Goten, Krillian, Android #18, Master Roshi and even Babba — the later two who had major roles in both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. So it was nice to know that we’re not wasting character space for someone who’s not going to be important later on, like Barry Kong or Koko.

But the really satisfying moment came when we got to see a few dead villains “back” in a way like Perfect Cell, Nappa, Kid Buu and the Ginyu Force! I wasn’t at all expecting that to happen and instead I was just waiting for a regular giant monster or something instead.

My only annoyances of the episode were actually about the wives. Both Chi Chi and Android #18 have such a vice grip over their husbands, it’s weird. Chi Chi is way too demanding when it comes to her family. She kept Gohan underpowered, doesn’t allow Goten to train and get stronger and then yells at Goku whenever he has to get stronger to save the world. Android #18 on the other hand belittles her husband so much so, that it makes me question if she actually cares about his mental/emotional health?

Hopefully over time these two wives will mellow out and be a bit more understanding and supportive of their families and/or husbands going forward with their training, especially with whatever Zeno is planning up for the Z Fighters in the coming weeks.