Dragon Ball Super Episode 100 Review

The centennial episode of Dragon Ball Super has arrived! Let's check it out, with MAJOR SPOILERS for both this episode as well as all previous episodes for Dragon Ball Super. TL;DR: It was great! Tons of fun Super Saiyan action, just what we needed. 

Some of the most interesting elements to come out of promos and openings and images for the "Universal Survival Arc" have been the "Broly" transformation for one of Universe 6's Saiyans, a fragile little girl named Kale. However, that wasn't the only new Super Saiyan we got, as we got to meet Caulifla, leader of a small gang of Saiyan hooligans.

This episode focused heavily on our Saiyans, as we got to see Vegeta have a stand off with Cabba and Goku got a little sparring match with Caulifla, while Kale stole the show with her version of the Super Saiyan transformation and effectively became, finally appropriately named, "Female Broly." Perhaps a bit more of an interesting character, but we'll get to that. 

This episode didn't necessarily make a big deal out of it being #100. Sure there were some things that called back to previous events in the Dragon Ball lore but there wasn't a whole lot in terms of it being a "wow look how far we've come." Perhaps the emphasis on Universe 6, what with the three Super Saiyans and Hit featuring in prominent roles, that got the point across that this was a celebration and that these characters would be around for a while afterward, but I never got that impression. 

My thinking is that with this being such a big episode, Toei was able to squeeze this out as a Saiyan-focused episode since, let's face it, the Super Saiyan brand sells. People will tune in to see Super Saiyans fighting, and I do believe they get their moneys worth. 

Now, this isn't an episode where you just jump in and know exactly what's going on. You'll be quite perplexed when Caulifla asks Goku if the "tingly back thing" is how to ascend to Super Saiyan 2, and be confused by Kale's transformation and Hit's own abilities, as well as how truly amazing Jiren is, even if, in total, he's only uttered like five words this entire tournament. 

(and it's always really cool!)

One thing that this episode does very well is that it really puts things into focus. It zeroes in on Goku finding a kindred spirit in Caulifla, and without having to say much of anything, we're immediately able to tell that he wants to take this fight as a training opportunity. It was fun to see him mentor her in how not to abuse the Super Saiyan form when she powered up to the beefier form that Trunks used against Perfect Cell (by the way her transformation into that form was hysterical). 

Caulifla's quickly becoming a favorite of mine from the new "Super" characters, as well as Hit. She's brash, yes, but has an unbridled passion that we rarely see out of the main cast. Plus she's really funny. She has a no-nonsense attitude about her and in many ways she is the essence of a true Saiyan, as she's willing to dive headfirst into a fight and has incredible adaptability skills in battle. After all, it only took her two tries to get into the Super Saiyan 2 form. 

Her fight with Goku was great from multiple angles, both in terms of narrative/ character as well as presentation. It was a bit of a throwback to when Goku fought Majin Vegeta: at any point he could have escalated the fight and became a Super Saiyan 3, but instead substituted the victory for the chance to have a solid fight, and indeed he got one. It's not nearly as epic or gruesome as that one (because the show airs in Japan on a Sunday morning and I don't think Goku and Caulifla beating themselves senseless would pass for that time slot) but the idea comes across rather well. Plus we get to see Goku having a bit of fun amidst all this tension, and we finally get to see Caulifla let loose and go all out against someone of greater power than her. 

Not to mention that my personal favorite Super Saiyan form is Super Saiyan 2: the mastery of the form without the ridiculous designs of 3 and 4, nor the needless baggage that comes with Blue. It's great, and the sparks are always a great touch. 

Kale's fight with Goku is where I get a bit conflicted with the episode. It's one thing to echo the design of Broly's Legendary Super Saiyan form and it's a whole other thing to outright make Kale into Broly. At first it was cute that she would only repeat "Son Goku" like Broly would repeat "Kakarot" over and over, but that's all she does. She singlemindedly goes after Goku and just says his name. At least Broly had other dialogue! 

But her motivations are way better than Broly's. All Kale wants to do is be respected and it seems at every turn that she just can't be, but sadly her only way of drawing attention is turning into a monster. I do feel for the girl and it's a bit tragic that she would be burdened with a power she can't control. 

I am a little confused as to what the power-scaling is here, though, as Goku's Kamehameha in Super Saiyan Blue did next to nothing against her, yet I feel like even someone like Beerus would struggle against that blast. Remember: Super Saiyan Blue uses God ki. It isn't a slouchy transformation. Toppo struggled against it quite a bit, and he's one of the strongest fighters we've seen. I might make the argument and assume that Goku used the blast as simply a means of wiping Kale's stamina, since he knew she wouldn't sustain the transformation, and therefore didn't go full-power, but it's still head-tilting. 

Honestly I'm about ready to just give up on it all since Android 17 was able to compete with the form as well and he can't be much stronger than Caulifla at this point. 

Who knows! 

In terms of presentation there were some moments where this 100th episode fell apart and where it really shone through. The close-ups on the characters were all really great and the animation for fight between Goku and Caulifla was fluid and awesome, allowing for a high-speed battle that didn't miss a beat. Things fell apart a bit when Kale stepped in, but it wasn't too bad. Just a little clunky. 

I suppose it helps that, in their base forms, Kale and Kaulfila have pretty basic designs. The most complicated thing about Caulifla is her hair (and I'd be remiss to say that I wonder how long her hair gets in the Super Saiyan 3 transformation). So, it may not be as hard to animate like, say, Goku fighting Hit, who has a few more intricacies about his character. 

Another thing I found interesting was Kale's huge blast as she just unleashed all of her energy. In wonder if that was a means of hastening the tournament and slimming down the rosters, as it has to have knocked a bunch of people off the arena. We know that Kale definitely knocked two guys off, and over the course of the episode I think we saw 6 others fall. So we're getting down to it and I bet by the next two episodes we'll be seeing confrontations between characters that actually have names. 

There was a ton of teases this episode, too, and most of them involved Hit. He was constantly on the lookout for Jiren, and it's obvious that either he wants to avoid him, or he wants to engage him with some sort of strategy. He and Caulifla clearly have some sort of plan, as they get away right as Goku arrives to confront Jiren. I do hope that we get to see Hit and Jiren fight at some point, since I think that'd be a much more interesting fight than Jiren and Goku at this stage in the tournament. It'd be a nice warm-up, and a good way of softening up Jiren for his ultimate confrontation with Goku. 

I am sad that Gohan didn't get in on this action. I was really looking forward to a six-way showdown of Saiyans: Goku vs. Caulifla in Super Saiyan 2, Vegeta vs. Cabba in base Super Saiyan, and Gohan vs. Kale in the "special" Super Saiyan forms. It would not only be cool as all hell but would've also let Gohan actually get in on the action this tournament. I hope he doesn't have just one big moment near the end, I want him to get super involved! 

Something that jumped out at me, that I did not see coming, was how well the music was used. I don't know if these are some new tracks, but the score that played when Caulifla transformed for the first time this episode was AMAZING and highlighted how much of a badass Super Saiyan she is already. There was also a super cool track that played during her Super Saiyan 2 ascension that sounds a lot like Vegeta's theme from Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters. 

Overall, I think you can tell I liked this episode quite a bit. It was action-packed and just a fun joy ride through and through. I didn't get everything I wanted but we did see in the preview that 17 and 18 are teaming up to fight one of Jiren's teammates, and that sounds super exciting and promising. So far so good regarding the Tournament of Power, and I hope the next 100 episodes for Dragon Ball Super can be just as exciting! 

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