Anime Review: Dragon Ball Super Season 1 Part 4

Dragon Ball Super Season 1 Part 4 (UK Rating: PG)

With the tournament over, it seems the Gods of Destruction may live up to their name, with neither universe particularly pleased with the performance or behaviour of their people. Just in the nick of time, though, a new little visitor changes everything. The Omni-King Zen-Oh appears. He is the God King of all 12 universes and he has appeared to put Beerus and Champa in line. They are meant to destroy, not to host tournaments, but, after observing the excitement of the tournament, he announces plans to host a bigger, better tournament, pitting all 12 universes against one another in the ultimate tournament arc.

That good stuff is the beginning of the new Future Trunks arc. Future Trunks just can't get a break. After coming back and defeating the Androids and Cell, his future was hopefully going to be peaceful, but instead, a new, dark enemy has appeared. A shadowy form of monstrous strength is slaughtering countless innocents back in his time and he once again has to travel to the past in hope of finding aid. The problem with this collection is that good stuff is very, very limited; there are only around four episodes of real action. It's all to set up the premise for the next release.

On the bonus features front, there are the usual clean openings and closing videos, along with a handful of trailers. Being a Funimation release, though, it's also bundling in an exclusive feature from behind the scenes of the production of the show. This time it's a 13-minute interview with Sean Schemmel. Sean has been playing Goku for over 18 years and for many people he has become the voice of Goku, performing in not just the show, but in games and movies, too. Obviously, this comes with both the English and Japanese dub, as with all the other Dragon Ball Super releases that have come thus far, and their quality is the same as it has always been. Since so many people grew up with Dragon Ball on Cartoon Network, this is one of those shows that even the "sub only" fans can abide the dub.

5/10

Average

While the conclusion of the Universe Six arc is fantastic, the Copy Vegeta arc is absolutely worth skipping. It makes it worse that the ultimate Universal Survival arc is teased but then the story takes a terrible detour, leaving the audience impatiently waiting for the promised showdown. The Future Trunks arc would have made up for this, had there been enough of it here in Dragon Ball Super Season 1 Part 4, but, instead, it's just a taster; an introduction to the dark dystopia of the future and the meaty new arc that will be continuing in the next collection.