Thoughts on the Current Arc of Dragon Ball Super

The Universal Survival arc of DB Super is one of the best things to emerge from the anime and truly hits everything that Dragonball embodies--high stakes battles, emotional intrigue and tons of fan-favorite-dream moments (like the upcoming Goku and Hit team up). I personally feel that this saga could very well go on to become one of the greatest and most celebrated arcs in the history of Dragon Ball, up there with the likes of the Frieza saga and dare I say, the Cell saga.

One of the reasons for the above mentioned bold claim is that this saga has something that we’ve never really seen from the series--moral ambiguity. In nearly every episode, we get a strong sense of moral disconnection that really announces the question--‘was all that fighting really worth the consequences, which is the destruction of billions of Lives?’. This element instantly puts this current arc to a refreshing new place that we’ve never seen in Dragon Ball.

If you’ve been following the Universal Survival saga, you know that unlike every other arc ever seen in Dragonball, Goku and his friends aren’t fighting any bad guys here, rather all of the warriors are being used as mere pawns in a sick game. And what’s more unsettling is the fact that the real bad guys (namely the Grand Priest and maybe some of his accomplishes) are so far above Goku or any of the warriors (and even the Gods themselves) that it’s hard to imagine anyone ever putting an end to their schemes.

This is exactly where this arc excels--it has successfully managed to make Dragon Ball dark, without feeling out-of-place in any way. Although it’ll most likely end on a much happier note, with the Super Dragon Balls being used to bring back everyone and their Universes, but it’s still going to make some far-reaching changes in the canon one way or the other (the cosmic hierarchy of the series will never be the same after this arc).

And when it comes to the scale of things, this arc is literally as big as Dragon Ball can ever get. If you think about it--the most powerful warriors from 8 Universes locked in a battle royal without holding anything back--it’s kinda impossible to top this. The Universal Survival arc literally looks like the grandest stage ever in the history of Dragon Ball. If this were the last saga in Super (it’s evidently not, so don’t worry), it’d actually have been fitting. Perhaps Toriyama has more new upcoming sagas for the anime, but gosh, in terms of both scale and consequences, it seems impossible that anything we’ll see in the future could match this arc.

Anyway, now on to a more serious note--if you’ve been following DB Super closely, you know that the Multiverse that Goku and friends inhabit is actually not as happy and colorful as it may look like. Ever since the movie Battle of Gods came out, we’ve seen a completely new level of threat that’s both terrifying and frankly, pretty stupid--the possibility of complete annihilation on a cosmic scale by the many ranked ‘deities’ or Gods’ without any sort of valid reason or justification. We’ve seen that Beerus, or even other GOD’s (Gods of Destruction) don’t really have any kind of moral code for other lifeforms and won’t hesitate to destroy entire planets for rather trivial issues.

And ever since Zeno was introduced, the possibility of getting ‘erased’ from existence for seemingly ‘minute’ issues is all the more magnified. Whis once stated that Zeno had destroyed a total of 6 freaking Universes just because he was in a ‘bad mood’. Now this, if you look deeply, is really, really dark--especially if you consider Zeno’s childlike demeanour and seeming ‘innocence’. A childish, innocent being who doesn’t hesitate to perform incredibly malevolent deeds (destroying countless lives) on just a whim--and never feel anything about it.

Now to think that someone as dangerous and indifferent towards all Life such as Zeno is at the very top of the cosmic power pyramid, is a massive threat by itself. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that Zeno is actually the biggest threat in the Multiverse for everyone.

At one point in the current arc, Beerus had Goku warned about the true nature of Zeno--that even though Zeno sees him as a friend, he might not hesitate to destroy Goku at any moment, if he feels that way. Now we’ve yet to see more from Zeno’s character for the overall ‘validity’ of Beerus’ concern, but it seems that Zeno may have another side to him as well, that we haven’t seen yet, and it may not be pretty.

Now although the current arc is showing the Grand Priest and maybe some of the Angels in a suspicious light, and they may very well turn out to be evil, I don’t doubt that at all. But it’s also true that at this point in DB Super, there’s a lot of mystery in the cosmic power chain and it’s really uncertain who is the real ‘enemy’ here. But still, one thing’s for sure, the enemy is very much in the upper ‘circle of power’ and Goku and the rest of the warriors from the different Universes are just being used as pawns.

This also makes this arc all the more interesting cause you can safely bet that the Multiversal Tournament of Power and it’s ending will massively shake things up in the cosmic level. Also, it’s worth speculating as to what type of ‘finality’ Toriyama has in mind regarding Zeno and the rest of the cosmic superbeings at (or towards) the end of DB Super. Will we see a change in Zeno’s character? Will the Grand Priest and the Angels revolt against Zeno? What sort of deceit and havoc will Frieza and Frost cause? All of these are genuinely intriguing possibilities worth of speculation. And this is one of the reasons why this arc has so much potential.

This arc will also see a completely new transformation for Goku--not a temporary power boost like SSB + KK10X or any other technique but a never-before-seen form that will most likely elevate Goku to new heights of ‘Godly’ status. It’s clear that Goku is hiding something big for Jiren in this tournament and it’s not SSB.

Also, during the pre-tournament episodes, Goku’s the only one in his team who hasn’t undergone any sort of serious and extended training, so it’s only logical to assume that he knows he already has something that’ll allow him to keep up with all the powerful combatants who’ll be in the tournament. My personal guess is that Goku has discovered access to some vast reserves of power that’s beyond SSB and he did it sometimes before this tournament started, and he’s just waiting for the right opponent who can push him far enough to that point. And when that happens, Goku will finally show everyone what he has really been hiding inside him all this time.

Overall, this arc truly feels like a gift that keeps on giving. Also, even though it’s official that Goku will be getting a new form in this saga, don’t count Vegeta out just yet. He’s done some grueling training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and he’s also likely hiding something big from the others, just like Goku. It’s also possible that he has discovered some new type of power that he’s waiting to unleash once he faces someone who can really test his limits, like Toppo, Jiren or any other powerful character in the tournament.

Also, it’d be great if Goku gets some much needed character growth along with the upcoming new form. For everyone who has watched DBZ and Super, it’s evident that Goku’s character in the new anime is paper-thin and he was a lot more developed in DBZ and even GT. In most parts of Super, Goku comes across as just a simpleton who doesn’t care much in the world except for fighting and eating. It’d be great to see some sort of growth for Goku in this arc.

But for me, the absolute best thing about the Universal Survival arc is how it balances so many new characters and their respective developments with all the fighting that’s going on constantly. Even amidst all the action and the obvious time restrains, DB Super has managed to make several new characters truly memorable and heartfelt, like the Universe 6 characters and several others like Obuni. As the majority of this arc is centered around the battle royal, DB Super has (so far) done a terrific job of utilizing myriads of little instances in the battle and turning them into beautiful character moments that really stay with the viewers. And this is something that’s never been seen in a Dragonball storyline, which makes this arc feel even more special.

To close off this article, this ongoing arc is definitely the current peak of Dragon Ball Super and has some real potential to become truly great. The previous arc, namely the Future Trunks saga, had lots of potentials too but in the end fell short because of some contrived plot points and a rushed ending. I personally think Vegito deserved a bit more shine than what he got in DB Super, with all the ‘forced’ retcons and power level inconsistencies.

Anyway, DB Super has yet to prove itself with a truly memorable saga and all hopes are riding on this one. And so far, things are looking really, really promising.