Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 4, titled “The God of Saiyans,” gives Goku’s long-awaited Super Saiyan God transformation a strong treatment, but the review says the remake remains a mixed experience after four episodes. It is better than Episode 3, though not the major enhancement the first two episodes were, and it still makes strange changes to the original 2015 anime. The review argues that the version of the God of Destruction Beerus Saga is still not worth watching over Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.
The episode’s pacing is described as infinitely better than Episode 3’s, and it includes a number of strong redrawn animations. The standout is a new visual of Oolong locked in an epic Rock Paper Scissors battle with Beerus, which adds to the scene’s silly absurdity. The match may run a bit longer than necessary for a remake that emphasizes darker turns and fast pacing, but the review sees it as promising that not all of the Toriyama-style humor was removed. Vegeta’s family trip, cut from the first few episodes for pacing, also returns through a flashback. The review says this approach makes more sense in hindsight and conveys Vegeta’s “family man” persona without spending half an episode on filler.
Not every change works. The review calls the treatment of the Pilaf Gang one of the most questionable decisions in the first four episodes. Most of their scenes have been cut, but their presence remains, leaving scenes that feel unnecessary and add nothing to the plot. The Pilaf Gang no longer work as comic relief because most of the jokes have been removed. The review says the characters would have been better off cut entirely, with the saved time used for material that mattered to Toriyama’s vision for the main cast, such as the Vegeta cooking scene whose removal proved controversial after Episode 3.
Goku’s arrival on Earth is another trouble spot. In the 2015 anime, the scene was criticized because Goku did not take the situation seriously and the playful background music made what should have been a heroic entrance feel like a misplaced gag. In Episode 4, Goku’s criticized dialogue remains intact, but the music is removed entirely rather than replaced with a more appropriate song. All that accompanies Goku’s banter with Bulma is the sound effect of Beerus’ energy ball lingering in the background. The review says that injecting some kind of emotion through music, even the wrong one, would be preferable to having nothing at all.
Despite those rough patches, the review says the majority of Episode 4 does its job as an enhanced remake. The visual spectacle of Goku’s Super Saiyan God transformation is dramatically better than in the 2015 anime. It is longer and more drawn out than the version in Battle of Gods, but it also feels more majestic and godly. Unlike the previous episode, which suffered from poor pacing after scraping together content from four episodes, Episode 4 sticks to the script more coherently. Its failures are described as relatively small and forgivable, and it improves enough aspects of the original to be considered better than the 2015 anime.
Even so, the review concludes that Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods will likely remain the best way to experience the God of Destruction Beerus Arc when all is said and done, unless the action in the next few episodes proves especially impressive.
Sources: Comic Book Resources.