‘Dragon Ball Super’ Episode 115 Recap And Review: SSJB Goku Puts Up A Surprisingly Good Fight Against Kefla
Dragon Ball Super Episode 115 just aired, and it proved to be quite polarizing overall. The episode in itself was quite intense, with the battle between Son Goku and Universe 6’s fused warrior, Kefla, exceeding expectations. Despite this, however, the episode was plagued by quality issues that ultimately made it fall short of its potential.
Plot-wise, Dragon Ball Super Episode 115 “Goku vs. Kefla! Super Saiyan Blue Beaten?!” covered the titular Saiyans fighting it out in the Tournament of Power. After successfully fusing themselves into one powerful fighter, Caulifla and Kale did not waste time challenging Universe 7’s strongest fighter, Goku.
Unfortunately for the U7 veteran, he was still incredibly exhausted from his battle against Universe 11’s unstoppable fighter, Jiren. This was evident in DBS Episode 115, with Kefla pretty much dominating the U7 warrior in his Super Saiyan God form.
Interestingly enough, Kefla’s fusion got the attention of many spectators, including Universe 2’s God of Destruction, Helles, who attempted to throw some Potaras to her fighters as well, as stated by noted DBS fan-translator Herms98. The U2 deity’s plan did not work, however, as Kefla simply broke the fusion devices before any Universe 2 fighter was able to use them.
Dragon Ball Super Episode 115 was not just about Goku and Kefla’s fight, however, as the anime also briefly showed Gohan fighting the Universe 6 Namekians, as well as Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta battling it out with U11’s Toppo. Their segments were quite short, though Gohan’s Masenkyo blast was quite pleasant to watch.
Eventually, however, the anime reached its climax, with Goku powering up to Super Saiyan Blue to adequately match Kefla in both speed and power. This was the point when the episode exceeded expectations.
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Over the past week, several leaks and spoilers suggested a possible beatdown of Goku in his SSJB form under the hands of Kefla. As revealed in Dragon Ball Super Episode 115 though, this was not to be the case. While Goku did ultimately bow down to the Universe 6 fighter, the U7 veteran put up a huge fight, even going as far as using Kaio-Ken against the fused fighter.
The battle between SSJB Goku and LSSJ Kefla was quite intense, with each fighter using interesting techniques and strategies to best the other. Not long after, however, Goku’s exhaustion from his previous skirmish against Jiren became evident, and his SSJB + Kaio-Ken form was beaten down.
Just as it seemed like Goku was about to be soundly defeated, something strange happened — the Universe 7 fighter reawakened his Ultra Instinct form once more, much to the delight and amazement of the U7 team on the bleachers.
Dragon Ball Super Episode 115 ended with UI Goku staring down his fused rival. Judging by the novelty of UI to the Tournament of Power as a whole, however, there seems to be a pretty good chance that the U6 fighter might end up retiring very soon. Only Jiren of Universe 11, after all, is a match for UI Goku, and Kefla’s power, while admirable, is nowhere near the levels of the Pride Trooper.
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Dragon Ball Super Episode 115 was quite enjoyable overall. The action scenes between Goku and Kefla were well done, and the brief scenes showing Gohan and Vegeta fighting their own battles were also pleasant to watch. As noted by many members of the /r/dbz subreddit, however, DBS Ep 115 also fell prey to some classic Dragon Ball Super problems.
Over the course of the episode, there were several moments when the animation significantly dropped in quality. Several of the characters were off-model in some scenes, which was quite distracting since the previous episodes were so finely done. The score for the episode, however, was on point, which made Goku and Kefla’s battle feel very fluid.
Dragon Ball Super airs every Sunday morning on Japan, and is available in the West through streaming services such as FunimationNow and Crunchyroll.
[Featured Image by Toei Animation]
