Dragon Ball Super Episode 122 Review/Recap: Vegeta vs Jiren

The Tournament of Power in Dragon Ball Super is slowly heading towards its conclusion. Only Universe 7 and Universe 11 remain as every other universe has been erased from existence.

Even though Universe 7 has more members left, Universe 11 is the clear favorite thanks mainly to Jiren. Jiren is the toughest opponent that Goku and the gang have ever faced and he won't be going easy on them.

The remaining members of Universe 7 are Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Android 17 and Freiza. In Universe 11 there's Jiren, Dyspo and Toppo left standing.

Even though there are only nine minutes left in the tournament, surprisingly both the fighters from Universe 7 and Universe 11 aren't eager to fight just yet.

The first few minutes of this episode reminded me a lot of Dragon Ball Z where you just see the characters having stare downs with one another.

Predictably, Goku approaches Jiren and wants to fight him first. Goku powers into the Super Saiyan Blue form and the fight finally starts in explosive fashion.

As the two are fighting, Jiren asks Goku why he always wants to become strong.

I initially thought Goku would say something noble like save his friends/family, although he just said he doesn't know why he seeks to become strong all of the time.

I understand Goku is a Saiyan, but recently Dragon Ball Super has done no favors in portraying him as a noble main character. Goku seems more self centered in this arc which doesn't seem right in my opinion.

Before Goku and Jiren can continue their fight, Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta interferes and he wants to fight Jiren all by himself.

I'm guessing Vegeta is getting sick and tired of Goku hogging all of the fun and wants to be in the limelight for once.

It's risky for Vegeta to go after Jiren mainly because Super Saiyan Blue is not strong enough. Vegeta will need to ascend above Super Saiyan Blue in order to beat Jiren much like Goku has with his Ultra Instinct form.

Elsewhere in the tournament, Frieza is stuck fighting Dyspo while Gohan and Android 17 team up to try and take down Toppo. None of these fights will be easy since Universe 11 has the toughest fighters in the entire multiverse.

Vegeta punches Jiren but to no avail.

As Vegeta gets smacked around, Goku gives it another go but it seems as if both Saiyans are having a hard time.



However, one of my favorite scenes in the entire episode is when Vegeta studies Jiren's movements.

Vegeta has a second go at Jiren and manages to dodge his punches and lands a huge punch of his own to Jiren's stomach!

Vegeta intends to push Jiren really hard because he wants to attain Ultra Instinct as well.

However, his efforts might be short lived because Jiren shoots out a powerful Ki blast that pushes Vegeta all the way to the other side of the ring.

Thankfully, Vegeta is still in the tournament but deflecting the Ki blast has drained a lot of his energy.

Vegeta has reverted back to his base form and things are not looking up for him as Jiren has lost no stamina at all yet.

Vegeta is not done yet though because Jiren mocks his pride.

This forces Vegeta to power up as a Super Saiyan Blue and he goes all out on a Final Flash that he hopes is strong enough to beat Jiren once and for all.

Even though he gets a direct hit on Jiren, the Final Flash attack is not enough. Jiren pretty much came out of the dust and smoke unscathed much to the disbelief of everyone watching.

Jiren then shoots out a powerful Ki blast of his own that knocks Vegeta out. Vegeta is still inside the ring, although he's knocked out unconscious and it seems as if he might not be able to get back up.

This week's episode of Dragon Ball Super ends like that. It's a bit of a cliffhanger, although the preview for next week shows us what is to come next.

Anyway, episode 122 of Dragon Ball Super felt like an old school episode of Dragon Ball Z. It featured long stare downs plus powerful Ki blasts with lots of smoke but zero damage being done.

The fact that we're down to the last eight fighters made this week's episode more concise and easy to follow.

I'm hoping future episodes are more like this as episode 122 was pretty awesome despite the cliche trope of Vegeta looking inferior to Goku.

Join us next week for episode 123. As always, we will be posting yet another written recap and review for you guys!

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