Nothing the android can do seems to have any effect. Even the simple act of hiding is impossible, as Toppo can destroy any barriers and leave his opponent exposed once again. While the android is normally inhumanly unflappable, you can see that the situation is starting to both annoy and worry him.
The best 17 can do is trick Toppo into destroying a structure in such a way that the rubble comes down on top of him. I want to give him credit for the strategic planning, but I'm not sure why anybody thought that was going to work. It didn't work on Goku Black, why would it work here? I know, that's kind of meta, but I think the point is still valid.
Thankfully, Frieza does return to provide some back up. It does help even things out a bit, but the power of a god of destruction is still too much for the universe 7 fighters. We don't get to see too much of this showdown, as a blast from Jiren unintentionally strikes the pair and puts them out of commission for the nonce. I think this marks the first time that the actions in one fight had a direct impact on another. Given the format of the tournament, I'm surprised it didn't happen more frequently, but it was still an interesting development.
With his foes out of the way, Toppo sets his sights on Vegeta. The saiyan prince has no problem facing off against him, though it does break up the Goku/Vegeta pair that was starting to gain momentum against Jiren. One wonders if Toppo would have thought to do this if he were still contending with Frieza and 17, though I suppose it's moot.
It's been some time since Vegeta has faced off against a god of destruction. He's acquired multiple power ups and new forms. As such, you can't help but be curious how he'd fare.
It's a mixed bag. Early on, Toppo clearly dominates the fight. It makes it clear that, while Vegeta is a lot stronger than he was when he tried to take on Beerus, there is still a considerable gap between what the two can do. Even Vegeta is amazed at the difference between what Toppo was and is now.
True to form, Toppo takes the time to monologue about his innate superiority. He goes on to talk about how he cast aside everything in order to win, and that's why Vegeta never will.
Not surprisingly, Vegeta doesn't take kindly to this. He actually goes the opposite route and embraces his pride, his promise to Cabba, and his family. Viewers gave Vegeta flack for giving his promise to Cabba more reverence than his family. On the one hand, it's nice to see him mentally offer them kind words. On the other, it did seem like a blatant last ditch author's saving throw to say, "See! It's both!".
This enables Vegeta to gain the upper hand in glorious fashion. Not only is it satisfying to see him whale on Toppo, but he gets to do it while lecturing the god about how much he sucks because he gave up all that he was. It was a real highlight for him. There's quite a bit of criticism that Vegeta is always forced to lose to make Goku look better, but at the same time, the writers are careful to give Vegeta enough great moments so that those losses still carry the necessary weight. Here, we see Vegeta not only dodge Toppo's destruction attacks, he straight up punches through them. It's an impressive showing to say the least.
Impressive as it is, it isn't enough to best the god. Vegeta does have one last trump card to play. It's one he's used before. Piccolo recognizes it almost immediately and it has him rather concerned.
Remember his first fight against Buu? The one where he blew himself up to try to take Buu out with him? Yeah, he's using that attack again.
Truth is, even if you had forgotten, the episode shows you just about the entire scene in flashback. It kinda worked, especially set to "Desperate Assault", but it does seem like the producers ate up too much time with that. I just think they could have trimmed it down a bit, but it did get the point across.
Where as the final flash against Jiren played out just about the same way it did against Cell, this time, the writers deviate from Z and have a completely different result. For one thing, the attack worked, in the sense that Toppo was eliminated.
Random side note, Toppo seems to be back to his original form. Was that whole god of destruction thing a temporary boost? Maybe we'll get more information when he wakes up.
The episode does toy with the idea that Vegeta is dead. It holds the tension for a few seconds (longer than other instances to the episode's credit) before revealing that Vegeta is alive. As he is a lot stronger than he was when he fought Buu, he was now capable of withstanding the energy of the blast.....though wasn't the whole point that he was putting ALL of his energy into it? I don't know, it's weird. I mean, Vegeta said when he first broke his limit that this was everything he had. I guess you just have to roll with it.
While the team is certainly relieved to find Vegeta alive, he is unfortunately completely out of stamina. This is not a good thing, as they still have Jiren to contend with. Being the last pride trooper standing, Jiren decides it's time to stop screwing around and begins to release all of his power.
On the plus side, 17 returns, so the playing field is leveled at least a little bit.
It's strange, though, Frieza's nowhere to be seen and isn't mentioned at all. He wasn't eliminated and he wasn't killed. I suppose unconsciousness is an option, but characters seem to snap right out of that nowadays. Either way, the episode's end makes it seem like a 3 on 1 fight is about to occur, even though, by all rights it should be four. Sure, Frieza said that he doesn't want to take on Jiren, but at least he has others backing him up.
Then again, with only four minutes remaining, him staying back could work to the team's advantage. In fact, I'd say have each fighter go at Jiren one on one. 17 was already trying to run down the clock, just keep that strategy intact. Each fighter would only have to last a minute, though in a fight like this, that is an eternity.
Really, though, this is Frieza. It's far more likely, he's going to let Jiren exhaust his allies, so that Frieza can knock them out at the last second and get the wish on the super dragon balls. Right? That seems like the route the next few episodes are going to go, but we'll have to wait and see.
This episode was a mixed bag. The Vegeta/Toppo stuff was great, but the episode did a lot to pad out the runtime. MasakoX noted a lot of recycled animation in the opening scenes, not to mention Frieza's near elimination being replayed early on. It didn't bug me as much as it did him, but it is in keeping with my criticism about the flashback. Put it all together and you have quite a bit of padding. We only have a few episodes to go in the arc, I don't think you have time to dilly dally like that. Maybe it just means we'll be getting some awesomely animated scenes later....yeah, let's go with that.
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