Dragon Ball Super

About the series

Contains story spoilers.

Dragon Ball Super takes Goku's search for stronger opponents beyond the enemies and training grounds he already knows. Toei Animation's television series began in Japan in July 2015, using story and character concepts from Dragon Ball's original creator, Akira Toriyama. It follows the aftermath of the battle with Majin Buu and brings the characters introduced in Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ into its television account. Goku remains at its centre, with Masako Nozawa continuing as his Japanese voice. The world grows to include competing universes and gods whose decisions can affect everyone living within them. That expansion makes the difference between winning a fight and protecting a home increasingly important. These selected television developments follow encounters in which Goku and his allies reach the limits of their own strength, make unexpected agreements and discover that a powerful intervention can carry consequences much larger than the opponent they meant to defeat.

The Battle of Gods story establishes that meeting a stronger opponent need not end with Goku becoming the strongest person in the room. Fighting Beerus, a God of Destruction who has threatened Earth, Goku continues even after losing the immediate form of his borrowed divine power. He has absorbed something from the transformation and can still challenge Beerus, although the fight eventually drains him. After falling toward Earth, thoughts of the people below push him into another attack. His final effort destroys a dangerous energy sphere before his strength gives out, and Vegeta catches him. Beerus still has the capacity to destroy the planet. Instead, he pretends to fall asleep and leaves with Whis, allowing Earth to survive. Goku has impressed him without defeating him. The outcome changes the shape of the threat: survival now depends on a destroyer's choice as well as the effort made by the people trying to stop him.

The return of Frieza tests a different weakness, because having greater fighting power does not ensure that the decisive moment goes well. Vegeta takes over the battle and reveals that he, too, can use the blue-haired Super Saiyan transformation. He deflects a blast into Frieza's subordinate Sorbet and overwhelms Frieza himself, bringing an old enemy close to defeat. Frieza responds by destroying Earth, killing the people on it while surviving the destruction. Whis reverses time, creating a chance to prevent that outcome rather than live with it. Goku acts on the warning and kills Frieza before he can destroy the planet again. The apparent victory therefore requires an intervention outside ordinary combat and action taken before the catastrophe repeats. In the aftermath, Goku and Vegeta recognise the advantage of working together while still resisting it. Their shared strength has saved them, but their rivalry continues to influence how they fight.

Competition between the universes gives that appetite for combat a formal arena, although the rules themselves become an obstacle for Goku. During his match with Hit, an assassin, Goku asks for the ban on killing to be lifted so his opponent can use his full abilities. Beerus and Champa argue over the request, but Goku withdraws by stepping out of bounds. His own exertion has left him unable to continue, and he believes Monaka is still available to win for their side. Monaka's intimidating reputation is a deception maintained by Beerus, so his arrival should expose how little strength he has. Hit instead deliberately loses, repaying Goku for helping him discover further potential. Universe 7 wins through an opponent's generosity rather than the superiority of its supposed final champion. Zeno, the ruler above the competing universes, then appears. The tournament has widened the world's hierarchy without making every figure in it easier to understand.

Future Trunks' struggle against Zamasu shows the limits of a victory that seems complete. After Trunks cuts him down with a sword strengthened by energy, celebration gives way to a new disaster: Zamasu abandons a conventional body and spreads across the sky. Attacks from Goku, Vegeta and Trunks fail to stop him, and his destructive blasts leave Trunks unable to sense survivors in his world. Goku uses a button to summon that future's Zeno and asks him to remove Zamasu. Zeno erases the world along with the threat, forcing the others to escape by time machine. Trunks and Mai are alive, but their home is gone. Whis offers a route to another version of their future where the disaster can be prevented, warning that their counterparts will also live there. They accept that imperfect possibility. Removing the enemy has saved the travellers without restoring the people and place they were fighting for.

The Tournament of Power eventually makes cooperation decisive in a way Goku and Vegeta resisted after Frieza's earlier defeat. In its final confrontation, Goku fights alongside Frieza against Jiren, while Android 17 provides support. Goku reassures Frieza that he will honour their agreement if he helps. The pair force Jiren out of the arena while going out themselves, leaving Android 17 as the winner for Universe 7. His prize is a wish from the Super Dragon Balls, and he chooses to restore the universes erased during the competition rather than take a reward for himself. The other worlds return, and Whis restores Frieza to life. Frieza makes clear that this cooperation has not ended his evil intentions, so their alliance remains conditional. Goku and Vegeta return to their lives and the prospect of becoming stronger. The television run closes this contest with a generous wish and an uneasy partnership, rather than a claim that rivalry or danger has disappeared.