With Jiren the only remaining foe for Universe 7 after Vegeta successfully defeated Toppo, things heat up as the tournament winds down.
Last week's episode ended with Vegeta going all out to defeat Toppo, using his "Final Explosion" that, when used before, resulted in his death as he turned into a statue and crumbled to dust. This time, however, he has survived the blast, though he reverted to his base form and the upper parts of his clothes were destroyed. Krillin says it is a sign of how much stronger Vegeta has become, and it is likely because of how much control Super Saiyan Blue gives him over his energy. Vegeta, cocky possibly from defeating Toppo, rushes into battle with Jiren, forcing Goku and 17 to join him. Jiren forces them all back, preventing them from landing any blows on him, eventually slamming Vegeta into a rock. He comes in for a follow-up attack, but 17 knocks Vegeta away and takes the brunt of Jiren's power. Though he probably appreciates the help, Vegeta responds in typical prideful fashion, saying he didn't need 17, and rushes back in. Jiren says Vegeta's punches were only strong enough to take down Toppo and knocks him away, then blows away Goku's Kamehameha with an uppercut. While distracted with the Saiyans, Jiren fails to see 17 form a massive blast of energy behind him, which is released at point-blank range. To everyone's surprise, the move successfully wounds Jiren, though 17's proximity damages him slightly as well. In a trend DBS has been using since Goku was taken out with a laser blast, the group states the damage is the result of Jiren dropping his guard. While much of the fight is interesting, this moment got a facepalm from at least me, as the group finds it absolutely amazing that someone got hurt because he wasn't prepared for an attack. Despite Jiren being so powerful, this statement is so unnecessarily obvious that the characters come off as stupid for being so shocked. The trio plans to have Goku and Vegeta distract Jiren so 17 can get in with another attack that Jiren can't guard, but Jiren, naturally, is prepared. With their attacks blocked, the three decide to attack all at once, but Jiren's massive aura destroys their blasts. Frieza re-enters the fray and powers up to his golden form, determined to ignore the rules and kill Jiren, but he is effortlessly dispatched. Again on his feet, 17 says he won't stop fighting and believes Universe 7 can win, prompting the Universe 11 God of Destruction Belmod to ask about his intended wish. 17 explains his desire to go on a cruise with his family, and after Belmod mocks him, he asks what Jiren's wish is, believing he simply wants more strength. Jiren says he does have a wish, and Belmod recounts how Jiren was orphaned when an evildoer killed his family, and he was taken in by a martial artist. The two built up a group of comrades, but when they again encountered the evildoer, many of them, including Jiren's master, were killed. Abandoned by those who remained, Jiren came to believe in only strength and devoted himself to his power, eventually creating the Pride Troopers. The discovery is honestly somewhat disappointing, and declarations of Jiren's obsession with strength seem odd. While he did previously state he was striving to achieve what was beyond strength, Jiren seemed to have a more enlightened meaning behind this. Not reacting to Goku's statements of "wanting to get stronger, 'too'" gave the impression he was searching some state of understanding, rather than just power. Here, however, the characters talk about Jiren simply being obsessed with strength, which actually makes him a bit less interesting in some ways. Surprised, 17 says Jiren seems to have humanity about him, yet his obsession with strength has caused him to become delusional that he could fix the past. As 17 struck a nerve, Jiren attacks with an enormous blast, which 17 counters with multiple shields. The episode comes to a point as Jiren and 17 enter their power struggle, with Frieza unconscious and the Saiyans too injured to move. It was good to finally see more of what Jiren is capable of, despite it being strange that, when he was introduced, it took him no effort to knock away just Goku, and now he is, in a way, struggling, regardless of the numbers. On another note, it is certainly interesting that 17 has been able to put up as much of a fight and keep going this far when usually the Saiyans get all the attention. While it's true Goku and Vegeta are the main stars, 17 has faced many of the more powerful opponents during this tournament without breaking a sweat. 17's lack of many DBZ fights didn't do much to show his strength, despite going toe-to-toe with a powered up Piccolo, especially since Cell absorbed him. During the Android saga, much of 17's time was spent having reckless fun, while 18 fought the Z-Fighters to show how much stronger the two were. The one time we really saw 17 fight was against Piccolo, who had just fused with his counterpart, Kami, to become the full Namekian warrior Kami was before expunging all the evil from his body, which had then become the Demon King Piccolo. Having achieved a more powerful state, Piccolo momentarily became the most powerful Z-Fighter, and was more than enough to take on 17. During their fight, however, Cell intervened, and to reach his second form in his quest to become the perfect being, absorbed the weakened 17. After this, 17 dropped off the radar while 18 married Krillin, so we never got to see what he did during events like the Buu Saga. Since coming back, however, he has proven to be powerful as well as cunning, making the most of his abilities and the tournament. His abilities were enough that, even before Gohan and 18 dropped out of the fight, it became increasingly likely that he would be one of the final fighters. The encounter between 17 and Jiren is interesting to look at, as learning more about Jiren has shown a contrasting dynamic between the two. During the tournament, a theme for 17 has been his returned humanity despite being an android and his past destructive nature. Jiren, meanwhile, surprises 17 with his "humane" side, which, opposing 17's return to the show, he tries to eliminate with his strength. 17's tactics in this episode have potentially revealed a flaw of Jiren's, different from the blatantly obvious "realization" that he could be hurt when caught off guard. When 17 was talking about wishes, he took a jab at Jiren by saying he is foolish for thinking he can just make things the way they were, and that he used his comrades. While it does seem that Jiren doesn't truly have an emotional attachment to his teammates, 17's accusations anger him. This suggests that, like stories have done before, Jiren is a character who could be taunted into making mistakes and ultimately losing. Vegeta would be the perfect candidate to take advantage of this flaw, as despite the irony of him poking fun at someone's pride, he is excellent at goading people. Goku is certainly able to talk trash when he knows he can win or it will irritate him, but as Krillin said when Goku did this on Namek against the Ginyu Force, it's not his style. As has been the case with much of the tournament, and infamously, the Goku vs. Frieza Namek battle, timing continues to work oddly in the show. This episode leaves the tournament with only three minutes remaining, giving Universe 7 little time to deal with Jiren and his titanic power.
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