The first episode of Dragon Ball Super, which is the first Dragon Ball related anime produced in 18 years, aired last Sunday, June 5th.  Thanks to the power of the Internet, I was able to watch the first episode with a fan-made sub.

Holy shit, Sunday morning cartoons are back.

The show is set about six months after the defeat of Majin Buu and Earth is now at peace.  Goku has taken up a real job, with some pushing from Chi-Chi, as a farmer.

Goku loves food more than most things.

He’s not even using any of his power!  He’s just being a farmer.  In his typical “I’m a bad father” way, he even lets his son Goten drive the tractor, which he of course drives off a cliff because he’s a child.  After Goku pretty much wrecks an entire farmland, we cut over to Beerus, the God of Destruction from the last year’s feature film, Battle of Gods.  This was somewhat confusing, as from what I’ve read, that film and the newest one, Resurection ‘F’, are supposed to be canon.  So…has Goku fought Beerus already?  Is the series going to jump forward in time?  It’s all speculative, but we’ll find out soon enough!

Anyway, Beerus eats some food on a planet and since it’s too salty, but he likes the taste, he only blows up half of their home world.  Because that’s his occupation: maintain the balance by destroying planets.  It’s ridiculous, he’s ridiculous, I love it.

Mr. Satan, or Hercule in the American version, is being praised yet again for his efforts in saving planet Earth, even though he clearly did jack shit and knows it.  Buu appears and causes a ruckus because he wants food, but Mr. Satan plays it off by saying Buu is his pupil from another planet.  The crowd goes wild because they’re dumb, and Mr. Satan is the best.

Gohan and Videl, now engaged, walk down the street and are generally cute together.  Videl’s got a new haircut, and Gohan is a mega-scholar now.  Piccolo be creepin’ from a building in his only scene of the episode, looking disgusted.  Secretly, I’m sure he’s mad jelly and wishes he had love in his life.  And a son he could name Lil’ Flute.

Gross. JK it’s adorbz.

The other big part of the episode focuses on Goten and Trunks looking for a gift to give Videl for the upcoming marriage.  They don’t have enough money for makeup, but when they overhear an older man talking about a hot spring that will make even the wrinkliest of people have young looking skin, they are off to find it.  While they fill up a bottle with the age-reducing water, a giant snake thing flies out and tries to attack them.  For some reason, they appear to have difficulty with it, which makes no sense considering their insanely high power, but whatever, it’s still exceedingly enjoyable.  Goten almost uses a Kamehameha, but Trunks cuts him off because it would literally kill everything around them.

They deliver the water to Videl and it’s pretty touching to see her apply it to her face, knowing exactly what it is, and thank them for being awesome kids.  The music plays perfectly with the scene here, too.  Later, as Goten retells the story to his father, Mr. Satan arrives.  Apparently, he’s been given 100 million Zeni (dollars) for saving the world, but he wants Goku to have it.  This, coupled with the fact that you find out he built Gohan and Videl’s house, makes Mr. Satan a pretty likable guy right away.  He’s not quite the pompous douche from before, at least when the cameras are off, and it’s a welcome addition to his character.  He knows exactly where he stands.

Goku gives the money to Chi-Chi in exchange for him being able to quit his job and go train with King Kai, because of course that’s what he actually wants to do.  Master Roshi has a quick cameo with the best joke of the entire episode.  Somehow, he knows Goku has acquired the money and thinks they should spend it on “MANY ‘interesting’ DVDs.”  The laughter from me was mighty.

The episode ends with Kibito Kai, somewhere in distant space, sensing more planets being destroyed.  WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT??  But then the “Next Time” section actually happened, and I kinda felt like a kid again.  Overall, it was a pretty great episode with almost no fighting, unless you include the snake, which wasn’t much.  It felt like the original Dragon Ball again, adventures with Goku as a kid and the wacky things that happened to him.  I really enjoyed it, and I hope there’s more of this and the comedy element to the show as it progresses.  Don’t get me wrong, I want some sweet fights, but that’s what I always felt was missing from DBZ.  Only time will tell.

What will happen next time?? Who is this FAT BEERUS? The new VILLAIN/BROTHER OF BEERUS PERHAPS?

The show airs in Japan on Sunday mornings.  You can then stream it online within a few hours because the Internet exists and is wonderful.