REVIEW: ‘Dragon Ball Super: Beerus’ Episode 1 — “The God Who Destroys”

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 1, “The God Who Destroys,” produced by Toei Animation, returns to the beginning of Dragon Ball Super with a more focused presentation as the God of Destruction, Beerus (Koichi Yamadera, Ghost in the Shell), awakens and begins his journey to find the Super Saiyan God worthy of challenging him.

If you are a long-time fan of Akira Toriyama’s world and watched Super when it originally aired over a decade ago, there may not be much to call you back to this slimmed-down version of the story. Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 1 trims “unnecessary” elements from the first two episodes of the original series to make it faster-paced. 

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 1 smoothly introduces the key characters.

It cuts out Goten and Kid Trunks shopping for presents, Videl and Gohan enjoying married life, and even seemingly related but not strictly “necessary” moments like Hercule’s press conference about the 100 million Zeni. The only characters that matter in this version are Beerus, Goku (Masako Nozawa, Star Wars: Visions), and Vegeta (Ryo Horikawa, Mononoke The Movie Chapter II), and we only get the latter two when it comes to their training regimens. 

While you could argue that nothing is lost through most of these removals, taking out Vegeta, Kid Trunks (Takeshi Kusao, Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers), and Bulma’s (Aye Hisakawa, Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop) family vacation feels like a genuinely bad choice. With Dragon Ball Z’s ending, we saw Vegeta begin his path to being a non-villainous character, and one can easily argue that this outing is an important follow-up to that development. Omitting it feels like a choice that removes this critical arc for the character. 

On its own, without reference to the original run, Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 1 smoothly introduces the key characters in its upcoming battles. We get a strong sense of who Beerus is as he and Whis (Masakazu Morita, Bleach) journey across the stars, while also reintroducing the iconic Goku. Despite the narrowed focus, this episode still has plenty of Dragon Ball‘s trademark humor, keeping it true to its creator’s style. 

If you’re just in it for the action, Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 1 could be for you.

Despite this slimmed-down version retaining some of the original’s charm, it still feels lacking without the side stories. Even though Super’s action focuses far more closely on Vegeta and Goku than other entries in the franchise, the larger cast still deserves its time. Each has fans, and each is part of the world’s story; omitting them feels like missing a major element of what has always made Dragon Ball a beloved franchise, all to get to the action.

From the visual side, Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 1 redoes a couple of moments to enhance them. Most notable is Beerus’ fight with the transforming alien who slays a dinosaur. The fight has been redone, with more attention paid to details like the alien’s aura. Originally, its power-up came with a generic white aura; here, it is a more detailed, blazing crimson for added visual impact.  The brief fight also uses different camera angles and a couple of slightly changed elements, making it more engaging, but it plays out the same. 

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 1 sets its priorities clearly, letting any fan know what to expect from the series. If you just want to get to the action the Dragon Ball franchise is known for, this could be for you. If you love the world and personality of Toriyama’s beloved franchise, this will likely be an unnecessary watch. 

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 1 is streaming on Crunchyroll.