Dragon Ball Super Beerus Episode 2 Redoes Goku vs Beerus, but Skips Super Saiyan 4

Episode 2 of Dragon Ball Super Beerus completely redoes the Goku versus Beerus fight from the ground up, with new animation from the very first transformation. What it doesn't do is give us Super Saiyan 4: Goku still gets walked all over by Beerus, just as he did in the original.

The episode's title translates to the god of destruction heads to Kaio's planet. That tells you right away what this is. It's the actual beginning of the Battle of Gods movie, when Beerus finally goes to King Kai's planet and meets Goku for the first time.

Episode 2 Reworks the Infamous Episode 5 of the Original Dragon Ball Super

In the original Dragon Ball Super anime, this meeting didn't happen until the infamous episode 5. If you remember the original 2015 Dragon Ball Super, episode 5 was a disaster, "a complete production catastrophe." Going all the way back to around January, I was told, and I passed on, that they were going to fix a lot of this. They were going to make Super Saiyan 3 Goku versus Beerus actually watchable instead of a laughingstock.

If you weren't around 11 years ago, you missed a lot, because I covered this and I still can't believe it. Akira Toriyama himself was very irritated with this early era of Dragon Ball Super. He commented on it, and it went public that he was let down by Dragon Ball Super and what they did with this material. That's a big reason this enhanced edition exists at all.

They did fix some of this on the home release. If you have Dragon Ball Super on Blu-ray, some of this episode was fixed. But I've been saying all year that a lot of it was going to be redone, and done to honor the memory of Akira Toriyama. There's a lot of new material in this version of Goku versus Beerus.

The Pilaf Gang, Krillin and 18, and Bulma's Yacht Party Are Cut

Before getting to the fight, it's worth going over what was cut. This episode takes elements from episodes 3, 4 and 5 of the 2015 Dragon Ball Super. A little bit comes from episode 3, mostly the Supreme Kais arguing with each other about not letting Goku, who's obsessed with fighting, meet Beerus. Goku is lifting weights, and the Oracle Fish makes its first appearance in Dragon Ball Super Beerus.

The scene of Whis and Beerus in the bathtub from the original is here, but it had a bunch of jokes that aren't in this version. Whis tells Beerus all about Son Goku, and that they're on green planet 887, also known as Earth. A scene with Krillin and 18 was cut, and all the material with Bulma's party on the yacht has been removed. To be honest, there was really no need for it, and that's going to become an element in the next episode.

Everything from episode 4 of the original, the Pilaf Gang material, has also been cut. I love the Pilaf Gang, and I love what they do in the Battle of Gods film, but a lot of that was not necessary and was a waste of time in Super episode 4. The episode does keep the last part of episode 4, when Beerus lands on King Kai's world, and then moves into episode 5 territory.

Goku Meets Beerus Face to Face, and the Tone Is More Serious

Instead of all the material where Goku hides from Beerus inside King Kai's house, they cut that out, and Goku goes and meets Beerus face to face. They build up the tension with the composer's music just for Goku to show up and say hello, which kind of kills the tension. I thought that was pretty funny and well timed. The extra dialogue between Beerus and King Kai has been totally cut from this version.

They use the same composer's music from the Tournament of Power. It sounded a little different, but it was definitely from there. The tone was definitely different too. It felt more like planet Namek Goku than the goofier Goku.

Whis reminds Beerus of the Super Saiyan God and the conversation from earlier, and of course Goku has no idea what that is. Beerus brings up Goku's fight with Frieza. There's excellent use of contrast and shading here to redo all of this and make everything seem a little more serious. King Kai is worried about Beerus going to Earth next and destroying it, and Goku, wanting to test himself, challenges Beerus to a fight. Beerus accepts.

The Goku vs Beerus Fight Is Reanimated From Scratch

The good news is that this entire sequence has been completely redone from the ground up. I'm talking about totally reanimated from scratch, and I think everyone who sees this will be impressed. It's the same story, with Goku attacking Beerus, trying to hit him and missing, while Beerus just can't be touched. They did reuse Masako Nozawa's performance from the original episode 5, so the voices for her, Beerus and everybody else are the same as in the original episode. But it was so different.

From the very beginning, even the way Goku goes Super Saiyan is new. He walks up and transitions smoothly into Super Saiyan. When he goes Super Saiyan 2, there's new animation and more electricity, and it's just incredible. Goku goes in with huge fury and a huge combination of attacks, all new, and Beerus still isn't touched. What they added are actual digital effects put into the scene all around King Kai's planet, and Goku is impressed with Beerus.

Then Goku powers up to Super Saiyan 3, and the way he does it in this version is "absolutely beautiful." He takes his time with it, and there are new lightning effects. He gets so strong on King Kai's planet that he actually destroys parts of Snake Way, and we see little scenes of Snake Way breaking away. That was awesome. The brand new Super Saiyan 3 lightning aura is just the definition of aura.

Goku goes all in on Super Saiyan 3, and Beerus blocks everything with his palm. Goku does the Kamehameha while Beerus just stands there, and then Goku charges in but freezes. The premise and the story they're telling are the same. It's just with way better animation, like night and day.

No Super Saiyan 4 as Beerus Walks All Over Goku

The bad news is for anyone waiting for Super Saiyan 4 to appear after the events of Daima. I talked about this last week and throughout the summer: I did not believe they were going to do Super Saiyan 4 here, even though earlier in the year I was really hoping for it. I was pretty much aware, and I was trying to tell people to keep their expectations low, because you were probably not going to see it.

Instead, Goku gets "straight up dogwalked" by Beerus. Ironically enough, dogwalked by a cat. Another Kamehameha ends up blowing up part of King Kai's planet, blowing a hole right into it, and Goku is just shocked. Then Beerus does the flick and the smack on the arm and shoulder. Goku gets knocked back down into base, and Beerus and Whis leave on their way to Earth.

Daima Continuity Questions Are Still Open

With the Supreme Kai still being fused here, as opposed to being unfused in Daima, people were already assuming there was no continuity between the two series. That's totally understandable.

My Verdict: Go Out of Your Way to See This Version

My thoughts on the episode: I'd say go out of your way to see this version of Goku versus Beerus. If you can't watch the full episode, at the very least see the clips. Beerus walking all over Goku was pretty much the same as in the old version, but it looked a lot better.

I don't know about comparing it to Battle of Gods, because that one was so quick. But this one actually gave us more time with Super Saiyan 1 and 2, and it didn't look like garbage the way episode 5 did when the production collapsed. Episode 3 is called Earth: Here Comes the God of Destruction, and it arrives next week, covering Vegeta's run in with Beerus and everybody else at Bulma's birthday on the cruise liner.

Would you rather have seen Super Saiyan 4 show up in this fight, or does the reanimated version of the original battle work for you?