Dragon Ball Super Episode 83 Review: Field the All-7th-Universe Team! Who Are the Mighty Ten?!

A relaxed Dragon Ball Super episode balances joy and fear as baby fever mixes with tournament prep.

This Dragon Ball Super review contains spoilers.

Dragon Ball Super Episode 83

“Don’t worry, Beerus. All we gotta’ do is win.”

Dragon Ball Super is a series that can go all over the place with the scope of what an episode entails, but “Who are the Mighty Ten?!” carefully examines the people and the emotion behind the fighters, which is appropriate in an entry that sets out to determine who’s fit to fight on Universe 7’s Tournament of Power team. There are countless reminders in this show that these characters who are unbelievably strong, but those moments hit even harder when you get to see these individuals be regular people and explore their more human side.

So even though there’s a lot of danger that lies in the near future for our heroes, this is a fairly laid back episode. It allows these characters to get back to Earth, see their families, and squabble with one another while they figure out what they should do next. Accordingly, “Who are the Mighty Ten?!” isn’t the most thrilling episode of Dragon Ball Super, but it knows that a lot of fighting lies ahead and hey, it still contains the birth of Vegeta’s daughter, so it’s not like nothing happens here.

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The moment that Goku and company arrive back on Earth they all face the immense pressure to start the recruitment of Universe 7’s 10 strongest fighters. However, in the face of this vast responsibility, everyone’s surprisingly a little more preoccupied with Bulma’s pregnancy. Baby fever is definitely strong with everyone at Capsule Corps and its grip is perhaps the tightest around Vegeta.

Vegeta in paranoid parent mode provides a lot of entertainment. The slightest indiscretion sets him off here and it’s unclear who would be more dangerous: Beerus in need of food or Vegeta in need of his daughter. I can only imagine the level of torment that Vegeta has been going through as he endures breathing exercises with Pilaf, Shu, and Mai. It looks like Vegeta could actually use a tournament to get out his aggressions.

In spite of the tall task at hand, there’s still a very calm atmosphere throughout this episode. However, it’s the Kai and Beerus who are the most concerned about the Tournament of Power’s penalties. They continue to panic over their poor odds at winning this tournament, but it does cause Gohan to find his inner team captain.

He surveys how many planets in Universe 7 have intelligent life on them and we learn that the answer is approximately 28. However, with minimal intel on these other planets, it looks like the team selection will remain limited to Earth. Besides, there will be enough crazy aliens from the other universes’ teams that Earth doesn’t have to scour the recesses of space to add some weirdoes to their lineup.

On the topic of Universe 7’s roster, Goku and Gohan formulate a pretty predictable team that features the likes of Vegeta, Piccolo, Krillin, Master Roshi, and Androids 18 and 17. Goten and Trunks are briefly considered and although they’re strong, their lack of experience makes them ill suited for a battle royale of this nature.

It’s also pretty damn cute to see Goku quickly suggest Monaka for their team before Beerus has to quickly interject with news that he’s under the weather. The suggestion of this character does act as a helpful reminder of just how naïve Goku really is and that there are many things that he fails to properly grasp.

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Additionally, there are concerns over Krillin’s position on this roster and even though there are reservations amongst the team, Goku is confident that Krillin has improved a lot as of late. This also leads to a perplexing battle between Krillin and Bergamo that takes place within Goku and Gohan’s minds. This ability has never been featured in the show before, but it’s an excuse to slip some action into this more methodical installment. It’s also an entertaining bizarro scenario to see Krillin go up against the Trio De Danger and get destroyed.

Also, Yamcha shows up to send his well wishes over Bulma’s baby (which does not go well with Vegeta, by the way), but it’s pretty fantastic that nobody wants to mention the Tournament of Power to him. They know that he’d just be dead weight in this situation, but their anxiety over how he might find out about the tournament is a fun angle for the episode to take.

This show always knows how to turn Yamcha into the best punchline possible. Yamcha’s elaborate vanity sequence over how he’ll eventually save the day at the Tournament of Power is one of the funnier gags that the show has done in a long time. Yamcha’s going to be waiting in his house for a while for an invite. There’s a lot of more gentle comedy from this entry that lands on the most part. A lot of it stems from Vegeta’s baby anxiety, but a lot of characters get in some solid laughs here.

In spite of the team’s enthusiasm towards Vegeta taking part in this tournament, he’s still against fighting until the birth of his child. Whis, ever the problem solver, puts his thumb on the scale and skews the space-time continuum a little in the gang’s favor. This is a moment where it’s probably best to not think too hard about it. This seems like a major violation of Whis’ Godly obligations, but thankfully there aren’t any pious patrolmen like Jaco around to rat him out. But yeah, Whis can induce birth if he really feels like it. Tell your friends.

Vegeta’s focus on Bulma’s pregnancy provided a decent reason to keep him out of the Zen Exhibition Match. Dragon Ball can develop a tunnel vision towards Goku and Vegeta, so it was nice to get a bit of a variety in the show’s fighters. However, after this absence it should be even more satisfying to get Vegeta back in the swing of things once the real Tournament of Power begins. In the meantime, it’s fairly adorable to see how protective Vegeta already is over his daughter, Bulla, although I have to agree that Eschalot is a more regal, catchy name than what Bulma chooses.

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Trunks is also a little disappointed that he doesn’t have a little brother to train with, but Bulla has unmarked potential. If Pan is as strong as she is at this early age then who knows what Bulla will be capable of. Maybe Bulla will even beat up her older brother the first time her skills come to light. Perhaps she could even be on the roster for the next Tournament of Power.

“Who are the Mighty Ten?!” is a rather slow installment that focuses just as much on Bulla and baby issues as it does on the Tournament of Power. In spite of how the stakes may be lower than usual here, it’s still a comfortable episode that helps set up what’s next for these heroes. It’d be nice if more happened here, but it’s also enjoyable to just kick back with these characters as they feast and get vulnerable for a minute.

That’s not the reason that a lot of people watch Dragon Ball Super, but it’s essential to remember that these are real people with families before they return into fantastical battles. “Who are the Mighty Ten?!” represents the softer side of the series as well as a reminder that this doesn’t always have to be a bad thing.

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Daniel Kurland is a published writer, comedian, and critic whose work can be read on Den of Geek, Vulture, Bloody Disgusting, and ScreenRant. Daniel knows that the owls are not what they seem, that Psycho II is better than the original, and he’s always game to discuss Space Dandy. His perma-neurotic thought process can be followed at @DanielKurlansky.

Rating:

2.5 out of 5