After last week's action heavy episode that largely fell flat, this one takes a quieter approach that ends up being much more entertaining. It's true, we don't really get the strategy session that the last episode teased, but what we see here is still pretty interesting in its own right.
Instead, this episode gives us brief glimpses of how the other universes are faring in their efforts to put teams together. Prior episodes have taken brief detours, but this one puts the other universes in much greater focus. A part of me thinks that it would have been better to have done this gradually since the multiverse was established, but this manages to do a lot with very little time. It even does it rather well.
Not only does it allow for characters like Hit, Frost, Toppo, and Basil to return, but it also allows us to get a brief glimpse into universes that we haven't seen yet, namely universe 2, where a young girl shows her fighting prowess by mixing "Sailor Moon" with..."Care Bears"?..It works surprisingly well both in and out of universe.
The strategy talk isn't completely forgotten, though. The elder Kai does offer to unlock Goku's potential to its fullest, but alas time constraints prevent that from being a viable option. Thus, he settles for training with Whis in the gravity room Oddly, the hyperbolic time chamber never comes up.
Speaking of, Vegeta goes there to train. It makes sense and, frankly, I'm surprised it's taken this long for somebody to put it to use. I did find it odd that Vegeta is intent on being the one to defeat Goku in the tournament. They are on the same team and while besting his rival may be satisfying, it seems like a really bad tactic to take in this instance. Although, he doesn't know about the whole universes being destroyed thing, so that helps justify it somewhat.
Gohan, for his part, surmises that the center of the ring will be the best position to minimize the risk of being knocked out of bounds. Supreme Kai responds by noting that others will likely come to the same conclusion, making it very difficult territory to claim and hold.
The most impressive strategic showing comes from Roshi, who goes to Yamcha's house. This does add a new take on the "Yamcha thinks he's going to be asked" running gag as it appears that characters are going out of their way to unintentionally taunt him about the fact that he's not a member. In Roshi's defense, his reason for being there is legit. He wants Puar to take the form of an attractive young woman. He knows that his perverted nature is his biggest weakness and he wants to build up a tolerance so that he doesn't lose control in the tournament.
It's largely played for laughs, as he ends up chasing the transformed Puar around the room, but it does show an interesting level of foresight on his part. Who knows, this could even lead to some character evolution. Sure, him being a dirty old man is funny, but how long can that gag keep going? Seeing him grow would be nice to see.
I do wonder why Oolong didn't just flat out say "no" when Yamcha asked if he was ever going to be offered to join the team. I know Yamcha's the butt monkey, but this seems like it's pushing it. Even an "I doubt it" would have done more to gently let him know what's up.
Although, with Buu falling asleep and being unable to wake up, there is another slot that gives him some hope.
This latter fact makes for the episode cliffhanger as time is running out and they need a full roster. It did make for a nice gag as Beerus tells Goku to bring him along to wake Buu up before going on a tirade about how fed up he is with the creature. He thinks that Goku is waiting for him, only to turn around and find that Goku had left.
All in all, this was a strong episode. It moved the plot along and it managed to give us glimpses into several universes in one swoop. Having the high priest explaining things to the dual omni-kings made for a nice backdrop as it allowed the episode to segue from one universe to the next without making the episode feel jumpy and disjointed. The humor worked well and it seemed like each character was given something to do, even if they were only given a brief scene. It was a difficult juggling act, but this episode pulled it off as well as one could hope.
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