Exactly one year ago yesterday, episode 67 of Dragon Ball Super aired, marking the end
of the Future Trunks arc. We so rarely touch on Super as a whole on this channel – my
content is generally behind-the-scenes stuff, but I'm a fan like any of you, and now seems
like the perfect time to look back on Super's last major arc, and see what worked, what
didn't, and why. This is my review of the Future Trunks arc… let's get started:
Episode 47 is where this arc begins, and it marks one of the most dramatic changes to
the series in its entire run. After 46 episodes of light-hearted content, saturated colours,
and frankly, a real lack of tension, the dreary backdrops and Sumitomo's dramatic music,
despite looking entirely oppressive, feel like a real breath of fresh air. It's everything
Super drastically needed at this point to engage its viewers, and you can see its lasting
effects in future arcs, like the Universe Survival arc. Atmosphere is critical, and
this arc is oozing it from the very get-go. It's so, so important, and it plays a vital
role in the way the arc's antagonist, Goku Black, is introduced. Prior to this arc beginning,
we had a comment from Toriyama that stated, "I put together this story based on a suggestion
from the editorial office", and honestly, that absolutely terrified me. Toei's original
content hasn't historically been the greatest thing ever, and on paper, the name 'Goku
Black' just conjures up ideas of awful fan-fiction evil Goku stories.
Thankfully, this episode pretty much squashed all of my concerns, and that's down the
presentation – or mostly critically, the build-up to his reveal. For almost 20 minutes
straight, he is nothing but a smoky, shadowy figure. We see him destroying the landscape,
he kills Bulma, he brushes aside Trunks like he's nothing, and at the time, it looks
like he kills Mai, too. When the smoke finally clears, Sumitomo's score kicks in, and he's
finally revealed. We're greeted by Nozawa's terrifying delivery of "Today is the day
your life comes to an end… Saiyajin." It is such a phenomenal way to introduce that
character. One of the key phrases writers like to dish out all the time is, "Show,
don't tell", and that's exactly what we have here. There's no tiring exposition
about what he's done and how evil he is – it's purely visual storytelling, and
it's so effective. Those final lines are the hook, and they do wonders of bringing
you into the story: Who is he, and what are his motivations?
This arc does a great job of keeping those under wraps for quite some time. This is important
because it allows tension to build. Even as far as episode 50 when Black comes to the
present, he's still this mysterious threat. You've all heard the tired old phrase, "We
fear what we don't understand", and that's exactly what's in play here. Everything
feels entirely hopeless at this point, and they do a wonderful job hammering that home.
Towards the end of episode 50, following the destruction of the time machine, there's
a moment where this hopelessness catches up with Trunks, and he breaks. We get a touching
scene where a lovely orchestral rendition of Chozetsu Dynamic kicks in, and Vegeta tells
Trunks that they'll "find a way." This is just one of many character moments like
this throughout the arc, actually. There's more Trunks and Vegeta bonding while they
train together, there's the reunion of Trunks and Mai, and while I struggle to suspend my
disbelief that Gohan wouldn't ask Trunks why he's back, their episode together is
equally as touching. This arc really takes the time to slow things down, and establish
or build upon characters, and it's all the better for it.
Following episode 50 is of course episode 51, and it's here we're finally given
Black's motivations in a spectacular speech delivered through a flashback. He talks about
how he wants to eradicate mortals, and that they're the gods' only failures. He wants
to rid the world of them to help create his utopia. Structurally, this is placed perfectly,
as it ties directly into the introduction of Zamasu only two episodes later. Episode
53 ends with a speech where Zamasu essentially mirrors Black's original speech, though
in far less extreme terms. We get to see the end of his conclusions, and the inception
of the idea within a few episodes of one another, and that makes Zamasu's inevitable downfall
all the more interesting. It also marks the start of a neat little visual motif involving
Gowasu's tea – it partially clouds here. By episode 55, following the Barbarians subplot,
Zamasu is pretty much entirely mirroring Black's speech back in 51, and of course, to complete
the motif, Gowasu's tea clouds entirely. I loved this. For me, the best villains are
ones you can understand or identify with to some degree. Majin Boo and Cell's motivations
aren't interesting – they're evil just because, and as a result, the success of their
arcs hinge on moments or cool designs, rather than them as characters. In contrast, Freeza,
Piccolo Daimao, and even Vegeta, all have clear-cut motivations. Even someone like the
Joker that thrives on chaos and toying with Batman has an interesting motivation. To have
another villain in Dragon Ball with not just a cool goal, but an overwhelmingly strong
core belief is very impactful – 'ningen' didn't become a meme for no reason, Zamasu
is obsessed and hates them to his very core. Of course, Masako Nozawa and Shinichiro Miki
portrayed this idea perfectly, helping to sell these characters as some of Dragon Ball's
best. Unfortunately, as a result of being so perfectly
aligned, the attempt at a twist in episode 56 doesn't quite hit home. Personally, for
not even one second did I believe they weren't connected in some way. Thankfully, the story
doesn't hinge on this turning point, so the drama of having to face off against two
enemies is just enough to salvage the moment. And face off, they do. The production quality
of the previous arcs was… not great, to say the least. And while this arc up to this
point certainly has the odd iffy looking episode, the animation is a significant improvement,
with genuinely great looking action making its way to the screen on a pretty regular
basis. The contents of said action has been a little
bit divisive, however. Some fans were not happy that Trunks could stand up to these
enemies whatsoever. I'm not someone who cares for the specifics of powerscaling, so
the aforementioned episodes of Trunks training with Vegeta were enough for me to understand
the consistency here, but I do at least acknowledge those complaints, consider them mostly valid,
and do think in general, the series could do a better job of articulating where characters
stand against others. For me, my biggest complaint about these early
episodes came in the form of Goku's characterisation. In fact, it bothered me so much, I did an
entire video on it in the past, so I'll link that in the description for those interested.
Goku is a simple character, but he's a multifaceted one, and keeping the balance between his goofy
and serious side is critical in ensuring he feels like himself. In many episodes, the
various writing staff exaggerated Goku's dopey side to extremes – you had him crawling
over the time machine like a baby, forgetting how to talk to people again, forgetting senzu,
or charging at people and asking them to battle him without a care in the world. These all
contain aspects of Goku's character, but they're exaggerated to the point in this
arc, where they overtake the other aspects of his personality.
Thankfully, episode 61 does turn things around a bit. As Zamasu describes what he did to
Goku's family, his monumental reaction is a nice reminder that he does actually have
human emotions. He is a fully functioning person and not some bizarre caricature. It's
just the kind of response the reveal of Zamasu's twisted sense of justice requires.
The other response in this episode, of course, comes from Trunks at the very end. Rage power-ups
are a staple of the Dragon Ball franchise, and I absolutely love the lead-up to this
one. Having the man who murdered your mother tell you everything was your fault is certainly
a good reason to go into a blinding fit of rage. The presentation of this is lacking,
however. Putting aside the abysmal animation in episode 62, this boost isn't ever acknowledged.
Gohan's transformation into Super Saiyan 2 isn't actually named until the Boo arc,
but at the very least, Cell and everyone around him acknowledges the power on display, and
as viewers, it's easy to stomach, as rage boosts have been a critical aspect of Gohan's
character since his very first introduction. In this instance, Trunks' power-up is never
acknowledged, there's no indication of what it is… there's nothing. It's a cool
moment and I enjoy the spectacle, but power-ups must be earned in some way. For instance,
the concept of Ultra Instinct is something that's been hinted at since Resurrection
'F', and we're currently watching Goku earn that in the current arc.
Unfortunately this is just the start of many issues in this arc. For me, episode 61 is
very much the divide between the incredible and focused first ¾, and the messy, and hugely
divisive lead-up to the finale. Before even touching on the story, I think
it's important to acknowledge that even the animation started to take a real hit in
this build-up. Episode 62, as I said, was very poor. And despite 63 mostly looking great,
it split up Yoshitaka Yashima's input between two episodes in a row, and saw Takeo Ide being
chief supervisor for three in a row. Episode 64 barely moved, and as much as I love Naoki
Tate, Episode 65 is seriously coming apart at the seams.
The plot, likewise, loses a lot of the focus that made it so compelling in the first place.
It takes the characters to and from the future once again, and leads us on a meandering tale
to teach the Mafuba to Trunks - which I appreciate exists to force Zamasu and Black to fuse,
but there are a million ways of doing that that don't totally slam the breaks on the
tension that has been building up to this point.
Trunks' rage moment from 61 occurs once again, and putting that aside that, of course,
it's not even acknowledged… again. Attempting to do the same scene over and over just doesn't
have the same impact. At the very least, there are some positives:
I love the presentation of Fused Zamasu. It is so over-the-top and fitting for a character
that thinks so highly of himself. The godly design reminiscent of the kind of thing you'd
see in Final Fantasy is really just perfect. With moves like Absolute Lighting and Blades
of Judgement, he truly looks like the god he seems himself as. Again, in my recent storyboard
video, I mentioned how I loved the way the framing always made Goku and Vegeta look so
puny in comparison. He looks like a final boss, and it's all that episode really needed
to do. Episode 66 is also very well animated, featuring
near enough all of the series' best animators, and lead by the series director. Much like
65, it captures the scale that a final battle needs, and is very enjoyable as pure spectacle.
The Potara retcon is… a retcon, but it's not necessarily one I personally have an issue
with. Narratively, this change isn't so drastic that it makes reading the original
series an issue. Toriyama's retcons in the past have followed this pattern of undoing
previously established 'facts' without messing anything up too badly, so I feel like
this is very much in the same vein. Vegetto's return is of course a logical thing, a welcome
thing, and the Fused vs Fused battle is very entertaining.
Unfortunately, it is short-lived, and that does lead into the frustrating defeat of Zamasu.
Trunks manages to pull out a Genki Sword… thing, and slice up Zamasu with very little
difficulty. It essentially comes out nowhere, and it's the biggest example in this arc
of characters doing things they haven't earned. There's no build-up, there's no
struggle – it reminds me a lot of how Toei's Z films would often have a long battle throughout
the middle of the film, and then Goku would finish things off with a single attack to
tie up everything neatly in a bow. That certainly happened a few times in the original series,
but again, he earnt those moves, and that's critical difference, and what bothers me the
most. Despite winning this battle, however, they
ultimately lose the war, and Trunks' world is lost. I'm actually very much fine with
such a dark ending… or least, the idea of it. This has been an arc packed to the brim
with tragedy and emotion, and throwing in a dark ending should be the icing on the cake.
The way characters respond to this loss feels very strange, though. They return and everyone's
smiling and happy… and despite Trunks lamenting over his loss for a short period of time,
he's somehow okay heading off to another world, and all the tragedy is brushed under
the rug. This should have been an opportunity for genuinely upsetting reactions.
In Resurrection F, despite that film being very problematic, when Earth is lost, Toriyama
wrote a great little scene where everyone spends time letting that loss sink in. Bulma
weeps over the death of her parents and son. Time is spent letting that sink in, and the
reactions are all there to go along with it. Super's need to wrap up each arc tightly
in a bow, means that by episode 68, everyone's apparently forgotten about things, and are
happy as ever. It is one of the most disappointing and frustrating
endings to what I consider Super's strongest arc as of this video. The first three quarters
are so strong. Structurally, it's sound – its themes are clear. The narrative moves
along at a good pace, and tensions rises and drops in all the right places. Black and Zamasu
are fantastic characters, and are definitely some of my favourites out of the entire franchise.
It had great action, it had great music, but it all comes apart as it builds towards and
hits the finale. With 15 out of 21 great episodes, it'd be
silly to write off the arc entirely. There's so much to love here, and I feel like Black
and Zamasu are worth the price of admission alone. 15 out of 21 is a little over 70%,
so a 7/10. But despite its messy ending, I feel like my overall feelings towards the
arc are between a 7 and an 8. For all its flaws, it's remarkably memorable, and as
things stand, it's the closest thing Super has a real narrative-driven arc. It's the
type of story I hope Super's future arcs undertake once it FINALLY moves away from
tournaments. But these have been my thoughts, and I'm
only one person. This is obviously one of the more divisive arcs in the series, so do
take the time to let me know how you felt about this arc in the comment section below.
Drop me a rating if you thought my thoughts were at least well presented, even if you
might not be 100% in agreement with them. That's always appreciated.
Subscribe if you're new… and I will see you next time.
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