‘Dragon Ball Super’ News: Toei Makes Huge Mistake, Switches Goku’s U11 Rival?
New details about a very significant character in the Universe Survival Arc have emerged for Dragon Ball Super. While new information is always welcome, this new development has gotten a number of avid DBS fans pretty apprehensive about the plot of the Tournament of Power. While unconfirmed, rumors are abounding that Toei Animation might have made a mistake when featuring Goku’s main rival for the arc, which was shown prominently on the anime’s new opening theme.
The new opening theme of Dragon Ball Super immediately caught the attention of numerous fans, with many speculating that the buff, muscle-bound alien that Goku was fighting in the anime’s new intro would be his main rival in the Universe Survival Arc. Considering the character’s prominence in the opening theme, this definitely appeared to be the case. Recently, this mysterious character’s name was revealed, and true to form, the fighter appears to be awesome.
As noticed by gamers playing Dragon Ball Heroes, the mysterious character, whose name is listed as “Jiren,” has already been included in the lineup of fighters players could select. His power levels in the game are extremely high, and his attacks are very reminiscent of the moves that he appeared to be using against Son Goku in the anime’s new opening theme. The character’s name appears to be accurate too, considering that it follows Akira Toriyama’s traditional thematic naming scheme.
Guess I'm the last person to know, but per DB Heroes ???/Jiren is the name of the grey beefcake from the opening. pic.twitter.com/yh5Hzz4z8F
— Todd Blankenship (@Herms98) March 9, 2017
Apart from the character appearing in DB Heroes, Jiren’s name was also dropped mistakenly in the summary for Dragon Ball Super Episode 82. According to noted fan-translator Todd Blankenship, the summary for Episode 82 mistakenly lists Toppo, the leader of the Pride Troopers from Universe 11, as Jiren. This particular detail, however, has managed to get numerous Dragon Ball Super fans apprehensive about the next episodes in the Universe Survival Arc.
Considering that Jiren was the one who was originally featured standing beside the U11 God of Destruction in the first teaser of the Universe Survival Arc, numerous fans believe that the character was being built up by Toei Animation as Goku’s main rival in the Tournament of Power. However, during the updated preview for the ongoing saga, DBS fans noted that the hooded figure beside the U11 God of Destruction was changed to someone far larger and bulkier. Later, this character was revealed to be Toppo, the leader of the Pride Troopers, who recently challenged Goku to a fight at the end of DBS Episode 81.
Since Jiren was changed to Toppo from the original Universe Survival Arc preview, and his name mistakenly appeared in the summary for DBS Episode 82, it appears that Toei Animation actually made a mistake in building up Goku’s rival for the Tournament of Power. Leaked summaries for next week’s episode state that Goku and Toppo’s fight would not have a resolution, with the grand Priest suggesting that the two fighters settle their differences in the Tournament of Power instead.
Jump preview for DBS ep.82, airing March 19th: pic.twitter.com/P1ljuRNBEq
— Todd Blankenship (@Herms98) March 9, 2017
From what is being built up by the anime so far, it appears that Akira Toriyama, as well as the writers of the anime, originally planned to have Toppo as Goku’s main rival in the Tournament of Power. From the development of the plot so far, this definitely seems to be the case. Jiren, for all his awesome power and his undeniable presence, might have not really been planned as Goku’s primary rival all along. Toei might have just mixed up the names of the two Pride Troopers and animated the wrong character for the opening theme.
Toei Animation has been making a number of notable mistakes as of late. Just a couple of weeks ago, the official Dragon Ball Super website interchanged the profile of Universe 9 fighters Bergamo and Lavenda by mistake. Apart from this, the official site also listed the Goddess of Destruction of Universe 2, Heles, as a fighter in the upcoming tournament.
While unconfirmed, it seems pretty likely that Toei might have made a mistake in terms of animating Goku’s main rival for the Tournament of Power. With this in mind, it is possible that the character Goku was battling in the opening theme should have been Toppo all along. Nevertheless, it would be quite interesting to see how Toei and the anime’s writers would handle this possible character mix-up. Fans of Dragon Ball Super would just have to wait and see.
[Featured Image by Toei Animation]
