Dragon Ball Super chapter 28: is the manga's Beerus brawl better?

Dragon Ball Super manga chapter 28 took a different route from the anime. Instead of mortals fighting in an exhibition match, Toyotarou had every God of Destruction pile into the ring against Beerus. Seeing the gods rumble was a lot of fun, but I wasn't sure I liked it more than the anime version.

The chapter picked up after Goku directly disobeyed Whis and Beerus. He went to visit Zeno to set up the multi-universe tournament the Omni King had mentioned at the end of the Universe 6 vs Universe 7 tournament, a couple of arcs earlier.

Chapter 28 makes clear the two Zenos chose to erase universes before Goku arrived

The chapter opened with the two Zenos playing what can only be described as intergalactic chess. While they played, they discussed the 12 universes. In this version, the two Omni Kings had already talked it over and decided to destroy eight universes and leave only four, all before Goku even showed up.

Toyotarou hammered this point home harder than the anime did. He made sure readers were aware that Goku was not guilty when it came to the destruction of the universes.

When Goku appeared to remind them about the multiversal tournament, the present Zeno said he had forgotten, and the Omni King agreed to it. The Grand Priest told Goku the tournament would begin in 40 hours. He then contacted the gods of the other universes with his angelic staff. I have theorized that the Grand Priest having that staff could mean he is the angel to Zeno.

The Grand Priest's call gave a look at the other Gods of Destruction

The Grand Priest's call led into a montage in which Toyotarou showed the other Gods of Destruction and what they were doing in their universes. It gave readers more of a peek at how those universes look and more of the other gods' personalities. I enjoyed this part of the manga, and I wish the anime had done something like it. One of my complaints about Super is that we don't see enough of the other universes, and I think the writers greatly minimized how interesting it is to visit these places.

One scene I found interesting had the Universe 10 God of Destruction interrogating Gowasu about Zamasu and the crime Zamasu had committed. At least in the manga, the God of Destruction knew about it. Some of us had thought it was hidden from the other gods, but apparently he somehow knew. The call from the Grand Priest interrupted them, though not before the Universe 10 God of Destruction demanded that Gowasu never tell anyone about Zamasu and what he did.

My personal favorite was Vermoud, the Universe 11 God of Destruction. He was throwing a party, surrounded by what you might call servant girls, celebrating having been a God of Destruction for 87,971,155 days or some crazy number like that. He seemed more humble in the anime, but here he was a little arrogant, and I like that, especially since he has the Pride Troopers. They had not yet been introduced in the manga.

The gods questioned the two Zenos, and Toppo appeared as Vermoud's successor

A minute after the call, everyone was ready to go except the Universe 8 Kaioshin, who was presumably in the bathroom. The rest of the Kaioshin, gods and angels appeared before Zeno and bowed in respect.

I could be misremembering the anime, but I don't recall the Gods of Destruction there ever questioning why there were now two Zenos. In the manga it was brought up, and I was happy it was.

The gods also asked why a mortal was present. They meant Goku, but he wasn't the only mortal there. Toppo was there as well, and Vermoud made it clear he was training Toppo to eventually replace him as God of Destruction. So the manga was already telling readers that Toppo was very strong this early on. Unlike in the anime, he wasn't cloaked. He was visible and shown.

A Gods of Destruction rumble replaced the Zen Exhibition Match

Once the missing universe arrived, the Grand Priest announced the upcoming Tournament of Power. Just like in the anime, the future Zeno had never seen the previous tournament or any exhibition match. In the anime, that led to the Universe 7 vs Universe 9 Zen Exhibition Match. Toyotarou didn't take that direction. Rather than having mortals fight, he brought all the Gods of Destruction into the ring to showcase a preview of what would become the Tournament of Power battle royale.

That meant no fight between the Trio de Dangers and Gohan, Buu and Goku. Instead there was a Royal Rumble, if you will, among the Gods of Destruction, which I thought was an awesome idea. I liked how Champa admitted he hadn't been training for quite some time.

Quitela saw the fight as a chance to prove who the top God of Destruction was. The chapter played up his rivalry with Beerus, with Quitela claiming he had once defeated Beerus. Beerus said no, it was only arm wrestling. In the anime, Beerus also talks about a God of Destruction who beat him at arm wrestling, and now we know it was Quitela, at least in the manga. We can presume the same for the anime, though I didn't see it becoming a major point.

Why the other gods ganged up on Beerus

The other Gods of Destruction blamed Goku for all this, and as expected, Beerus caught the heat for it. Apparently the other gods already didn't like Beerus. Long before Goku even existed, there was a hide and seek contest, and Beerus slept through it. That greatly angered the Omni King, so Beerus was a marked man when the exhibition began and all the Gods of Destruction came at him.

It was awesome. I've criticized Toyotarou's storytelling in the manga before, but his action scenes are top notch, especially when he throws in bonus fights that weren't in the anime. Beerus knocked the other gods around, and Whis explained to Goku that Beerus could do that because he was allowing his body to make the movements rather than overthinking. Whis had been trying to tell Goku that for many chapters.

Mosco, the Universe 3 God of Destruction, managed to trap Beerus, but Beerus powered his way out in impressive fashion to avoid getting clobbered. In one great scene, Beerus tricked the other gods into attacking Champa, who they thought was him. Just because you're a God of Destruction doesn't mean you have great eyesight. Beerus fired ki blasts at the gods, but Sidra put up a shield to protect everyone. As Sidra gloated, Vermoud came up and kicked him in the mouth, sending him away.

The chapter ended with the fight continuing into the next chapter and Goku excited at the prospect of seeing these gods rumble, which would become inspiration for the Tournament of Power.

Manga rumble or anime exhibition match: pros and cons

Seeing the gods rumble was a lot of fun, and I hoped to see more of it, because I didn't feel the anime had shown these gods fighting as often as I would have wanted. Still, I felt the Zen Exhibition Match was very important for the anime. It established the Universe 9 characters and previewed a Goku versus Toppo rivalry, which I thought the manga might still get to in the next chapter. It also introduced Jiren by name when Toppo bragged about him.

The anime match also gave us the Majin Buu versus Basil fight, which could have been the last time we ever saw Majin Buu in that kind of fight. Hopefully not, but you never know. It was presumed the manga would skip the Zen Exhibition Matches entirely.

One thing I really enjoyed was that chapter 28 didn't put the focus on Goku. It took time to introduce the other Gods of Destruction, which I wanted the anime to do more of, because it doesn't always have to be about Goku. Was Beerus the strongest God of Destruction? My answer then was that he might be, but the fight wasn't over yet. Both versions had their pros and cons, and I would have liked to see both in the anime, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.