Dragon Ball Super Review

Super begins where Dragon Ball Z's Majin Buu saga ended and spends its first two arcs retelling the films Battle of Gods and Resurrection 'F' at television length and television cost. Those early months are where the show's reputation was nearly lost: the drawing slips badly, a few episodes became running jokes online, and the stories are thinner for having already been told in cinemas. The additions are the reason to keep going. Beerus, a sleepy cat god of destruction, and his attendant Whis are the best new characters the franchise had found in decades, and the multiverse they open gives the series room to move.

The Future Trunks arc brings back real stakes with Goku Black, and the Tournament of Power, a battle royale between eight universes for the right to exist, is where Toei finally put money on screen; its final episodes were screened live to crowds that filled stadiums in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. Critics still fault it for sidelining Gohan and Piccolo, for padding its fights with reaction shots, and for power levels that stop meaning anything. It is far better than GT and never as good as the Z it keeps quoting.