Dragon Ball Super Manga Chapter 93: The Goku vs Broly Training Fight Is the Only Good Thing in an Otherwise Pointless Retelling

Chapter 93 of the Dragon Ball Super manga gave readers one genuinely new thing: an extended look at the Goku vs Broly training fight that was teased in a brief flash during the Dragon Ball Super Super Hero trailer but never actually shown in the finished film. Everything else in the chapter is a near word for word retelling of the movie, and that combination left me both pleased and frustrated at the same time.

Chapter 93 Finally Shows the Goku vs Broly Training Fight Teased in the Super Hero Trailer

Dragon Ball Super Broly ended with Goku teasing that he was going to train Broly, but the follow up movie never delivered that scene. It bothered plenty of Broly fans that we never got it, though it did not bother me personally because we got a cool Goku and Vegeta sequence instead. Going into the Super Hero manga arc, I had been hoping Toyotaro would use the extra space to add scenes that were not in the film, and the training fight is exactly the kind of addition I wanted.

In the chapter, Whis watches from the side as Broly tries to control his rage while sparring with Goku on Beerus's planet. Broly connects with what looks like a headbutt, which I appreciated since Goku himself used to rely on headbutts as a kid. Goku comes around the sacred tree and kicks at Broly, Broly blocks it, and the two end up at a standstill before Goku flips back. It is just a training sequence rather than the fully powered up rage battle from the movie, but Broly is shown becoming a more competent fighter rather than only a rage monster, with Goku telling him "you'll get used to it bit by bit, pretty soon you'll be fighting with a level head without snapping into a rage."

Why Broly Calls Him "Son Goku" in Katakana, Not Kanji

One detail worth pointing out is that when Broly responds "I'm ready, Son Goku," the name is written in katakana rather than kanji in the original Japanese. Based on my understanding, this is meant to signal that Broly is not particularly educated and is something of a neanderthal figure because of how much of his life he has spent on Planet Vampa, not that he is unintelligent. Kanji combines a name or phrase into a single symbol, while katakana simply sounds out the vowels, so Broly sounding out "Goku" in katakana rather than kanji reflects his background.

That also ties into why Broly does not call him Kakarot here despite that becoming his signature line at the end of the movie. I have my own theory on why that line was included, having disagreed on a previous video with a guest who suggested it showed Goku accepting his Saiyan roots, since I think that acceptance happened as far back as the Frieza fight. My read is that it was a wink to Takao Koyama's original Dragon Ball Z Broly, who loved yelling "Kakarot," rather than a meaningful character beat.

Beyond That Fight, Chapter 93 Is a Complete Waste of Time for Anyone Who Saw the Movie

Outside of the Goku vs Broly sequence, I found the chapter added almost nothing. "The entire chapter was a complete waste of time if you have seen the movie," and the events were simply moved around with a little dialogue tweaked here and there. Months of speculation with a co-host about scenes that could be added, like the creation of the Gammas, the conception of Cell Max, or Broly's arrival on Beerus's planet where Goku explains that Frieza has a dangerous new form, all failed to materialize. None of that made it into the chapter.

The prequel arc that came before this, which spent three months following Trunks in high school, I described as "mid," and I think this current retelling arc is worse because it is not even offering new content, just single panel fights standing in for what the movie already showed us in motion with music and animation. My frustration is not with the idea of adapting the movie into manga form in general, since Battle of Gods was adapted two years after that film released and enough time had passed by then. The issue here is that Super Hero only came out a few months earlier, so reading the chapter felt redundant when the movie is still easily available to watch.

No Perfect Cell Max, No Adult Gotenks, and Likely Several More Chapters of This

I pushed back on chat members expecting the manga to suddenly deliver a completed Gotenks or a perfected Cell Max, since the movie never showed Cell Max functioning until he woke up at the end, and the manga follows that same beat. My expectation is that Toyotaro will not diverge from Akira Toriyama's script in any major way, so readers might see a couple of extra panels of Gohan training or a little more dialogue, but nothing that changes the outcome. Based on the pacing so far, I estimated the arc still had at least four more chapters to go, contrary to a chat suggestion that only two remained.

My advice to anyone who has not read the chapter yet was to skim through it on an official reading app and specifically look for the Goku vs Broly pages, since "there's nothing else" of note beyond that. I made clear I was not writing off the entire arc as pointless forever, and that if something substantial changes later I would cover it, but based on what has been shown across two chapters I am not optimistic that anything will.

The State of Dragon Ball Since Last Summer's Frieza Cliffhanger

Zooming out, I do not think Dragon Ball has been in a good spot since last summer. That period included the Super Hero movie release alongside a cliffhanger where Frieza returned after being absent for several arcs, defeated Ultra Instinct Goku and Ultra Ego Vegeta, and left with the Heeters. After a three month manga break, the story returned with three months of the prequel arc focused on Trunks in high school, which I found largely pointless aside from introducing Dr. Hedo early and giving Krillin more to do. Then came two chapters of the Super Hero adaptation itself, delivering the Krillin versus a bug scene and the Goku vs Broly fight as the only notable additions.

To me, the overall situation with a multi-billion dollar international franchise being handled this way is embarrassing. Roughly ninety percent of Dragon Ball fans have already seen the Super Hero movie, and rather than using the manga to add something new, the story is largely being retold beat for beat. I said plainly that Dragon Ball right now is worse off than it was in 2015, comparing the muted response to the enormous hype that surrounded Resurrection F despite that film not even being especially strong.

Toei's Treatment of Fans: Copyright Strikes and No Proper Home Releases

My frustration extends to how Toei treats the fandom more broadly. I brought up Toei going after Team Four Star and pursuing content creators with copyright claims, including creators I named as regular targets alongside myself, despite those creators following the platform's rules. I also brought up Toei sending people to anime conventions to copyright claim fan artists, preventing them from selling their own fan work.

On top of that, the home release of the Super Hero movie reportedly has a green tint issue, and when fans emailed Toei about it, the response was that the tint is intentional, which fans do not believe. I also pointed out that Dragon Ball Z and GT still have not received a proper remaster using the original broadcast audio, despite that audio having been located by fans. My view is that this is part of why fans turn to piracy, since a proper multi-language, color corrected release does not currently exist to buy.

One Piece Gets the Promotional Push While Dragon Ball Gets Digimon

I compared this to how Toei promotes One Piece, saying whoever is producing that franchise's promotional push is doing a great job, while Dragon Ball, despite being one of Toei's biggest international franchises, barely got promoted around the Super Hero release.

My suggestion, if Toriyama does not want to write new material himself, is to hire a different writer to handle new story content the way was done for Battle of Gods, with Toriyama spot checking the results, rather than continuing to retell a movie audiences have already seen.

Is Black Frieza Stronger Than Beerus, and Where Does His Story Go From Here

Responding to chat questions, I referenced an earlier video where I argued that if Black Frieza is not stronger than Beerus, the franchise's power scaling would become even harder to accept at this point, while acknowledging that we will have to wait and see. I also said I hope and think Black Frieza is the beginning of a bigger story rather than an isolated reveal, and that I am not worried about Dragon Ball's future because I believe more is coming, just frustrated with the present wait.

On whether Toriyama himself still cares about the franchise, I said I genuinely think he is still interested, but that until he speaks publicly there is no way to know for certain, adding that if he were disinterested he would be unlikely to admit it. I was also asked repeatedly about news of a new anime and reiterated that I had nothing to report, reasoning that after eight years of covering Dragon Ball news, I would have already made a video if there were something to share.

If you have seen the Super Hero movie, was Chapter 93 worth reading for the Goku vs Broly fight alone, or did the retelling feel like a waste of time to you too?