Dragon Ball Super Episode 130 Review: HOLY FUCK THIS IS SO PRETTY

Dragon Ball Super, Episode 130: The Greatest Showdown of All Time! The Ultimate Survival Battle!

Well.

Well, holy shit.

And I don't just mean holy shit on a "the events happening are so epic" scale, because if we're really being honest a good chunk of the fight is just more Goku-vs-Jiren, which is still pretty fucking epic... but god damn. I know I've always championed substance over style, but holy fuck. Holy fuck this episode is pretty as hell. It moves so fast, but everything is animated amazingly well and there are so, so many money shots. I think my favourite has to be this scene with Jiren (who gets his own shirt-ripped super-muscly form, his new "MAX POWER" that's becoming a bit of a running joke, to be honest) and Goku trading blows while blue energy trails off Goku's eyes, but there are so many great shots in this scene.

And it's just so goddamned pretty from a visual and audio standpoint, and it really got me super-duper pumped as I watched through this episode. Like... YEAH, MAN! Goku fighting this unstoppable threat in his new form! Flashy attacks! Punchy punchs! Roars! Music that really rocks the soul! All of this has the markings of being super-awesome scenes that I'll remember many years down the line when you say "that Jiren/Goku fight". It is an exhilarating experience from an 'action anime' standpoint, and I genuinely find it hard-pressed to find any moment that looks prettier or is more well-executed than this. And yes, I'm including the movies in this -- it's so pretty!


But at the same time... the actual substance that goes on in this fight is really, really.... not there, is it? Like, we've got some token talks between Goku and Jiren, and the main theme that the writers have chosen to explore is a simple "Jiren fights alone and thinks only strength matters" while Goku, despite not having as solid of a set of ideals as Jiren (he actually says "I ain't a hero" in this episode) knows who he's fighting for, and that he's fighting for his allies and friends.

And it's... it feels really generic. I mean, I do suppose it makes sense, considering what we know of Jiren's backstory, but it's so... it's so basic. It's a simple "friendship triumphs" bit, which we've seen in anime a dozen hundred times. And I'm sorry -- yes, it's arguably executed well in the scope of this episode as a standalone... but taking Jiren and Goku's character arc for the Universal Survival Arc... or more accurately, the lack thereof, it genuinely feels somewhat hollow to me. And this was what I'm afraid of. The ending isn't bad... it's merely serviceable, and that's not quite enough, I think.

Thankfully, though, for a 'generic' anime ending, it's done amazingly well. Lots of great moment for the relatively simple story they're telling for Jiren and Goku, and, of course, it looks pretty as all hell.

Perhaps the moment that makes me really pissed off at Jiren's uneven writing is the fact that he ends up being reduced to an angry generic villain when he gets so pissed at all the talk of fighting for "friends" that he launches a death ki ball at the stands. That... that doesn't really feel like what Jiren would do. He's always felt arrogant and a bit of a dick, but shooting at others? That's just weird.

We've got Goku finishing Goku off with a mighty Kamehameha, and all Goku needs to do is to just finish him off... except, y'know, anime. So Goku takes his sweet time... and then Goku's back bursts open in a very cool censor-friendly shot-by-shot black-background sketchy-drawing scene as Goku collapses to the ground. It's actually quite brutal for the standards of Super, I'm not going to lie. Apparently, according to Whis, it's all the strain from using Ultra Instinct's mastered form, and Belmod screams at Jiren to murder Goku right now. And, credit where credit's due, after all the bad taste in the mouth of Jiren shooting at the observers, at least Jiren looks super-conflicted here.

And... and let's be honest here. As much as I'm thrilled at the idea that someone else other than Goku might finish off Jiren (although... hahaha, yeah right that's not going to happen) the fact that Goku's brand-new form just ends up having its time limit end up fizzling off feels like yet another cop-out. I'm not sure how I feel about this -- it's like a running gag, almost. The first appearance of Ultra Instinct, the first appearance of Super Saiyan 3, Vegito, Vegito Blue, Super Saiyan God's first appearance... At this point it's more annoying than thrilling. I get it. Having Goku reach a new form and then just curb-stomp Jiren to the ground, no matter how pretty, is pretty boring -- pretty 'standard', so they needed to figure out some other way to end the fight. But really?

Jiren blasts Goku away, and of course, the obvious Freeza save happens, blasting Goku to a chunk of rubble... and saves Goku. Of course. It's Freeza, who's back up again. That's expected, of course, for Freeza to come back when either Goku or Jiren's got the other on the ropes. Hell, judging by all the purple energy around Goku's body, it might actually just be Freeza who is responsible for shooting Goku in the back.

No, the surprise comes from the fact that Android 17 is back, alive, and ready to tussle, apparently not having self-destructed. So the Grand Priest was just flubbing? For some reason? And I'm of two minds of this. On one hand, it's an amazingly well-executed twist that also happens to make sense, but at the same time... jeez. Really? Seventeen's death was genuinely well-executed and genuinely touching even with the asterisk that "he's going to be brought back to life with the dragon balls sometime down the line", but this just feels like a moment that kind of cheapens 17's death earlier on. Freeza and 17 face off against Jiren, ready to hold the line, and the credits roll.

And... and despite the chunks of negativity I may have towards this episode, it's an episode I genuinely enjoy. It's testament to the high production values that the animation and music staff pour towards Dragon Ball Super that even with this very iffy script and frankly messy long-term planning that it manages to really inspire a sense of "HELL YEAH DRAGON BALL" in me, and that's saying something considering that Dragon Ball Super has no power of nostalgia whatsoever over me. It's really great at getting me super pumped-up while watching it, and it's a shame that it has so many slight problems with storytelling that makes it not quite reach the amount of greatness that it really should've been able to. So yeah. It's definitely not the best part of the Universal Survival Saga, although it comes quite close... and the ending isn't quite going to be as good as it could've been... but at the same time? It could've been far, far worse, and I, for one, am just content to rewatch this episode to see all the pretty animation. Good stuff.