Dragon Ball Super Chapter 86 Review: Gas Falls, but the Granola Arc Climax Does Not Stick the Landing

Gas has seemingly been beaten in Dragon Ball Super manga chapter 86, with Granola landing the final shot after nearly every major player in the arc pitches in. The chapter is better than last month, but as the climax of an arc I found it a big disappointment, and the return of one particular Goku technique has me genuinely conflicted.

Chapter 85 left a lot to be desired. The pacing really slowed down, and it felt like a hamster spinning in its wheel with nothing really progressing. A lot of folks felt this way, not just me. With chapter 86 the pacing takes a complete shift, and a lot happens. I mean a lot.

Gas transforms and dominates Goku, but his new power comes at a cost

The fight with Gas, after many months, has seemingly come to an end. I say seemingly because the way this chapter ends does not necessarily guarantee we will not see him again, either in the next chapter or in the months that follow. The chapter also confirms a lot of what we speculated about last month: Gas did indeed transform, getting a huge power boost as well as a speed boost, and he dominates Goku for the entire first part of the chapter.

I think they tried their best to entertain us with this fight, because the creativity on display does some different things. Gas can now create tornadoes that trap Goku so he can blast him, and he can increase the size of certain body parts, like his fist and his feet.

Gas nonetheless shows that his new power may come with a cost. He talks himself about how the cells in his body are burning like fuel, and telling Goku that is not really a good idea, because Goku is one to pick up on an opponent's weaknesses, and he has taken advantage of that in the past.

Goku's emotional Ultra Instinct is not quite a Bardock parallel

During this fight Goku is using his new modified variation of Ultra Instinct, where he taps into his emotions more. The reasoning is that Goku finds himself a more comfortable fighter when he can draw on his emotions for power, as opposed to using the mastered, completed Ultra Instinct with the silver hair. That does not mean we will not see the silver hair, because it does make its return shortly, but in his own mind Goku feels this is the best way to combat Gas.

A lot of folks have drawn parallels between Goku's approach against Gas and what Bardock did against Gas in the past. I can see that, but from my perspective there are not as many parallels there as others may think. With Bardock, the wish was the key. Here there are no wishes. Goku is using his will and his intelligence as a fighter to try to beat Gas.

Granola returns with a plan inspired by Bardock's voice

Then, in a surprising but much needed twist, Granola returns to the battlefield after we have not seen him for quite a few months. This is the Granola arc, and he is back to do some interesting things. Logically, I thought Granola would be chomping at the bit to get back in there and smash Gas, Elec and the rest of the gang. Instead he changes his strategy and decides to hurt Goku, which may be confusing at first, but there is a method to his madness.

Granola says he heard the voice of Bardock in a dream. There are a couple of ways to interpret this. Either he literally had a dream about Bardock while resting, or when he was knocked out decades ago he could still hear what was going on and had a PTSD type of moment where his brain remembered the trauma. This actually happens to people in real life under hypnosis: you can be hypnotized to remember events deeply rooted in your brain that you had forgotten about. Either way, Granola is not turning on Goku and rejoining the Heeters, as some thought he was going to do. This is all part of the plan.

Goku plays the Vegeta role, buying time while Granola charges

Granola begins to charge up a big ball of energy to launch at the Heeters, and Goku steps in to buy him some time. I found this an interesting role reversal, because how many times throughout Dragon Ball have we seen the opposite, whether in the Tournament of Power or against Majin Buu, with Vegeta stalling for time while Goku powers up? The Buu saga did this pretty much first, and probably at its best. Here, Goku is the punching bag for Gas while Granola powers up.

Gas keeps using his body part enlargement technique, for lack of a better term, to pummel Goku, who takes the punishment in the Vegeta role. Goku the protector goes above and beyond: when Gas notices Granola powering up and attacks him, Goku creates a barrier that deflects Gas's blast. The fact that Goku's barrier was strong enough to deflect one of Gas's blasts should have been the first indicator that Gas's body was beginning to weaken. I do not know how many people picked up on that, but I saw it clear as day as the beginning of the end for Gas.

Vegeta and Monaito step in as the fight reaches its climax

Gas decides to let it all out and knocks Goku unconscious with a barrage of ki blasts. At this point you would think Granola would be easy pickings, but Vegeta finally steps back in to help. He yells at Granola to hurry up and finish, because even though Gas does seem to be weakening, there is not much left for anybody. Vegeta is tired, Goku is knocked out, Gas has been through several wars and even Granola is not at max power. I like the sense of urgency here. It feels like the culmination of a very important Dragon Ball fight, and based on how they wrote this, we are without question approaching the end of the arc.

Vegeta is not the only one to get involved. Oil and his fellow Heeter jump in to help Gas, but they get cut off by Monaito of all people, who busts out a hypnotic spell and puts them to sleep. If we are being honest, Monaito has been the poster boy for useless characters throughout most of this arc. He has a story with Granola, but beyond that he has not done much. He comes in with a move we have never seen him use, with no foreshadowing that I can remember.

On one hand, I appreciate that Monaito actually did something, and it makes the fight feel bigger that even he is getting involved. On the other hand, the technique came out of nowhere. Sometimes that is not a problem, but this one really felt like it.

The giant spirit Goku from the Moro arc returns, and I am conflicted

Granola's attack is finally finished, and Vegeta takes the Piccolo approach, trying to hold Gas so Granola can hit him. Gas breaks free of the exhausted Vegeta and goes right for Granola, until Goku suddenly awakens in a big way. He brings back the technique he used to defeat Moro: creating a giant spirit clone of himself. In the Moro arc, I remember that being one of the most polarizing decisions made by Toyotaro, and presumably Toriyama. Half the people did not like it and half did, and there were comparisons to The Legend of Korra and other anime.

I never really had an issue with it then, because Goku had to punch a giant crystal in Moro's forehead, so turning into a spirit giant made sense. Here it feels like just a callback, so it is less effective, less cool and less creative the second time around. This time the giant Goku grabs Gas, like King Kong grabbing a woman in the old films, and launches him into the sky. This has got to be one of the most ridiculous scenes in all of the Dragon Ball manga.

I know there is going to be a huge debate over whether this was cool or lame, and I am conflicted myself. Seeing giant Goku grab somebody and launch them like a great ape is kind of cool, wacky and over the top, something Toriyama would have written back in the 80s. But it does not seem that effective here. It feels like Toyotaro showing off, saying he came up with this technique and is going to find another way to use it. I would have hoped Goku would come up with a different technique or awaken differently. When he does wake up, he is in his completed, silver haired Ultra Instinct form, and that is good. Still, "I'm about 55 for it, 45 against it," or maybe the other way around. I think I have to let it marinate until the arc is truly over before I give my final thoughts.

Granola wins in a team effort, but the final pages feel rushed

To round things off, Granola is about to finish Gas but cannot see him, so another ally steps in to give him the vision to properly snipe Gas. Granola does so and gets the victory. After a long and drawn out battle, we are led to believe Gas has finally been beaten. His body comes down, and Oil and his comrade go check on him, which shows a bit of a humanistic side to them. We have seen hints a couple of times that they might not be as evil or manipulative as Elec.

I can understand what Toyotaro was going for. He wanted everybody who was a major player in the arc to get involved: Vegeta helping, Goku helping, Granola getting the finishing blow, with help even from Monaito. I actually feel that was effective. It made it feel like a team effort, with the Heeters as one family and family bonds on the other side through Monaito and Granola's relationship and how they relate to Bardock, Goku's father. There always seem to be six degrees of separation in Dragon Ball, maybe a bit too much, but I appreciated the attempt.

The pacing of the last few pages, though, was the opposite of the entire last chapter. I do not know this for certain, but it really feels like Toyotaro may have been told by his editor, or even by Toriyama himself, to wrap it up. This chapter could have been spaced out more and bled into the previous one, instead of that chapter spinning its wheels. To me, that is a fundamental flaw of the last two chapters. The story may read better binged: a couple of friends told me the Moro arc is easier to read that way, and a lot of folks have said the same about the Granola arc. I have not done it myself, so I cannot comment, but waiting a month, getting spoilers and speculating, fun as it is, does change how we feel about the story.

Letting Elec go is the moment I do not like at all

Then comes what I call the dumbo moment of this chapter. Granola tells the Heeters to leave the planet, go home and never come back, the same thing Goku told Frieza and many others. I understand Toyotaro is showing that Granola has changed, that revenge is no longer his main driving force, and that he has forgiven the Saiyans and moved on. That is development, and he is a different person than he was at the start of the arc.

At the same time, I do not care about Oil and his comrade, and maybe Granola was not really talking to Elec, but Elec should not get a free pass. Elec has manipulated everything, has been the mastermind and, most importantly, killed Granola's mother. Everybody reading this manga can relate to that to some degree. Elec needs to die at the hands of Granola, and I have been saying this for months. If Elec escapes and gets killed by somebody other than Granola, it almost ruins the entire arc, which is not my favorite and has a lot of problems already. That would be bad storytelling 101.

Elec could be a changed man after meeting Goku; we have seen that happen to plenty of Goku's former enemies, and Granola is just another person like that. But Granola should still not forgive Elec, because Elec did all these things and brought the Saiyans to his planet to start it. I like that Granola will eventually forgive Goku and Vegeta, who were kids when it all went down. When I wrote this, the next chapter had yet to confirm whether Gas was truly finished or what Elec had in store, and whether we would see Seven-Three, I did not know.

My verdict: better than last month, but a disappointing climax

Overall, the chapter was better than last month, but as the climax of an arc it is a big disappointment. Goku turning giant again felt very repetitive and, even though the first time was a couple of years earlier, it seemed less important and more pointless here. When he grabs Gas and throws him, that is kind of funny to me, but they could have come up with something more creative. That use of the technique is way less effective.

Even though I appreciated using everybody, this did not feel like the show closing main event people were hoping for. It felt that way a couple of chapters earlier, but I think Toyotaro lost momentum, and "it did not stick the landing in my opinion." It is a straight up thumbs in the middle chapter for me, and I really hope the next arc is better, because this one has been back and forth in quality.

So where do you land on giant Goku hurling Gas into the sky: cool callback or lame repeat?