REVIEW Dragon Ball Super Ep: 67 [Deus Ex Status Quo]

   

Goku Black, confusing anybody who doesn't watch super.

     With Dragon Ball Super having finished it's at the time latest arc I think we have found this series version of power levels. I don't mean this in a bad way however. As with previous arcs in Super, there has been an air that a lot of the action has been somewhat trivial. while this is wholly not a negative thing, in fact the lighter tension gives it a more comedic bent a'la Dragon Ball, it has kinda caused an inflation in power and a devalue in our hero's abilities. What I am talking about is the introduction of higher gods and beings.

     This episode showed the beginnings of the Zamasu saga's epilogue. With last week having Trunks give the final death blow to the fused Zamasu, we open just moments after. A massive amount of energy comes pouring out of the corpse, somehow fundamentally changing the fabric of the universe. Everything the heroes do is for nought, as Zama-cloud goes on to kill the rest of the human population that are still surviving on future earth. When all hope seems lost, Goku remembers that he literally has a "call the most powerful god" button. He comes and wipes everything out. We are then told that future Trunks and Mai can go back to the future a little bit before this whole mess started and that Whis and Beerus would tidy up most everything else.

     While I may seem overly critical in that brief synopsis, I must say that I still really enjoyed it. It still felt quintessentially Dragon Ball to me. That's what I mean when I talk power levels. It's not so much a crutch for storytelling, or a plot hole needing to be filled. It is just the overall flavour of the ebb and flow of the show. In Dragon Ball Z there was a lot of focus on the concept of power level, whether it was with how pointless they were, or just there as bench markers for character growth, power levels were an omni-present force in the show. As such I think the element of gods is Super's flavour. Being a benchmark for a character's power, a source of problems, or solutions, gods are more now than ever a mainstay in Dragon Ball Super.

     This however could cause a problem, one that they directly mention in this episode. Why, if they are friends with these litany of gods, can't they ask them for more help? I have seen many a fan point out that Beerus or Whis could probably, with a snap of their fingers, solve most, if not all, of the Z Warriors problems. However Beerus out right says, to the group and the audience, that they should not rely on the gods to solve all their problems. Hopefully the writing staff will remember that thought.