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‘Dragon Ball Super’ Episode 82 Recap And Review: Goku vs. Toppo, Plus Jiren Hype

By Simon Alvarez
Published on: 15:22 PST, Mar 18, 2017

Dragon Ball Super Episode 82 just aired, and it featured the highly anticipated match between Universe 7’s Son Goku and Universe 11’s Toppo, the leader of the Pride Troopers. In a lot of ways, the episode did exactly what it was supposed to do, generating hype for the Tournament of Power and giving Goku a significant threat to look forward to in the upcoming multiverse battle.

For those who have missed the episode, here is a brief recap of what transpired in DBS Ep 82. Needless to say, there would be massive spoilers ahead, so do proceed with caution.

The episode opens in pretty much the same scene that Dragon Ball Super Episode 81 left off with, with Toppo challenging Goku to a special match. According to noted DBS fan-translator Todd Blankenship, the Saiyan was initially intrigued by Toppo’s insistence that Goku was evil. Introducing himself as a champion of justice, Toppo demanded that Goku engages him in battle. Upon getting the Omni-Kings’ permission, the two did begin their fight.

Overall, Toppo was miffed at Goku due to the Saiyan’s proposal for the Tournament of Power. In a lot of ways, the leader of the Pride Troopers had a valid point, especially since Goku’s desire for battle could easily trigger the destruction of multiple universes. Beerus, for his part, was hesitant, since the gods of the other universes would be able to see Goku’s style of fighting.

During the beginning of the battle, Mr. Satan asked Goku to finish Toppo off quickly, but Gohan and his father immediately shot the idea down, since Toppo was far too strong for Goku to dominate quickly. Gohan, for his part, was humorously gravitating towards Toppo’s ideas, poses, and speeches, most likely caused by his alter ego, the Great Saiyaman.

As the match began, it became apparent that Goku and Toppo are both around the same level, with each fighter exchanging blows. Goku was in regular Super Saiyan form, and Toppo was able to keep up without any effort. After getting his arm dislocated, Goku realized that Toppo’s gigantic arms and hands are there for powerful grappling moves. The Saiyan then decided to take the battle to the sky.

This proved to be no problem for Toppo, either, as the leader of the Pride Troopers simply released a barrage of energy blasts from his massive hands. Eventually, Goku became distracted enough with dodging the U11 fighter’s attacks that he failed to sense Toppo teleporting behind him and delivering arguably one of the most painful bearhugs in anime. Universe 11’s Kaioshin, God of Destruction and Angel all remark that the hold was Toppo’s preferred finisher, as the Pride Trooper would not stop his bearhug until all of his opponent’s bones were broken.

At first, it appeared that Goku was about to fade away but true enough, his Saiyan blood was rekindled, and he transformed into his Super Saiyan Blue form, enabling him to force his way out of Toppo’s hold. Smirking at the Universe 11 fighter, Goku turned the tables, hitting Toppo all over the arena and firing a Kamehameha at point blank range. Whis and Beerus feared that Goku might have gone too far, but it was revealed that the blast only damaged Toppo’s uniform, which greatly angered the leader of the Pride Troopers.

With Toppo still standing after a point-blank Kamehameha, Goku decided to go Kaio-Ken on top of his Super Saiyan Blue form. Toppo, for his part, declared that he would begin to take the fight seriously. The Grand Priest, however opted to stop the fight at this point. When the Omni-Kings protested, the Priest stated that at the rate they were going, either Goku or Toppo would end up dead. The deity then told Goku and Toppo to settle their differences in the Tournament of Power, which would begin in 40 Earth hours.

Goku, for his part, wanted to shake Toppo’s hand, but the Pride Trooper refused. Toppo then warned Goku that while the Saiyan was able to stand toe-to-toe with him, there was no way that the U7 fighter could hold a candle to Jiren, the strongest of the Pride Troopers. Even after Toppo went back to his Kaioshin, God of Destruction and Angel, the leader of the Pride Troopers stated that they could rely on Jiren to win in the Tournament of Power.

The rest of the episode featured the aftermath of Goku and Toppo’s battle, as well as Champa humorously asking Vados if Hit had nine siblings that they could recruit for the upcoming tournament. As the Universe 7 team got transported back to Earth, Goku and Beerus ended up arguing, with Beerus blaming Goku for being a fool and the Saiyan calling out the god for being destructive himself. Whis, for his part, reprimanded both the Saiyan and the god, stating that there was no way Universe 7 could defeat the other universes if the members of its team could not even get along.

With this, the search for the seven remaining fighters for the Tournament of Power began, and Dragon Ball Super Episode 82 ended. Overall, the episode in itself was received warmly by fans of the series, with many stating in online forums such as Reddit that the battle between Goku and Toppo was quite intense and entertaining to watch. Others, however, said that Toppo was somewhat underwhelming during the fight.

Nevertheless, if there is one thing that Dragon Ball Super Episode 82 was able to do, it was to add hype around the upcoming Tournament of Power. Jiren, the fighter that Goku was featured to be fighting in the anime’s opening theme, was also mentioned by name, and the fighter is getting his fair share of anticipation as well. Next week, Dragon Ball Super is set to feature the recruitment of the Universe 7 fighters, and that would be an interesting story on its own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c1GyNJOG-U

[Featured Image by Toei Animation]

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