Dragon Ball Super Manga – Chapter 71: The Heeters’ Plan

I’ve seen some of the discourse on this story arc complaining about Granolah and how he just got his powers from nowhere and such. But at this point I feel like people will complain about anything, and for some reason it all just bubbles to the top. Personally, I’ve this arc to be something of a slower burn so far and I appreciate it for that. Putting us into fight after fighter after fight throughout an arc can get somewhat exhausting.

Although I get the impression we might be approaching that stage very soon either way.

This entire chapter details the Heeter’s schemes to put Granolah on a direct collision course with our two Saiyan heroes. Which is going to take some doing considering they’re both isolated on Beerus’s world and training with their respective mentors.

Goku is continuing to train with Whis in Ultra Instinct and Vegeta is improving his mastery of destruction energy thanks to Beerus’s pretty hands off coaching style. The nugget of interesting information for me that comes out of this is that Whis tells Goku that the “transformation” Goku uses to activate Ultra Instinct is actually unnecessary, and his next goal should be to just use Ultra Instinct in his normal form, therefore eliminating any time limit from the form.

It makes me wonder where the silver haired form even comes from at this point? Like is it just a manifestation that Goku subconsciously created himself to help him feel closer to the angels whose power he is emulating? Either way, Whis is telling Goku that the power is a last resort still and not his new go-to transformation.

On the other hand we see Vegeta is getting much better at using Destruction Energy. While Beerus tells Vegeta that Destruction is the technique of the God’s of Destruction, I really struggle to see how the move has all that much use in a fight outside of just being an instant kill move. I’m sure Toriyama and Toyotario will surprise me and have the Prince use the move in some novel and cool ways, but I guess I had hopes Vegeta would get some other new power when Beerus announced he would train him outside of just blowing stuff up.

The rest of the chapter mainly follows the Heeters as Macki and Oil visit the information broker Zumo to get all the information they need to manipulate both Goku and Vegeta and Granolah into fighting one another, as well as getting them some Dragon Balls in the process.

I like the Heeters. While they’re being painted at the villains of this arc, there’s something about them that makes them seem a bit more playful and fun than the last handful of villains we had to deal with. I mean, I suppose they are still villains in the end, they’re just not as heinously evil as Freeza or Moro was.

They’re still gunning for universal domination, but they’re just so much more likeable. Also they’re not all that strong, so it means they’re using their brains, their charm and manipulation to get what they want. Which is something pretty different as far as Dragon Ball goes. Kinda anyway, whenever it does happen those kinds of characters are pushed into the background hard. Which I’m assuming is going to happen to these guys as the arc goes on.

Macki and Oil eventually make their way to Earth and Goku’s home, meeting Chi Chi under the guise of being aliens from a war torn world requesting aid from the two heroic Saiyans who saved the universe from Moro. Which leads them to Bulma’s place to call Whis. We learn it’s actually been months since the conclusion of the Moro arc, meaning we inch ever close to the end of Z.

Although I’m really beginning to suspect Super isn’t ever going to jump past point anymore.

At the prospect of someone showing up and announcing themselves as “the strongest in the universe”, Goku and Vegeta’s interests are piqued and come straight to the Heeter’s aid. Thus the stage is set for the Saiyans and Granolah to face off, with Macki leaking the information about “Freeza’s incoming assassins” to Granolah.

And if we’ve seen anything of Granolah’s past, while he might hate Freeza for destroying his people, his nightmares are filled with the faces of Saiyans actually doing the deed. Those poor Sugarian have no idea what is about to go down on their home.

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Okay, so here’s the thing about Granolah. People are complaining about him getting his powers from basically nowhere, but it doesn’t really bother me that much. Because that’s not his arc. He’s a character driven and obsessed with revenge and through the course of this arc he’s going to come to terms with that and grow past it. He might kick Goku and Vegeta’s asses in their first encounter, but he’s eventually going to stop being the strongest in the universe and learn something from the expereince.

It doesn’t bother me so much because he’s a totally misguided character. Getting stronger isn’t his drive like it is Goku, Moro, Jiren or Freeza. The power is just a means to an end and once his perception of that end is warped, his power isn’t going to amount to a whole lot compared to the realisation that his anger at a dead race might be a little misdirected.

Then again, his interactions with Vegeta might be interesting to see. The previous couple of arcs have shown Vegeta feeling genuine remorse for his past deeds, wanting to make amends with the Namekians and stating his guilt over the past deeds of the Saiyan Race, even before they joined up with King Cold. And yet, Beerus has berated Vegeta for feeling that way and saying that those feelings directly interfere with his ability to use Destruction Energy.

So it’ll be interesting to see what kind of Vegeta we’ll get when faced with the reality of one of his people’s past sins coming back to literally bite him in the backside. I’m also looking forward to seeing this fight and whether Granoilah’s long range sniping tactics will be a part of his fighting style.