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‘Dragon Ball Super’ Episode 86 Preview Shows Android 17 Standing Up To SSJB Goku, Fans Are Up In Arms

By Simon Alvarez
Published on: 04:00 PST, Apr 9, 2017

If there is something that Dragon Ball Super definitely does not excel in, it would be realism. Over the course of the franchise’s more than three decades of history, Dragon Ball has been a staple of over-the-top shonen anime, featuring fights and power levels that are borderline impossible. While unabashedly unrealistic, however, DB thrived because of its style. Now, with the Universe Survival Arc, the anime is tackling its most ambitious saga yet, and if the teaser for Dragon Ball Super Episode 86 is any indication, things are about to get even more out of this world in next week’s episode.

The plot of Dragon Ball Super Episode 86 has been leaked for a while now. The episode, which would involve Goku’s attempt at recruiting Android 17, is set to feature the two dominant fighters’ first battle against each other. Fans of the series have been looking forward to the episode since the first summary for DBS Ep 86 was leaked, especially since Goku and Android 17, while both iconic characters in Dragon Ball Z, have never actually fought against each other in the past. Thus, it was no surprise when the anime’s massive fanbase became extremely excited over Episode 86’s premise.

As this week’s episode aired, however, fans of the long-running anime franchise have noted that the preview for Dragon Ball Super Episode 86 was rather off. According to numerous fans in online forums such as Reddit, the teaser for Ep 86, which showed Android 17 going head-to-head with SSJB Goku, was just downright ridiculous. After all the character, while powerful in his own right, could not possibly put up a fight against the Saiyan’s most second-most powerful transformation. At least, that is what classic logic appeared to dictate.

If the scenes in the Dragon Ball Super Episode 86 preview were any indication, however, it seems that the Android would be holding his own pretty well against the Saiyan’s attacks. This, unsurprisingly, has managed to aggravate numerous fans of the franchise. Many felt that Goku’s SSJB form has begun to get so nerfed, it was hardly relevant anymore.

Over the last few episodes, SSJB Goku battled with Krillin and his wife, Android 18 while in his SSJB form. During the battle, the pair was able to hold him off, including the Saiyan’s massive energy attack. During the Omni-King’s pre-tournament match, SSJB was also just enough to hold off Toppo of Universe 11. Considering that Super Saiyan Blue was supposed to be the most powerful transformation that the fighter has reached so far, the fact that even fighters such as Krillin, and now, Android 17, would be able to pose a challenge to it practically means that Goku has either been nerfed, or everyone else must have gotten an unexplainable power-up. Ironically, this has not sat very well with longtime fans of the franchise, with many calling out Toei Animation for allowing such a disregard for power levels to take place in the anime.

While there is some point to the criticism of Dragon Ball Super‘s current power levels, it should be noted that the franchise, as a whole, revels in the abandonment of realism. Goku and the other Z-fighters’ power-ups back in the Dragon Ball Z era also featured some liberal plot twisting. With the franchise’s history in mind, Goku’s’ apparent SSJB nerf could simply be attributed to Dragon Ball‘s classic liberties with its plot.

After all, the Tournament of Power is something that would require a massive team effort from the Universe 7 fighters. For U7’s representative team to actually win the massive competition, each member must be able to fight as a cohesive whole. If everyone’s power levels are massively unbalanced, the whole premise of teamwork becomes void. For Dragon Ball Super‘s Tournament of Power to work as well as it should, fans would be best prepared for a lot more power level liberties that are sure to be coming their way.

https://youtu.be/IiUewcBHpzQ

[Featured Image by Toei Animation]

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