Dragon Ball Super Episode 25 Review: A Full-Throttle Battle! The Vengeful Golden Frieza

Dragon Ball Super Episode 25

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a God or not. A Saiyan is a Saiyan and there’s no changing that.”

Say hellooooooo to Golden Frieza!

This final-er final form of Frieza’s might not be a surprise to viewers who have been paying attention to the show’s opening credits, but his shiny, new look finally makes its official debut. Besides, Goku can’t be the only one showing off his fresh look. Blue hair is one thing, but gold skin? That’s the sort of thinking that wins wars. 

It’s also nice to see the series poking a little fun at itself, as Goku’s new form’s real name is “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan,” meaning he’s now ascended beyond the base level of a Super Saiyan God. That title is such a mouthful that thankfully the much catchier, color coordinated name of “Super Saiyan Blue” is invented as a more colloquial alternative. 

Before the actual fighting, there’s a lot of talking about the fighting. The two go back and forth about how they’re finally ready to show off their “true power” to one another. So just if it was still unclear, these two are now officially allowed to kill each other. Frieza wants everyone to be properly prepared for his glorious transformation. Now that you’re sitting down, the show can begin. As silly as all of this boasting may be, the choral chanting that accompanies Frieza’s transformation is pretty damn awesome. The scene carries on like this is the second coming of Christ and the weighty music choice only further invites the comparison. It’s undeniably a powerful moment in the series. 

The glimpses of these two powerhouses trying to pulverize each other are pretty satisfying. It’s a fun show not just for the audience, but also the people involved, as Goku and Frieza are both quick to point out how impressed they are with each other’s progress. It’s sort of sweet in a weird way. These two bitter enemies are thanking the other one for upping their game so much so that this battle can actually be interesting. That’s our Dragon Ball. 

Beerus and Whis also finally end up back on Earth this week, and yes, that deluxe strawberry sundae does get sufficiently devoured. It’s certainly nice to have all of these characters back in one location, but on Beerus and Whis’ way to Earth, they end up encountering an interesting distraction. With Beerus and Whis being the God of Destruction and Angel of Universe 7, such a fact would obviously indicate that there must be other universes out there, too. Champa and Vados are Universe 6’s representatives and Beerus and Whis happen to run into them while flying through space. This interstellar detour definitely takes some momentum away from Goku and Frieza’s battle, but it’s worth it. 

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Champa and Vados are about to become a big deal in the show’s next arc, so the series’ decision to tease them a little early is a smart move. Beerus might be more concerned about the grand cuisine of Universe 7, but it appears that the bizarro versions of Beerus and Whis are in fact well on their way to collecting the Super Dragon Balls, which certainly can’t be good news. Those things are mighty powerful, which is something that everyone is going to learn soon enough. For the time being, it’s still more than enough of a reason to be suspicious of these figureheads from Universe 6.

As Goku and Frieza continue their fight, Beerus and Whis observe that not only is Frieza a lot stronger than they expected, but that Goku isn’t doing that good of a job against him, even with the help of his new Super Saiyan Blue form. That being said, don’t expect them to step in and actually lend a hand now that they’re back on Earth. No, this one is strictly between Goku and Frieza at this point. There’s history. Frieza also can’t stop running his mouth over how much he truly hates Goku and how long he’s been thinking about this revenge. The guy has issues. If Frieza happens to get out of this one alive, I’d think that his therapy sessions would last more episodes than his battle on Namek.

There’s surprisingly little that actually happens in this episode. The whole thing ends before it feels like it really even gets going. At the same time, it also doesn’t feel like this episode is being that manipulative with stretching out its material. It’s just that moments like Beerus and Whis in space end up taking more time than you’d expect. Nothing spectacular happens in Goku and Frieza’s battle this week, but the episode still feels like it accomplishes more than it actually does because it not only throws Golden Frieza into the fray, but also has the freshly minted Super Saiyan Blue Goku showing his worth against him. “The Vengeful Golden Frieza” is absolutely the calm before the storm that is the next few episodes of the series, but remember that this showdown is over by the end of episode 27. There’s not a whole lot more to get through, especially now that Goku and Frieza are in their party suits. 

The entry concludes on the contemplative note of Goku’s new form not being as powerful as Frieza’s and that the people of Earth might be in trouble. Maybe I’m crazy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Goku manages to turn things around in the end. Don’t write off this blue-haired warrior just yet. He promised Frieza that this will be an exciting fight. Let’s hope he can follow through on that.

At the least, it should make for some more juicy content for Jaco to fill up his scrapbook!