Dragon Ball Super’s new anime remake is making more substantial deviations from the original 2015 anime than expected. From skipping entire episodes from the original to adding brand-new action scenes, Dragon Ball Super: Beerus is a completely unique experience, even for fans who have watched and rewatched the Beerus Saga multiple times at this point.
By the end of Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2, the story has already arrived at the same point as the end of 2015’s Dragon Ball Super Episode 5. But three episodes worth of material skipped isn’t exactly the substantial loss it might sound like. If anything, by skipping the more lighthearted scenes and adding weight to the combat, Dragon Ball Super: Beerus is succeeding at giving the series a darker and more serious tone than the OG, and there’s still at least 4 more episodes of this arc to go.
The Remake Adds Brand-New Action Scenes During Goku’s Fight With Beerus
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Beerus taunts Super Saiyan Goku in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2Toei
Beerus dodges Super Saiyan 3 Goku in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2.Image via Toei Animation
Beerus brushes off his shoulder in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2Toei
By far, the best way Dragon Ball Super: Beerus is improving on the original series is in its visuals, and Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2 is the first real showcase of how far those improvements could go.
Goku’s first fight against Beerus on King Kai’s planet is still one of the most laughably poorly animated scenes from the 2015 anime, but it’s actually a pretty awesome first encounter in DBS: Beerus. The new fight contains multiple new cuts and overall improved animation that make it far more enjoyable to watch.
One of the episode’s coolest additions is the sequence that lasts from 15:40 to 16:20, where Goku charges at Beerus with his full power while the latter merely observes Goku’s SSJ form. Beerus shows off his effortless skill dodging Goku, while the sheer speed and force of Goku’s attacks take on the form of an atom floating around King Kai’s planet.
Emperor Pilaf’s Island Castaway Sequence Was Cut From Dragon Ball Super: Beerus
Emperor Pilaf, Mai, and Shu make a plan in Dragon Ball Super.Image via Toei Animation
Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2 skips right to the action as Beerus traces Goku down on King Kai’s planet. As a result, a lot of the slice-of-life scenes in early Dragon Ball Super are cut, including almost the entirety of Dragon Ball Super Episode 4, which covers Emperor Pilaf, Mai and Shu’s misadventures searching for treasure on a remote island.
The sequence concludes with the Pilaf Gang happening across Bulma’s birthday yacht by a strange twist of fate and some assistance from the Dragon Radar. Ultimately, the main narrative purpose of this scene is just to reveal that Bulma has gathered all the Dragon Balls on her yacht, and that’s not exactly something that ever needed an entire episode of material to cover to begin with. Dragon Ball Super: Beerus hasn’t lost much by cutting this storyline, especially when its goal seems to be to provide a more serious atmosphere.
Goku’s SSJ Transformations Are Far More Intense in the New Remake
Goku charges to Super Saiyan 3 in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2.Image via Toei Animation
Aside from the improved animation quality of Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2’s fight between Goku and Beerus, a big change is in how grandiose Goku’s Super Saiyan 3 transformation is in this version of the story.
For context, in the original anime, Goku only takes around 20 seconds to charge up from SSJ2 to SSJ3, and most of the animation is just of Goku screaming. In contrast, it takes Goku almost a full minute to charge in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus. Added scenes of the heavens shaking and lightening bolts traveling down Snake Way give SSJ3 the impression of a far more epic power-up than the 2015 anime ever aspired to.
Bulma’s Birthday Party Hasn’t Started Yet as of Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2
The Dragon Ball gang assemble at Bulma’s party in Dragon Ball Super.Image via Toei Animation
One of the most substantial stretches of skipped content in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus is the set-up to Bulma’s birthday party in Dragon Ball Super Episodes 3 and 4. The original anime has a number of slice-of-life scenes featuring Krillin, Android 18, Gohan, Majin Buu and the rest of the Dragon Team (besides Goku and Vegeta) as they make their arrivals at Bulma’s big birthday bash.
This all happens before Beerus even shows up on King Kai’s planet, but these comedic relief scenes have all been skipped as of Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2. It’s possible at least some of these scenes could still be added in Episode 3 as Beerus makes his way to Earth to have his iconic confrontation with Vegeta on Bulma’s yacht.
Goku’s Super Saiyan 3 Isn’t “The Strongest” Anymore
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Goku channels Super Saiyan 3 power in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2Toei
Beerus challenges Goku in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2Toei
Super Saiyan 4 Goku powers up in Dragon Ball DAIMA.Image via Toei Animation
In terms of Dragon Ball’s overarching lore, there’s no singular change more interesting in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2 than the subtle dialogue changes between Goku and Beerus during their fight on King Kai’s planet. It all comes down to the existence of Super Saiyan 4 in Dragon Ball DAIMA and how that series might still be able to fit into Dragon Ball Super’s chronology.
For the original 2015 anime, it was impossible to make sense of Dragon Ball DAIMA’s place in the timeline because Goku explicitly told Beerus that Super Saiyan 3 was his strongest form. In Dragon Ball Super: Beerus, the dialogue has been changed to at least leave room for the possibility of Super Saiyan 4’s existence in the background, even though Goku still doesn’t get to use the form before Beerus knocks him out.
Image via TOEI Animation 
Beerus questions Goku’s powers in Dragon Ball Super: Beerus Episode 2Toei
It’s a very simple and minor change that actually has major implications for the series going forward. Even setting SSJ4 aside, the possible existence of Dragon Ball DAIMA’s events in the DBS timeline means that other characters from that series, like Neva or King Gohma, could feasibly return in a future arc after the Super Hero Saga.
New episodes of Dragon Ball Super: Beerus begin streaming every Sunday on Crunchyroll and Hulu, before then being added to Netflix the following Saturday.
Cast
Sean Schemmel, Laura Bailey, Brian Drummond, Christopher Sabat, Scott McNeil
Created by
Akira Toriyama
Latest TV Show
Dragon Ball DAIMA