Dragonball Super manga Volume 1 (Chapter 4)

 By Mark Rodriguez

The God of Destruction Beerus has seen a premonition of the Super Saiyan God and has decided to seek him out. His search took him to Kaioh Sama's planet where he defeated Goku. He then goes to Earth where he finds Vegeta at Bulma's birthday party. After a fight breaks out where Beerus is  about to destroy the planet, Goku returns to stop him.

Chapter 4- Battle of Gods

Goku decides to ask Sheng Long about the Super Saiyan God so they gather the Dragonballs (Bulma had them collected as part of her party) to summon him. Sheng Long tells them that the Super Saiyan God form can be achieved with a ritual including 6 righteous Saiyans. The gang realizes they only have 5 (Goku, Gohan, Goten, Trunks and Vegeta) until Videl tells them she is pregnant with Gohan's baby and they can perform the ritual. Doing so led to Goku achieving the Super Saiyan God form.

Goku is ready to fight and tells Beerus to not destroy the planet if he wins. Krillin can't feel his ki and Piccolo says since Goku is now a deity, mortals can't feel God Ki. Goku and Beerus fight it out, flying all over the city. Meanwhile Kaiohshin has gathered all of the Namekian Dragonballs but sensed that Champa was flying somewhere farther away. These weren't the Dragonballs he was after.

Goku seems to get used to his god powers but still can't defeat Beerus in this new form. The Destroyer God admits that at least he had fun and prepares to destroy the Earth. As Beerus tosses a dark energy orb towards the planet, Goku says he can feel that the power of the Super Saiyan God can become even stronger. He fires off a Kame Hame Ha that holds off Beerus' blast and makes it explode away from the planet. Beerus is impressed and says he will save the destruction of Earth for another day.

Beerus tells Goku that they are in Universe 7, and he is the God of Destruction of this universe, but there are actually 12 universes out there with more powerful fighters in them. He also tells him that Lord Whis is his teacher and is even more powerful than him. Beerus and Whis leave. Meanwhile, Kaioshin used the Namekian Dragonballs to undo the Potara earrings he was wearing, which unfused Kaioshin and Kibito back into two separate beings (in the Buu saga of Dragonball Z, Kaiohshin and Kibito were fused, but unlike most fusions, Kaiohshin never changed his name).

Out in space, soldiers in a spaceship is surprised to find a giant Dragonball, but they are destroyed by Lord Champa before they could radio out. Elsewhere, the Freeza Force, that just barely managed to hang on years after Freeza's death, discover that the ship was destroyed and it contained their strongest squad. Sorbet determines that they have no choice but to revive Lord Freeza. So Champa inadvertedly caused Freeza's resurrection. 

This chapter didn't have a bonus gag page.

My thoughts- 

I'm surprised they managed to cram in the fight between Goku and Beerus into a single chapter. They really rushed the entire Battle of Gods story into 4 short chapters. They not only cut most of Bulma's party, they even fit the explanation of the Super Saiyan God ritual on a single page. 

One interesting thing to note was the canonicity of Vegeta's younger brother Tarble that is mentioned, then not mentioned and then mentioned again. Tarble first appeared in a TV special called 'Yo! Son Goku and his Friends Return!' At the time it was meant to be a nostalgia special, a one-time event and in no way the start of a new series. Just a way to return to the world of Dragonball 11 years after the final episode of Dragonball GT aired in 1997. 

The reason I bring him up is because during the ritual of the 6 pure-hearted Saiyans, Bulma asks Vegeta about his brother. Vegeta responded that there's no way to know where he is currently, and that led to Videl telling everyone she's pregnant. The Dragonball Super anime left out any mention of Tarble, and since this manga is a heavily condensed version of the movie, it also left out that line. However, in the Dragonball Super: Broly movie, Raditz asks Vegeta about his brother in a flashback. I wonder if we'll ever see him again. Maybe there were plans for him during the Battle of Gods era and they were abandoned, but why reference him again in something as recent as the new Broly movie?

Speaking of movies, if you're expecting chapter 5 and beyond to start breaking down the Resurrection F movie, well actually they skip the whole thing and will move on to the Universe 6 VS Universe 7 Tournament arc. Champa has already been appearing early on in the manga chapters to prepare for his official appearance. This means that while the manga will skip out the return of Freeza, they will still reference that the event happened and that Goku and Vegeta gained their new Super Saiyan Blue forms sometime during that event. 

I am surprised by the big rush by Toyotaro, Toriyama's successor to skip all the stuff the movies and anime has already covered and 'get to the good stuff'. You'll notice longer more detailed chapters once we get into the Goku Black arc. 

Overall the chapter was entertaining and the fighting was pretty fast paced and intense. I got a kick out of the fact that Champa caused the chain of events that would lead to Freeza being brought back to life.