Dragon Ball Super's episode 118 focused on Piccolo and Gohan facing two of Piccolo's own race the Namekians, while Goku and the Androids battle the remaining Universe 2 warriors. Last week's episode saw the Androids finally knock out Ribrianne and Rozie, seemingly putting an end to the barrage of "love" combat. The focus for this episode then went back to Gohan and Piccolo, who have been locked in dual combat with a pair of Namekians from Universe 6, surprised that they can't make a dent on the two. As the two are wondering why their opponents are so strong, Piccolo senses the power of a large number of Namekians behind their enemies. Piccolo then realizes the two have performed "Namekian Fusion" repeatedly to increase their power, a process he previously took advantage of to combine with the warrior Nail and his own other half, Kami. Gohan and Piccolo realize that because the two have fused with so many Namekians, they will have to resort to Gohan holding them off while Piccolo charges an old ace move, the Special Beam Cannon. Piccolo revealed the move back at the start of Dragon Ball Z as his plan to kill Goku, doing so when Goku sacrifices himself so his invading brother Raditz can be killed. Goku, meanwhile attempts to hold his own against the three remaining warriors of Universe 2, who have become fired up from their precious irritant Ribrianne being eliminated. The trio's resolve to uphold their "love" views causes them to transform, finally achieving some more real comic relief as they don the same uniforms as Ribrianne's posse, skirts and all. The androids arrive to help Goku, who is still pushing himself to go beyond his limits, and show they are more than a match for Universe 2. The love warriors reveal a final attack that shocks all, as even Ribrianne's group was unable to achieve it, and Piccolo finds himself losing confidence as he and Gohan take hits. This episode, like some others, does a good working off established parts of the show and making reference to other sections. Until this point, Piccolo was the only character confirmed to have used "Namekian Fusion," which until now had been nameless, and it was essentially unclear if there were restrictions on which Namekians could fuse. The fusion shows how intense and serious these Namekians are, as we see and they state that many of their people volunteered to fuse, disappearing to give their power in an attempt to save their universe. Piccolo's understanding of the technique causes him to doubt himself, and leads to an interesting moment where we see Nail and Kami again, in a sort of pocket of Piccolo's mind. It was interesting enough to see these past characters, but a better Easter Egg comes from Piccolo's self-doubt. While Piccolo charges his attack, his doubt distracts him, though Gohan says he himself let his guard down, and the Namekians attack Piccolo with his beam failing. This is when Piccolo sees Kami and Nail, and when he comes back to reality, Gohan is standing in front of him, having blocked the attack. This mirrors a crucial moment in Dragon Ball history, when Piccolo sacrificed himself to save Gohan from the Saiyan Nappa, Vegeta's former partner. Gohan was a turning point in Piccolo's life, being the first person to show him kindness and cause joy to enter his heart. Piccolo protecting him was a massive step in his character development from villain to hero, and established further what a close bond he and Gohan have. Throughout the series, the two have had a familial relationship, and Piccolo has often arrived in the nick of time to save Gohan again. To have the situation reversed shows not only the doubt that even Piccolo can have, but also shows Gohan's growth as well as their continued friendship. The other Universe 2 warriors finally attacking more and their sudden transformation finally add some good comedy to their group. While there were some entertaining moments with Ribrianne's group, like when Vegeta can't bring himself to touch her because he finds her hideous, they were mainly obvious fodder that only provided comedy by getting knocked around. The attempts at comedy through the trio's personalities fell flat, but now it is more entertaining from the flip of having male characters in "magical girl" transformations. This has been done in anime before, but a more typical thing would be to just have a macho man character be over emotional, whereas here the characters are ridiculous as well as wearing the same ridiculous outfits as their female counterparts. There is quite a bit of tension throughout the episode for Universes 2 and 6, as they are on their final warriors. As the angels point out, having the weight of their universes does lead to the characters in each fight pulling out all the stops against Universe 7, whose characters, aside from the Androids, are tiring from constant battle. Power revelations along coupled with this, especially since Goku is so exhausted for sure, leads to the possibility that at least one Universe 7 fighter will take a fall. As the episode ends, there are knockouts that lead to some emotional moments, and the tournament gets closer to finishing. Released pictures and things said by characters in previous episodes have shown that something strange will happen where an enemy no one can see will attack. It will be interesting to finally get to the bottom of this mysterious warrior the characters have been mentioning, and see what he or she can do.
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