Saiyan powered radar.
Warning: The following review contains spoilers for the episode.
Episode 80 features the long overdue return of Gohan as a fighter in the second exhibition match of the Tournament of Power. He faces Lavender, an opponent who is interesting in his own right and serves as a great counter to Gohan, which helped deliver a wonderful fight and further hyped up excitement for the Tournament of Power. Some moments towards the end bring the overall episode down a bit due to some strange story decisions that don’t make much sense given the information (or lack thereof) that we’ve been told before.
It had been a long time since we’ve seen Gohan in a true fight, and I was pleased with how Super went about reintroducing his character. Instead of simply powering him up and throwing him in the ring, they took the time to highlight what makes him unique as a fighter. Gohan has always been a far more thoughtful fighter than many of the others, and they’re able to show that off wonderfully during this episode when he’s blinded and must use his wits to survive in battle. As silly as it might be, I really enjoyed the idea of Gohan using his Super Saiyan aura as a means of radar — what a unique way to use that golden glow! I was a little surprised to see him going Super Saiyan, though, and hope in the future they address what’s become of his Mystic/Ultimate form that he achieved back in the Buu Saga from DBZ.
Lavender proved a good foe for Gohan. Lavender’s style made things much more interesting, as he focuses more on disabling his enemies rather than outright overpowering them. Lavender proved to be no pushover either, learning throughout the battle and coming up with ways to counter what Gohan was doing. More than anything, these exhibition matches have me excited for what’s to come, because the quality of each fight is so high already and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
The end of the episode offered several story moments, and one stood out among them as quite perplexing. During the discussion of a universe power rating the Grand Priest revealed that Zen-Oh had wanted to erase the universes for some time and that he’s using the Tournament of Power as a way to judge who should remain. The declaration was puzzling as Zen-Oh has never expressed this in the past. Instead it feels like this was added so that they could shift blame away from Goku and onto Zen-Oh. This could ultimately lead to a setup where Goku has to fight Zen-Oh, but at the present it feels like a poorly executed cop out so that Goku looks like less of a villain for having instigated the Tournament of Power in the first place.
The Verdict
Episode 80 features a great return to form for Gohan. The fight not only reintroduces him to the series as a warrior, but also does so in a way to highlight what makes him different from his allies. His opponent was also unique, and shows off Dragon Ball Super’s ability to continuously introduce exciting new villains to the series. However, toward the end we get several story tidbits that feel like they were designed to save Goku from looking like a villain, which misses the opportunity for Super to embrace a dark twist and force Goku to redeem himself.
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