Dragon Ball Super Manga Chapter 89 Review: Beta the Android Steals the Show From Trunks and Mai

Dragon Ball Super manga chapter 89 continues the Super Hero prequel story, picking up right after Trunks and Goten discovered they are not superheroes and found a disc in Dr Hedo's laboratory that belonged to his grandfather. My overall takeaway is that this chapter was fine but nothing truly extraordinary, and it left me with little desire to ever read it again.

This Chapter Reads More Like a Spider-Man Comic Than Dragon Ball

This chapter felt like exactly what I predicted last month: this arc, or at least this part of it, is very episodic, with each chapter playing almost like its own self-contained story. Even though they all link up through the adventures of Goten, Trunks, Saiyaman X1 and X2, and Dr Hedo, the tone felt different. "It felt like an American comic, it felt like something that is more relatable to a Spider-Man comic than a Dragon Ball manga," and I don't mean that as a criticism necessarily, though I do think some hardcore manga readers may be turned off by this style of writing.

I don't mind it myself, but if this style goes on for too long, I think it's going to get long in the tooth. There really wasn't much here that provided replay value. I can read this chapter and be done with it, it is kind of a one and done experience. To be honest, a lot of Dragon Ball Super manga chapters give me that same feeling, since a lot of the material just is not very good. Some of it is good, some of it is not, and this one landed somewhere in the middle.

Trunks and Mai's Relationship Takes a Stranger Turn

I liked seeing Trunks and Mai in high school interacting with the other students, including Trunks playing basketball. I enjoy that slice of life material. That said, the Trunks and Mai relationship has been pretty controversial, and I criticized it last month. In this chapter it appears to be continuing but heading in a different direction than I expected. Bulma knows Mai is not really a teenager and is aware of that fact, which makes me wonder what her part in this quote unquote romance is going to be going forward.

A lot of the chapter involves Trunks trying to show off for Mai, essentially simping on her, but later we learn Mai still has memories of having a crush on Future Trunks from the Goku Black era, not the current Trunks. That makes me wonder whether it's because Future Trunks is older that she finds him attractive, or because Future Trunks has a different attitude. Present timeline Trunks is a teenager who comes off more like a spoiled kid, while Future Trunks was a lonely warrior in a post-apocalyptic world with a real sense of heroism. This Trunks just comes off like kind of a kid, and I think the writing here may have hurt his character, even if it doesn't take away from his future potential.

What bothered me more is that his kid sister is now better at technology than he is. Trunks and his sister are both children of Bulma and grandchildren of Dr Brief, highly intelligent people, so having Trunks infect the computer with a virus that his sister then fixes felt weird to me. I've heard both sides of this: some are fine with the daughter being the smart one while the boy is more like Vegeta, and others think this is pushing a "woke agenda" and turning Bulla into a Mary Sue. I think it's too soon to say that, but I do feel like this took something away from Trunks, and that idea of him not knowing computers doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Introducing Beta: Dr Hedo's Terminator-Style Infiltration Android

This chapter introduces a new Android called Beta. The previous chapter showed us the earlier android models Dr Hedo created, and now we're down to the Beta model. This Android is conceptually similar to a Terminator, an infiltration unit programmed by Dr Hedo to retrieve the data disc that was taken from his laboratory. Beta shows up as a new student at the same school, with a cybernetic chip connected to Dr Hedo's computer that lets him see everything. He knows the person who took the disc had blonde hair, which of course points to Trunks in his transformed state.

I didn't love that Trunks was unable to recognize Beta as an Android while Mai was. It made me wonder if Trunks is being portrayed as a little dumb in this arc, though it's not enough to sour the chapter for me, just a minor annoyance I could have done without.

What I did think was pretty cool is that Beta is a different type of Android from the Alpha models, not just because of the infiltration role but because he has a battle jacket called Beta 2. It's different from how the Gamma androids work, which function as two separate personalities. Beta and Beta 2 function together as an upgrade, more like armor than its own sentient being, with Beta controlling Beta 2.

Goten Still Stuck as Trunks's Sidekick, But Gets More to Do

Goten has, in a way, been delegated to being Trunks's sidekick, and there's no question the focus of this part of the story is on Trunks. I know a lot of Goten fans wonder why he never gets much focus, and it's true even in GT, where Trunks went on an adventure with Goku and Pan while Goten stayed on Earth. This chapter continues that pattern, but Goten did more here than in the previous chapter, actually getting involved in the battle.

Besides Dr Hedo's entertaining character, the thing I enjoyed most about this chapter was Beta himself. I was hoping there would be more Beta models. I would have preferred if he'd shown up at the high school and stayed there for a few more chapters before we found out who he really was, keeping readers wondering whether he's human, maybe even giving him a fake name before revealing Beta as his real one. That could have been executed in a far more interesting way. Instead it played out as very predictable and not especially creative.

The Climax: Trunks Saves Mai and Dr Hedo's Design Inspiration Revealed

The big climax of the chapter is Trunks saving Mai, which is a big deal for his character, along with the fight against Beta involving Saiyaman X1 and X2, and Mai's vision of Future Trunks that I mentioned earlier. The takeaway from that fight is that Dr Hedo witnessed Saiyaman X1 and X2 in action, and it's implied that his design ideas for what would become the Gamma models were somewhat inspired by their costumes.

I could kind of see that myself, since the gray coloring with the technological look and the capes does resemble Gamma One and Two. If I remember correctly, in the Dragon Ball Super Super Hero movie there's an actual hero that Gamma One's look is based on, so it seems Dr Hedo was inspired by both the appearance of Saiyaman X1 and X2 and that real in-universe hero.

Dr Hedo's Storyline Remains the Most Interesting Part of This Arc

Dr Hedo is very entertaining, and I like where his story seems to be heading, including the idea that he's going to keep making new Androids. I'm guessing the Gamma models come next, but part of me hopes they do another android model first, since I'm enjoying the different Android designs and how that story is progressing little by little.

I've said before that the Dr Hedo material is the most interesting part of this arc right now. The Trunks, Goten, and Mai stuff I'm not as into, since a lot of it plays like another modern version of the Great Saiyaman arc, complete with some of the same jokes. I do appreciate the change of pace of putting them in high school, since it gives the story a fresh coat of paint we haven't seen in the Dragon Ball Super manga in a long time. Still, the different Androids Dr Hedo is going to make are what have me looking forward to the next chapter.

Do you think Trunks is being written as a bit of a dummy in this arc, or are you fine with how his character has been handled?