Dragon Ball Super episode 98 recap and review: “Universal Survival Saga: All in Vain! The Universes Despair!”

The latest episode of Dragon Ball Super sees the epic team-up of Goku and Vegeta as they attempt to fight off Universe 9’s attacks.

Dragon Ball Super‘s “Universal Survival Saga” focuses on the Tournament of Power. The tournament involves eight out of the twelve existing universes. Ten of the strongest in each universe will fight in a “Battle Royale” style match. The losing universes will be eliminated by the Omni-Kings.

In the previous episode, the Tournament of Power finally began. The beginning of the tournament lived up to the epic hype that has surrounded the event ever since it was announced. With many fights occurring at once, we knew we were in store for a ride. We also witnessed the first two eliminations of the tournament. What will this episode have in store?

WARNING: Spoilers for the Episode Ahead

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The episode begans where the last one left off. Goku was surrounded by Universe 9 fighters, who had one intention in mind — eliminate him from the tournament. Goku was immediately on the ropes after being triple-teamed by the Trio de Dangers — the warriors who fought Universe 7 in the Exhibition Match.

Vegeta (while being annoyed that Goku couldn’t handle himself) caught a glimpse of Goku’s predicament and opted to help him out . The two stood side by side (or back to back to be more literal) as eight Universe 9 warriors surrounded them.

Meanwhile, another Universe 9 competitor found himself in unfortunate circumstances. When Frieza saw Goku having fun, he wanted to create his own fun. It was at that moment when he was confronted by a Universe 9 warrior, who Frieza ended up using as his “plaything.” The warrior eventually couldn’t handle Frieza and chose to eliminate himself from the tournament.

Back to Goku and Vegeta, who manage to sustain a barrage from Universe 9’s warriors. They learned from their previous battle and created a barrier from the poison utilized by Lavender. Universe 9’s warriors made one crucial mistake which ultimately cost them everything.

After backing Vegeta into a corner, they rushed to end things and ultimately got too sloppy. Being the warriors they are, Goku and Vegeta capitalized on this. Transforming to the Super Saiyan form, they both eliminated Universe 9’s competitors one by one until it was just the Trio de Dangers left.

The Trio stood at the edge of the fighting stage, and in one last defiant attack, fired their Ki attacks at the two Saiyans. However, Goku and Vegeta transformed into their Super Saiyan Blue forms and fired the Kamehameha and Final Canon attacks to eliminate their enemies. This meant all Universe 9 warriors had been eliminated.

The episode ended with a brutal reminder of what is at stake. The Omni-Kings eliminated all of Universe 9, causing them to vanish into thin air.

Next: Dragon Ball Super Episode 97 recap

Thoughts on the Episode

Overall, the episode was another satisfying watch. It epitomized what the Tournament of Power was all about. We saw great conflict, team-ups and epic fights which culminated to the elimination of Universe 9 from existence. It was truly a chilling sight to see them eliminated, but this only breeds more excitement for future episodes to come.