Polish your balls Saiyans, Dragon Ball Super is returning after eight years. The series’ 131 episode run finished on March 5th, 2018 with the finale episode “A Miraculous Conclusion! Farewell, Goku!” Now it’s back and looking better than ever as Dragon Ball Super: Beerus. The trailer looks absolutely beautiful. Per Dragon Ball executive producer Akio Iyoku, this is an ‘enhanced’ version of the anime. The makers have reconstructed the story, with many new scenes. All the old scenes still get a makeover redraw to make it look stunning.
Dragon Ball Super: Beerus takes place several years after the conclusion of the Majin Buu arc, the final and longest of Dragon Ball Z‘s arcs. The planet is in a safe and surprisingly peaceful lull. However, as usual, this nice break for our heroes can’t last. The God of Destruction Beerus, who keeps balance in the universe, awakes from his long sleep, and he quickly sets his eyes on Earth. As soon as he learns that Goku was able to defeat Frieza, he immediately seeks him out. What follows is, of course, a many-episode anime battle of cosmic proportions.
Interestingly, this is a remake of a remake of a movie. 2013’s Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods is when we were first introduced to Beerus. This was retold in the Dragon Ball Super anime, except it was paced worse and kinda looked uh. Really f*cking bad. The Golden Frieza arc got much the same treatment in Dragon Ball Super, being adapted from Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F. Beerus is looking good this time around though, as is everyone and everything else. This particular adaptation looks like it has the potential to bring Akira Toriyama’s work to life in the best way, and to redeem the weakest part of Dragon Ball Super’s legacy.
Japanese fans will find out what exactly is in store for us on October 12th. Neither Toei nor Netflix has said anything about sub or dub releases in the US, but with luck we’ll learn that very soon. I know that Dragon Ball has what one might say is a chronic ‘remake a remake of a remake of a retcon of a remake of a manga arc’ problem, but with Toei now rolling around in the big money, I think Dragon Ball Super: Beerus justifies itself. Plus, it’s not like any of us ever really get sick of watching Goku beat people up.