The power of Ultra Instinct returns for the third time as Goku and Jiren face of in one-on-one combat, with the Tournament of Power coming to an epic close.
Last week's episode saw Vegeta putting his pride on the line to protect the things and people he cares about, to ultimately be knocked out. Before doing so, he gave his remaining energy to Goku, who used it to leap back into the fold against Jiren, only to find Blue was still not enough. At the last moment, however, Goku phased through Jiren's attack, revealing his new godly power once again and putting everyone on edge. This week saw the two titans going blow for blow, though Jiren shows he is still more than enough for Goku's incomplete Ultra Instinct. With Goku still thinking about what attacks he needs to make, his moves are ultimately dulled, not on par with his body's ability to move without thinking. Goku attempts the same move that won him the fight against Kefla, charging up a Kamehameha as his body dodged Jiren's attacks, including some of the same animation frames. The attack fails, however, as Jiren uses his massive power to destroy the attack with his own blast, sending Goku hurtling into the air. Toppo notes that this is a result of the battle with Kefla, as jiren was able to observe Goku's movements and learn how he moves while using Ultra Instinct. As he seemed to know at the last second how this would end, Goku manages to keep some of his Kamehameha as a shield, slowly lowering back to the arena rubble. Belmod says Goku will ultimately be unable to beat Goku, but a perfectly calm Vegeta, without so much as moving, reminds the group that Goku's new power is still incomplete. Noting that Saiyans have been breaking through their own barriers throughout the whole tournament, Vegeta says it is entirely possible and likely Goku will perfect Ultra Instinct. In one of his more daring moments, especially considering his past interactions with Beerus, Vegeta asks when the gods became so quick to jump to conclusions. Vegeta reminds Goku that he placed his hopes and promise in Goku's hands, and states that Goku can therefore not lose. Whis says there is nothing to worry about, though a nervous Belmod convinces Jiren to begin hammering away at Goku. As Goku withstands the punches on a single bit of rubble, the others are surprised to notice sparks leaping out, a sign that Goku is countering the attacks. Goku soon Jiren shoots a massive energy blast to finish the fight, but it is instantly clear that, to Whis and Beerus' pleasure, Goku has reached new heights once more. Now that things are more focused on Goku and Jiren, this episode gives us some great combat between the two. An obvious topic for this episode is how, in typical Shounen, and specifically DBZ, trope-form, Goku is suddenly matching, and occasionally beating, Jiren. For some, this is annoying, as it seems Goku doesn't train as hard as other characters, like Vegeta, yet gets rewarded. I personally see the development of Ultra Instinct as a natural progression that is actually somewhat long-running in DBS. It's true that Goku started training later than Vegeta, yet has apparently surpassed him once again, but there is a lot that goes into how fast he progresses. Vegeta is often hindered by his own pride, as well as, like Whis told him, how tight he is while fighting, as opposed to how lax Goku would get. It can't even necessarily be said that Vegeta trains more, or even harder, because both have been shown to undergo extremely rigorous methods, especially pushing how much gravitational force they can withstand. A famous moment with Vegeta came when, in DBZ, he withstood 500x Earth's gravity, and his power destroyed the gravitational generator he was in. This might lead fans to believe Vegeta puts himself under much more strain, but this would forget what Goku does. Goku's blue shirt, wristbands, and shoes are all weighted, so he is constantly walking around and fighting weighted, and there was a point in the series where he trained with weights of 10 tons each on his wrists and ankles. At the same time, we have no reason to believe Jiren can't be surpassed simply because of how strong he is, because his backstory is rather lackluster. When we learned that Jiren became a fighter to take n the villain who killed his family and allies, there was a bit of a timeskip. We were told that Jiren's second meeting with the villain ended disastrously, with his master and many of his allies dying. This was immediately followed by the explanation that he devoted himself to strength, rather than emotional attachments, and became stronger, forming the Pride Troopers. This tells us absolutely nothing about the work Jiren did, or how he became as strong as he currently is. Because of this, it could be argued that Jiren's improvement makes equal or less sense than Goku's sudden surge in power, which was hinted at early in Super. While Goku and Vegeta trained with Whis, they were told that Vegeta is too uptight when fighting, and Goku too lax, and they need to fight without thinking. Whis instructed the two to simply let go while fighting and let their bodies take over, as he does and trains Beerus to do. Later on in the series, Hit was hunting Goku down to kill him, and it was later revealed that Goku was training himself to be able to sense and overcome people like Hit, and be able to just react to whatever happens. There were moments in this segment where Goku would close his eyes to undergo this training, as he has done while recently using Ultra Instinct. Essentially, it would seem that Whis' ultimate goal in training Goku and Vegeta the way he did was to help them achieve Ultra Instinct. Throughout the episode, Beerus seems to be in a thoughtful trance, fixated on the fight, rather than the goofy demeanor he has had throughout the tournament. For most of the fighting, Beerus was incredibly stressed and would yell things to the fighters, yet for much of this episode, he doesn't say a word. Considering not just how he has been during the tournament, but how he has normally interacted with Goku, it is quite surprising, though maybe it is a sign of things to come. If Beers is impressed enough to sit and watch quietly, it could mean Goku is about to pull of some amazing things that will shock the crowd. And of course, as I've repeatedly mentioned recently, there is still the issue of Frieza, who is still missing since 17's sacrifice a few episodes ago. Despite Goku being again in Ultra Instinct and the obvious suggestion that something will happen, he doesn't have much left in him. Before 17's sacrifice, Goku was so weakened after his continuous fighting and this attempt at going up against Jiren again, that he was lying helpless on the ground. At one point in this episode, Whis states that, because of how low on energy Goku is, the next time his new powers leave him will be the deciding factor in the fight. With such a threat on the horizon, but Goku currently able to stand up to Jiren, we could very well see the two exhaust each other to the point that they can't move. With Frieza still missing, he would be in a good position to step in and eliminate both of them, and take home the dragon balls as his prize. This would be the ultimate version of Super's repeated use of catching characters off guard to damage them, as happened to Goku in Resurrection F, Black in the Zamasu arc, and Jiren recently against 17. With Goku using Ultra Instinct right now, there is no way to catch him by surprise, so waiting until he has left the form would be Frieza's only chance to strike. This theme is honestly somewhat annoying in the series, though it would make sense for Frieza to take advantage of the characters being off guard. Whatever happens, fans can rest assured that Goku and Jiren will soon bring us some impressive combat as the tournament comes to a close.
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