Dragon Ball Super Episode 58 Review: Zamasu And Black – The Duo’s Mystery Deepens

This Dragon Ball Super review contains spoilers.

Dragon Ball Super Episode 58

“We can become immortal, too.”

In spite of how Dragon Ball Super’s dub is almost 100 episodes behind the “live” airings in Japan (in fact the series is set to “end” tonight in Japan), there is a nice little synchronicity between these in particular episodes airing around the same time that the MCU’s Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters. Both the Goku Black/Zamasu and Thanos storylines see heroes facing insurmountable threats that seem impossible. “Zamasu and Black” is very much the episode where Zamasu goes into full-on Thanos mode to “collect his stones” and fulfill his destiny to turn into this time-defying super villain. In Zamasu’s case, his Infinity Stones are the Super Dragon Balls and this entry sees the God head out to learn as much as he can about these orbs.

The first stop in this quest for knowledge sees Zamasu pop in on Master Zuno, who he manages to pressure into getting exactly what he wants to know (and then some) out of the frightened gatekeeper. As Zamasu goes around gathering information and absolutely killing it with his goals, the good guys are stuck in recovery mode. Bulma plays nurse while all of the show’s strongest fighters are badly beaten and on the mend. Bulma’s great as a caretaker, but it’s also pretty wonderful to watch her collectively call out the team for not bringing any Senzu beans into battle and she’s totally right on the matter.

“Zamasu and Black” falls prey to turning into a bit of a recap of past episodes as this arc’s storyline continues to twist and turn. That being said, the episode still presents this summary of information in an entertaining way. Pilaf and company’s reactions to how the fight went down are all a lot of fun and the gag where Goku builds up Goku Black’s Super Saiyan Rosé transformation only to then be unable to remember its name is wonderfully in character. So is Goku’s hair-trigger reaction to immediately jump back in the time machine and face off against Goku Black and Zamasu now that their strength is back. Goku might not have much patience or the deepest capacity for strategies, but you’ve got to love his enthusiasm towards battle, even if it is a suicide mission in this case.

Goku’s energy and attitude are a consistent highlight through this episode, especially the moment where one of his guesses proves to be correct and leads to everyone in the group losing their minds over this rare occurrence. Furthermore, there’s a terrific exchange where Goku’s legitimate plan of attack here is to just guzzle a concentrated bowl of Senzu beans to become “temporarily immortal” so they can contend against Zamasu. Nobody takes this idea seriously, but it does raise the very real question of what would happen in this circumstance? I’d be very entertained by a filler episode after all of the Goku Black drama is said and done that just looks at the gang wishing for a huge supply of Senzu beans from Shenron and then doing experiments for the duration of the entry. That’s of course not going to happen (they’re going to play baseball instead), but it’s funny how Dragon Ball can hint at such an interesting plot development, only for it to be looked at as a joke.

Goku’s behavior is very satisfying, but perhaps the best scene in the episode is a simple, muted moment between Future Trunks and Mai. Trunks tells Mai that her future counterpart is still alive and as scrappy as ever, but he laments on how he couldn’t bring her back with him and “save” her. Mai certainly wasn’t expecting anything from Future Trunks and the episode has plenty to cover so it’s appreciated that it still makes time for these more emotional, human interactions between all of the plot machinations. The animation in the scene is just gorgeous too and a stunning sunset compliments the sensitive conversation between the characters.

Beerus, Whis, and Supreme Kai reconnect with everyone and take stock of what happened back on Bleak Future Earth. After the update, Whis offers the first real theory of what’s been going on here. Whis’ million-dollar hypothesis is that Zamasu has been determined to wipe out all mortals from existence, but he lacks the extreme energy needed to pull off such an incredible task on his own. After Zamasu’s meeting and brief spar session against Goku, the Supreme Kai-in-training became inspired and obsessed with the Saiyan and his crazy strength. If Zamasu has someone like Goku at his disposal then maybe he could exterminate all mortals. Whis then supposes that Zamasu will use the Super Dragon Balls to wish for an evil copy of Goku, Goku Black, to work alongside him.

Beerus also throws in for good measure his earlier observance that Goku Black appears to be able to travel through time in the same way that Supreme Kais do. He thinks this means that Zamasu will ultimately kill Gowasu and give Goku Black his Time Ring to use at his destructive disposal. Beerus also addresses how this Time Ring is surely how Zamasu also plans to circumvent the one-year waiting period for the Super Dragon Balls to become active again and use this to obtain his immortality. With all of this information the group feels like they’ve cracked this colossal conspiracy theory.

Frankly, this idea makes a lot of sense. Leave it to some all-knowing Gods of Destruction to be able to figure this one out. Of course, the circumstances of this villain aren’t going to be that simple, but there’s no real reason for why this theory can’t be reality. Furthermore, there haven’t really been any major hypotheses thrown out there for what’s going on with Goku Black so this new leading assumption should probably have some stock put into it. The Super Dragon Balls have also been established to have such bonkers abilities that the idea of using them to wish for an evil duplicate of an existing fighter is extremely interesting. It’s likely something that won’t be explored to great detail in the future, but it does raise some curious ideas for what they could make possible.

The team doesn’t sit on this information and so Supreme Kai transports Beerus, Whis, and Goku back over to Universe 10 to give Gowasu a heads up about what they’re afraid is going to happen. Vegeta however stays behind, which might prove to be significant in the end. When they break the news to Universe 10’s Supreme Kai, he tells them all that Zamasu is mysteriously missing, which doesn’t put a lot of confidence in any of them and seems awfully convenient. Goku almost lets it slip to Gowasu what happens in the future with Zamasu and what they’re trying to prevent here, but Beerus thankfully quiets him in time. Once again, the consequences for mucking with the timeline in such a drastic way and letting onto future events—even though Zamasu has likely done it himself—is a major no-no.

In spite of the Universe 7 crew (mostly) keeping their mouths shut, they do inquire if Gowasu has noticed anything peculiar with Zamasu lately and that he might want to keep an eye on him for unrelated reasons. Gowasu wisely mentions the doubts that he’s been having over Zamasu as of late and the genocidal, spiteful tendencies that he’s exhibited. It’s important to remember that present timeline’s Zamasu hasn’t done anything wrong yet and the gang is carefully tiptoeing around the situation to prevent the creation of the very villain that they’re trying to defeat. Additionally, Gowasu still trusts his apprentice and vouches for his troubled pupil. He promises that this won’t be a problem and that he’ll get his issues together. However, ever the one for a climactic entrance and a good cliffhanger, Zamasu suddenly enters the scene after this knowing discussion about his intentions. The gang might suddenly find out what’s going on with him sooner than later.

Overall, “Zamasu and Black” is a satisfying follow-up to last week’s battle-heavy installment. The recovery period while everyone heals is the perfect time to do into the deep end on theories and brainstorming sessions and the show finally makes some progress in the area. Not only that, but the heroes do the smart thing here and immediately go into action and hit up Gowasu. Dragon Ball is notorious for taking its time and sitting on information so it’s very gratifying and exciting to see the opposite happen here with the revelations that are reached here. That being said, there still could be a little more to this episode and the decision to remove Vegeta from the equation fails to be significant. Next week it looks like there will be even more answers and/or fisticuffs, so it’s easy to look past any minor rough patches here.

Supreme Kai also gets introduced to Earth cuisine this week. Here’s hoping that he doesn’t develop quite the same gluttonous palate as Beerus and Whis.