Spoilers will 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.
Episode 117 was a return to form for Dragon Ball Super — well, if you could call it that — for the Tournament Of Power as we shifted focus from just Goku to the other fighters of the Universe 7 team. Most notable, the Androids and their battled with Universe 2’s Ribbriane and Rosa. We also get a brief tease between Gohan and Piccolo against Universe 6’s Namekian duo and Vegeta trying to tap into his own hidden power to bring out Ultra Instinct for himself.
Photo Source: Funimation/Toei Animation/Cartoon Network
The real bulk of the story was the fight between 18 and Ribbriane herself, as 18 and 17 saved Goku from a gang of Universe 2 fighters who were just ready to pick him apart after he spent all of his energy on Kelfa in the past episode. Here 18 and Ribbriane fought over not just survival their respective universes but also for the fact that 18 married someone like Krillian, who Ribbriane deemed to be hideous. 17 on the other hand had to fight Rosa, who wanted revenge for eliminating the other Love fighter of Universe 2 episodes back. So while the brother/sister duo were working as a team, they were split up for most of the episode with their own individual fights that both crossed over and back again between each other. 17 did a bunch of saves for his sister 18, but wasn’t fast enough to save her from one of Ribbriane’s sneak attacks where she powered down and launched a binding attack under the ground.
Photo Source: Funimation/Toei Animation/Cartoon Network
It trapped 18 into a giant heart shaped bubble while Ribbriane grew larger and almost eclipsed the entire stage, ready to punch 18 clearly out of the arena. However, due to the power of love and something something more then that, 18 broke free of the trap and launched herself directly towards and through Ribbrianne’s giant head. One more double team alongside 17, and the Androids were able to send the Love fighters of Universe 2 packing back into the stands.
Photo Source: Funimation/Toei Animation/Cartoon Network
The other thing that happened in the episode, was Vegeta being envious of Goku’s Ultra Instinct form and so he allowed the Super Sentai fighter — the one who’s been the butt of a running gag for weeks now for being weird — to power up and beat him up. Vegeta hoped that he’ll be able to center his mind mid-brawl and then tap into Ultra Instinct. But it didn’t work out so well and Vegeta got punched a bunch of times until he got pissed and sent the Super Sentai guy flying with a punch.
Photo Source: Funimation/Toei Animation/Cartoon Network
Episode 177 was an okay episode after a string of back to back big ones between Goku and Kelfa. While it was nice to see the other fighters take the spot light after being so Goku centric, it does make all the other smaller fights to be a bit meh now, especially after seeing something like Ultra Instinct, Fusion and even Jiren running around. Everything else just feels like padding until we get to the eventually third Ultra Instinct moment for Goku and the eventual fight against Jiren that we all know is leading this all into.
Photo Source: Funimation/Toei Animation/Cartoon Network
