‘Dragon Ball Super’ Drops A Bombshell, Declares Frieza As 10th U7 Fighter: Red Herring Or Clever Twist?
Dragon Ball Super just dropped its biggest bombshell announcement yet in the ongoing Universe Survival Arc. After months of confirming the members of the Universe 7 team, a leaked episode summary for DBS Episode 93 has revealed that Majin Buu, one of the group’s representative fighters, would be changed to Frieza, one of the most villainous characters in the entire franchise. Needless to say, the announcement has effectively split the anime’s fans.
Leaked episode summaries, as translated by noted Dragon Ball Super fan-translator Todd Blankenship, have teased that a fighter initially scheduled to participate in the Tournament of Power would have problems making it to the all-important battle royale. As it turned out, this particular fighter would be none other than Majin Buu, who would seemingly be unable to participate because he has fallen asleep. Considering Buu’s sleep cycles, he would not wake up in time for the upcoming tournament.
“The tournament member Majin Buu ends up unable to participate. It turns out he’s fallen asleep and definitely won’t wake up again for about two months. Goku rushes to Buu.”
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With Buu seemingly unable to participate, it appears that Son Goku, the de facto leader of the Universe 7 team, would be actively looking for the pink fighter’s replacement. While initial fan speculations pointed to a possible replacement in the form of Future Trunks or even Yamcha, it turned out that Goku’s idea for a substitute fighter was a lot of more radical. According to the leaked summary for Dragon Ball Super Episode 93, Goku would seek out Frieza, one of the franchise’s most evil characters, to serve as a replacement for Majin Buu.
“After seeing with his own eyes that Buu won’t awaken no matter what, Goku suggests recruiting Frieza as the 10th member. While everyone objects, Goku hurries to ask Fortuneteller Baba to resurrect Frieza from Hell for just 24 hours.”
Needless to say, the episode summary for DBS Ep 93 has significantly polarized fans. While many voiced their excitement that the iconic villain would be fighting together with the Z-fighters in the current arc, many fans on online forums such as Reddit have also complained that the replacement of Majin Buu appeared to make absolutely no sense. Compared to the pink fighter, after all, Frieza is a lot more evil and unpredictable. Thus, he might kill a participant in the Tournament of Power, resulting in the disqualification of Universe 7 from the entire multiverse competition.
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Apart from this, longtime Dragon Ball fans have also noted that since the first teasers for the Universe Survival Arc were released, Majin Buu has been featured as one of the fighters in the Universe 7 team. Thus, his alleged removal from the U7 team simply because he could not wake up in time for the competition seems to be an extremely haphazard twist to the popular anime’s plot. Nevertheless, the fact that Majin Buu was still featured in the most recent Universe Survival Arc promo appears to suggest that the pink fighter would be staying as Universe 7’s 10th and final member.
With this in mind, the announcement of Frieza’s inclusion in the U7 representative team might simply be a red herring that Toei Animation decided to drop in order to ensure that the interest among Dragon Ball Super fans remains at an all-time high. Considering the reaction of the DBS community so far, Toei’s strategy seems to have paid off in spades.
Overall, the sudden twist could simply be the anime’s way of reintroducing Majin Buu’s classic pudgy design, as the fighter might wake up just in time and consume a massive amount of food, resulting in the pink warrior gaining back all the weight he lost since coming back from the pre-tournament battle with Universe 9. Thus, while unconfirmed, Frieza’s apparent participation in the Tournament of Power might very well prove to be Dragon Ball Super’s most creative and daring trick yet. For now, it appears safe to assume that Majin Buu would remain as Universe 7’s final member, regardless of what DBS Episode 93 would have fans believe.
[Featured Image by Toei Animation]
