Story Arcs: 1: God of Destruction Beerus Arc | 2: Golden Frieza Arc | 3: Universe 6 Arc | 4: Copy-Vegeta Arc | 5: Future Trunks Arc | 6: Hit Arc | 7: Great Saiyaman Arc | 8: Krillin Arc | 9: Universal Survival Arc
The Hit Arc (ヒット編, Hitto Hen) is the sixth story arc in the Dragon Ball Super series. Set between the Future Trunks Arc and Great Saiyaman Arc.
Short Summary
Set shortly after the events of the Future Trunks arc Goku and friends are enjoying a well earned rest and getting prepared for Zen'o's upcoming Multiversal Tournament. However things take a snag when Hit makes his return in order to carry out his most recent assassination contract. His target? Son Goku.
Tropes:
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Unrelated Episodes (Eps 68-70)
- A Day in the Limelight: The baseball episode is one for Yamcha, who hasn't been involved in any of the major arcs lately.
- Badass Fingersnap: How Beerus destroys Bulma's time machine, which was hidden in a secret bunker.
- Baseball Episode: Episode 70 involves a baseball match between Universes 6 and 7, which Champa originally conceived in an attempt to steal food from U7's Earth. Considering Yamcha is the only person there who actually knows how to play (other than Vados and Whis, who took the time to read the rule book so they could referee), things go downhill from there.
- Beyond the Impossible: Fighting Arale, Vegeta laments fighting "a character from an early '80s gag manga" that can defy the laws of physics for just a joke.
- Breather Episode: The three episodes leading up to Hit's return involve Goku trying to bring King Kai back to life using the Dragon Balls and being constantly interrupted by his greedy friends all of whom want to use the Dragon Balls for themselves, Arale returning for a wacky gag episode, and finally members of the Universe 6 and 7 teams coming together to compete in a game of baseball.
- Butt-Monkey: Yamcha is the only one who scores a run in the baseball game, but he gets all of his bases awarded to him for fouls due to the other players illegally hurting him.
- Call-Back:
- Oolong wants to make a wish to Shenron for a pair of panties, which was what he wished for all the way back during Shenron's first appearance in the Pilaf arc.
- Arale sends Vegeta flying into the distance the same way she did to General Blue all the way back in the original Dragon Ball: with a flying kick followed by a headbutt.
- Continuity Nod:
- In episode 70, Krillin asks Yamcha where Tien and Chiaotzu were. Yamcha tells him that he left them behind, that they probably couldn't handle this kind of fight. That was the same excuse Tien gave about not recruiting Yamcha to deal with the invading Frieza Force in the Resurrection "F" arc.
- In the same episode, the pose Yamcha makes when he manages to reach the home plate after the field gets nuked from Beerus and Champa's fight is similar to the one he was in when the Saibaman killed him.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': Bulma tries to study into time travel again despite being told by Beerus and Whis that it was illegal to do so. The reason she wanted a wish was to get a power source for the time ship. Beerus ultimately finds out however and destroys both the crystal she was trying to get, the notes from her future self and the ship to prevent any more time travel much to her dismay.
- Crossover: Again with Doctor Slump in episode 69 though this time a full-on one with Senbei coming to the city to receive an award. However, the ghost of his arch-nemesis returns and screws with Arale's programming to ruin his day. Both Goku and Vegeta get involved in trying to stop her.
- Everyone Has Standards: While everyone argues with each other over who should get a wish, absolutely no one gets in the way of Gohan wanting to use one to cure Pan's fever.
- Forgotten First Meeting: When Goku and Arale start to square off, they seem to recognize each other...and they ask who the other is. Again, like last time, it's been 30 years since they last saw each other. Then they do remember each other.
- Genre Savvy: Vegeta comes to realize that he has to fight like he's in a gag comic, as the conventional rules just don't apply in this situation. It doesn't do him much good (he gets flying soon afterwards), but he still scores his best hit by mimicking Arale's antics.
- Hour of Power: This is the first time it's shown Shenron has an explicit time limit to how long he can be out waiting to grant a wish. Being forced to stay out excessively long while everyone argues about who gets the wish is shown to cause him great physical stress.
- Mood Whiplash: Gohan uses a wish to cure Pan's fever. As Pan laughs happily, everyone is moved by this sweet moment. After Gohan and Pan leave, the others resume arguing over who gets a wish.
- Mundane Utility: By this point the Dragon Balls have become this for the main cast who are so used to the Eternal Dragon that now they are perfectly content with abusing said balls in order to grant incredibly mundane wishes which include; the perfect gift for Krillin (18), sexy ladies (Roshi), panties (Oolong) and a specific rock to power a time machine (Bulma). Hell Trunks and Goten don't even have a specific wish in mind, they just wanted one granted because everyone else was trying to get one!
- Mythology Gag:
- At the start of the Dr. Slump crossover, the music that plays is from the opening of Dr. Slump's original anime.
- Vegeta being Genre Savvy about the nature of gag manga characters also happened when he appeared in Neko Majin Z.
- Wasteful Wishing: Most of the wishes that the cast wants to ask Shenron are pretty inane, to the point where it's trivial for Bulma to simply buy everyone what they were going to wish for in order to secure her wish.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Goku balks at the idea of fighting a cute, little kid. He changes his mind after realizing this is Arale, as he remembers what she's capable of.
Main Saga
- Asshole Victim: Hit's target before Goku is a crime boss that openly laughs at the ways he exploits his city. Hit has no problem killing him.
- Batman Gambit: Goku acknowledges he could've simply hired Hit directly, but he went through Whis and Vados so that Hit would be more motivated to fight to the fullest.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: When Beerus expresses irritation over the small part he played in this scheme, Whis justifies it by saying Beerus was the one who requested that Goku be trained in case there's another tournament.
- Call-Back: In episode 71 a news report on an unknown planet in Universe 6 notes that the criminal Frost is still at large referencing The Reveal about Frost's true nature back in episode 34 of the Champa Arc.
- Death Is Cheap: Goku is killed by Hit, but he launched some energy beforehand. As intended, it hits his collapsed body and gives him the jolt needed to restart his heart. Piccolo is quite impressed by this.
- Foil: Hit's target before Goku is the opposite of the Saiyan: an unrepentant crime boss content to using dirty tricks and pleading for mercy when backed into a corner.
- Harmful to Minors: Gohan wanted Goten to hang back, as things were getting serious. Goten didn't want to be treated like a little child and insisted on coming, only to see his father dead.
- How We Got Here: The opening of episode 71 begins with Goku collapsing to the ground and Piccolo, Gohan and Goten arriving to discover that he is dead. The rest of the episode goes back in time and shows the events leading up to the said incident.
- Lampshade Hanging: After the big reveal, Vegeta, Beerus, and Champa comment on how Goku put a hit out on himself just for the sake of a fight with Hit. Even Hit acknowledges how Goku is a very strange, if surprisingly profound, man.
- Lighter and Softer: In comparison to the very dark Future Trunks arc that preceded it the Hit Arc is noticeably more relaxed. Goku's death is rectified in the next episode, the majority of the episode is just Hit and Goku complimenting each other/trying to outclass one another and at the end of the arc we find out that the person who hired Hit was Goku himself because he wanted to fight Hit at his best.
- Mood Whiplash: All over the place in episode 71. The episode's Cold Open involves Goku collapsing to the ground and Piccolo, Gohan and Goten arriving on the scene to find Goku dead with his eyes open. Then for about half the episode Gohan and Goten are trying to figure out why Goku is acting so weird as Goku wanters around a city acting odd and embarrassing. Then it's revealed by Goku that someone out there has been sent to assassinate him and said assassin is Hit.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Piccolo figures Goku has little to worry about from someone trying to kill him, but he freaks when told it's Hit.
- Piccolo, Gohan, and Goten upon seeing Goku dead on the ground.
- One-Hit Kill: One of Hit's killing techniques is simply sending a focused shockwave into his opponent's chest, right at their heart. He uses this to kill his mark back in Universe 6, and later uses it on Goku.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Episode 71 has Goku being this for the first half of the episode; instead of gorging in his food during lunchtime, he eats one grain of rice at a time. We later find out he was trying to sense whoever it was that's trying to kill him.
- In episode 72, after getting battered through a mountain range, Goku's hand starts trembling. According to Hit, Goku isn't trembling from excitement, but from fear, a fact that Goku concedes is true.
- Hit himself is notably different in his behaviour around Goku compared to his other assassination victims. Not only is he much more willing to talk about how his techniques work, he initially wanted to fake Goku's death out of respect for him and smiles a lot more openly around others during their rematch. It's even lampshaded by Vados who notes that by the end of their match, it's no longer an assassination contract for Hit, but instead a showcase of skill from one martial artist to another.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Beerus accuses Vegeta of hiring Hit, causing Vegeta to angrily call him crazy. Beerus reminds him who he's talking to, so Vegeta immediately gets on his knees and apologizes.
- Properly Paranoid: Once it's revealed that Goku hired Hit, Beerus immediately suspects Whis had a hand in all of this.
- Time Stands Still: Hit's ability to do this is again showcased, but he doesn't use it on Goku due to knowing Goku already knows that move and how to counter it. He does use it to kill his first mark, however, including using it to infiltrate his building without once being seen.
- It seems to have improved even more too. Hit got it up to about a second against Goku before, but he has enough now that his mark has time to notice his predicament and have a brief conversation before killing him and leaving. Even with this show's weird ideas on how time works note , this must have taken 15 to 20 seconds.
- We Will Meet Again: After their fight is over, Hit asks Goku if there was a deadline for this job. Goku says it's pretty loose, so Hit tells him to keep watching his back.
- Worthy Opponent: Hit and Goku both see each other as this now; not only was Hit willing to ignore his orders and spare Goku's life if he pretended to be dead Goku is okay with fighting Hit at his best because he wanted their rematch to have no limits and, as we find out at the end of the arc, Goku hired Hit himself for that very reason. At the end of the arc, Vegeta even seems to get jealous, asking if Goku likes fighting Hit now more than him.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Beerus initially suspects it was Vegeta who hired Hit to take out Goku.
