I could have sworn that the saiyans had eliminated the fused robot last episode. Maybe I remembered it wrong, but it really seemed like that was the case. As such, I was a bit confused as to who Paparoni fused with. Really, they could have just revealed that he was a robot with his own transformation and accomplished the same goal, but whatever.
In any event, Aniraza proves to be one tough cookie. He's big; he's fast; and he can overpower universe 7's remaining roster with relative ease. Even simultaneous coordinated attacks fail, as Aniraza can use echolocation to track all of the fighters and respond to them before they can do anything. I was surprised that they didn't make any attempt to exploit this. 17 even says that Aniraza's big antennae are what allow him to do this, but they don't try to blast at them at any point. Heck, creating other explosions to mask their efforts could have also worked, but again, it's never done. Considering how the crew spend most of the episode on the defensive, I suppose you could argue that it never occurred to them or they never had the chance to try.
Much like how Jiren's power was able to outmuscle time itself, Aniraza has the ability to warp space. This allows him to sucker punch the fighters even if they are far away. There's a Spider-Man villain with that ability. I can't remember his name, but he did appear on the 90's animated series. I don't know if it's coincidence or an intentional nod, but the similarity is definitely there.
It leads to some close calls as Goku himself almost gets knocked out of the ring. Even Goku notes that, were it not for Frieza's interference, he would have.
Considering that Frieza's made a point to spend a lot of the recent episodes on the sidelines, you'd think he'd make a quick retreat, but he isn't given that option. It was rather nice to see him finally jump into the fray. It's not quite the table turner that you'd think it is, but it still made for great entertainment.
On Aniraza's part, he realizes that the fighters will keep each other from falling out of the ring. As such, he grabs 18 and tries to...eat her?
No mention is made of the "no kill" rule at all during this point. I get that they're playing into "monster" thing, but it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Couldn't he just warp his arm and put her out of the ring that way?
It was still a tense moment and you really felt for Krillin who had to sit there powerless to do anything as the woman that he loved was put into mortal danger.
My first thought as I saw her falling was that she could fly, but that isn't allowed. She could have tried to blast him in the face and propel herself that way, but she just sits there. Chalk it up to panic, I guess. Don't worry, Goku has her back, and he teleports her out of the way.
Alas, the gesture doesn't get the team very far as it isn't long before 18 "sacrifices" herself so that 17 can stay in the ring and continue the fight.
Her sacrifice isn't in vein, as the remaining fighters do rally and manage to defeat the monstrosity once and for all. The elimination of the other robots is made explicitly clear here, as we do see the individual robots appear in the stands when all is said and done.
"Ultimate Battle" makes a third appearance here. It looks like that track is going to be for the remainder of this arc what "Desperate Assault" was for the Future Trunks arc. That's hardly a bad thing, as the song has been put to good use so far and it does make the big finale that much more exciting. I do hope that it doesn't wear out its welcome, though.
With this, universe 3 is erased. It felt a tad perfunctory, though. There was no sense of horror or sadness. The kai just went "yep, that happened, oh well". Even that bit with the little gremlin popping out to say bye didn't really carry any weight as it comes out of nowhere and has no context whatsoever. If this was an established trait, I don't remember it, but the dialogue makes it sound like it was supposed to be a big deal.
At long last, the 3 remaining pride troopers step forward to challenge the fighters of universe 7. Jiren is convinced that victory is theirs, but Goku isn't so certain. There's still nine minutes left, so a lot can happen. True, universe 7 still has the numbers advantage, but Jiren's presence makes it likely that said advantage won't be long lasting.
Overall, this episode was pretty straight forward. It was cool to see the entire team face off against one giant monstrosity. Said monstrosity reminded me of Hatchyack from that one OVA, but that could just be me. There were a couple of head scratchers here and there, but it was still fast paced and exciting.
It looks like the arc is nearing its conclusion, one does wonder if the show will throw some twist in to spice things up. I suppose we'll just have to wait and find out. It'll be a two week wait this time, but so far, patience has paid off.
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