Recap / Dragon Ball Super Universe Survival Arc

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

A battle royale like no other.

"On the 3,135,500,603 of the Royal Calendar, at precisely 1:57 o'clock, the Tournament of Power shall commence in all its glory. Ten warriors from each universe shall engage in epic combat!"

The Universe Survival Arc (宇うちゅうサバイバル編へん, Uchū Sabaibaru Hen) is the ninth arc in the Dragon Ball Super anime series, as well as the fifth major one, taking place after the Krillin Arc. It also holds the place as being the final arc in Super as of now, due to the series taking an over eight-month break in preparation for Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the series' first movie. Dragon Ball Heroes splits this arc into four phases due to its length — the first is Universe Survival: Prelude, the second is Universe Survival: Gathering, the third is Tournament of Power (also the name of the arc as a whole in the manga), and the fourth is Tournament of Power: Climax.

Short Summary

As life goes on for our heroes, Goku, bored, having no one to train with due to everyone being busy and wanting to push his skills further, goes to the Zen-Os about the promise of conducting a tournament that he mentioned during the Champa arc. The Zenos, likewise bored of their usual games together, agree and start the Tournament of Power where the Earth's top ten strongest fighters will go against fighters from across the universe. However, unlike the previous tournament, this one ends up having much higher stakes.

Long Summary

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With the threat of Zamasu ended, life goes on in the present day. Goku goes out to sell his crops at a farmer's market, which is crashed by a group of robbers. Goku's power is more than enough to subdue these would-be criminals, but upon noticing a bruise on his person, he comes to lament that he's slacked off on his training. He attempts to recruit Krillin to train with him, but he's busy, so he opts for Whis and Beerus. He attempts to recruit Vegeta, but fails when he learns Bulma is pregnant with another child and he refuses to leave her side this time around. On Beerus's planet, the God of Destruction takes note of how sloppy Goku has gotten and the talks get Goku to remember the tournament idea Zen-O suggested after watching the Tournament of Destroyers. Goku tricks Whis and Beerus and slips away to visit the present and future Zen-Os, reminding them of the tournament.

Though angered that Goku would remind Zeno of his promise, Beerus is forced to accept what has happened, especially when the Grand Priest arrives with the first information about the Tournament of Power, including the caveat of a losing Universe's destruction. As well, Zen-O wishes to show his future counterpart what a tournament is by hosting the Zen Exhibition Match. Goku recruits Gohan and Majin Buu for the match, where they do battle with Universe 9's Trio de Danger team. Majin Buu fights Basil and defeats him, Gohan battles Lavender and scores a tie due to being poisoned, while Goku defeats Bergamo. Despite Universe 7 winning, another warrior enters the fray — the Pride Trooper named Top of Universe 11, who challenges Goku on the grounds that his actions have made him a villain. The two fight an intense battle where Top is able to push Goku to use his Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-ken combo, but their fight is stopped by the Grand Priest, who doesn't want them to get to into the fight since the tournament is still very close. The Grand Priest tells the gathered Kais and Gods of Destruction to recruit 10 warriors for the Tournament while the ring is being made, before sending them all back to their respective universe.

Now back in Universe 7, Goku and Gohan quickly begin to make a few picks already, suggesting Krillin, Android 18, Master Roshi, Tien, Piccolo, and Vegeta. While trying to recruit Android 18 and Krillin, Goku is convinced by Gohan to start lying about the tournament to not worry others, suggesting that the prize is 10 million Zeni per participant. After sparring with Krillin and 18 who agree to join, Goku asks about 18's brother, Android 17, and leaves to go find him while Gohan goes to Piccolo for training and to recruit him for the tournament. Goku drops by Mr. Satan's house to find Majin Buu training, now looking slimmer, as Buu was excited about the idea of fighting Basil again, and decided to train a bit. Goku and Buu have a brief sparring match where Buu knocks Goku out of the makeshift ring, much to Goku's surprise. Satisfied with Buu's strength, Goku heads off to find Android 17.

Meanwhile at Capsule Corp, Vegeta still refuses to join the tournament, not wanting to leave behind Bulma in her current state. Seeing this will be an issue, Whis uses his ability to manipulate time and space to bring Bulma's child, who the group names Bulla, into the world, giving Vegeta a motivation to go to the tournament, and win. Meanwhile, the other universes are working hard to recruit their own warriors, all with a single goal in mind: punish Son Goku for putting the Tournament on their heads. With this in mind, in Universe 6 Champa has Cabba recruit other Saiyans, and although Cabba isn't able to recruit his teacher, Renso, he is able to recruit his sister Caulifla, and her friend Kale with the promise that he will teach them how to gain the power of Super Saiyan. Cabba teaches the two female Saiyans how to do so, resulting in Caulifla easily managing to do so, though Kale isn't. Believing that Kale needs to be filled with anger to do so, Caulifla has Cabba throw insults at her, which initially doesn't work, but after Cabba and Caulifla get into an argument, Kale gets angry and powers up into a more physically powered form, nearly injuring Cabba before she passes out. Elsewhere, Universe 11 decides to recruit a frightening powerhouse among the Pride Troopers, the one Top mentioned to Goku named Jiren.

Goku goes to an island and finds Android 17 fighting some poachers, wherein he helps him defeat them and learns that the Android has been watching the island, becoming a park ranger since he was revived back in the Cell Saga and even got married and has a family. 17 initially refuses the offer to fight in the tournament even after Goku tells him the truth, leading to them having a friendly sparring match on Goku's part to see how strong 17 has become. Ultimately, Android 17 is recruited after Goku helps him defeat more poachers that were threatening the island, and by saving himself from sacrificing himself to protect a rare species of animal on the island. Meanwhile, Gohan and Piccolo begin their training, with Piccolo calling out Gohan for letting himself get weaker, and the ego he gains when he gains when drastically getting stronger. In an intense battle, Gohan reawakens his latent power and decides to train more with Piccolo to prove himself to his father. Goku eventually catches up with Gohan and Piccolo after recruiting Tien and Roshi, who had joined after a minor series of battles involving a girl named Yurin trying to kill Tien that was thwarted by Goku. To prove how much stronger he has become, Gohan challenges his father to a fight, so Gohan and Piccolo team up to take on Goku and Tien, though ultimately Goku and Gohan have an intense one on one at Gohan's request, ending with Goku knocking Gohan out after he goes all out. Despite defeating Gohan, Goku is proud of Gohan and decides to name him the team captain, and the group heads off to get ready.

Despite the success so far, Universe 7 hits a frightening snag — Majin Buu suddenly falls asleep and won't wake up for two months! Beerus, annoyed by this, makes an angry comment about killing Frieza, which gives Goku the idea to go down to Hell and recruit him, despite everyone's massive misgivings. During this time, the heroes learn about Goku's lie, but ultimately stay to fight due to the threat provided. Meanwhile, Goku arrives in Hell and finds Frieza, who taunts Goku about needing his help but ultimately agrees to help Goku on the condition that if Universe 7 wins, he will be wished back to life. Elsewhere, the God of Destruction of Universe 4 Quitela, contacts Sidria, the God of Destruction from Universe 9 after learning, through a spy, that the heroes would be reviving Frieza to fight for them, and convinces Sidra to try and assassinate Frieza. Surviving the assassination attempt, and attempting to trick Universe 9 to recruit him, Frieza ends up joining Universe 7 as the final member. With all of the warriors gathered, they are brought to the World of Void, where the ring is located.

Shortly after arriving, the rules are laid out by the Grand Priest to all the fights; there is no flying except those who naturally can due to things like wings, no killing, no weapons, no outside influence, and once you are knocked off the stage, you are out. With the rules set into place, the tournament begins with a bang. During the fighting the other Universes attempt to knock out Universe 7, resulting in Universe 9 being the first Universe to be knocked out, thanks to Goku and Vegeta defeating the Trio of Danger. The Zenos erase Universe 9, shocking everyone left, but the Grand Priest orders the fighting to continue, and so it continues.

Caulifla and Kale find Goku and engage him in a fight, wherein Caulifla ascends to Super Saiyan 2. Kale becomes angered by Goku though and transforms into her berserker mode, battering Goku and causing a large amount of chaos in the arena. Seeing this, Jiren steps in and knocks her out with a single attack, impressing Goku enough to try and confront him. However, Top stops him and sends the majority of the Pride Troopers to defeat Goku, Caulifla, and Kale, causing all three to be put into a dangerous situation. Android 17 and 18 arrive and turn the tide, forcing the Pride Troopers back and having them refocus on Kale and Caulifla, who ultimately wipe out the majority of their team in the ensuing struggle.

As the fighting continues and more fighters get gradually knocked out, Universe 10, having been the Butt-Monkey of the tournament and losing their fighters due to poor luck, attempt to hold out against Universe 7 with their last hope in Obni and Rubalt. In the ensuing battle, Gohan and Piccolo knock out the two out (Obni giving Gohan a hard fight), causing the Universe to be eliminated.

With Universe 11 weakened, Universe 2 steps forward with its Maiden Squadron, three magical girl themed fighters. In the ensuing battle, Android 17 knocks one of them out, while Goku pushes one of their fighters to the edge of defeat, forcing the the remaining two to retreat for the time being. During the chaos of the previous fights, Roshi takes the chance to go after Universe 4's fighters because of their Confusion Fu and Weak, but Skilled abilities. Through strategy and wit, he manages to knock out three of their best fighters, but is badly hurt during the battle, causing him to hide and rest.

Although doing the best, Universe 7 loses three fighters prior to the halfway mark of the tournament; Krillin, who is knocked off by Universe 6's Frost, Tien, in a mutual knock out with Universe 2's Hermila, and Roshi, who drops out willingly after taking heavy damage from Frost in an effort to save Vegeta. Frost himself is also eliminated ironically enough by Frieza, who had tricked Frost into thinking he had allied with him.

Around the halfway mark though, Jiren, who kept himself out of most fights, approaches Goku at the request of Belmod, the God of Destruction of Universe 11, demanding to fight him. Goku attacks Jiren as hard as he can, but Jiren doesn't budge until Goku powers up to max, at which the fight begins. Even when using Kaioken x20, Jiren easily overpowers him, forcing Goku to use his trump card: the Spirit Bomb. Powered by all of team Universe 7, Goku uses the Spirit Bomb, but is shocked when Jiren begins pushing the attack back at him, even when gives his all to stop it. Despite this, Jiren manages to successfully reverse the Spirit Bomb, which engulfs Goku, causing everyone to think he has been killed by his own attack.

As the other universes prepare to jump Jiren, a series of rumbles herald the return of Goku, though he is different from before. Engulfed by the Spirit Bomb, Goku broke through his limits to survive, and unlocked a mysterious power known as "Ultra Instinct", a state of mind where one lets their body fight naturally while their mind is empty of thoughts. Goku battles Jiren in an intense fight, but despite landing some hits, Goku is defeated when Ultra Instinct fades away. Hit uses the opportunity to attack Jiren, sparking a battle between the two as Goku watches, fatigued and out of energy from his use of Ultra Instinct. Although Hit is able to land an attack on Jiren that immobilizes him, Jiren easily overpowers Hit and knocks him off the arena. With Goku too weak to fight for the moment, and Hit knocked out, Jiren meditates. With Hit's elimination, the Grand Priest declares that the tournament is halfway over, and thus changes the skies of the tournament to a green color.

Recovering from his battle, Goku is attacked by several fighters from the other universes left and pushed back in his weakened state. During this period a few notable events occur: Cabba attaining Super Saiyan 2 and defeating Monna from Universe 4, and then being eliminated by Frieza afterward, Vegeta battling Top to a draw, and Gohan and Piccolo fighting two Namekians from Universe 6. As Goku is pushed back by Universe 3 fighters, Caulifla intervenes and saves Goku.

Caulifla and Kale proceed to challenge Goku to a fight, and although weakened still, Goku is able to pressure the two female Saiyans, even as Kale masters her berserk form and Caulifla uses Super Saiyan 2 against Goku. Having regained enough power, Goku uses Super Saiyan God to easily fight the two back. Pushed to the wall and about to eliminated, Kale and Caulifla use their final trump card; Potara Fusion. Prior to the tournament, Champa gave the two earrings in order to try and give his Universe a trump card should the situation need it. The two fighters become Kefla, who overpowers Goku and nearly defeats him when he falls out of his Super Saiyan Blue state after he becomes too tired. As Kefla readies the finishing blow, Goku awakens Ultra Instinct a second time, dodging her attack much to the shock of everyone. With Ultra Instinct powering him, Goku battles Kefla again, even as Kefla goes Super Saiyan 2 and uses a final attack to try and stop him. Goku blasts her off the edge though, leaving Universe 6 with the two Namekians left as their only way to win.

After defeating Kefla, Goku is attacked by Universe 2's remaining warriors, who want to knock him out since he is once again fatigued from his fights, though thankfully Goku is aided by the Androids, who work force the remaining members of the Maiden's to fight them. Android 18 battles Ribrianne, who uses the power of her Universes love for her to power up and take a giant form. As 18 is on the verge of being thrown out, she sees Krillin about to risk being eliminated to save her, giving her the resolve to defeat Ribrianne. Seeing this, the last three members of Universe 2 copy the powers of the Maiden's before attacking Goku, 17, and 18 in a last stand. As this is going on, Gohan and Piccolo battle the two Namekians from Universe 6, whose regenerative powers make them hard to defeat after they reveal they performed a fusion with all their Universes' Namekian's in order to have a fighting chance, forcing Gohan to hold them off so Piccolo can charge his Special Beam Cannon to defeat them. Gohan and Goku both then defeat the remaining warriors of the two universes with a Kamehameha each, resulting in Universe 2 and 6 being erased.

With only four universes remaining, Universe 4 uses the chance to make its move by using the last three fighters they have left to try and use sneak attacks to knock out some of the members. All three fail horribly, with their last fighter knocking out Piccolo due to Piccolo focusing too much on sensing said fighters Ki. Goku and Android 17 easily capture the final fighter, Damon, and knock him off the fighting arena, causing Universe 4 to be eliminated next.

Universe 3 makes their move next, using their robot's to attack Universe 7 as they try to recover from their recent fights. Having been observing Universe 7 for a while, the robots are able to prove a formidable match to the team, eventually combining into a stronger robot that pressures Gohan, forcing Goku and Vegeta to assist. While this nearly defeats it, the combined robots manage to stay on, and this forces the leader of Universe 3's robots to fuse with the robots, creating a powerful monster called Anilaza. Anilaza fights all of the remaining members of Universe 7, nearly knocking out Goku in the process thanks to his varied powers and abilities, which in turn forces Frieza to assist in the fight. Android 17 is knocked off the stage trying to hold off Anilaza's attacks, but Android 18 sacrifices herself to send him back onto the stage, causing herself to be eliminated. Anilaza then prepares a final attack to destroy the arena, forcing a beam struggle between it and the five remaining members of Universe 7. Although Anilaza starts to push them back, 17 uses the chance to destroy its core, causing it to lose power and be destroyed, resulting in its fighters being knocked off the arena, and the universe being eliminated.

The final battle between Universe 7 and 11 begins quickly after the elimination of Universe 3. Goku and Vegeta battle Jiren, Gohan and 17 battle Top, and Frieza battles Dyspo. Initially, Vegeta catches Jiren off guard thanks to having watched his fight with Goku, and manages to pressure Jiren, but Jiren recovers and nearly knocks him off the arena. Vegeta attempts a full power Final Flash but Jiren tanks the hit and knocks him out before focusing his attention on to Goku. In the ensuing battle, Jiren is nearly knocked off the arena with some clever strategy by Goku, but Jiren is able to get back into the arena before he can be eliminated. Vegeta returns to fight Jiren, awakening a new form of Super Saiyan Blue, and battles Jiren alongside Goku.

Frieza initially toying with Dyspo, whose speed advantage only minorly bothers Frieza. Dyspo turns the tables by using a technique that drastically increases his speed, causing Frieza to nearly fall, forcing Gohan to join the fight. Frieza uses his energy to trap Dyspo while Gohan battles him, but as Frieza starts to run out of energy, Dyspo begins to break free, forcing Gohan to restrain him so Frieza can knock him out, eliminating both fighters.

Android 17 clashes with Top, who starts to overpower the Android in a beam struggle, but Top loses the beam struggle when Frieza attacks him from behind. Top is able to stay in the fight despite this, and having begun to lose faith in his ideals of justice, decides to embrace his potential role as a God of Destruction, becoming the God of Destruction Top, and uses the powerful Hakai Energy against the Universe 7 heroes. Frieza and Android 17 attempt to defeat Top, but his power greatly trumps theirs, and in the end the two are forced to fight defensively against him. During the fight however, Top sees that the combined assault of Goku and Vegeta is starting to stress Jiren, and so Top attacks Vegeta, resuming their fight from earlier. Top initially pushes Vegeta back with his power, but as Vegeta reflects on his motivation, his desire to protect his family, and bring Cabba back, motivates him to fight Top and overpower him. Knowing that Top's Hakai energy is a problem, Vegeta powers up the same suicidal explosion he used against Majin Buu years ago, which is countered by Top using the full power of his Hakai energy to try and defeat him. Vegeta's attack engulfs Top, and Top is knocked off the arena as a result, though unlike with his fight with Buu, Vegeta survives his attack thanks to being stronger then he was before. However, Vegeta is heavily drained and barely able to stand as a result.

With Jiren being the final opponent left, Goku, Frieza, Vegeta, and 17 attempt to defeat him, but despite the numerical advantage, Jiren pushes everyone to their limits and knocks all of them out save 17. During this time, Belmod reveals Jiren's past to the people left, which was that his family was killed by an evildoer, and Jiren was saved by a man who would train him to fight. Despite his training, Jiren's fight with the evildoer ended in failure, and his mentor was killed. Abandoned by his friends, Jiren trained to never rely on others, hence why he is as strong as he is. Realizing this, 17 calls out Jiren for using his allies to obtain his wish to revive his fallen comrades, while also pointing out that Jiren is too obsessed with the past. Angered by 17's words, Jiren attempts to eliminate Goku and Vegeta first with a powerful energy blast, which 17 attempts to block, but is forced to self-destruct himself to cancel out Jiren's attack, and give the two Saiyans a chance to rest. Vegeta is the first to fight Jiren, and while he gives his all while being too weak to even transform, Vegeta is pummeled and then knocked off the stage.

Goku gets up to fight Jiren again, but he is easily overpowered and beaten back again, leaving him at the edge of the arena. As Jiren tries to knock Goku off, Goku reawakens Ultra Instinct and battles Jiren for the final battle. Although Goku is able to fight Jiren better, Jiren nearly defeats him thanks to watching his fight with Kefla and learning how to properly counter the power of the form. However while Goku is pushed back, he is able to gain control of Ultra Instinct and master the form, allowing him to quickly overpower Jiren. Pushed into a corner, Jiren unlocks his hidden power after feeling the same way he did when he fought the villain who made him who he was. Now stronger the before, Jiren fights Goku in an intense battle where Jiren manages to overpower Goku for a time, but slowly Goku counters and turns the fight in his favor. Angered at Goku's power, and his motivation to protect his friends, Jiren launches an attack on the bleachers with the intent to hurt team Universe 7, though the attack is blocked by Goku. Enraged that Jiren would try to harm his friends, Goku launches a barrage on Jiren, ending with Goku using a Kamehameha to overpower and knock Jiren to the ground, defeating him.

However, before Goku can ring out Jiren, his new power turns against him and he loses the form as his body is wracked with intense pain due to overuse of the form in rapid succession. Jiren uses the opportunity to blast Goku into the void, but Frieza manages to save him with a well timed energy blast. To the surprise of everyone, a surprisingly-alive 17 leaps from the rubble and joins Frieza in battling Jiren, where the two manage to use his fatigued state to injure him, and leave him unable to fight. As Frieza is about to knock out Jiren, Top encourages Jiren to keep fighting, giving Jiren the drive to fight back, and so he launches an attack on the two that begins to overpower them. Finding the last bit of strength, Goku rejoins the fight and the three warriors team up and battle Jiren, ending with Frieza and Goku ringing themselves out to make sure Jiren does too, leaving Android 17 as the sole fighter left.

With that, Android 17 was declared to be the winner. Granted a wish upon the Super Dragon Balls, he makes his choice — to resurrect the universes erased by Zeno. The wish is granted and all the Universes erased during the tournament are revived by the Super Dragon Balls. As it turned out, the Omni Kings foresaw this happening and allowed it, opting to destroy everything if they made a selfish wish. With his end of the barging fulfilled, Frieza asks to be sent back to Hell, but to the surprise of everyone, Whis ended up resurrecting Frieza, though the villain promises the others he will likely return and harass them again, with Goku promising to crush him if he tried anything evil.

With everything settled, our heroes returned to Earth victorious, Frieza rushing off to rebuild his empire. In a friendly spar, Vegeta asks why Goku isn't breaking out Ultra Instinct again, but Goku tells him that he can't here — the Tournament pushed him to limits he never knew he had and he can't reach that here! Vegeta, however, promises to push himself to higher powers to surpass Goku, ending the arc with the two facing off in a friendly sparring match.

This is the journey that will never end—the struggle to push beyond all limits and redefine the meaning of power. New and mightier foes will arise. New adventures will begin. And Goku and his fellow warriors will be ready.

Until then... we bid you farewell.

Tropes:

Anime tropes

• Aborted Arc:
  • Despite the promise of a rematch, Goku never faces neither Hit or Top, with Hit being taken out by Jiren and Top by Vegeta.
  • Subverted. During his fight with Caulifla, Goku tells her how she could obtain Super Saiyan 3 during the Tournament, something Caulifla urges Kale to do with her. They never do, even when fused as Kefla, but once revived, one of the first things Caulifla does is ask Cabba to help them train to reach that transformation, so the effort is ongoing.
• Accidental Hero: Goku suggesting the Tournament of Power makes him one, as it allows one universe out of the lower leveled ones to survive by winning the tournament. In the anime, Zeno was planning on doing that eventually.
• The Ace: Each Universe for the most part possesses a fighter that is proclaimed as their strongest fighter, and serves as either the team leader, or the crux of their teams success. For universes like 6, 7, and 11, their respective Ace are among the strongest mortals in the setting period. The other universes tend to have their strongest character being a bit of a Butt-Monkey. The only universe to not have one is Universe 3, instead having a fighter that acts as their Last Stand.
• A Day in the Limelight: Part of the appeal of the saga is that after being pushed to the sidelines since the earlier episodes of Super, many of the side cast get their moment to shine alongside Goku and Vegeta. However, there are some characters that get more focus than others:
  • Gohan is invited alongside Goku and Majin Buu to participate against Lavenda in the Exhibition Matches, but he also gets a supportive role for most of the episodes predating the Tournament. By the time of the Tournament, he has quite a lot of focus in his fights against Botamo from Universe 6, Obuni from Universe 10, the Universe 6 Namekians alongside Piccolo, and Koichiarator from Universe 3. Unfortunately, despite making it to the final 5 of his universe, he is the first one eliminated in the final battle against Universe 11's top three fighters.
  • Majin Buu, who has been Demoted to Extra hard by the time of the Champa saga, gets a focus episode fighting off against Basil in the Exhibition Matches. Sadly, this is the only fight he gets.
  • Much of episode 104 is about Hit and his fight with Dyspo from the Pride Troopers, and later he fights off Jiren in episode 111, where he is sadly eliminated.
  • Episode 112 is an episode dedicated entirely to Cabba from Universe 6, where he turns Super Saiyan 2, and gets told by Vegeta that he will resurrect him with the Super Dragon Balls if he wins. He sadly is eliminated by Frieza after his moment of awesome, but this moment was crucial for Vegeta to obtain a new transformation.
  Vegeta: I must keep my promise to him!
• Affirmative Action Girl: This is the arc with the most named female characters, and fighters, to date in the entire franchise; around 14 out of 80 fighters are female. Universe 7 has Android 18, who returns to the spotlight after not having a battle since The Battle of Gods saga (and a brief one at that); Universe 6 has Caulifla and Kale, two Saiyan women with unlimited potential who even fuse during the course of the arc, and Universe 2 has the Maiden Squadron, a team of Magical girls lead by Brianne de Chateau. There are also many other fighters from other universes, but these ones are the ones with the most promotional material (with Caulifla, Kale, and Ribrianne appearing alongside Top and Jiren in Dragon Ball Heroes and Dokkan Battle). It also introduces more female angels and the Goddess of Destruction Heles, but they don't take part in the fights.
• Aloof Ally: Frieza serves as the Token Evil Teammate for Universe 7 and constantly threatens to betray his team should the opportunity arises. He spends majority of the Tournament off on his own, torturing his opponents, and only starts actively assisting his team during the second half. Despite that, he never actually betrays his team and in fact uses the uncertainty to get the drop on Frost and Jimizu.
• Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The Tournament of Power takes place in a void world where the sky is rather dark with multicolored clouds, but the Grand Priest changes it to green at the 24 minute mark to point out the Tournament of Power has already reached its halfway point. Then when Top awakens himself as a God of Destruction, his Sphere of Destruction changes the sky from green to blue/purple, truly setting the final stage for the battle.
• And the Adventure Continues: Once the tournament is over, all the universes are resurrected and Goku promises the Zenos they’ll meet again someday. The universe 7 fighters celebrate together and have a party for Vegeta and Bulma’s new daughter and Goku and Vegeta have a sparring match to continue their training and reach even greater heights. Meanwhile, Frieza has been resurrected and has rebuilt his empire, preparing to take his revenge on Goku one day and Goku promising to stop him once again.
• Advertised Extra: Buu is promptly featured on a lot of the promos as part of the Universe 7 team. However come near time for the tournament, he falls asleep and can't be woken before the deadline, necessitating Goku recruiting Freiza.
• Ambiguous Innocence:
  • Beerus lampshades this, stating that it's Zeno's innocence makes him so dangerous.
  • Goku as well; he's always had shades of this but it's on full display this arc. Beerus outright says that Goku's naivete could be dangerous for the universe and contemplates destroying him. Considering what happens next, he comes off as rather justified.
• Animation Bump: Episodes 109 and 110 have slightly higher quality animation then usual. This is due to the fact that these are the episodes where Goku and Jiren finally square off, as well Goku unlocking his Ultra Instinct mode.
  • The final battle with Jiren is chock-full of this, probably the best the series has gotten so far.
• Arc Hero: Android 17 is central character in the arc and gets a significant amount of character development. Android 17 goes from being someone who is mostly apathetic about the fate of the universes to wishing them all back.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Frieza actually manages to do this to Goku when Goku gets angry at him for killing the Universe 9 assassins. Going by his reaction Goku is not happy about it.
  Frieza: Dying here by my hand, or having their entire universe erased by losing the tournament, is the same thing, no?
• Armor-Piercing Response: When Goku first demonstrates a massive boost in power, most can't even begin to explain what they're seeing. Even some of the higher beings are completely flummoxed. Among the few who aren't is Beerus, who stares in shock with mouth agape. When Beerus finally describes it as Ultra-Instinct, Champa gasps and Belmod has a major freak-out.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • Lavender is far too happy about the anything-goes nature of the prelims meaning he can kill Gohan.
  • Frost goes insane after Frieza rings him out and then taunts him afterwards. He attempts to backstab Frieza from the stands, but the Zeno-samas erase him on the spot (and warns U6 that another act like that will get the entire universe erased on the spot.)
  • Frieza himself is actually a bit more sane this time around. In a tournament of gods you need your cunning, after all. He does start losing it when Top and Jiren start slapping him around.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • While trying to figure out what to do until the Tournament is ready to begin, Elder Kai suggests deciding to unlock all of Goku's fighting potential like he did with Gohan. However, Supreme Kai points out that doing so requires 25 hours, which they don't have anymore.
  • Kale's Super Saiyan Berserk possesses incredible power, but she can hardly control it and goes insane from the power surge, barely even able to form coherent sentences.
    • The anime Kale manages to overcome this weakness with her controlled Super Saiyan 2 form.
  • Notably, Frieza has gone out of his way to avert this trope, ironing out Golden Frieza's stamina drain.
  • Goku's Ultra Instinct form. It is a very powerful form that grants an ability the Angel's teach the God's of Destruction (as a mental state), which allows the body to move on its own without thinking, allowing them to casually dodge/block almost all attacks and deliver quick devastating blows. However, Goku gained this form completely by accident when he was pushed to his very limits, and his body and will refused to give-up. The problem is the form he uses is an imperfect version of the technique, which only lasts a limited time, leaves him completely drained once it wears off and as Whis explains, since Goku has no control over activating it himself it only works when he is pushed to his very limit, which gets further away with each use. Even when Goku does perfect Ultra Instinct the toll it puts on his body is too great and it damages him at the worst possible time.
• Back from the Dead: Unsurprisingly all the universes that were erased are back to normal thanks to 17's wish. But much more importantly, Freiza is brought back as well as per his agreement with Beerus for helping in the tournament.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • Buu's involvement in the tournament. The promotional picture above suggests that Buu would be a part of Universe 7 and the anime goes out of its way to show Buu getting ready. However, come to the Episode 90 mark, Buu is taken out by his sleeping habits and they replace him with Frieza.
  • Episode 110 ends with Goku limp and battered and Frieza standing over him, seemingly intending to kill him. Episode 111 opens with Frieza healing Goku instead and saying that "all debts are settled". It's mostly out of pragmatism so that Goku can face Jiren, but still not quite what you'd expect Frieza to do.
  • Happens again in episode 130. Having gained an advantage over Jiren and knocked him down, Goku prepares to blast him out of the ring when he suddenly doubles over in pain with blood ripping out of his back. Since the scene is framed in a purple filter and the last non-Universe 7 fighter is down, the viewer is led to think Frieza stabbed Goku in the back at the last second. Nope. Turns out it's actually Ultra Instinct's drawback ravaging Goku's body at the worst possible time.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Frieza's plan to take out Frost hinged on a few things: Gohan realizing he's not fighting for keeps when he attacks him, Frost not having a Golden Form and Frost being stupid enough to use Full Powered Final Form.
  • When Gohan faces Botamo, he simply punches him rapidly and repeatedly, as if he is unaware of the Stone Wall ability. However, Goku did tell him all about when he faced Botamo in the last tournament, so Gohan both knows about the ability and guessed he wouldn't be bested the same way twice. The repeated punches are instead meant to lift Botamo off the ground just enough for him to be pushed to the edge of the ring for an elimination. By the time Botamo realizes what's happening, it's too late, and his larger size makes it impossible for him to hit Gohan at close range.
• Berserk Button:
  • Satan getting hurt finally got Buu to get serious about the match.
  • Kale's pessimistic stance towards her self-worth, along with any impression that Caulifla is disowning her as her student, tends to set off her powerful Super Saiyan transformations in the worst way possible, as Cabba, Goku, and Kahersal's five-man squad of Pride Troopers found out the hard way.
• Big "WHAT?!": Goku's friends have this when he suggests Frieza as a replacement for Buu.
• Birds of a Feather: Non-romantic version. Frieza and Frost notice how similar they are to each other almost the instant they meet, and it takes no time at all for them to decide to team up.
• Blatant Lies: Goku recruits most of his friends with the promise of prize money (even though Chi Chi would never give that up, even if they had that much anyway). Once they catch on to his lies and learn the truth of the tournament, Bulma steps in, offering to pay anyone still interested, especially 18.
• Breakout Character: Android 17. Prior to this arc, he hadn't appeared in Super at all and in fact had been Put on a Bus since the Android Saga. Goku tracks him down and recruits him for the tournament, where he plays a major role. In the end, he even ends up winning the tournament and wishing the other universes back.
• Break Them by Talking: A always, Frieza is a very good at this. Goes hand in hand with being a sadistic and clever bastard. His biggest instance of this is when he's taunting an exhausted Jiren. While Jiren is still really strong and and still noticeably stronger than Frieza, Android 17, and Goku, he's so worn down that, rather than the one shotting juggernaut we've seen up to this point, he can't put Frieza down even with a flurry of punches. This exhaustion coupled with Jiren's desperation and having been shaken by the fact that Ultra Instinct Goku very nearly beat him meant that his mental state was severely deteriorated and stress affected his abilities. Frieza used all of this along with what he learned about Jiren to seriously shake Jiren's confidence and even pushed him close to the Despair Event Horizon.
  Frieza: Oh? What happened to your usual poker face?
  Jiren: Silence!
  Frieza: Once shattered, strength and will are so fragile. I can almost hear your heart crying out. Afraid to become the weakling you once were.
  Jiren:(visably shaken, panics and starts punching Frieza) You said my strength was shattered? See for yourself if that's really true!
  Frieza: (Frieza crushes Jiren between 2 bolders) You're getting too excited.
  Then after Android 17 seriously injures him, Jiren falls to his knees in front of Frieza.
  Frieza: You've lost the spirit to even look at me? What a shame.... I can't see your pathetic face at the end.
• Brother–Sister Team: Androids 17 and 18 since Episode 101.
• The Bus Came Back: Android 17 returns to the series proper after his unexplained disappearance at the end of the Cell saga and brief reappearance at the end of the Buu saga
• Butt-Monkey: Universes 3 and 10 are this during the tournament, with their members suffering easy defeats, often without even getting a real chance to fight back. While Universe 3 lasts longer, as they we're holding their ultimate power back to try and to use it as a Last Stand, they're still the Universe in 3rd place, being the 6th overall to be erased.
• Call-Back:
  • The way one of the muggers tries to attack Goku is done in exactly the same fashion as how a farmer tried to attack Raditz at the beginning of Dragon Ball Z, with the only difference being that Goku doesn't kill his assailant.
  • Goku mentions Buu to 17, who he remembers giving his energy for Goku's Spirit Bomb to defeat Kid Buu.
  • When reawakening Gohan's Unlocked Potential form, Piccolo refers back to his fight with Super Buu.
  • Gohan is shown eating a steak out of a dinosaur's tail in a call back to his earliest training days with Piccolo.
  • Tenshinhan breaks out the Four Witches Technique, a move he hasn't used in battle since Dragon Ball.
  • When Buu falls asleep, Beerus remembers that this is how he got disqualified back during the Champa arc. Even more, Beerus has been holding a grudge over the pudding incident in the Battle of Gods arc.
  • When 17 meets Marron for the first time, he calls her "Maron", which pisses off 18. "Maron" was Krillin's first girlfriend in the Garlic Jr. Filler Arc.
  • Beerus reminds Vegeta about Magenta's weakness to verbal insults, which we first learned about in the U6 Saga. Unfortunately they had a way around it this time.
  • Krillin rings out Majora by using a Kamehameha while doing practically the same movements when he and Goku had their sparring match back in Ep 84.
  • When Goku and Caulifla fight, Goku is able to handily defeat her when she breaks out the Super Saiyan Third Grade and points out how ineffective it is, a lesson Future Trunks also learned the hard way in the Cell Saga.
  • Kale and Caulifla combine their blasts to eliminate 3 Pride Troopers, exactly like how Goku and Vegeta combined their blasts to eliminate the Trio De Dangers earlier in the tournament.
  • When Botamo realizes what Gohan is doing, he starts getting desperate and fires off mouth ki blasts, much like when Goku was dragging him out of ring the during the U6 tournament.
  • Piccolo breaks out the Hellzone Grenade to defeat Rubalt, which was last seen being used against 17. Ironically, Rozie uses a technique very much like the Hellzone Grenade against Goku and 17 steps in to block it just as he did against Piccolo.
  • Tien not only using the Multi-Form Technique (last seen in battle against Cell), but Tien has upgraded it so that the clones do not disappear after they are defeated and can move independently of each other. It ensures that Hermila doesn't get back into the ring.
  • Frieza shows Frost the full powered 4th form since Frost doesn't know how to obtain the Golden form.
  • Frieza also remembers Goku's Spirit Bomb. And even though they are bad memories, he donates to it anyway.
  • After being defeated by Jiren, Frieza stands over Goku's prone body and gives him a burst of his energy to restore him in a deliberate call back to their fight on Namek. Frieza even makes a speech that is similar to the one Goku made to him back on Namek as well.
  • After saving Cabba, Vegeta declares that Cabba hasn't accomplished his promise of taking him to Planet Sadala, as he promised back in the Champa saga.
  • Most of the U6 Namekians fused with Saonel and Pirina. We then see Piccolo in his mind with the two Namekians that he fused with (Nail and Kami)
  • When Frieza and Goku meet at Uranai Baba's place, Goku can be seen recreating the fight he had with his Grandpa there.
  • Goku uses the Kienzan move that Krillin uses against him in their sparring match in Ep 84.
  • Piccolo recognizes the Final Explosion, the attack Vegeta uses to kill Majin Buu. This time, Vegeta has grown powerful enough to survive it, and he uses it to ring out Top.
  • When Frieza and Goku remind each other of their deal, Goku subtly reminds Frieza of the last time he broke his promise back on Namek. Might as well be an Implied Death Threat.
  • The final scene of the arc is of Goku and Vegeta out in the mountains. They take the same fighting stances that they did when the first faced off back in the Saiyan Saga. Only this time, it's just a sparring match and not for the fate of Earth.
• Call-Forward:
  • Bulma is now pregnant with Bra/Bulla, whom we saw at the end of DBZ along with Pan. She gives birth prior to the start of the tournament as well.
  • On their way to meet No 17, Dende mentions a boy with incredible fighting talent and is the reincarnation of Kid Buu (Uub, though Dende doesn't mention his name.)
• Calvinball: The exhibition matches are held solely to entertain Zen'o, so pretty much anything goes as long as Zen'o approves of it. Both a ring out and the use of a drug, either one disqualifying in a regular tournament and the proper tournament, are allowed since Zen'o enjoys the fight.
• Character Arc: The Tournament of Power introduce at least a few subplots for the side-characters, with a supporting character helping out.
  • Kale, the Universe 6 Saiyan, is introduced as a weak and meek girl that can't transform properly unlike her mentor-figure, Caulifla. When she does transform, is out of jealousy and pity of herself, even trying to kill Cabba in the process. By the time she and Caulifla have to fight the Pride Troopers, however, she does manage to turn into a Super Saiyan, and from that point on, start to show a more upbeat personality, even respectfully calling Cabba with honorifics.
  • Roshi, the Dirty Old Man of old, was introduced as the same pervert we know, trying to molest Yurin, but when he heard of the Tournament of Power, he started to train to leave his carnal desires out. It worked to an extent, as this scenario is Played for Laughs.
• Central Theme: The arc is written around three themes in particular, and this is exemplified in their fighters, to an extent.
  • Principles. All the universes participating want to survive their erasure, making many of them either leave their ideals or break their limits in order to survive. The Pride Troopers leaving their ideals of justice, all of the U6 Namekians fusing together, Universe 9 and 4 trying to eliminate Universe 7 before the tournament, and Paparoni possibly risking his life in creating Aniraza, all of these acts were done out of survival. However, Goku and the cast of Universe 7 are stated to be able to stand up the other contenders (especially the U11 crowd) because they don't sacrifice their principles to survive. This frustrates Jiren during his battle with Goku, and in the end, it's revealed that the entire tournament was a Secret Test of Character to determine whether a mortal would make a selfless wish despite all of the sacrifice and turmoil it took to get it.
  • The Power of Friendship and teamwork. With the exception of Universe 10, all of the universes fighters worked together in order to survive. The Trio de Danger teamwork; Caulifla and Kale teamwork, control of the Superpowered Evil Side of the Berserk Super Saiyan and eventual fusion; The Namekians teamwork; Universe 3 tactical planning and eventual fusion, Ribrianne and her entire universe rooting for the fighters, and even U4 fighters teamwork and caring for one another. The fact Goku is saved many times by his teammates, and even unlocks Ultra Instant thanks to the spirit bomb is a sign of this. Jiren, by comparison, is someone who believes Might Makes Right and works alone, making him a contrast with everyone.
  • Family. Many of the fighters are motivated to fight because of their family waiting them at home. Vegeta, who just got Bulla, fights to the end because of her, Bulma and Trunks; Gohan is motivated out of his desire to ensure Videl's and Pan survival; Android 18's motivation to defeat Ribrianne comes from her love to her husband; Obuni, from U10, was motivated to keep fighting due to, like Gohan, being a father with a family waiting for him at home. Even Caulifla, a Blood Knight who accepted to join the Universe 6 team, was because of Cabba's assuring her of Renso's faith in her potential. Jiren, likewise, lost his family by an evil-doer when he was a kid, and his wish from the Super Dragon Balls is implied of wanting them back.
• Climax Boss: Kefla ultimately amounts to this in the Tournament of Power. It's during her fight with Goku that he unlocks Ultra Instinct for the second time and starts to learn the mechanics and his limitations with the form. Her defeat signals the tournament rapidly seeing multiple Universes being erased, and the final battle with Universe 11 coming quicker.
  • Anilaza is another one of these. Not only does it need the cooperation of all 6 fighters from Universe 7 remaining, but it's the final opponent faced before the final 3 Pride Troopers.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Both Goku and Vegeta end up attracting the attention of Heles and Hop respectively, without even intending to.
• Combat Breakdown: After so many flashy moves and transformations, the last few minutes of the tournament have Frieza out of his golden form and Goku flickering in and out of his standard Super form cooperating to take down a worn out Jiren with physical attacks.
• Concepts Are Cheap: Strong personal values are thrown around like tangible things which totally make sense without context. For example, Ribrianne goes on and on about "Love" as being the source of her power and the virtue she believes in, and the Pride Troopers do the same about "Justice".
• Crippling Overspecialization:
  • The Supreme Kais and Gods of Destruction gather groups designed for one central point - to defeat Son Goku for putting them in this situation. Many of these fighters will find various ways to confront and battle Goku in order to take him out of the fight as fast as possible and teams easily fall apart when other Universe 7 fighters get involve. In fact, when it seems like someone can defeat Goku — Jiren — everyone else panics and tries to hide because of his sheer power.
  • In particular, some of the Universes focus so much on one concept for their team that they completely fail to do much. Universe 4 is focused on trickery, stealth, and underhanded tactics, which make them good at exploiting the arena to their advantage, but they also have only about three fighters who are strong enough to actually act as the groups muscle, and those ones get taken out very early on. Universe 10 creates a team focused on raw physical strength, and only that, so they more or less fail to knock anyone out because other fighters combine strength with skill or intelligence. Meanwhile, Universes like 2, 9, and 11 focus their teams around a single trio of their strongest fighters, so while their fighters are strong, the rest of the team is much weaker because of it, and as a result, once said strongest fighters are knocked out, they quickly are eliminated because they banked their chips on too few. Universe 11 is the only one to avoid this due to Top and Jiren being so freakishly strong that they alone could have carried their team, but their team is still focused around the two so much that without them and Dyspo, they would of lost fairly early on.
  • The Ultra Instinct transformation has ridiculously immeasurable power beyond the Gods, but outside of fighting, its pointless. The Stinger in Episode 131 reveals that Goku can't consciously access the form as activating Ultra Instinct requires the removal of all mental and physical control and only appears in times of desperation. Super Saiyan Blue remains his most reliable power, as he can access it freely, with the added bonus of training to make it stronger.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Master Roshi shows this once more, with Goku noting how much stronger Roshi has gotten (Goku specifically saying that Roshi's been training since they last met, not that Roshi is stronger through Yurin's power). He proves his abilities as a warrior in episode 105, defeating three of Universe 4's warriors in succession.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: With the sheer number of battles going on in the tournament, this was somewhat inevitable.
  • Frieza's first few battles have him casually beating and torturing his opponents without using any of his fourth form's real power. One of them even rings himself out just to not have to fight him any more. Later on another (Universe 10's team captain) was beaten off screen and is shown to be tossed out of the ring.
  • When Cabba walks up to challenge Vegeta, he defeats two fighters and rings them out without even breaking stride or looking at them, including Nigrishi, supposedly Universe's 3 strongest.
  • Hit makes a complete fool of Nashirama, using the Time-Skip to avoid his Desperation Attack.
  • Once Kale transforms into her Berserker state, she proceeds to clean house and defeat several fighters with zero effort. Goku as a Super Saiyan Blue has his Kamehameha no selled and gets smacked around, but the fact he took no battle damage, coupled with his fairly casual attitude, suggests he wasn't fighting at full power.
  • Jiren one-shots Kale, though he doesn't ring her out. This is the first hint of just how strong he is.
  • Dyspo initially beats up Hit rather badly, but once Hit figures out Dyspo's fighting style he quickly returns the favor.
  • The first half of Master Roshi's battle against Ganos is one in Roshi's favor, even though Ganos is the stronger and faster of the two. His moves are simply too repetitive and predictable, easily allowing Roshi to avoid his attacks and turn his power against him. The second half of their battle isn't, though, as Ganos eventually gains enough power to make the skill difference irrelevant.
  • Jiren also one-shots Maji Kayo, simply with the friction generated by him punching the air.
  • Jiren's battle with Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-Ken X 20 Goku is more of a Curb Stomp Cushion, but very one-sided in his favor nonetheless.
  • The eventual showdown between Hit and Jiren that happens shortly thereafter is likewise a Curb Stomp Cushion. Jiren easily adapts to Hit's Time-Skip after a few early misses, whereafter Jiren completely dominates Hit. Hit, in turn, manages to adapt to Jiren's fighting style and after several failed attempts hits him with a Flash Fist Crush, painfully impacting Jiren's chest and sending him flying to the edge of the ring (through several mountains). Hit then manages to use his Time-Skip in such a way that it paralyzes Jiren. The latter actually has to put serious effort into breaking free, but once he does he promptly crushes Hit's ace attack with his bare hands, whereafter he promptly one-shots Hit.
  • Frieza eliminates a weakened Cabba with almost no effort, using his Golden form for only a few moments so he can disable and then ring-out Cabba.
  • Frieza and Android 17 are absolutely annihilated by Top once the latter becomes a God of Destruction.
  • Android 17, Vegeta, and Goku are absolutely outmatched against Jiren, and after he's done with them he beats up Frieza in less than half a minute as well.
  • Jiren's first battle against Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku goes very poorly as the mighty Pride Trooper is completely smacked around. It doesn't get much better for Jiren in Episode 130.
• Cutting the Knot: Problem: Vegeta won't enter Zen'o's tournament until Bulma's baby is born. Solution: Whis magically transports the baby out of Bulma's uterus quick as you please.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Top towards the ideas of justice. The Pride Troopers pride themselves in being heroes of justice as much as the Kamikaze Fireballs and their friends pride themselves in being soldiers of love. However, while love in its many forms have helped many of the fighters even outside of Universe 2, justice hasn't. Most of the Pride Troopers have fallen to Saiyans — most of them by Kale's hand. The final straw was the victory caused by Hit, an assassin, and Goku, the man Top called a villain from the get-go, teaming up and overcoming them. After that, he abandons his ideals until he gets better in the finale.
• Dark Horse Victory: 17 ultimately ends up winning, if only because he's the last man standing after Goku and Frieza sacrifice themselves to knock out Jiren. Not that he didn't put in possibly one of the overall most impressive performances in the tourney as a whole, both as an individual combatant and The Smart Guy for Universe 7, but until the last seconds of the penultimate episode, everyone thought he was dead.
• Deal with the Devil: Goku is put into one to recruit Frieza - if they win the Tournament, Goku has to use the Earth's Dragon Balls to revive Frieza. It would've been really easy for either of them to deceive the other, but in the end their team is only able to win because they demonstrate complete trust in one another as allies. Of course, the deal itself is subverted when Whis restores Frieza's life himself after Universe 7's victory, meaning Goku didn't need to use the Dragon Balls anyway.
• Defense Mechanism Superpower: Goku cannot turn Ultra Instinct at will. The power only activates when he is in extreme danger and desperation. He also cannot control the power until it burns out.
• Defiant to the End: Yeah, Vuon was easily overpowered by Super Saiyan Berserk Kale, but the fact that he went out swinging shows that even Pride Troopers don't go lying down.
• Determinator: Many of the fighters in the tournament show this. As long as they remain in the ring they will absolutely refuse to give up.
  • This is best shown for the fighters from Universes 6 and 7. Many of their fighters, especially the Saiyans, refuse to back down even when facing enemies that are out of their league and their allies are slowly dropping. In the Saiyans case, this usually leads to them unlocking a new power that allows them to overcome their enemies.
  • This is the the case for Goku's Ultra Instinct. Goku obtains it because he is pushed to his very limit, but his body and mind refuse to give up, allowing him to break his limits and obtain Ultra Instinct. It's telling that over the course of the tournament Goku is pushed to using the form three separate times.
• Diabolus ex Machina: Goku’s body giving in to the toll that his perfected Ultra Instinct puts on it at the worst possible time, just when he’s about to eliminate Jiren. If it had just been another 5 seconds the whole tournament would have been over.
• Didn't Think This Through: Goku's Motivational Lie falls on its face once it's revealed - they would have came calling if he just said so and Goku really had no idea how he was going to pay everyone the 10 million Zeni in the first place
• Disney Death: Roshi suffers this in Episode 104, succumbing to his injuries after pouring on one last Kamehameha to take out Ganoss. Thankfully, Goku revives him.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Some of the Gods' desire to attack Goku and Universe 7 is less because of the danger he's supposedly put them in and more because he's so chummy with Zen'O that they can't stand it.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite the fact that Goku and Beerus helped save Gowasu, Rumoosh (indirectly), and the entire universe from Zamasu last saga, in this one they don't give Universe 7 the respect they deserve. In particular, the former does not speak in Goku's defense (though he can't be very popular at the moment, due to Zamasu), while the other gods condemn him for endangering the other universes, and Rumoosh seems unaware of these events, hence his condemning Goku and Universe 7 as an unforgivable being despite the fact that Beerus helped save his life. However, Vados does bring up the fact that if it weren't for Goku, all eight of the lower level universes would have been erased. The gods of destruction (minus Beerus, who wasn't invited) ignore that point and continue on with their anger at Goku.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Universe 7 wins, and the remaining member, Android 17 wishes to restore all universes... which exactly what Zen'os wanted. He even gets his ship; everything is back to normal, and Frieza is rewarded by being revived.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Frieza is knocked out, Android 17 sacrificed himself, and thirdly Vegeta suffers an Heroic RRoD and was eliminated, leaving Super Saiyan Blue Goku to fight a losing battle against Jiren alone. Just as Jiren has Goku on the ropes and is about to deliver the finishing blow, Goku takes on a familiar pose and dodges Jiren's punch. Ultra Instinct has returned. The very next episode cements this with the awakening of the Mastered Ultra Instinct. The Stinger in Episode 131 reveals that this is what Ultra Instinct really is, as it will only appear in times of desperation when Goku has been pushed to his limits.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Frieza's alliance with the rest of the Universe 7 fighters after Buu exhausts himself to continue. No one is happy about it, but Frieza agrees to help to ensure his own survival.
  • Occurs several times in the tournament. Goku helps Caulifla and Kale against the 5 Pride Troopers that Top sent against them, later joined by Androids 17 and 18. Goku then peacefully lets them leave after they defeat the 5 Pride Troopers.
  • Goku acts more as a mentor than a fighter during his and Caulifla and Kale's fights.
  • Vegeta saves Cabba from being ringed out once.
  • After Android 17 hits the Kamikaze Fireballs with a blast as they were transforming, Brianne, Goku and Top all complain that 17 wasn't being sporting.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Beerus starts yelling at the warriors for focusing their gathering efforts on Earth with only three hours left to go and blames them for wiping out the Frieza Force, who could have given them strong fighters... which makes Goku remember Frieza and decides to recruit him to the team.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Ro and Sidra are totally shocked when Frieza doesn't even care if Universe 7 is wiped out should he join them and win. The thing that horrifies Ro the most is when he tries to appeal to some sort of favorite thing about the universe and Frieza flat out states that he has no such thing.
  • Frieza himself is quite displeased when the Zen-O twins erase Universe 9. Yes, things have gotten so bad that Frieza actually has a moment of this. It's not so much the act itself though, but rather the contrast between the two Zen-Oh's playful attitudes and their actions and the careless attitude they display.
  Frieza Those colorful brats... the contrast between their horrendous actions and attitudes couldn't be more different. Hmpf. One day I will rule over you.
• Evil Is Petty: Yurin wants revenge against Tienshinhan because... he left the Crane School. Tien is not happy that she's attacking him over something so trivial.
• Evolving Credits: Episode 95 makes a minor change with the ending credits, replacing the sleeping Buu with Golden Frieza. Episode 97 adds him into the opening and the bumper cards now includes him in Buu's place.
• Exactly What I Aimed At: During the fight with Rubalt, Piccolo fires dozens of energy blasts in random directions. Rubalt thinks this is pure desperation, but it turns out to be the Hellzone Grenade. Piccolo notes he just closed off every possible escape route and then activates the full attack. Rubalt is left so battered that Piccolo can easily knock him out of the ring.
• Eyecatch: The eyecatchers change as the arc progresses: in the beginning, it's the Universe 7 team◊. After Goku attains Ultra Instinct, they change to feature that form, and then the mastered Ultra Instinct form for the rest of the saga, until Episode 131's post-break eyecatcher goes back to the Universe 7 team.
• Fantastic Drug: Basil is given one to boost his power when he can't keep up with Buu. While it makes him a much more formidable opponent, Buu is still Buu.
• Fatal Flaw: Krillin ends up the first eliminated fighter from Universe 7, but not because he's comparatively weak compared to the opposition. It was because he was letting his Awesome Moments make him arrogant, and that arrogance (like with Gohan training against Piccolo) caused him to lose.
• Final Boss, New Dimension: The arc, in general, acts as this for the events of the series before the Broly movie. It's the final arc of the series before that, and the tournament takes place in a void between universes.
• Flexible Tourney Rules: Though the Tournament of Power has clearly defined rules, unlike the exhibition tournament, the fighters still end up pulling tricks no one accounted for. 17 uses the artificial sun as a stepping stone and Roshi brings along small jars to aid in his Evil Containment Wave, both of which are ruled safe by Zen'o because they aren't technically against the rules and they looked cool. Later in the arc when Caulifa and Kale use the Portaga Earrings to fuse, Beerus calls his brother out on that, only to be overruled by the Zen-O's who even allow the other universes the same offer since it looked cool. Of course the downside to doing so would mean they run the risk of losing two fighters for a more powerful one.
• Forgot About His Powers: The first of the combatant defeated is Lilibeu of Universe 10 who is a butterfly woman that can fly on her own. When she gets knocked out of the ring and disqualified, she's chastised for not remembering using her wings to save herself. She remarks things happened so fast she forgot completely.
• Foregone Conclusion: At this point, the series still hasn't gotten past the final episode of Z. Meaning it's guaranteed that, at the very least, Universe 7 will survive the events of the tournament.
• Fusion Dance: Kale and Caulifa do one during their fight with Goku, via the Potara earrings Champa gave them before the tournament, to even the odds against Goku's base God form.
• Genre Deconstruction: The arc is one of the more realistic looks at the Dragon Ball setting and a Tournament Arc by extension.
  • The supplementary materials detail the reason why the eight universes with the lowest Mortal Level are planned to be erased. Namely, for the lowest two:
    • Universe 7 has an inexperienced Supreme Kai who prefers letting mortals grow by themselves (to the point many of them become much stronger than himself); while the God of Destruction is too lazy to destroy those who lower their universe's Mortal Level like the genocidal Saiyans and Frieza army, on the top of being a petty jerkass.
  • Through the tournament after the first bout with Jiren, Goku tries hard to regain Ultra Instinct. However even though he manages to tap into it, he doesn't exactly grasp it on the next few tries, since it was pretty much trial-by-fire and not really having time to train and perfect it. Indeed, while he does finally get a hold of it on his third try, the drawbacks eventually hit him like a ton of bricks and nearly cost him the fight when he's forced out of it at a critical moment. So his comment to Vegeta at the end was quite truthful since he only managed the form purely out of desperation and needed to be pushed to the brink to activate it. Since he was just in a sparring match by that point, he couldn't regain it and thus learn to utilize it better, at least for the time being.
  • Several characters attempt Talking Is a Free Action during the tournament, but in several cases they get attacked for it. In a tournament like setting where anyone can fight anyone, its only natural someone would do so.
  • Several of the strongest characters in the tournament (Such as Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, Jiren, and Top) decide to save their power as much as possible so they can fight longer and conserve whenever they can. While it is smart, the fact that they are actively holding back means weaker opponents can somewhat evenly fight them and be a threat if they aren't careful. As a result fighters like Goku and Vegeta are nearly eliminated several times, only managing to stay in by using the power they were trying to save.
  • Roshi defeats Ganos with a Kamehameha and then falls over from exhaustion. Unlike with normal instances of this happening, Roshi nearly dies from this, and only survives because Goku gives him some of his energy to stabilize him. Roshi might be strong but his age has left him weakened and frail, and the stress of doing his final attack, plus Ganos shocking him as he did so was enough to nearly kill him. In addition to that, Roshi dying would of meant he was Killed Off for Real: Shenron cannot revive those who die of natural causes such as age or illness, and Roshi's near death was a result of his age.
• Glad He's On Our Side: Goku's reaction after having a sparring match with 17. 17 spent the past decade in universe training in solitude and since then he was able to fight about on par with Super Saiyan Blue Goku. Adding his infinite stamina into the mix and Goku admits that 17 would be a dangerous enemy if he still acted like his old self.
• The Gloves Come Off: Goku is nearly able to ring out Jiren by sheer trickery. It spooks and angers Jiren to the point where he decides to stop pussyfooting around and start throwing real punches.
• God Is Good: In the end, Zeno's and Grand Priest are revealed to be this, if with Blue-and-Orange Morality. The whole point of tournament was to check if mortals can use ultimate power benevolently, and if not, Zeno's would erase everything. Fortunately, Android 17 makes the right decision.
• Godzilla Threshold:
  • With Buu asleep for two months and the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in smoldering ruins, Goku has to find a last-moment replacement before departing for the tournament. He then suggests the person everyone least expected and their worst enemy: Frieza. Despite his wrongdoings, Goku believes that Frieza won't risk betraying them with their very universe on the line, especially when he still wants to rule it.
  • While it risks them losing their universe two fighters at once, Caulifla and Kale fuse into Kefla in hopes that their combined power would win them the tournament.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: The first half of recruiting the fighters has the heroes meeting up and requesting aid from many of the powerful beings they had encountered in the past, including the likes of Tien, Majin Buu, Android 17, Android 18, and Master Roshi.
• Grand Finale: This arc concludes the first part of the series, with a movie beginning the next part.
• Heel:
  • Bergamo makes Goku, and by extension Universe 7 this for starting the tournament. Goku doesn't really mind being the villain as long as he gets to fight strong opponents.
  • Similarly, The Fireballs from Universe 2 treat Android 17 as one for interrupting their transformation. Unlike Goku though, who doesn't really act like a heel, Android 17 embraces this role he's given just for fun and speaks like the villain the Fireballs think he is.
• Here We Go Again!: Oh-so-Averted. In the final episode of the arc, the Zenos ask Goku what they should do next. Beerus is quick to rush Goku and nearly choke him to death with him and the Kais requesting that they take their leave.
• Heroes' Frontier Step: Android 17 did this when he at first sacrifices himself so his teammates can survive, then when he win the tournament he use his wish to bring back all the Universes that were erased.
• Heroic RRoD: Vegeta has a critical one at the most inopportune time, as his use of Final Explosion and Beyond Blue finally catches up to him against Jiren. Vegeta is unable to transform and is stuck desperately fighting Jiren at base form. It goes about as well as you expect and Jiren eliminates him.
  • After Jiren admits his defeat, Ultra Instinct's weakness shows up. Much like Kaioken, Ultra Instinct has a severe recoil that takes a tremendous toll on Goku's body. It burns out and Goku is left writhing in pain afterwards.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Gohan performs a nonlethal version in order to ensure Dyspo is knockedout by dragging him and allowing the two to be blasted out of the arena by Frieza.
  • Android 18 performs a non lethal version to save 17 from elimination in episode 121 by kicking him back into the arena at the cost of being eliminated herself.
  • Android 17 blows himself up to cancel out Jiren's attack and save Goku and Vegeta.
    • Though in Ep 130 we find out he survived it.
  • Goku and Frieza perform a non lethal version by ringing themselves out to take down Jiren in episode 131.
• Hidden Depths: Both Goku and 18 are surprised when 18 reveals that 17's been working at an animal reserve, neither of them realizing that 17 was an animal lover.
• Hidden Heart of Gold:
  • Vegeta, despite being being a jerk, is the only character during the whole Tournament that wishes to use the Super Dragon Balls to revive the erased universes. Cabba is so moved by this he promises to do the same.
  • Although Android 17 wasn't particularly an actual Jerkass, he was rather aloof, yet towards the end of the Tournament he pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to save Goku and Vegeta and ultimately wishes for the restoration of the erased universes after he's declared the winner.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Goku is almost killed by his own Spirit Bomb when the duel between him and Jiren causes the Spirit Bomb to collapse into a Singularity.
• Hope Spot: Double subverted. Just as Vegeta is on his way out to being eliminated, he gives the last of his strength to Goku, who transforms into Super Saiyan Blue to get one last shot at Jiren. This second wind doesn't pull through, as Jiren still beats Goku easily. However, just as it looks like Jiren has Goku dead to rights as well, Ultra Instinct returns just in the nick of time.
  • After laying a severe beatdown on Jiren, the Pride Trooper finally admits defeat...but Ultra Instinct recoils and Goku falls to the ground in pain. Jiren takes advantage of this critical moment of weakness and blows Goku away (though not eliminating him). Frieza and Android 17 (who isn't dead after all) step in.
• Hour of Power: Goku's first use of his Ultra Instinct form happens when has just been hit by his own spirit bomb and has only that energy to sustain it. It fizzles out after a few minutes and Goku has virtually no energy left to defend himself. After it fizzles out again following his victory against Kefla, it's becoming apparent that his blowouts are because he's still thinking about it.
• How Much More Can He Take?: Throughout the tournament, many fighters are repeatedly severely pummeled by their opponents, often to within a inch of their life, but almost no one suffers from broken bones or any type of crippling injury. The only obvious effect being beaten down is simply becoming weak and exhausted and if they can regain some energy and stamina then they can jump back into the fray without any problem.
• Humiliation Conga: The final stage of the tournament hasn't been particularly kind to Frieza. After spending the entire tournament acting like a conniving shitheel and toying with the idea of betraying his teammates, Frieza finds himself the victim of two No Holds Barred Beatdowns in a row, from Top. 17 had to bail him out of elimination from the second one. He later gets a third, courtesy of Jiren.
  • After being pretty much nigh-invincible for the majority of the tournament and dominating every opponent he's ever faced, Jiren has been on the conga line since Episode 128, all starting with Goku re-awakening Ultra Instinct and delivering a solid shot. It's gotten even worse for him since, as Goku unlocks the Mastered Ultra Instinct form and completely mops the floor with Jiren, instigating a painful Trauma Button within him. Even after unleashing his absolute full power, Goku still manages to beat him.
• Hypocritical Humor: During their match, Top tells Goku to shut up and stop talking, only for Goku to call him out on it when Top goes on long-winded speeches about justice.
• I Gave My Word: After the tournament, Frieza expects the heroes to send him back to Hell since they just needed him out of necessity and have no reason to honor his request due to being an evil tyrant. Much to his surprise, Whis brings him back to life on behalf of Beerus since, hey, their universe did win and he was essential in the last leg of it.
• Implacable Man: Jiren is nigh-invincible and nearly unstoppable that it forced Goku to unlock a new form (Ultra Instinct) just to fight Jiren on decent terms, and even that wasn't enough. It wasn't until he perfected the Ultra Instinct form that he finally is able to turn the tide in his favor.
• It Only Works Once: In The Stinger in the final episode, Vegeta demands to know why Goku hasn't pulled out Ultra Instinct in their sparring match. Goku says he can't — the tournament pushed him so far, he must have accidentally activated it. He can't do it again with the current conditions.
• Jerkass Gods:
  • The Supreme Kai of Universe Nine is one, being an utter asshole to Basil when he's not doing well in his fight and constantly mocking U7. He's totally fine with Lavender wanting to try to kill Gohan in their match.
  • Zen-O's status as one is highlighted, destroying planets just to entertain himself and planning to destroy eight universes because their "Mortal Level" isn't high enough. The Zen-Os later throw out ring outs and disqualification for cheating via outside help or drugs (at least if the cheating seems "cool") from the tournament rules. But the finale reveals he's actually a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who's secretly using the Tournament as a multiversal Secret Test of Character — and even hopes the winner will selflessly Reset Button-wish everything back into existence.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: After two episodes of playing with his Aloof Ally status to Universe 7, Episode 112 further reiterates how much of an unrepetant asshole Frieza is. He attacks and eliminates a warn out Cabba simply to spite Vegeta and to satiate his hatred of the Saiyans. He later monologues that his real endgame is to use the wish on the Super Dragon Balls to gain control over the Gods.
• "Just Joking" Justification: When Goku goes to Hell to recruit Frieza, Frieza initially refuses to join when Goku admits it will be a problem if he says no. When Goku immediately begins walking away though Frieza panics and calls him back, saying he was only joking.
• Kick the Dog: Frieza eliminates Cabba mostly because he witnessed Cabba's master/student bond with Vegeta and found it annoying.
• Last Stand: At multiple points of the tournament, each universe is wittled down to their last warrior(s), and the fights are noticeably more climactic (with the exception of Damon) than the rest of the fights shown for their respective universes shown so far.
  • After Universe 9's warriors quickly get taken out after Goku and Vegeta break their synergy, the Trio de Danger manage to still survive slightly longer, putting up a really good fight, and even fire a combined beam in an attempt to take the two out. The two Saiyans retaliate by going Blue and firing a combined Final Kamehameha, taking the three out.
  • Universe 10's performance was abysmal at average, and the warriors got taken out with no effort. Rubalt and Obni were the final warriors for Universe 10, and gave noticeably more trouble than the others. Rubalt gave Piccolo some trouble, but Piccolo managed to use the Hellzone Grenade to take him out. As for Obni, he gave Gohan a hard time at first, but once Gohan figured him out, he managed to take him out. Additionally, he even considered him a Worthy Opponent.
  • Universe 2's last warriors ... were actually three fighters that didn't really have noticeable screentime before: Zirloin, Zarbuto, and Rabanra. They borrowed the Maiden Squadron's powerups and managed to show noticeably more power than the three girls combined (they did have The Power of Love on their side though). It even led them to almost defeating Goku and the Androids through a black hole, but thankfully Goku fired a Kamehameha that pierced the black hole and took them out.
  • After Kefla's defeat, Universe 6 was left at the hands of two Namekians, Pirina and Saonel. Easy fight, right? No. These two Namekians were very formidable and gave Gohan and Piccolo a rough time. This was also because these two Namekians were also fusions of their entire race, and tried to lay low so they would have time for their bodies to stabilize all of the fusions. The showdown ended with Gohan firing a Kamehameha and Piccolo firing a Special Beam Cannon through the Namekians.
  • Universe 4's Last Stand was Damon, a very tiny insect who ended up knocking Piccolo out, but once his gimmick was figured out, he was as good as gone (thanks to the efforts of Android 17 and Goku). Considering there was no emotional implication like how there was with the other Universes, the most emotional/dramatic fight was arguably Master Roshi's Kamehameha against Ganos, which even had dramatic music.
  • Universe 3 was reduced to Dr. Paparoni and Koichirator, who technically were the Last Stand to begin with, being very formidable and even holding back Gohan's attacks, but then things went crazy once the doctor fused with the artificial fighters, turning into Anilaza. The abomination proved to be very destructive and intelligent, with only one focus: survival. It didn't take any serious damage at all during the battle, indirectly took Android 18 out, and if Android 17 hadn't figured out his weakness, Universe 7 and Dyspo (see below why) would have been all taken out at once.
  • Universe 11 easily gets reduced from 10 to 3 members very easily, but they manage to keep that number through the episodes. It's only after Universe 11 is the only universe other than 7 remaining that they start to fight seriously, and Dyspo's the first of the three taken out. This leaves the fate of the universe at the hands of Top, a God of Destruction, and Jiren, a being in the tier of (or even stronger) than a God of Destruction. Considering that Belmod has even stated that Top's not holding back, it's possible that if Anilaza was successful in taking out the arena, Top and Jiren would've been left intact. Jiren himself is the absolute last opponent, and he's in a tier of his own, requiring Goku to master his Ultra Instinct.
  • Universe 7: In a way, the Last Stand for Universe 7 is Goku, Vegeta, Android 17, and Frieza once the final battle against Jiren begins. All of them try to fight their best, and even a Heroic Sacrifice from Android 17 is involved. Vegeta himself even tries to stand as long as possible before falling to Jiren, giving the last of his energy to Goku. Additionally, Goku's Ultra Instinct activates again, and it leads to a very climactic battle between the two warriors. Goku's seemingly the last warrior for Universe 7, but then, the "Last Stand" ultimately ends up being Goku, Frieza, and unexpectedly, Android 17, who survived his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Leader Wannabe: Downplayed. Gohan is technically the leader of the Universe 7 team, but Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, and the Androids immediately go off on their own. Only Krillin, Piccolo, Roshi, and Tien actually listen to him, with Roshi even lampshading that the other five were never going to stick to the plan. However, as the tournmant goes on and their team decreases, everybody, including Frieza, becomes more willing to follow Gohan's lead.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • After his transformation, Frieza gives a chilling Pre Ass Kicking Oneliner to the U9 assassins before the end of the episode, but the way he looks directly at the camera can be also be interpreted as an apology from the staff of not allowing him to fight until next week episode.
  Frieza: (in his Golden Form) Everyone, it appears we have no time, so there'll be no complimentary service....but don't hold it against me. [chuckles]
  • Much of Ribrianne's scenes involve speaking directly to the camera as she was Breaking the Fourth Wall. Her first transformation has her injure two persons who didn't think she was up for the Tournament of Power, and later watching the camera and saying to "not try this at home, kids", with is then responded with the two Omni-Kings raisin their hands. During the erasure of Universe 2, she and the rest of the team directly look at the audience again and thanks everyone for supporting them until the end.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Gohan's plan was for the team to stay close together and try to double-team opponents. Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, and the Androids decide to fly off and do their own thing though Piccolo and Roshi figured as much and the remaining team decide to stick to the plan regardless. Goku nearly gets ringed out by Nink of U4 attempting to grab Goku and jumping out of the ring with him.
• Lesser of Two Evils: When suggesting Frieza to join the team, Goku points out that it's either that or they get erased.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: For the first half of their fight, Basil was dominating Buu. When Basil's assault endangers Mr. Satan, however, Buu's practically out for blood.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • Quitela mentions that sending spies to Universe 7, while a little underhanded, isn't against the rules.
  • Ro discovers that there's no rule against someone in one universe joining another, though he doesn't get to test it.
  • Several universes bring winged fighters as part of their teams, getting around the restriction against ki-based flight.
  • Weapons and drugs like the senzu aren't allowed, but Roshi gets away with bringing sealing pots and Universe 6 uses the Potara because they don't strictly fall into either category and Zen'o thinks they're cool.
  • Killing is against the rules, but you'd be surprised what you can live through. Frieza takes advantage of this by blasting Jimizu in such a way that his wounds would eventually cause him to die, but not so quickly that he would die before Frieza threw him out of the ring.
  • By the same token, when Goku is seemingly killed by his own spirit bomb after failing to hit Jiren with it, the Grand Priest rules Jiren safe because Jiren can't be blamed for Goku using a potentially lethal attack, since at worst all he did was protect himself from it. Android 17 self-destructing to stop Jiren's technique is also safe, because Jiren's attack wasn't in itself lethal.
• Magic Countdown: Even worse than the infamous "Five Minutes on Namek." The 48 minutes of the tournament takes up almost a third of the entire series. And time slows down to a crawl in the final episodes of the arc, with multiple long winded fights happening in less than a minute.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Everyone, including Goku's friends and allies, when they see his new Ultra Instinct form for the first time. Even the Gods of Destruction are familiar with this feat and thus also shocked.
• Mêlée à Trois: The Tournament of Power is this. Each of the 8 universes competing will send its 10 best warriors into a giant ring (for a total of 80 fighters), where the objective is to throw your opponents out of the ring. The match will go on for 48 [Earth] minutes, and the team with the most members left in the ring after the time limit is the winner (or if there are one or more survivors of a single universe in the ring, their universe is the winner).
• Metronomic Man Mashing:
  • When he gets enraged by Basil hurting Mr. Satan, Buu completely manhandles him, ending by doing this to him before throwing him through one of the pillars around the ring.
  • Berserker Kale delivered one to Super Saiyan 2 Goku during her assault, ragdolling him multiple times before Goku stalled her with an ineffective kick.
• Minor Major Character: The universes that will not participate the Tournament of Power and their gods, aka 1, 5, 8, and 12. Their mortal level is stated to be among the highest in the multiverse and the gods surely must have done a good job at managing them. But since they do not participate in the tournament because of this, they are merely treated as spectators of the tournament with little speaking roles in contrast to the other universes that participate.
• Motivational Lie: Goku recruits many on his team on the idea that, if they win, they'd get 10 million Zeni. It doesn't work on Android 17, who instead wants to use a wish of the Dragon Balls to take his family on a cruise and it entirely falls apart when the jig is up (Although Bulma reluctantly agrees to pay the 10 million Zeni for whoever wants it..granted they win).
• Mugging the Monster: The start of the arc sees Goku heading back home from selling his vegetables and stopping to help a man whose car seemingly broke down. However it turns out to be a trap by muggers to take his vehicle. Of course, since they're dealing with Goku, you can guess how this turned out.
• My God, What Have I Done?: By defeating Obuni, Gohan seals the fate of Universe 10, which unsurprisingly leaves him a bit shaken.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Goku's ascension to his Ultra Instinct form is a big one to his first transformation into a Super Saiyan: while locked in combat with an alien that is hailed as the strongest in his universe, Goku dials his Kaio-Ken up to 20^note Including Goku's friends saying he could still use that technique before Beerus reveals that he's already used it, exactly like how the human characters thought Goku was holding the Kaio-Ken in reserve against Frieza before King Kai revealed he'd been using Kaio-Ken x10 the whole time. and when that fails resorts to using a Spirit Bomb. When that fails, Goku on the brink of defeat unlocks a new form, and even tilts his head towards Jiren the same way. Frieza even comments that he would expect nothing less from Goku.
  • Episode 131's name "A Miraculous Conclusion! Farewell Goku! Until We Meet Again!" references the English name of the final episode Dragon Ball GT "Until We Meet Again".
• Next Tier Power-Up:
  • Subverted. In true Dragon Ball tradition, a previously used power is pushed aside for a new, more powerful one. Super Saiyan Blue becomes So Last Season. Fortunately, Goku achieves a new power, Ultra Instinct. This new power allows him to put up a much better fight against Jiren (who destroyed him as Blue), as well as eliminate Kefla. Then he goes even further beyond, and evolves his Omen form into a full-blown Ultra Instinct transformation. However, as it turns out, Ultra Instinct isn't something Goku can consciously use, but a Defense Mechanism Superpower that only appears in times of desperation.
  • Vegeta achieves his own power up later on, no fancy Ultra transformation, but rather a much more stronger form of Super Saiyan Blue. Simply called Beyond Super Saiyan Blue, which unlike Ultra Instinct, Vegeta can access at will.
  • Subverted with Gohan, who instead has to reawaken his Next Tier Power-Up he previously gained back in the Buu Saga of Z.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Goku ignoring Beerus and Whis's warnings not to remind Zen-O about the tournament results in every universe in the multiverse facing extinction. Averted when it turns out Zen'O was going to wipe out the eight weakest universes anyway and made the tournament to give them a fighting chance for one to survive.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: Vegeta declares he's through with trying to copy Goku, and instead of trying to obtain Ultra Instinct, he'll defeat Jiren in his own way.
• No-Sell:
  • When Master Roshi faces Yurin, his (relatively low) Power Level is more than enough to deflect her punches. It's only when she trips and he's hit with an upskirt that Roshi falls.
  • When Ribrianne attempts an attack that paralyzes a person in love, Universe 7 is unfazed by its power, including Master Roshi, who trained for this very moment. Jiren likewise just bats one of the heart blasts aside and prepares to shoot Ribrianne.
  • Jiren is so strong that his duel against Goku's Spirit Bomb causes it to collapse into a Singularity.
• Not Helping Your Case: Downplayed as while Goku does set up the multiversal tournament, he does not realize that Zen'O is going to blow them up for the consequence of losing the tournament. And the gods put the blame entirely on him for putting the entire universe at danger, not helped by the fact that Goku is completely nonchalant over this, even challenging them to fight him.
• Not So Stoic: Jiren really starts to lose his coolheaded composure once Goku masters Ultra Instinct. For most of the tournament, he was by far the strongest fighter in the Tournament, beating all of his opponents with ease. When Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku starts to easily smack him around, it strikes a Trauma Button within Jiren, taking him back to the first time he was ever truly inferior to an opponent.
• Not Worth Killing: After managing to defeat Goku after the Saiyan unlocked Ultra Instinct, and managing to knock Hit out of the ring, Jiren calmly meditates and leaves the remainder of the Tournaments combatants to Top and Dyspo stating that there is no one left he needs to worry about fighting.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Frieza bargains with Universe 9's Supreme Kai and God of Destruction - resurrect him and let him join in on their team and he won't tattle to Zen-O for trying to kill them. They spend too much time arguing, allowing Beerus and Whis to arrive in time and Frieza to drop the offer.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Universe Seven has this during the exhibition matches when the High Priest reminds them that normal tournament rules do not apply as this is Zen'o's tournament and the Zen'O can do what they want. Given U7 showed up believing this would run by normal tournament rules, this disadvantages them as U9 shows by using a Fantastic Drug on Basil, which is blatantly allowed.
  • Vegeta, the Supreme Kai and Elder Kai have one as they witness Ultimate Gohan and Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken Goku's final hit.
  • Universe 9 when all their warriors are beaten and, as promised, the Zen-Os quickly erase them out of existence. This also carries over to the other universes too that the threat the Zen-Os made is indeed real.
  • Everyone not belonging to Universe 11 is seriously boggled by Jiren's power, even the Gods in the stands. Frieza is the only one who reacts somewhat calmly, but even he uncharacteristically has no problem admitting he absolutely does not want to battle Jiren, to the point where restoring Goku's health is more preferable.
  • In the same token, all the Gods likewise seem disturbed when Goku achieves Ultra Instinct the first time, something quite unheard of in a mortal. When he achieves it again, Beerus is once more uncharacteristically horrified. However at the current we don't know why this is such a big deal.
  • Kefla (the fused form of Kale and Caulifa) gets this when Goku manages to regain his Ultra Instinct form and starts shrugging off her attacks.
    • And an even bigger once she sees UI Goku about to unleash a Kamehameha at point blank range.
  • Jiren who had been totally stoic and cool-headed up this point, is stunned when Goku dodges his finisher and turns Ultra Instinct.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Gene, the God of Destruction from Universe 12, is the only one of the top 4 gods that doesn't test the ring in a sparring match. He is the only god exempt from having to clean up the mess afterwards.
  • When the Fireballs from Universe 2 are in the middle of their long Transformation Sequence, Android 17 is the only one in the whole tournament who averts Transformation Is a Free Action and blasts them before they can finish. But when Goku, Top, and the Fireballs give him a hard time for it he relents and lets them finish.
• On One Condition: Frieza accepts to join Goku's team, but only if he can revive the tyrant if they win. It is only through Whis after they win the tournament that Goku is able to hold his end of the bargain.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Goku hopes to have Vegeta come join him to train with Whis. But much to his surprise, Vegeta declines as he wishes to be there for the birth of his second child.
  • Vegeta notes Goku doesn't have his usual cockiness when he decides to choose Frieza to replace Buu.
  • Frieza is one cocky bastard who would sooner blow up a planet than admit someone is stronger than him. He quickly patches Goku up with the intention of having him fight Jiren because, as he shamelessly admits, he has no intention of fighting "that monster".
  • Jiren starts to mentally break down when Goku begins beating the crap out of him.
• Opening Shout-Out:
  • Goku's fight with Jiren in his Ultra instinct form has shots identical to the ones from the new intro. Same with his fight against Bergamo.
  • Vegeta has similarly reused footage of him fighting some Universe 2 warriors, except, he is in different Super saiyan forms.
  • When Whis explains his theory of how Goku achieved Ultra-Instinct for the first time, the scenes depicted on screen are near-identical to the final few shots of Goku powering up to Super Saiyan Blue form powered with Kaio-Ken from the arc’s opening.
• Opt Out: After nearly getting pummeled by Frost and having his Evil Containment Wave used against him, Roshi does this, at the behest of Vegeta of all people, due to being too weak to continue through the rest of the tournament. Realizing that he'll end up nearly killing himself again and that he's a liability to Team 7 in his weakened state anyway, he willingly flings himself off the arena. Beerus doesn't hold it against him for doing so and praises him for his efforts.
• Out of Focus: Most of the non-fighters are not focused on at all in this arc, leaving it largely on those present at the tournament. The only non-fighter that is semi-important is Bulma, due to her connection to Vegeta. Of course this is Justified, none of them would of been able to contribute to the tournament nor have a reason to go.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Universes 3, 9 and 10 get hit by that badly. Universe 9 at least has decently competent fighters, with Basil even eliminating a rival by himself and later helping to disable another, its fighters also display excellent teamwork strategies, However, they decide to go after Goku and Vegeta, who beat them up easily. Universe 3 boasts about fighters specially prepared for the tournament, yet they have been beaten effortlessly, with its strongest warrior being smacked by Cabba without even looking. As for Universe 10, its fighters are just too average, without special techniques or something, only Obuni is able to do something decent, and some of them are eliminated in hilarious and humiliating ways. It should be noted, however, that most fighters for the aforementioned universes have the bad luck of running into the most powerful fighters of the tournament, in more mundane ones, without Physical God rivals, such as Earth´s, they could probably mop the floor with their opponents.
• Pals with Jesus: Deconstructed. Goku's friendship with Zen-O blinds him to just how powerful and needlessly destructive the god is, setting the Tournament of Power and the death of the multiverse into motion.
• Papa Wolf: Vegeta crosses into this when Mr Satan and Yamcha accidentally make Bra cry, calmly activating SSJB as a nonverbal yet potent warning that he will not tolerate it.
• Pet the Dog: In a shocking move, Whis not only heals Frieza's wounds, he revives him as well. Though he's loathed to claim it, Whis tells everyone Beerus requested he do so as a reward for his amazing work.
  • Beerus doesn't berate Roshi at all when he eliminates himself (like he did with previously eliminated U7 fighters), and instead praises his performance, having been impressed that Roshi managed to eliminate 3 opponents (2 of them stronger than himself), almost defeated Frost and saved Vegeta from elimination.
• Power Incontinence:
  • Kale suffers this with her first two transformations into Super Saiyan Berserk, the second time taking out a number of fighters in the process.
  • Being a Defence Mechanism Superpower, and unlike his Super Saiyan transformations, Goku cannot tap into Ultra Instinct at will, he is also unable to control it once he attains the power. As evident from all the times he lost Ultra Instinct, it is usually through untimely burnouts that are beyond his control.
• Power Nullifier: The nature of the arena nullfies ki-based flight, as shown when Goku attempts to use the technique and nothing happens. It does not, however, eliminate natural flight or methods of Not Quite Flight like a Recoil Boost.
• The Power of Love: Universe 2 loves this trope, even going so far as to utilize special wands that can transfer their concentrated love power to Brianne to grant her her Super Mode. This, in turn, ends up being Brianne's Hoist by Her Own Petard moment, as her opponent was Android #18, who overpowers her with her own power of love — the love she has for Krillin.
  • Its also Deconstructed by Universe 2 as well. Ribrianne has a very shallow concept of love that blinds her into thinking she is stronger then her enemies since in her mind, they cannot comprehend love. She ends up getting kicked around a lot because of it.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Frieza's reason for healing Goku as well as telling him about the Ultra Instinct form that he overheard from the gods is due to this. Frieza wants Goku to face Jiren again since he knows that only Goku can beat him. Due to this, Frieza only assists Goku when he is in danger of being knocked out, since if Goku loses, nobody else has a chance of defeating Jiren.
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Goku starts his fight off with Jiren by using a Kamehameha. Jiren doesn't even react to his attack and simply shrugs it off, forcing Goku to go from Super Saiyan 1 all the way to God, and his punches don't do anything, with Jiren stopping it with his finger. Goku instantly goes to Blue to even the odds, but while he can at least keep on par with Jiren it's still not enough. Jiren can even counter his Kaio-ken stacks with minimal effort. After getting put through the ringer, Goku depowers and ultimately admits he might be in trouble.
• Rage Quit: Certain at his loss and in a desperate attempt to prove Goku wrong, Jiren fires a blast at the Universe 7 bench. Goku loses his patience and delivers a final beatdown on Jiren.
• Redemption Demotion:
  • Averted; despite Buu being easily beaten back in the Battle of Gods Saga, that was only because his opponent was well beyond his power. Against more equal foes, even ones stronger than he, Buu is every bit as durable and tough as he's ever been, and no amount of power Basil throws does more than temporarily knock him down.
  • Also averted with Frieza, who has in fact gotten stronger since last time and according to several statements is tied with Goku on being the strongest warrior at the start of the tournament. He spends the early parts of the tournament casually beating his opponents.
• Redemption Rejection: After the tournament, Whis revives Freiza, saying it was a request from Beerus due to how vital Frieza was to the team. Despite this, and proving himself to be a very good teammate to the rest of Universe 7 during the tournament by working with them, saving several of them and helping defeat Jiren, Frieza states he has no intentions of giving up his evil ways and promises that he will have his revenge on Goku someday. Though, it is clear he at least has some level of respect for Goku after all this.
• Reset Button: What ultimately ends up happening at the end of tournament. Android 17 wishes back all the erased universes. The Grand Priest says that Zen-O foresaw this and if he didn't and made a selfish wish, Zen-O would've erased everyone.
  • Though the Status Quo isn't quite the same, as Goku and Vegeta have more powerful forms, Gohan is back in fighting shape, and Frieza is revived with a new empire.
• Ret-Gone: The ultimate fate of the Universe whose group of fighters are eliminated from the tournament. With the two Zenos' power, each losing universe isn't destroyed, but completely erased from existence... until the Reset Button is pushed come the end, of course.
• The Reveal: Turns out Zen'O rated the universes by power and was thinking about just wiping out the eight weakest (which includes 7) but decided the tournament idea made him reconsider....a bit. So Goku didn't doom anyone, he actually gave his universe and seven others a chance to survive.
  • And then it's revealed that the entire tournament was a test to find a mortal who would consider the other universes. Had 17 made a selfish wish, Zen'O would have wiped out ALL of the universes.
• Revision: Word of God from Toriyama is that Super clarifies several elements from the original series which went off-track from what he originally intended.
  • Super Saiyan transformations. When it was first introduced and expanded on, it was said that the transformations were triggered by a pure heart and righteous anger motivated by a desire. Later, when Cabba goes to recruit Caulifla into Universe 6's team, he simply tells her that you just need to focus your ki to a certain part of your body. However, Cabba doesn't grow stronger, Caulifla has trouble reaching Super Saiyan 2 after her first attempt and Kale loses herself as a Super Saiyan Berserk. The original way is reaffirmed when Goku teaches Caulifla how to go Super Saiyan 2 and Kale's desire to stop being weak and protect Caulifla help awaken her true Super Saiyan form and control her Super Saiyan Berserk mode.
  • Super Saiyan transformations are not absolute certifications of power. A Super Saiyan 3 from character A is not inherently better than Super Saiyan 2 transformation from character B. As established way back in the "Cell Games Saga", Super Saiyan forms cause stress on the user and waste a lot of energy and the proper way to improve it is to train until the stress and energy loss are non-existent. If a character masters this, and also manages to thoroughly train the natural form, the original Super Saiyan form could technically be the most powerful transformation in the series (as shown by Goku Black). However, because previous works never explained this thoroughly, the new information seems to contradict things were saw in DBZ. Word of God says this is why Super Saiyan 2 and 3 are effectively obsolete to Goku and Vegeta. They don't offer enough of a power increase anymore from SSJ1 to even justify mastering them, and since some characters more or less mastered the original transformation and made it even stronger and in some cases even more powerful than 2 and 3, Super Saiyan 1 can do the job just fine, and Super Saiyan God and Blue do everything 2 and 3 do, but ten times better.
• Rule of Cool: In-Universe, this is the reason the Zen-O allow Master Roshi's use of the Evil Containment Wave in spite of him using a jar, when weapons are ordinarily forbidden. When Quitela and Beerus start having a discussion about it, the Zen-Os say, in Creepy Monotone and with a Kubrick Stare, that Roshi's move was neat, so it's permitted.
• Running Gag: Since Frieza's resurrection, Frieza will state "his hand slipped" when doing a blatant attack.
• The Scapegoat: Thanks in part to Bergamo's words, and the fact that no one can outright defy/protest Zen'o's decision(s) on the matter, Goku has essentially become a target of all participating Universes because of the upcoming tournament. He's basically the only one they can blame, and get away with it at least.
• Schmuck Bait: Frieza against Frost. Before the tournament began, he makes a deal with Frost to work together. He then pretends to beat on Gohan to get Frost to drop his guard (as Frost was a little suspicious of Frieza). Once Gohan was KO'ed, Frieza shows Frost the full powered 4th form, which Frost powers up to it. Frieza blasts him off the stage since Frost is now too slow to react.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: The Zen'Os play fast and loose with their own rules as long as they find the fights or moves to be entertaining.
  • During his fight with Vikal, Android 17 launches himself out of the ring and uses the artificial sun as a platform to stand on. When Champa demands this be counted as a ring-out, the Zen'Os decide to allow it.
  • When Roshi is accused of cheating by using the Evil Containment Wave (since it makes the opponent a Sealed Evil in a Can, and Roshi needs to supply the can), the Zen'Os' only response is "it's neat, so it's permitted."
  • Originally the usage of potentially weaponized items to be forbidden in tournaments. Prior to the tournament, Champa gave Caulifla and Kale potara earrings for fusion as a last resort, and they immediately begin dominating Goku when the time came. Beerus believes this will get Universe 6 disqualified but both Zen'Os are amazed by the potara fusion and allow it for all universes for the remainder of the tournament.
• Screw the Rules, They Broke Them First!: During the Zen Exhibition Match (where the regular rules of the Tournament don't apply yet) the Supreme Kai offers Gohan a Senzu Bean during his fight with Lavender and justifies it by pointing out that Universe 9's Supreme Kai gave Basil a fruit to power him up during his fight. Gohan turns it down, however, partly because he wants to fight with his own strength, and partly because it'll be rendered moot by him inevitably getting poisoned again afterwards (as he has no way of avoiding or negating the poison).
• Secret Test of Character: Apparently after the Tournament, the winner's morals were put to the test with their wish. If it was a selfish one, the Zen-Os were going to just erase everything right then and there. So 17 wishing everyone back literally ended up saving everyone, his universe included.
• Sequel Hook: Since this doesn't stop at the point where Z did, there's a notably gap from that point on. What's more, 17 did say to bring back all the erased universes. So how the super dragon interprets that is up in the air. Plus we still never figured who exactly that villain was who had slain Jiren's friends, family and mentor. And there's the whole fact that Frieza is back on the mortal plane and rebuilding his empire.
• Serial Escalation:
  • Going from the threat of earth being moved and having its food plundered by Champa in the previous tournament to the entire Dragon Ball Universe being erased from existence if our heroes lose this one.
  • This is reflected in the rules, as most of them are removed with a winner only being declared if the Zen'O's are satisfied or if one of the competitors stops moving.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: As the Tournament gets close to starting, various characters are given brief moments of appearance and pushed aside to show the seriousness of the event. Jaco and King Kai show up briefly when Goku goes to pick up Android 17, Yamcha is completely left behind, the kids given 17's job and Majin Buu put to sleep. As well, many of the more sillier combatants are taken out early in the Tournament. Katopesla is an exception, as her remains silly throughout and is eliminated during Universe 4’s last stand.
• Shout-Out: The Pride Troopers, Superheroes in Space and possibly the most moral of Goku's opponents. Their standard uniforms, talks of truth and justice and action poses are easy nods to Toei's very own Super Sentai.
  • The Maiden Squadron also appear to be one to Magical Girl franchises, Pretty Cure in particular. Meanwhile, Katopesla is a more comedic one towards Kamen Rider.
• Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: What Vegeta and Jiren think of Top after he Took a Level in Cynic. Vegeta knocked Top out of the ring by sticking to his ideals, and then Jiren expressed disappointment in him, calling him "pathetic".
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Goku thinks Vegeta has a case of this when the latter, for the first time, refuses to go training because Bulma is now heavily pregnant and due any time, and thus wishes to be by her side when she gives birth. Whis later thinks so as well. Thus, it's an implied case for Goku during Chi-Chi's pregnancy with Gohan.
  • Goku cares more about the opportunity to fight strong people than about the risk of being erased. This attitude slowly changes over time beginning with his shock at Universe 9’s erasure and as the fight with Jiren escalated and becomes much more serious as the tournament reaches its endgame. Goku completely drops this mindset by 128 a result of the team’s dwindling numbers and sacrifices. Despite not even being able to stand up against Jiren or maintain blue for more than a few moments, Goku adamantly refuses to give up in the face of defeat knowing his team, friends and universe need him to win. Just as Jiren is about to finish Goku off and take him out, the faith of his teammates and their efforts to prevent erasure (particularly Vegeta and 17’s) allows him to unlock Ultra Instinct for a third time and stand up to the mighty Pride Trooper.
  • In the final episode, Android 18 was concerned that 17 sacrificed his wish for a cruise to bring the universes that were erased instead. That she was worried more about his cruise than acknowledging that 17 had just saved trillions of innocent lives from being doomed by erasure.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: An interesting case, as the core premise of universes being forced to fight each other in a battle royale with the losers getting erased is highly cynical and grim, but the tournament itself emphasizes The Power of Friendship and teamwork. This gets taken further in the ending (where Android 17 wishes everyone back and it turns out the whole thing was a Secret Test of Character) which is just about as idealistic as it gets.
• Small Role, Big Impact: The three robbers that briefly tried to mug Goku in the first episode, particularly the one that shot Goku. That made Goku realize that his fighting skills were getting rusty, prompting him to ask Whis for some more training, which ended up snowballing into the start of the Tournament of Power and, subsequently, placing the entire multiverse in danger. Essentially their attempts to mug Goku ended up kick-starting the entire plot of the saga.
• Small Universe After All: When the group wonders if it would be worth trying to find recruits from other planets in the universe, Shin confirms that currently, there are only 28 planets in the entire universe that have mortal life and reasons that candidates from Earth are likely the strongest bet.
• Smug Super:
  • During a training session to get ready for the Tournament, Piccolo calls out Gohan on this being his Fatal Flaw; every time Gohan fought at the peak of his power in the past he ends up getting too cocky and dropping his guard. ^note Cell Self-Destructing resulting in Goku's death, and Super Buu absorbing Goten, Trunks, and Piccolo
  • Kefla, the fusion of Caulifla and Kale, has cockiness that arguably surpasses Gotenks' and Vegito's.
  • Jiren. While he's initially subdued example, once Top gets eliminated by Vegeta, his arrogance starts going through the roof.
• The Social Darwinist: The Multiverse itself may be run based on this principle. For one, it's pointed out universe 7 and 9 are among the weakest universes, and the 4 strongest universe do not have to compete. One of the lucky few even mentioned that their universe is so powerful because of the quality of their guidance. Furthermore, the tournament involves the weakest universes, and is giving a chance for the strongest of them to survive. Indeed, the purpose of the gods of destruction may be less destruction in general and more purifying the weak and unfit planets. However, while it's not entirely clear, "Mortal Level" seems to involve more than simply power level. Quality of life of the universe, intelligence, and morality seem to be factors as well given comments made during the exhibition matches. The Gods of Destruction are also supposed to strike down those who threaten the balance of the universe as well, some are just less apt at it than others. Universes 6 and 7 are the 3rd and 2nd worst universes in the tournament, respectively, however they also do great in the tournament, whereas every higher-ranked universe besides 11 is doing quite poorly. The ending, however, reveals that morality counts too.
• So Last Season: Played With and ultimately Downplayed for Super Saiyan Blue. After taking the limelight as the top transformation for most of the series so far, Super Saiyan Blue is no longer sufficient to defeat some of the strongest threats in this tournament, such as Jiren, Kefla, and a few others. Yet while it makes way for the introduction of Ultra Instinct, it has not been sidelined or rendered obsolete; merely moved down the pecking order a bit.
  • For Goku, Ultra Instinct is his newest most powerful state, especially when mastered... but it is a Defense Mechanism Superpower, not a true Next Tier Power-Up; he can't consciously use it, and there are high requirements for unconscious usage. At the end of the day, Super Saiyan Blue and his usage of Kaioken remains his safest, most reliable means of power.
  • For Vegeta, despite initially being stuck with Blue, he gave Jiren some minor trouble where previously SSJB: Kaioken x20 Goku couldn't at all. Then he breaks his limits and reveals an evolved Super Saiyan Blue state, gaining power comparable to God-of-Destruction candidate Topand defeating him handily, though Jiren remains too strong for him (even if he hadn't used most of his energy). Vegeta then proved able to power into the form at will, despite his energy being low, leaving both Super Saiyan Blue states as his most reliable power-ups as well.
• So Proud of You: Whis to Squee proportions when Goku goes Ultra Instinct the first time. Whis says this is what he was trying to achieve through their training, but even he had doubted Goku would ever pull it off. He is so thrilled to be proven wrong.
  • The entire Universe 7 team to Gohan for his leadership and brilliant strategies. Even Beerus expresses pride toward him, and begins to address by his name rather than just Goku's son.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: While the Tournament of Power has eighty members from eight universes, the headliners of Universes 6, 7, and 11 take up most of the spotlight, with the other universes being used to show off the skills of the main characters. In particular, the U6 Saiyan women, Caulifla and Kale, receive Character Development and new forms in short timespans. Episode 113 especially epitomizes this trope as it basically comprises of Goku battling against the two Saiyan girls without showing any other fights in the tournament aside from a brief shot of Catopesra and Zarbuto getting knocked away by the fight between Super Saiyan 2 Goku and Caulifla and nobody is eliminated in this episode either.
• Spotting the Thread: When Krillin tells Piccolo that he's ready to fight for the ten million Zeni, Piccolo's the one to realize Goku's lied to everyone, which tips everyone off.
• Staring Down Cthulhu: After it seems that Goku has been killed by his own Spirit Bomb, all the other fighters from the other universes surround Jiren and stare him down, perhaps with the intent to attack him and his teammates all at once. However, when it is revealed Goku survived they go back to observing the fight.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Goku brings up simply talking Zen-O out of the multiversal destruction condition of the tournament but Beerus shoots it down, citing that it could piss Zen-O off and cause him to wipe Goku out of existence. Bergamo had the same idea, and directly asked Zen'o before anyone could try and talk him out of it; Zen'o says his decision is firm, but if he won against Goku in his match then it would be changed. The other universes likewise just considered asking Zen-O in omitting the rule, but like Beerus, they fear his response if they tried.
• Straight for the Commander: A few minutes short of the halfway point of the tournament, Belmod tells for Jiren to go after Goku, believing that if the other fighters see the one who was responsible for the tournament, and the supposed strongest fighter in the tournament besides Jiren, get eliminated then they will lose their will to fight and be easy to eliminate. He is proven wrong when none of the other fighters waver when it seems Goku is defeated.
• Status Quo Is God: Zig-Zagged. Ultimately in the end, 17 wishes for the universes to be brought back. So everyone that was vanished is alive again. Universe 7 is saved, Frieza is alive again and looks set to rebuild his empire, all the characters go back to their lives and Goku is back to Super Saiyan Blue as his top power-up due to apparently not being able to activate Ultra Instinct on demand since "the tournament was the only time conditions were right for it".
• Stealth Mentor: Similar to Vegeta towards Cabba during the Universe 6 Arc, Goku finds himself being this towards Caulifla and Kale to a lesser degree. Goku starts to tutor Caulifla on the best methods of not burning through her ki as a Super Saiyan and during the fights, Caulifla finds herself not just getting stronger, but becoming a more skilled martial artist on top of it.
• Stock Footage:
  • A fair bit of the saga's animation is recycled, either taken directly from before (one or two of Basil's Shining Blaster usage is taken directly from his fight against Buu), or otherwise modeled to better fit the new context/effects (such as a several-second fight between Goku and Bergamo from the Limit Break X Survivor opening, or a similar circular pan to the one used early in their first match.
  • A lot of animation is repeated when Helles speaks (102 and 103 in particular).
  • Frieza's transformation into golden in the Tournament of Power is taken directly from the episode with the Universe 9 assassins.
  • Part of the clash between Jiren and Ultra Instinct Goku is taken from the opening, with U.I. Goku replacing Super Saiyan Blue.
  • One of Cabba kicking scenes is taken from the Champa saga opening.
  • Many of the animations involving the Maidens from Universe 2 are recycled, including their transformation sequence. This one, however, is not a bad thing, as they are supposed to be living parodies of the Magical Girl genre, which is well known for their recycled animation. This one get later absurdly played when the three last male members transform into "magical boys", repeating the animations and using the same costumes, but with them replacing the girls.
  • The beginnings of episodes 113 and 126 are literally footage from the last moments of the prior episodes. Episode 113 begins with Caulifla beating up Universe 3's robots and challenging Goku for a fight, while Episode 126 begins with Top crushing Frieza's skull and Android 17 getting ready for a beam struggle against God of Destruction Top.
• Suicide Attack: Vegeta's Final Explosion makes its triumphant return from the Buu Arc, and uses it to eliminate the newly-transformed God Of Destruction Top. Unlike the previous time he used it, Vegeta is now so much stronger (as Beyond Blue) that manages to subvert this and doesn't die this time, but the attack pretty much spends his energy completely.
• Taking You with Me:
  • Nink, a warrior from Universe 4, attempts this with Goku by grabbing him and attempting to throw both of them off the ring. Goku manages to get free by going Blue blasting him off, grabbing the edge of the ring before he falls out.
  • Kunshee from Universe 11 tries this with Hit, but Hit easily counters it and knocks Kunshee off the ring.
  • Tien falls out of the ring when Hermila destroys the part he's standing on, but his three clones jump on Hermila and drag him down too.
  • Gohan eliminates Dyspo by grabbing him then having Frieza blast them both off the ring.
  • Goku and Frieza tackle Jiren off the stage, eliminating all three of them, and officially winning Universe 7 the tournament since 17 is the last man standing.
• Team-Based Tournament: The plot in a nutshell is about teams of ten fighters competing in a tournament to not have their universe destroyed.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: No one is happy to be working with Frieza when Goku has to recruit him as a replacement for Buu for Universe 7's team, Vegeta especially. The feeling is mutual with Frieza but Beerus forces them to get along regardless under threat of erasing them if they don't.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: With Universe 11 down to just Dyspo, Top and Jiren, Top decides to stop playing the hero of justice, that there's no justice or evil, but survival or erasure.
• Thinking Tic: Goku, whenever he activates Ultra Instinct, keeps looking at himself. It's a telltale sign that he hasn't mastered this form yet.
• Time to Unlock More True Potential:
  • After Piccolo helps to reawaken Gohan's Unlocked Potential form, he believes that there is more power he's hiding and persuades Gohan into getting him to awaken it.
  • Frieza gets into this just by meditating in hell.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Participants of the tournament are allowed to incapacitate their opponents so they can be easier to throw off the ring, but under no circumstances are they allowed to kill them.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Thanks to all of the training to reawaken his power and push it further, Gohan's Ultimate form is on par with a suppressed Super Saiyan Blue Goku. This also extends to everyone else on the roster, as it is shown that they all have become formidable foes and can even put Goku on the ropes when they go all out. Even Frieza gets into this, as he's used his time back into hell to focus his stamina control, thus eliminating his main weakness.
  • Goku's Ultra Instinct-Sign is overwhelmingly strong, enough to push back Jiren where the Kaio-Ken X 20 Super Saiyan Blue failed. The form gives Goku the vaunted mastery of self-movement Whis was teaching him.
  • Vegeta eventually achieves a new form, himself; an enhanced version of Super Saiyan Blue that appears at least on par with Goku's Kaio-Ken X 20 Super Saiyan Blue, maybe stronger.
  • Goku's mastered Ultra Instinct form is so strong it completely wallops Jiren.
• Tournament Arc: Acts on the promise Zen-O stated at the end of the Champa arc to conduct his own tournament. However, it acts more like a ring-out battle royal than a traditional tournament system, with the winner decided by the remaining representatives of a single universe.
• Token Evil Teammate: Frieza, naturally, although he actually is genuinely helpful towards the team for most of his tenure. He even donates energy to Goku's Spirit Bomb when Vegeta doesn't. Nonetheless, he is more than happy to injure his opponents in a way that will kill them after they drop of the stage, where it no longer becomes a violation of the rules.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Actually averted! When the Kamikaze Fireballs attempt to transform, Android 17 attacks them in the middle of their sequence, leading not only the girls, but also Goku and Top to call him out on it.
• Trash the Set: As the tournament goes on, the arena is constantly trashed through the battle, despite it's material boasted to be the toughest in the multiverse ^note Despite this, it's not invulnerable: a casual battle between Gods of Destruction easily tore up pieces. Near the 30 minute mark in-universe, the arena looks more like a war-torn battlefield with rocks littering it, providing cover and high ground for the remaining warriors. At the 5 minute mark, Top's destruction energy has cracked the stage in two. There are jagged cliffs everywhere, as well as numerous tiny pieces of the arena floating around. By the 4 minute mark, Vegeta's Final Explosion clashing against Top's destruction energy end up blowing another chunk of the tournament stage in half (which likewise causes Top to be rung out when he falls through a crack).
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: This seems to be the main drive to awaken Goku's Ultra Instinct form - to be pushed to the brink of defeat when all else fails. He first transforms when he falls into the Spirit Bomb Singularity and transforms again when Kefla beats him within an inch of his life. Both times, he had been pushed to Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken.
• A Truce While We Gawk:
  • After Universe 9 is erased, everyone pauses for a moment from their fight to react to this — mostly in horror that the Zen-Os will wipe out losing universes right then and there.
  • When Goku and Jiren get ready to fight the other fighters on stage stop fighting to watch them.
• Truth in Television: During moments when fighters for universes are eliminated early on, the Zen’os have difficulty finding them on their devices for a few seconds, just like a child really would do. They are much quicker to remove them from the roster once the universes lose more fighters.
• Underestimating Badassery:
  • Universe 9, their Supreme Kai in particular, write Buu off as a joke at first due to his appearance. This quickly fades when Buu No Sells Basil's initial assault. Made funnier when it turns out 9 is the lowest ranked universe overall.
  • Beerus also writes off Buu along with Gohan when Goku brings them to the exhibition match.
  • Gohan initially writes off Krillin after the image battle of him and Basil. But Krillin shows him his improved Solar Flare x 100 to blind him and then scoring the victory. What's more when Krillin fights Goku, he shows he's still able to fight evenly with him, and even face a SSJB Kamehameha - even with Goku holding back overall in the latter example, that says a lot about him now.
  • While Goku, Vegeta, and Cabba all become worried when they sense the high power of the Pride Troopers, Caulifla laughs them off as wimpy, even though she earlier demonstrated the ability to sense energy.
  • Ironically the Pride Troopers would fall victim to this, themselves; rather than teaming up with Jiren to take out Goku themselves, Top dispatches five lower ranked Pride Troopers to deal with him. While Top - who had fought Goku to a standstill and probably had a good measure of him - may have been corrected in assuming that those five would be able to handle Goku, that's assuming they were fighting Goku on his own. When matched against Goku, 17, 18, Caulifla, and Kale - severely underestimating the rest of them and unwisely dividing their forces - they get defeated without too much hassle.
    • This goes double when Kale going normal Super Saiyan. Despite everyone having seen Kale's incredible power as her Super Saiyan Berserk form, when she goes Super Saiyan, Kahsarel proclaims that she only "changed her hair color". This leads to three of the Pride Troopers being struck down.
  • Caway, Dercori, and Ganos of U4 sees Master Roshi as a feeble old man. And all of them get eliminated by the feeble old man.
  • Frieza dismisses and belittles Top after he and Android 17 have seemingly beaten him. Cue Top becoming a God of Destruction and paying him back in spades.
• Unskilled, but Strong:
  • Caulifla, who was introduced as being able to achieve Super Saiyan with relative ease through sheer force of will. She even unlocked Super Saiyan 2 without even realizing it. Despite this she fights like a brute, so during her rematch with Goku the latter was able to effectively fend off almost all of her attacks even while in base form due to him actually being a trained martial artist. Though just the same, just like Goku, Caulifla is able to adapt the longer a fight is drawn out.
  • When selecting potential team members for the multi-universe Tournament of Power, Goku and Gohan immediately disqualify Goten and Trunks from being involved. The format of the tournament is an eighty-combatant battle royal with ring-outs as the only accepted way to remove an opponent. This situation better favors Weak, but Skilled combatants like Krillin and Master Roshi. For all their power, Goten and Trunks are too inexperienced and straightforward as fighters to do much good in that situation.
• Villain Protagonist: Frieza is the purest example of this in the franchise. At the end of the arc, he goes right back to conquering the universe he helped save.
• Villainous Rescue: Frieza actually does this several times during the tournament, saving his teammates from being eliminated and helping deal with an enemy that they were having trouble with.
  • He saves Gohan from Jimizu and easily defeats him himself.
  • After Goku is drained from his first use of Ultra Instinct, Frieza shares his energy with him to help him get back on his feet and later kicks Goku back into the ring when Aniraza almost eliminates him.
  • During Top and Android 17's Beam-O-War, he blasts Top from behind when he is beginning to overpower 17.
  • The biggest example of all is when Jiren almost eliminates Goku after Goku's body gives into the toll that Ultra Instinct puts on it. Frieza blasts him back onto the rubble of the ring before Goku can be officially eliminated.
• Walking Spoiler: Frieza in this arc. Even in-universe, just seeing his picture on the wall of contestants causes Trunks to become a bit suspicious about what everyone is planning. It took every ounce of Vegeta's pride to lie to Trunks and tell him that Frieza has reformed. And at the end of the arc, Frieza's absence in the last few episodes could qualify, and he could ultimately end up being a Chekhov's Gunman.
• We Are Not Going Through That Again: After the tournament, both Zenos thank Goku for such a fun event and ask him if he has anymore fun ideas they can do. Beerus overhears this and rushes over to Goku, covering his mouth and nearly choking him before he can give them any more ideas that might lead to the universes being erased all over again.
• Weak, but Skilled: Invoked by Goku over his reasoning over wanting to recruit Krillin and Master Roshi over Goten and Trunks for the Tournament of Power. Since ringouts are the sole means of defeating an opponent, Goku wanted fighters with more tournament experience and wider ranges of skill-sets.
• Wham Line: After Majin Buu falls asleep the, the rest of the Universe 7 team are desperate to find a replacement. Beerus laments that anyone in Frieza's army would be a suitable one, but were killed earlier. That's when Goku makes a suggestion that shocks everyone: Add Frieza himself to the team.
• Wham Shot:
  • Ultra Instinct Goku swiftly dodges Jiren's finishing blow, then proceeds give him a very strong shot to the chest. Jiren doubles back in pain. This was the same fighter that up this point in the tournament, showed next to no signs of pain or physical reaction to any of his opponents' attacks.
  • The reveal at the end of episode 130 of not only Frieza, but Android 17.
• What Could Have Been: Discussed In-Universe. When the idea of using Potara Fusion comes up, Shin and Beerus believe that giving the earrings to Androids 17 and 18 would be the best: being twins, the theoretical Android 35 would be a highly powerful being. However, Whis had to shoot that idea down due to the potential downside of losing both androids should 35 be rang out.
• What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: The Kamikaze Fireballs' transformed states leave the remaining teams confused by their wild and somewhat uncute looks. The Zen-Os, Universe 2 and a few of the Pride Troopers are impressed by their looks while some of the others are bewildered and disappointed.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Multiple people have called Goku out for setting off this entire saga and endangering the multiverse just to sate his boredom. Though it ultimately turns out that, aside from Universes 1/5/8/12, they were already doomed; Goku's reminding them of the tournament gave them a chance to save themselves instead of having none at all. This doesn't stop Bergamo from turning the other universes against Universe 7, anyway, especially since Goku doesn't seem to care about the ramifications.
  • After learning that Universe 7 is the 2nd weakest universe, Beerus and Shin call each out for not being more proactive with their duties — Beerus towards Shin because Shin would rather let the mortals grow strong on their own and Shin towards Beerus because Beerus just blows up planets because of his hissy fits.
  • Android 18 hits Goku with one when she realizes he's treating it like a fight to the death and not a tournament with rules. It forces Goku to stop his spar with Krillin and realize he's been treating everything all wrong.
  • Krillin calls out Goku for lying to him and the others about the 10 million Zeni prize and not telling them that the universe would be erased if they lost.
  • Unsurprisingly, everybody calls out Goku for deciding to revive Frieza and make him part of their team.
  • Beerus gets on Krillin for letting his guard down after he takes out two fighters by himself only to get blindsided by Frost while talking with 18 and knocked out of the tournament. Becoming Universe 7's first casualty. Likewise 17 and 18 chide him for this with Krillin apologizing to the latter profusely.
  • Both Vegeta and Jiren call out Top for abandoning his ideals and pride to become a God of Destruction.
  • Android 17 calls out Jiren for using the Pride Troopers all along and for not caring about his own allies in the slightest.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Kale's transformation and hatred towards Goku is nearly similar to the original Broly's. Luckily, she has Califa to help her control her power throughout the arc.
• A Winner Is You: In-Universe example. After 17 is the only one left standing, there's no fanfare or ceremony. The Grand Priest just pops down and simply asks what he would like to wish for.
• The Worf Effect:
  • Just to show how stupidly powerful Jiren is, he easily takes out Kale in her Super Saiyan Berserk form (shown to be similar to Legendary Super Saiyan Broly in power, just god-tier this time). Goku in Ultra Instinct can fight him to a standstill, but his final powerful hit is blocked by Jiren actually using his ki... before flinging Goku away easily, though subverted as the transformation had faded by that point.
  • Jiren's battle with Hit is also something of a subversion, in that Hit manages to knock Jiren to the edge of the ring and successfully restrains him for an extended period of time; marking the first time Jiren seems Not So Invincible After All. Jiren still ends up winning handily, but Belmod was really nervous for a moment there.
  • Goku ends up being overwhelmed by Super Saiyan Kefla ^Note It actually seems to be the controlled berserker state judging by the green hair, but it's referred to as Super Saiyan during the episode. even while using the Super Saiyan Blue Kaio-Ken. Downplayed because, as Beerus points out, Goku hadn't fully recovered from his fight against Jiren and still gave her a tough fight, not to mention being a fusion Kefla is supposed to be overpowered anyway. When Goku goes Ultra instinct again, Kefla quickly has the tables turned on her.
  • Speaking of Kefla, Ultra Instinct even unmastered, is so powerful it can beat a fusion. Super Saiyan 2 Kefla proves to be little to no match at all for Ultra Instinct Goku, despite the fact that her SSJ power is at least somewhat above that of the Spirit Bomb he threw at Jiren.
  • Golden Frieza and Android 17 are beaten easily by Top after becoming a God Of Destruction. Quite savagely, in Frieza's case.
  • Then Top, despite achieving the power of a God Of Destruction, is eliminated by Vegeta right after his introductory episode.
  • Jiren finally gets this in Episodes 129 and 130 as Mastered Ultra Instinct Goku beats the tar out of him, showing that the complete Ultra Instinct transformation is absolutely nothing to screw around with.
• Worf Had the Flu: While Super Saiyan Blue Goku would in all likelihood eventually have lost to Kefla anyway, he still gave her a run for her money while not having fully recovered from his battle against Jiren.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: During the final battle between Goku, Frieza, and 17 against Jiren, Frieza actually refers to Goku as "Saiyan" and not his usual derogatory term of "monkey." Showing that while Frieza's still evil, he trusts Goku enough to help him win.

Exclusive tropes to the manga

Fight for your survival, or perish! ^Note Starting from upper left: The Grand Priest, the twin Omni-Kings, Ribrianne from Universe 2, The Pride Troopers from Universe 11 (Top, Dyspo, Jiren), Universe 6 fighters Kale, Caulifla, Hit, Frost, Cabba, and our team of Universe 7: Roshi, Tenshinhan, Android 18, Krillin, Piccolo, Gohan, Vegeta, Android 17, Goku, and Frieza

Tropes exclusive to the manga:

• Accidental Hero: While the anime suggests that Goku is actually giving universes that would have been destroyed anyway a fighting chance, the manga makes it far more explicit and has Goku show up to suggest the tournament right in the middle of the Zenos preparing to erase the eight universes, who realize they can't hold the tournament if they erase the universes and thus explicitly put their plan on hold because of Goku.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Roshi of all people goes up against Jiren and is actually able to dodge some of his attacks. In fact he basically shows Goku how to use Ultra Instinct.
  • Kale. While she was initially a weakling in her base form in the anime; in the manga, Frieza mention she was stronger in her base form than Super Saiyan Caulifla, and her SSJL mode was powerful enough to eliminate 4 universes in less than a minute.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • Several characters that had some spotlight in the Tournament of Power are easily knocked out by the likes of other characters within the first moments of the Tournament of Power. In particular, Prum and Jimeze ^note Prum served as a threat alongside Harmila in one of the episodes, while Jimeze was one of the few characters outside of Universe 6/7 to take out a fighter alongside being a formidable threat were easily taken out by Android 18 while Nink and Katopesla ^note Nink was still one of the first fighters taken out, but he caused some trouble for Goku. As for Katopesla, his Iron Butt Monkey status in the anime helped him outlast several threats and endure beatdowns from stronger characters. were intercepted and taken out by Vegeta without any effort.
  • Android 17 in the anime was on par with a slightly surprised Super Saiyan Blue Goku while also holding back as well, and when the tournament came about was implied to be stronger than Gohan, making him roughly the fourth strongest member of team Universe 7. In the manga, he is stronger then he was previously, but is only around the strength of Super Saiyan 3 Goku, if a little stronger.
  • Top. In both versions he's roughly on par, if not stronger, than Goku and Vegeta in their Super Saiyan Blue forms, with the manga Top being slightly stronger at a glance. However, manga Top lacks the God of Destruction powers his anime self had, meaning that while he is slightly stronger at base, he is ultimately weaker than his anime self. Most notably, his defeat in the anime required Vegeta's new Super Saiyan Blue form, and for him to nearly kill himself to ring him out, while in the manga Vegeta almost knocked him out by just powering up, and Top gets knocked out by Frieza, who casually destroys the platform he is on.
• Adapted Out:
  • Majin Buu doesn't have any role in the beginning of the arc, as his first appearance shows him already sleeping in his hibernation stage.
  • There was no conflict between space Poachers and no appearance from Jaco during Android 17 recruitment.
  • Yurin, the scornful young witch who terrorized Tien's school, doesn't exist in this version. Surprisingly neither does Renso, Cabba's former captain and Caulifla's brother, within the same episode
  • Ribrianne, and neither her magical friends show their human counterparts. Likewise, Zarbuto, Rabaran and Zirloin are taken out earlier, meaning no Magical boys parodies.
• Advertised Extra: Ribrianne is Demoted to Extra in the manga. She was a recurring antagonist in the anime, with a magical girl parody gimmick, but in the manga, she is a Monster of the Week (Well, month due to publication time) who has a inverse opinion of beauty and is quickly taken down by Damon and Gamisaras.
• Adaptation Distillation: The manga is shorter than the anime in many regards.
  • The Exhibition Matches before the Tournament of Power in the anime were between Universe 7 and 9, and took around 8 episodes. In the manga it took only 2 chapters, the matches are between the Gods of destruction, and since the Omni-Kings grew bored out of watching them, the fight was canceled.
  • Goku's first meeting with Android 17 has Goku mistaking one of the poachers for 17 as he never met him, and having a fight against him in his Super Saiyan 3 form instead of Blue. 17, while declining at first, accepts to participate in the Tournament because he feels he owns Krillin a debt of gratitude.
  • With the exception of Jiren's introduction and Cabba meeting with Caulifla and Kale, almost no recruitment is shown between the other universes.
  • After Hit's elimination, the manga combines many events from the anime, making it shorter: Vegeta faces Top for the first time (Ep. 112), Ribrianne (Who is different in this version) faces Android 18 (ep.118), and then Universe 10 Last Stand with the three last members (ep 103), only for all many of these characters, including Piccolo, to be thrown out by Damon and Gamisaras (Ep.119), making Obuni the last survivor of his universe.
  • Kale accidentally takes out three of her teammates and takes out 4 universes one after another in the manga, even easily taking out Anilaza from Universe 3. She then proceeds take out a good chunk of Universe 11's numbers as well, only leaving Dyspo, Jiren, Top, and Kahseral remaining.
• Adaptation Expansion: The anime introduced the gods and many characters with some slower pace, depending on outside sources to know a bit about some of them. The manga expands on this.
  • Only three gods of destruction fought in the anime, excluding Beerus on his arc. In the manga, the twelve of them fight on the Exhibition matches instead of Goku, Gohan, and Majin Buu against the Trio De Danger.
  • The manga introduces every god of destruction and their personal quirk in one chapter, compared with the anime. It also revealed more information on Universe 11 god of destruction, Belmod, like how many years he has been a god of destruction, and that he was planning on retiring, and was training Top to be his successor.
  • The manga also expands on an incident referring to why Beerus is The Unfavorite among the gods: during a game of hide and seek that the Omni-King was hosting, Beerus hid and fell asleep for 50 years, almost making everyone to be erased.
  • More information about Top is also added, as he is the candidate for a God of Destruction and has godly ki too, something the anime never hints until he transforms into a God of Destruction after being nearly beaten by the combined might of Android 17 and Frieza.
  • In the anime, only Top, Dyspo and Kahseral fought a giant a monster in order to establish them as good guys. In the manga, the monster was powerful enough to require all the Pride Troopers to participate, introducing all their members earlier than the anime. Likewise, we see Jiren's Establishing Character Moment as The Ace and a hero before the Tournament, and Belmod convincing him to fight in the Tournament of Power by giving him a wish from the Super Dragon Balls he wants so much, something the anime only hints at.
  • More information on Android 17's whereabouts were added in the manga in the form of flashbacks, with him reviving on the same place Cell was killed, and a short conversation with Android 18 telling him Krillin is responsible for his resurrection.
  • Furthermore, we briefly get to see Goten and Trunks' first shift as park rangers (complete with full uniform based on 17's clothes) and an unexpected encounter with the tamed Cell Juniors, who never appear at all in the anime version.
  • While the manga skips over most recruitment, it does, however, give more insight on Sadala's culture and the territory of Caulifla, who is treated more of a bandit than a simple punk in this version. It also allows Cabba to have a fight with her to convince her of joining the Tournament of Power with the Super Saiyan transformation, instead of simple curiosity from her about the form. However, she learns the transformation off-screen.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed with Belmod. In the anime, he doesn't do anything outright villainous, while in the manga, he is more prone to Kick the Dog, like erasing a woman for insulting Marcarita (on a planet he was planning to destroy anyway) and he kicks Sidra out of the Exhibition match arena after the latter saves him from an attack by Beerus.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Top is much more cordial to Goku in this version and doesn't hold him responsible for the threat of the universes. Probably helps that he actually beats Goku in the exhibition match by a narrow margin and sees Goku as more a Worthy Opponent in this version.
  • Instead of being somewhat happy his Universe was eliminated, Mojito only sighed without a word, a frown on his face, implying that at the very least this development didn't please him.
• Adaptational Personality Change:
  • Top, who is stronger and nicer than his anime counterpart, is also less hammy and overdramatic, becoming less of a parody of sentai Superheroes and more like a straight forward hero.
  • While it was vague in the anime, the manga treats Caulifla more as a bandit than a simple punk, with Kale as her Hyper-Competent Sidekick. Unlike the anime, however, Caulifla doesn't appear to treat Kale as her protegee, more like another member of her group.
  • In the anime, Frieza is cold and manipulative, even remaining completely calm even when seeing his killer in hell. In the manga, Frieza still has nightmares over Goku killing him and is a bit more violent.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Cabba, Caulifla, and Kale are a bit different than their anime counterparts.
  • In the anime, it was implied by a comment than Cabba met Caulifla before, as she is the sister of his former captain. Since Renso isn't adapted, Cabba and Caulifla meet for the first time, with Cabba fighting against her as she is a bandit.
  • In the anime, Caulifla treats Kale as her protegee, her best friend and she heaps praise and encouragement on Kale at every opportunity. In the manga, she does care about her, but thought she wasn't meant to fight in the Tournament and treats her as more of a lackey. Cabba was the one who propose her to enter thanks to her stealing a pendant from him without noticing (while he was Super Saiyan).
  Caulifla: Kale is indeed promising, but she has a long way to go.
• The Bus Came Back: Although they were thought to have died years ago, the Cell Juniors evidently survived their one-sided battle against Super Saiyan 2 Gohan likely thanks to their regenerative abilities.
• The Cameo: Cell appears at the beginning of chapter 31, with Mr.Satan narrating how he obviously defeated that weakling.
  • Speaking of the green devil, the Cell Juniors make a surprise contemporaneous cameo in the pre-Tournament events, where it is revealed that they survived the Cell Games battle (fixing the Plot Hole of how Gohan could have so easily killed beings who can regenerate From a Single Cell) and were tamed by Android 17 to work as his assistants in protecting the nature reserve. After having a brief scuffle with Goten and Trunks, the Juniors identify the Saiyan kids as friends because of their ranger uniforms and scurry back into the bushes.
• The Dreaded: Caulifla has a reputation for being someone nobody can defeat, which makes the members of the Sadala army scared of going into her territory. She backs this up with her immense potential, as the Super Saiyan transformation was easy for her.
• Dub-Induced Plot Hole: Originally, the VIZ translation Cabba poinder if Kale is the Legendary Super Saiyan...despite the fact that it was a plot point earlier that he hadn't heard of the term "Super Saiyan" before. The original simply said she was the "Legendary Saiyan". It's likely that the translator accidentally added the "Super" as a force of habit. This error was corrected a few days later.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Jiren is introduced by saving the rest of the Pride Troopers from a monster they were having problem with, and eliminating him with one punch, but also putting him inside some sort of capsule, well establishing his status as The Ace and his heroic personality.
  • Caulifla is introduced stealing from members of the Sadala army who dared to enter her territory, while also giving some of the food to what appears to be poor citizens. Kale, likewise, is introduced as an Hyper-Competent Sidekick, being able to steal objects without anyone, not even a Super Saiyan Cabba, noticing.
• Good Taming, Evil Taming: Despite being sadistic little gits in their original appearance in Z, the wayward Cell Juniors were found and tamed by Android 17 shortly after he was revived by the Dragon Balls. He secretly "employs" them as his assistants in maintaining the island nature reserve. Although they are ostensibly on the side of good now, they indiscriminately attack any stranger they encounter on the island and, in terms of intelligence, they are little more than trained attack dogs.
• Graceful Loser: Kefla takes her double knock out with Gohan a lot better then she did in her total defeat by Goku in the anime.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Even before she learns the Super Saiyan transformation, Kale was already an efficient pick-pocket thief while working with Caulifla, being able to steal anything from trained soldiers without anyone noticing, not even a Super Saiyan Cabba.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Due to its tighter pacing, Toyotaro's version of the arc seemingly omits similar events or battles that were shown in its anime counterpart (usually relying on exposition or the reader's imagination to fill in the blanks).
  • During the recruitment phase, Caulifla turning Super Saiyan as well as Goku and Frieza's battle both take place off-screen, it can be assumed that they happened more or less the same as what happened in the anime.
  • Gohan and Piccolo's training to get the Saiyan hybrid's unlocked potential back into a potent state is only told in passing by Piccolo in Chapter 39, and Gohan merely hinted at doing some gravity chamber training earlier. The anime equivalent spent an episode actively showing Gohan improving pass his mental and physical flaws to regain his ultimate state.
  • After being teased heavily at the end of Chapter 38, the majority of Gohan vs Kefla occurred off-screen within the next chapter's first half, interspersed with other real-time developments like the similarily handled Vegeta vs Top fight. Much the aforementioned Goku and Frieza example, their equally damaged states before knocking each other out are the only clue indicating how grueling the battle must have been.
• Wretched Hive: Caulifla's territory, which appears to be segregated from the capital of Sadala, is portrayed with the population living in poverty and Caulifla as a sort of Robin-Hood-esque heroine whom nobody can defeat in combat. Until Cabba came with his Super Saiyan transformation.