Dragon Ball Super Chapter 77 Reveals Bardock Saved Granolah

In Dragon Ball Super manga chapter 77, Granolah learns the truth after his brutal battle with the Saiyans: Bardock, the father of Goku, is the one who tried to save his mother and save him. Just imagine being Granolah, believing your entire life that all Saiyans are evil, only to find out that the father of a person you were fighting almost to the death a little while ago was trying to protect you.

Most of this chapter was a flashback, and I think a lot of people are going to criticize that. Later in this piece I'll also get into the cliffhanger, which sets the Heeters on the hunt for the last Dragon Ball.

The Bardock in chapter 77 is Toriyama's version, and that's the one here to stay

I think plenty of readers will also criticize the fact that this is another example of the Bardock Toriyama created, not the Bardock Toei Animation created back in 1990. This is the one from Dragon Ball Minus, which a lot of fans don't like.

I do prefer the original Bardock from the TV special over the Dragon Ball Minus portrayal. The bottom line, though, is that the Toriyama Bardock is the one that's here to stay, because Toriyama created Dragon Ball and he has final say on all of these major Dragon Ball story points.

Monaito's flashback reveals what Granolah never saw

The events in the chapter kind of go along the same way they did in the flashback Granolah had in his dream several months earlier. This time we see more of what happened that day, the true story as told by Monaito. Yes, Frieza's army did arrive on the planet and did try to take over. But during the skirmish, Granolah fainted from fear of seeing the great apes, so he has no idea what happened after that point.

Those later events paint the true enemy as somebody other than who he originally thought. The Frieza Force and the Saiyans are responsible for the invasion, but they weren't the true masterminds. They weren't the ones who called Frieza there.

As the invasion continued, the Cerealians discovered that the moon was the power source of the Saiyans' great ape form and destroyed it, regressing them all to their base form. By that point, though, so many lives had been lost and the planet was already pretty much under Frieza's control, so it didn't make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

Monaito becomes guardian of the Dragon Balls

On top of being somewhat of an origin story for who Granolah would become, this is also an origin story for who Monaito would become. We see the Namekian elder grant Monaito the position of guardian of the Dragon Balls. That's why the Dragon Balls on the planet were still active, which allowed Granolah, several chapters earlier, to wish to become the strongest in the universe.

Unfortunately, the rest of Monaito's Namekian brethren were wiped out by Frieza's forces.

Bardock's flashback to naming Kakarot felt unnecessary to me

The story then becomes a bit more personal, involving Granolah's mother and her connection with Bardock. It's pretty interesting that the parents of two of the three main leads of this arc had their fates interwoven on that day, which would indirectly lead to Granolah meeting Goku over 40 years later.

Bardock confronts Granolah's mom, and she can fight. She knows how to fire a ki blast, and she does it and injures Bardock. That triggers a flashback with a special cameo by Goku's mother, Gine, and baby Goku. This apparently happened shortly before Bardock went off on this mission, and it seems like Goku had just been born. It tells the story of how Bardock named his son by his biological name, Kakarot. We also get a cameo from Raditz, which was kind of cool.

This was meant to be a heartwarming scene, and I thought it was pretty heartwarming, a little wink at the audience and an Easter egg for longtime fans who finally get to see how and when Kakarot was named. As a critic, though, I have to be honest, and it is a minor nitpick: it does seem a bit contrived and unnecessary. This is supposed to be Granolah's story, so having Bardock flash back to naming Kakarot isn't necessary to me. I think it could have been discussed or shown at a different time.

Toyotaro chose to put it in this chapter as a little extra icing on the cake. I don't hate it, but it definitely felt like it was thrown in there for the sake of it, "as sizzle as opposed to steak." It's a little cameo for fans of Gine and Kakarot. It also pretty much cements that this backstory takes place two and a half to three years before the events of Dragon Ball Minus and the end of planet Vegeta. So it's not 40 years, it's over 40 years. Depending on how you calculate time in Dragon Ball, which has been changed many times over the years, it's definitely somewhere past 40.

A softer Bardock who is still a warrior

Bardock and Granolah's mom basically form a brief alliance to protect baby Granolah, and Bardock ends up being a bit of a hero by hiding them from Frieza, who is about to arrive on the planet. Monaito also joins the alliance to protect baby Granolah, and really to protect everyone and help them survive. Granolah's mom is named Muesli.

I know a lot of people don't like this heroic Bardock, and a lot of fans prefer the one from the special, including me. Even though this Bardock is a lot softer, gentler and more kindhearted than the one from the special, he's still a savage and still a warrior. That hasn't changed. I don't think Bardock is 100 percent kindhearted. I think he's a tough warrior with a soft spot, and we're seeing it here.

Let's not forget that Bardock aided in the genocide of millions of people throughout his lifetime. Toriyama still chose to soften him up.

Goku learns his father's name is Bardock from Vegeta

As Monaito tells this story, he explains to Granolah that the Saiyans were bad, but not all bad, and Bardock was one of the exceptions. This is where Goku discovers, for the first time in his life, that his father's name is Bardock and that he looks like him. Some of us have been waiting for this for years, including those of us who have been watching Dragon Ball since the 90s, like me.

Interestingly enough, Vegeta knew the entire time, and he's the one who tells Goku. In all the years Goku has known Vegeta, he never once asked about his father. That should prove that Goku doesn't really care about his father, at least not up until now. Could that change going forward? Possibly.

Goku was raised by his grandfather, and that's his family. Now his family is Chi-Chi, Gohan, Goten, Pan and that whole tribe. He has no real emotional connection to his father. So this idea that Goku has daddy issues doesn't hold up, because he really doesn't. I do wonder whether he'll be more curious about his father, his mother and the rest of his lineage from here. That remains to be seen. Probably not, but we don't know.

Vegeta's line about Goku's kind heart doesn't make sense to me

Vegeta says Goku may have inherited his kind heart from his father. That's a very controversial line, because in the original Dragon Ball manga, Goku came to Earth a savage, hit his head as a baby and then became good. I wonder whether Toriyama changed this on purpose or whether Vegeta is just assuming. We don't know for certain.

It's really difficult to inherit kind traits from a parent you barely know. We know from psychology that if your dad is evil, it doesn't mean you're going to be evil unless you're raised to be. Goku was raised on Earth, and his real parent was Grandpa Gohan. So it's difficult to take that line seriously. I think we're going to have debates about this one for a while, because it doesn't make any sense that it's true. I'm guessing it's just Vegeta assuming.

The Heeters sold planet Cereal to Frieza for 100 billion

Granolah then asks what really happened to his mother, because he thinks the Saiyans killed her, and that's not the case. Monaito heals Bardock before he leaves, but Bardock's scouter goes off and detects people far away. It's the Heeter gang.

The big revelation is that the Heeters, Elec and the rest of them, sold the planet to Frieza's empire for 100 billion, call them space bucks if you want. Elec is responsible for bringing Frieza's empire to the planet, which would ultimately lead to the genocide of Granolah's race. Most of us predicted the Heeters would probably end up being the true villains of this arc, but I'm not sure any of us thought they had as much to do with the past as they do.

The chapter once again teases that Gas might be stronger than Frieza, or wants to be, which seems like a tease for a big fight later in this arc. We also find out the Heeters are secretly trying to overtake Frieza's forces, which we heard earlier in the arc, except they had this plan even decades ago. That makes you wonder what they were doing all this time.

Bardock's bluff fails and Elec attacks Granolah's mother

Granolah wakes up and sees Bardock's tail, but Monaito uses a technique to put him back to sleep. I thought that was an interesting choice. That's why Granolah assumed the Saiyans killed his family, since it's only what he remembers.

The Heeters arrive at the house, and Bardock, now wearing a cloak, pretends to be an enemy about to hurt Granolah, his mom and Monaito. He's trying to trick the Heeters into leaving them to him so they can survive. He tells them to spare the Namekian because Namekians have mysterious powers. Elec, being as nasty as he is, doesn't care. He agrees to spare the Namekian but says the other two have to die, and he shoots at Granolah's mom. Bardock says enough is enough and attacks, but Gas protects Elec.

If I'm being critical, I would have preferred a bit more fighting here. I'd have liked to see Bardock take them on, though I also feel he'd probably have been wiped out by Gas, based on how they're building Gas up and how easily he deflected Bardock's shot. Maybe it's just that I want to see Bardock fight again. Apart from Episode of Bardock and Dragon Ball Heroes, we haven't seen him in a real scuffle in the main storyline since the Bardock special. I do hope we get more Bardock stories, because there are probably a lot more adventures he went on over the years.

Elec killed Granolah's mother, and the hunt for the last Dragon Ball begins

Bardock escapes, the Heeters get angry, and we find out that the wound Granolah's mom suffered is indeed fatal. So the big secret is that the Heeter gang, Elec specifically, murdered Granolah's mom. Granolah is going to be furious. They've just angered the strongest warrior in the universe, and there will be a price to pay. Frieza might still be a potential target for Granolah, but Elec's days may be numbered if Granolah has anything to say about it.

There still appears to be more to this story, because it's teased that Gas and Bardock are about to fight. We may see that in the next chapter, although I'm not 100 percent sure, because the chapter ends with Elec and Gas talking in the present about what happened 40 years ago, and it's almost implied that Bardock may have beaten Gas. I'm not sure that's really what happened.

The cliffhanger heading into chapter 78 is that Elec has one of the two Dragon Balls from planet Cereal, and Macky says now is the time to find the other. This is a turning point in the Dragon Ball Super manga. Granolah knows the truth, and the Heeters are hunting for the last Dragon Ball. If they get those Dragon Balls, we might have a real problem handling them, especially if Gas gets powered up like Granolah.

I really like this chapter. I was not a big fan of chapter 76, but I really do enjoy chapter 77. Yes, there was some contrived writing, and yes, there were some nitpicks, but overall I enjoyed it. I liked what we saw from Bardock, from Granolah's mom and from Monaito, and I like that we took a break from the present to go back to the past. That's all refreshing to me.

What did you think of chapter 77?