Dragon Ball Super Beerus episode 4: is it skippable?

Episode 4 of Dragon Ball Super Beerus, titled God of the Saiyans, is the worst episode of the series so far. If you already know this story, it's almost entirely skippable. The first half is a rock paper scissors gag that drags on far too long. The second half isn't much more thrilling, although it does end with Goku becoming the Super Saiyan God.

Episode 3 was the weakest of the first three, and this one moves the story into the history of the Super Saiyan God. We already know that history. The original story came out 13 years ago with Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013), and not much of it has changed.

Yamoshi Never Shows Up in Episode 4

In 2017, Akira Toriyama revealed the backstory of Yamoshi in an interview. That gave us more context about who the Super Saiyan God was. Before this episode aired, I said I wouldn't expect to see Yamoshi in episode 4.

It would be awesome if we got a good look at him, and it wouldn't even require new voice work. It's just not something I expected. To be honest, I'm not even sure we'll ever see Yamoshi. I hope so. But it might be one of those Toriyama statements that stays a statement, without even a flashback.

Not only did they not show Yamoshi here, they didn't even show the silhouette from Battle of Gods with the Vegeta hair that people think is Yamoshi. We got nothing like that. Shenron just talks about the Super Saiyan God. I thought that could have been so much cooler. There could have been some good visual aids there.

The Beerus and Oolong Rock Paper Scissors Gag Takes Up Half the Episode

The episode opens with the tense rock paper scissors game between Beerus and Oolong. I was never a big fan of this in the extended cut of the Battle of Gods movie. It was short enough there to be harmless, around three minutes or maybe even less.

The 2015 Dragon Ball Super version was different. That was the entire eighth episode, and it dragged. I guess the idea of putting it back in was to add some levity to the story. To me, they took way too long. The entire first half of this episode was the rock paper scissors game.

I know it's a recurring gag in Dragon Ball, and I know even the Japanese love rock paper scissors. You didn't need half an episode for it. The whole thing could have been cut. They could have gone straight to Beerus threatening to destroy the Earth and then Goku showing up, and it would have been fine. If they wanted the joke in there, they could have wrapped it up in two minutes.

There were some good moments. When Beerus is about to threaten the planet, there's a dark musical theme that's great. The original version of Goku showing up had an awful soundtrack. The 2015 version, not the movie, had no music at all. It was silent to build up the tension. Still, the first half was a waste of time.

Shenron Gets a CG Look and Speaks Telepathically

Goku's idea is to summon the dragon, so they do. In this version, it seems they reanimated Shenron to give him a CG look. You can tell it's new because Shenron appears to speak almost telepathically, so his mouth doesn't match what he says.

In Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and even GT, his jaw moved up and down when he spoke. Here his jaw is left gaping open while he speaks. I guess that might be a cool effect. Maybe Toriyama always intended it that way and we never knew until now. I don't know. I can't answer that question. But it was weird and took some getting used to.

Shenron tells Beerus and everybody else about the Super Saiyan God legend and the ritual requiring six Saiyans. It's the same as in the 2015 Dragon Ball Super version. Then the dragon dissipates.

Next comes a very brief flashback, mostly still images, from episode 2 of the 2015 series, Vegeta's family vacation. In my review of episode 1, I talked about fans who missed that material. If you wanted it back, they did put it back, a couple of episodes later as a flashback. I've always thought most of the Vegeta family vacation was fun, but I didn't need a whole episode of it.

The Ritual Looks Better, but Videl's Pregnancy Reveal Loses Its Emotion

The art for the ritual has improved quite a bit, with the characters far more on model than in 2015. Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Vegeta and Goku come together, and seeing the whole ship shake was cool. Then Whis tells them they need one more Saiyan. That's when Videl reveals she's pregnant with Pan.

In Battle of Gods, this is one of my favorite moments in all of Dragon Ball. Gohan finds out Videl is pregnant, and he's so happy that he picks her up and spins her around. It's probably the most human scene, or one of the most human scenes, in Dragon Ball. It's the joy on Gohan's face when he finds out that his wife is pregnant with their soon to be revealed daughter. We know the baby is Pan, but the characters don't yet.

It was one of the smartest things Toriyama did when he wrote the Battle of Gods script. It was a great way to fit Videl's pregnancy reveal into the story and it created a great emotional moment. The 2015 version had a lot less emotion, and this one probably has even less. Gohan was happy, but he didn't react the way he did in the movie. That's why I keep saying the definitive way to experience Battle of Gods is going to be the movie.

Super Saiyan God Gets a Stronger Golden Aura

There are lots of new effects for the Super Saiyan God scene, including a very strong golden aura. It was all done to make everything feel more grandiose and epic. The 2015 TV version of the ritual was always a bit more epic than the film, in my opinion, even though the film is faster and probably has the best soundtrack for that scene. I love what Sumitomo did with it. This version takes the TV approach and adds more visuals.

The golden aura then turns red. While that happens, Beerus remembers his dream of the Super Saiyan God. The episode ends with a flamelike glow dissipating off Goku's body as he's revealed as the Super Saiyan God with magenta hair.

Some fans are new to Dragon Ball, so here's some history. In 2013, before Battle of Gods was out, an image of this form leaked to the internet. It was a picture taken at a door at Toei Animation's studios. People hated it. For a long time, many compared it to Kaio-ken. Then, I guess after Super Saiyan Blue came out, a group of fans started saying they missed Super Saiyan God. It became nostalgic even though it wasn't that old. I've always found it interesting how people flipped on it over time.

When I first saw the picture, I didn't think it was all that cool either. But in the Battle of Gods movie, with the effects and the aura, it looks much better. To me, the aura and the lighting effects are ultimately what make Super Saiyan God. It's the same with Ultra Instinct, which is why I'm looking forward to the Moro arc and the return of Ultra Instinct to animation.

Goku vs Beerus in the Next Two Episodes Could Be the Best Version of the Fight

The next two episodes will tell a lot, because they're going to be entirely Goku, as Super Saiyan God, against Beerus. They're going to feature a lot of new animation, new aspects of the fight, and redrawn and fixed up material from the past. This could end up being the best version of that fight. That remains to be seen.

I was hoping for more than two episodes of Goku versus Beerus, but they can fit a lot into two episodes if they give us some good sequences. Those episodes should at least be fun and exciting for action, though I'm not expecting any major changes. Overall, the movie is still going to be the peak for me, and I don't see this series changing that for the Battle of Gods story. For Resurrection F and Universe 6, we'll see, because there are some big changes coming to improve those.

If you're familiar with this story, this episode is worth skipping entirely. Most of you already know what happens, and the Super Saiyan God transformation scene will probably be all over social media anyway. That's all you really need to see.