Dragon Ball Super Episode 8 Review

The last episode of Dragon Ball Super left us, in the end, with an extremely pissed off Vegeta due to the fact that Beerus smacked his wife, Bulma, around.  Vegeta wasted no time assaulting Beerus right at the opening of the episode.  For Vegeta fans, such as myself, the first half of this episode is a very nice reward for having to endure “Vegeta the butler” for the past couple of episodes.  I was happy to see the prince of Saiyans finally show his sense of Saiyan pride and appear to be in character at last.  Not only did Vegeta go all out against Beerus but he actually managed to get a few licks in during his battle with the god.  Of course, Beerus didn't remotely tap into his overall strength, that much was clear, but it was nice to see him get nailed a few times with all the dodging he has been doing.  Beerus, himself, even acknowledged Vegeta's strength to a degree by stating that he was “more entertaining than that Saiyan on King Kai's world”.  It wasn't surprising at all that Vegeta's best wasn't enough.  It functioned as a wonderful reminder that this guy is a god and is on a whole other level than everything that has come before.

Before Beerus could actually make good on his promise to destroy the Earth, Bulma steps in with some quick thinking and points out that if Beerus destroys the Earth he will never get to try the rest of the food that the planet has to offer.  This made perfect sense as the writers of this series have made it crystal clear that Beerus and his companion Whis absolutely live for trying different types of cuisine.  It was at this part of the show that the episode started to drag a bit.  Beerus decides that he will give the Earth a second chance if someone can beat him in a game of rock-paper-scissors and he calls Oolong onto the stage as his opponent.  This is definitely Dragon Ball flavored humor and didn't shock me a bit.  Super has proven already that the very out there sense of humor that Dragon Ball has always had is here to stay.  I don't have a problem with the humor, but this scene dragged on way too long in my opinion.  It was nice seeing Oolong in the spotlight, as it has been far too long since he has done anything important.  It was also a ton of fun seeing Beerus mistake Oolong for the same species as Majin Buu, which implies that Beerus thought Buu was a pig.  That isn't really that far from the truth when you think about it.  The scene could have been much shorter and still kept its impact and humor.

There is a completely pointless scene of Pilaf and his gang trying to row their boat away from the chaos that is starting to erupt. Smart move on Pilaf's behalf and I think it would be a smart move for the writers to row him, in his boat, right off the show. I'm finding it hard to see his purpose in the grand scheme of things. It can't be for humor as the show is dripping wet with funny moments all the time so far. I don't see any value in Pilaf being a part of things other than the fact that it shows a bit of continuity among the different Dragon Ball series. Either give him a purpose or write him out. Please! Another thing I wish would go away is the series' uneven art. When there is a lot of action going on things tend to look fantastic, but during the slower moments the art takes hits and you can clearly see when they reuse the same assets over and over.

The title of the episode promised us that Goku would make an entrance and in true Dragon Ball fashion that happens right at the end of the episode just before Beerus can finally fulfill his promise of Earth's destruction. You may see it coming from a mile away, but that doesn't change the fact that Goku makes a great entrance. He even came to the party with a nifty idea. Let's ask Shenron about the Super Saiyan God. Sounds like a good idea to me and it's nice to see Goku actually using his head for once. Hopefully, the entirety of the next episode isn't the Z Fighters asking one simple question. It wouldn't surprise me though if that were the case. The preview for episode nine tells us we will witness the birth of a Super Saiyan God. I absolutely can't wait to see how this plays out. I think that Beerus is about to meet his match.

Final Score – 3.5 out of 5 Dragon Balls