REVIEW: ‘Dragon Ball Super: Beerus’ Episode 2 — “The God Of Destruction Heads To The Planet Of The Kai”

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2, “The God of Destruction Heads To The Planet Of The Kai,” sees Beerus (Koichi Yamadera, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls) and Whis (Masakazu Morita, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War) journey to North Kai’s planet in search of information pertaining to the prophesied Super Saiyan God. But finding only Goku, Beerus is prepared to leave empty-handed when a predictable challenge is issued to him. 

The episode opens with a pair of brief scenes that further build the threat Beerus poses now that he is awake, while also reinforcing the existence of the previously mentioned Super Saiyan God. These quick moments set up the imminent confrontation the episode will focus on, as well as give us the first displays of the repeatedly used humor-centric reactions to Beerus’ terrible potential for destruction in this entry. 

Without prolonging the inevitable, Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2 sees Whis and Beerus arrive on North Kai’s world in search of their target. When they meet Goku (Masako Nozawa, Dragon Ball Daima), Beerus is unimpressed with the fighter. Though the first meeting between the two goes far smoother than North Kai’s ongoing panic attack would lead you to expect. 

Beerus’s penchant for destruction is punctuated with lots of humor in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2.

As Goku waffles between proper speech and his usual laid-back attitude, Kai seems certain that the Saiyan’s improper behavior will send Beerus into a destructive rampage. However, the god never seems to mind. Despite already driving home how the god’s destructive tendencies rest on a hair trigger, he never seems perturbed in the least by Goku.

Whether it’s because he senses that the simple fighter means no disrespect, or he’s holding back out of sheer curiosity to learn how powerful he actually is, remains unclear. But this subtle detail does hint at there being more to Beerus than what has been laid out in his brief, violent introduction. 

Little details suggest Beerus isn’t driven solely by destruction. At least, for now.

With the gauntlet cast and Goku ready to square off with his newest opponent, Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2 jumps into the main event of the episode. Goku challenges Beerus at each level of his power. Scaling from Super Saiyan all the way up to Super Saiyan 3, the hero struggles to even grab his foe’s attention. 

Despite the narrative pushing the fact that Goku is going all in on Beerus, the fight doesn’t play out that way. While a fair number of punches are thrown and a couple of generic energy blasts go off, including a beam that blasts clean through North Kai’s world, this is clearly the warm-up fight. No named attacks get brought out, betraying the sense of seriousness Goku supposedly takes into the fight. 

Goku’s final transformation wows visually.

The one place where Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2 truly leans into the energy of the moment is with Goku’s final transformation. Visually upping the ante, this transformation goes all out, showcasing huge energy pulses and lightning strikes down the entire length of Snake Way. 

But even this impressive display of power does little good for Goku once Beerus decides to actually fight back. A flick of his finger sends the Saiyan flying, and another strike leaves him in a crater on Kai’s planet with no fight left. With nothing of interest remaining, Beerus and Whis jet off to Earth in the hopes that Vegeta may possess knowledge of the Super Saiyan God. 

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2 delivers its first taste of action, firmly establishes Beerus’ place in the show’s pecking order in solid visual fashion, and hints that there could be something more to Beerus than simple destruction.

Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2 is streaming on Crunchyroll.

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