Transitional chapter! Y’know, with the conclusion of the Moro story arc, I’d kind of hoped we’d finally get that time skip to the end of Z which has been at the back of my mind when anything perilous happens in Dragon Ball Super. And what with the events of the previous chapter, you’d think that it’d be closer than ever.
At this point, I feel like I could just as easily see the end of Z arc getting retconned out of existence. Which wouldn’t be the worst thing. Just age Goten and Trunks up for God’s sake.
This chapter begins with Krillin glomping Goku after his defeat of Moro. Something everyone seems ecstatic about, except of course for old grumpy guts Vegeta. After Hmphing at Goku’s Kaiju impression, he demands to know where the huge power used to beat the goatman came from. Goku is acting kind of coy, as if he might know more than he’s letting on. But I know for a fact that Goku knows jack.
Although we, and the Supreme Kai inhabiting Buu’s body know that it was, in fact, Uub that unknowingly saved the day. Although he doesn’t bother to share that fact before going back to the lookout and turning back into regular Majun Buu. To which Mr. Satan is so happy that he throws a massive feast, one in which everyone is invited. One in which we see Vegeta throwing back a few brewskis.
At this point, it’s mostly just story mop up. Bringing us back to the expected status quo the series just loves to maintain beyond anything else these days. Consequences be damned. Through Namek’s Dragon Ball’s all life in the universe that was destroyed by Moro and this thugs are brought back. With Merus being the sole exception. Oh wait…
Days later, Goku, Vegeta and Buu are all taken back to Galactic Patrol HQ to receive an award for saving the entire universe. While there we learn that Merus is somehow still alive. It’s a nice moment, considering Merus being the most heroic character of the entire arc, but it just goes to contribute to my low-key problems with this franchise refusing that there be any kind of consequence to anything anymore.
As it turns out, our regular Supreme Kai, not wanting to be outdone by his predecessor apparently, went to the Grand Priest and pleaded with him to give Merus another chance, even at the expense of his own life. Something Beerus seems very unimpressed with. Then we get more proof that the angels are the true gods of this universe, able to do literally anything they desire.
The Grand Priest did erase Merus, but shortly thereafter brought him back as a mortal. One with a regular lifespan and lacking his angel powers. It’s a nice gesture, as I do like Merus, but again. It kind of undercuts his whole sacrifice earlier in the story. Plus, if Goku has mastered Ultra Instinct, there’s nothing to day Merus couldn’t get there again. Although I’m not sure he’d be overly interested in doing that anymore.
Although, I suppose there were some consequences to all this. For allowing Merus to break Angel law, the godly trio (but mostly Beerus) are forced to play the role of the Omni-Kings’s attendants/playthings. And with that, Goku’s time with the galactic patrol is over, and we move right into a new storyline!
Sometime later, at Galactic Patrol HQ, Jaco and one of his fellow patrolmen, Calamis, are investigating a faint distress signal they detected towards the conclusion of the battle with Moro. As it turns out, the alien android known as Seven-Three has survived being consumed by Moro and then him exploding afterwards. Then sending out the distress signal to the aliens who created him.
A few months later, a spacecraft full of aliens lead by some big fella by the name of Master Goichi. These aliens all seem to have evil intent, having built a legion of these androids in a quest for universal domination. Having recovered OG73-i from Earth, they managed to copy all of the data from within him and instil it into the rest of their units, meaning that there are a legion of Seven-Three’s out there, all all maybe as strong as Gohan?
It’s hard to tell, what with his power copying and the time limit to it, it’s not really clear exactly how powerful these androids actually are. Although at this point in the franchise, it hardly matters. The power scaling is well and truly buggered.
Suddenly, a small ship piloted by a swashbuckler/pirate? by the name of Granolah shows up. This steampunk, fantasy looking mo-fo breaks on board to the ship and starts tearing ass through in pursuit of something. While he uses a gun to begin with, when the “OG Soliders” are released, all of which are literal copies of Seven-Three, it seems the guy does have some fighting ability on his own.
He also seems to know the weakness of the androids, blasting the crystals on their foreheads to take them out with small, precise ki blasts. I have no idea who this breakfast food named guy is, but if the earlier comments are to be believed, this guy is making pretty fast work of an army of machines that gave Gohan and Piccolo something of a hard time when it was just one.
Once Granolah makes his way deeper into the ship, we realise that he is after Seven Three specifically. The reason why he and the mysterious voice on this other end of his comm might want this android is left a total mystery. Also, is what remains of Seven Three floating in that tank meant as a homage to Freeza shortly before getting his cybernetic upgrades? because that’s what it reminds me of.
This was a fun, if functional chapter of the manga. We tie up the lose ends of the previous are while kicking off the start of a new one. Like with the Galactic Patrol storyline, this one is already posing questions and mysteries at the reader to make them want to know who this new character is and what exactly he wants with Seven Three. My guess it’s more about wanting something the android knows rather than what he can do.
It’s very early days yet, but I’m interested to see what direction this goes, as we continue to move down the spacefaring, science fiction path of the precious arc. It seems there’s much more to universe 7 than we gave it credit for. I was sure that after the tournament of power, we’d be getting some universe hopping adventures, maybe a trip to and story set in Universe 6.
Maybe that’s where this is going. Who knows. I’m interested to find out though, and wonder what kind of enemy could possibly pose any kind of threat to Goku now he’s able to flick a light switch and go Ultra Instinct at will.
A Richard Wood Text Adventure 