Revisiting Ultra Instinct Goku vs Jiren, Dragon Ball Super's Most Intense Fight

Dragon Ball Super ended in March 2018, but the ride to the finale is still worth revisiting, starting with the fight that had everyone losing their minds at the time: Ultra Instinct Goku versus Jiren in episode 130. Without question, this was the most muscular, veiny, over the top episode in all of Dragon Ball, and that includes Z, GT, the movies, and original Dragon Ball. Nothing else in the franchise's history matched the sheer physical intensity Goku and Jiren brought to this one.

All the big animation talents were on this episode, the kind of animators who consistently do incredible work and are unfortunately underpaid for it. They all brought their greatness to this episode, and it shows in just about every frame of the confrontation between Goku and Jiren.

The Buildup Took Nearly a Full Year, Peaking in Episode 129

This fight was built up for months and months, pretty much across the entire run of the Tournament of Power once you trace it back to when the tournament began. In episode 129, Goku was already fighting Jiren and Omen, and by the end of that episode he broke his limits again, with Beerus fanboying on the sidelines over the arrival of perfected Ultra Instinct, the completed version with the silver hair.

Episode 130 itself was titled The Greatest Showdown of All Time, The Ultimate Survival Battle, and it wastes no time getting into it. Goku's incredible speed lets him blitz past Jiren and actually cut him, which was a genuinely big deal at the time.

Fans Packed a Giant Stadium to Watch Goku vs Jiren

This fight was shown on a screen in a giant stadium, packed with tens of thousands of people there specifically to watch an anime fight play out. That is a genuinely rare thing for anime to pull off, and it is worth asking whether something like that happens again. Selling out a stadium for a single episode reveal is not something that happens often in this medium.

Goku's Speed Overwhelms Jiren Before He Unleashes His Hidden Power

Once the fight gets going, Goku and Jiren trade blows with Goku showing off his speed, dodging Jiren's attacks. Jiren is not an Ultra Instinct user, but he is powerful and fast enough from whatever hidden power he carries from Universe 11 to keep pace, even though the show never really explains exactly what that power is. Back in episode 109, Jiren had blocked Super Saiyan God, Kaioken, and even the Spirit Bomb, but this fight shows a new level of speed and power from Goku entirely.

Jiren fires a massive energy blast at Goku, who simply blocks it with his arm, canceling it out and visibly shocking Jiren. The two go back to trading blows, and Jiren starts to get outmatched, unable to match Goku's Ultra Instinct speed with his key blasts. Refusing to go through the pain of losing again, tied to what happened with his family and his master in his past, Jiren powers up and shakes the entire world of void, ripping his own top in the process as he reaches full power against Goku.

At full power, Jiren glows with a magenta, purplish flame energy that comes off his body, a visual effect that is hard to replicate outside animation. Jiren screams and swings desperately while Goku, described as a quiet Ultra Instinct user, stays focused. Jiren counters an Ultra Instinct Kamehameha with his own hidden power and briefly overwhelms it, and it looks for a moment like it might be over for Goku.

Goku's Fight for His Friends Powers Him Through the Final Exchange

Goku is not dead when the fight resumes, and the two end up locked in a test of strength, holding each other's arms in a pure war of attrition while the entire world of void watches. Jiren thinks he has him, but Goku gets back up and talks about fighting for his friends and his universe, which is what gives him his power in that moment. There is a whole video I did a few years back called Goku vs Jiren, the Battle of Philosophies, where I examined what motivates Goku to fight so hard compared to what motivates Jiren, and I think it helps to understand this exact moment.

There is a genuinely beautiful scene here of Goku thinking about his friends, with Master Roshi talking over flashbacks to earlier moments in Dragon Ball, including Goku as a kid with Krillin. It shows that Goku made friends of everyone over the years, and now they are all counting on him. It is typical of what motivates Goku in this franchise, but it still works.

At one point Goku unleashes an attack that looks almost like he is projecting his energy outward, using Ultra Instinct hyper speed to pummel Jiren across his entire body, wrecking him into a broken piece of the stage. Backed against the wall, Jiren tries to attack Goku's friend, which only makes Goku angrier, and he maybe should not have done that, since it was not the right chess move for Jiren to make there. Goku lunges in with a huge right hand to Jiren's face, and Vegeta raises his fist in the air, telling Kakarot to finish him off, in what stands as one of the more epic moments in all of Dragon Ball Super.

Jiren Is Left Beaten, But Goku's Body Gives Out Before He Can Finish Him

Goku hits Jiren with an uppercut, launches him back down, and finishes with a Kamehameha that leaves Jiren pummeled and apparently defeated, lying in the crater as Goku looks down at him. But in a moment that a lot of Dragon Ball fans do not like, and one I understand the frustration with even if it is what it is, Goku's body gives out on him just before he is able to finish Jiren off and win the Tournament of Power. It sets up the need for teamwork to beat Jiren, which plays out in the following episode.

Either way, Dragon Ball Super episode 130 is perhaps the finest piece of animation ever put together during the time period of Dragon Ball Super, that or the Broly movie, take your pick. It remains an over the top mess of awesomeness worth revisiting.

Do you think an anime fight ever fills a stadium again the way Goku vs Jiren did?