The last issue released showed us that Vegeta returned to earth to save Goku & the gang using the Instantaneous Movement technique. With Vegeta boasting to Moro that he’s not the same Vegeta he last saw, readers were ready to see just what new techniques Vegeta would bring to this month’s issue.
The chapter kicked off with Vegeta charging in on Moro with some devastating physical attacks. The battle didn’t start off one-sided as most thought would happen. Vegeta & Moro were actually going toe-to-toe with Moro even landing a heavy kick on Vegeta. Piccolo & Gohan even took notice of Vegeta being stronger than he was before but that Moro still had more power than him. If you’re not new to the Dragon Ball series or any kind of story structure, you’d probably think that Vegeta had trained for nothing & that his claim to power was just a bluff of a prideful warrior; however that wasn’t the case. The more Moro took hits from Vegeta, the more weaker he became; Piccolo pointed this out while observing Vegeta’s punch to Moro’s face that cut him.
This was a standout moment because Goku in his Ultra Instinct Omen form wasn’t able to shock Moro with his attacks like Vegeta was able to do. However, it was more of Moro questioning how Vegeta was able to do this when he was still stronger than Vegata rather than the overall damage Vegeta did to him. It soon became clear that every time Vegeta hit Moro, energy dispersed from Moro’s body which drastically drained him of his stamina & energy he absorbed from other planets & their inhabitants. This technique not only drained Moro’s energy but also made him revert back to his older appearance & this is where things became somewhat refreshing & familiar.
After Vegeta revealed to Goku that his new technique was Forced Spirit Fission, a technique that could separate energy from a person & also split any fusion technique. Vegeta even told Piccolo that he can separate Kami & Nail from him, if he personally wanted to see how the technique worked. This is an awesome new power for Vegeta to have & to see how he flipped the script on Moro was very much reminiscent of Super Saiyan 2 Gohan vs Perfect Cell, especially with how he kicked the energy of aliens Moro drained out of him. Seeing how the energy of the Namekians not killed by Moro Physically but drained of their life were brought back was very interesting.
Moro was almost down for the count but he blindsided Vegeta with an attack & shot up to his ship to kill Shimorekka & absorb Seven-Three. By the time Vegeta reached Moro, he had already devoured Seven-Three & transformed into a more powerful form. This is where things became all to familiar, with Moro heavily mirroring Perfect Cell & also pummeling a powered down Vegeta back down to the ground. The only one left that that can try to do anything against Moro are Goku, 17, 18, Piccolo & Morro. From the look of things, Vegeta is out of down for the count & Moro’s magic & fighting abilities are back in full swing making him “Perfect Moro”.
Despite seeing Vegeta whoop on Moro for a few panels, I found this issue to be a lackluster. Vegeta’s shine was cut very short & the build up to Vegeta coming back to save the day didn’t pay off at all. Most of us have been waiting to see Vegeta bust up Morro since his initial training on Planet Yardrat, because we wanted to see Vegeta come out on top as the one to take down a main villain. In fact, when Piccolo was talking about how Vegeta has changed because of meeting Goku & how he is aiming to clean his slate from his past misdeeds, I thought Toriyama was teasing that Vegeta was going to take the lead for a chunk of the arc but that wasn’t the case.
This issue isn’t great but does the job as far as moving the story forward. Could I have done without the Cell-like approach for Moro’s character? Yes! Very much. However, we can only wait & see if Toriyama goes to complete Cell route or if he’ll indeed do something new here.
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