Highlights
- Divine Techniques Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego showcase the pinnacle of transformation powers in Dragon Ball.
- Goku’s Ultra Instinct and Vegeta’s Ultra Ego derive from Angels and Gods of Destruction, surpassing mortal limits.
- Pioneering unique transformations in anime, Dragon Ball should focus on refining current forms rather than introducing new ones.
Transformations are one of the most recognizable and important factors that make the Dragon Ball franchise so legendary. While the idea of characters having multiple forms is pretty widespread across the entire anime industry, Dragon Ball is a series that does this in a unique way and is often credited with pioneering the way transformations work in anime today!
Over the years, the series has shown many new and powerful forms that characters utilize to fight even stronger enemies, culminating in the Divine Techniques; Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego. While potentially even stronger characters await in the future of Dragon Ball, let’s go over why the Divine Techniques should serve as a stop to the current trend of transformations in the series!
The Importance of the Divine Techniques
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Ultra Instinct First Appearance |
Dragon Ball Super, Episode 129, “A Transcendent Limit Break! Autonomous Ultra Instinct Mastered!” |
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Ultra Ego First Appearance |
Dragon Ball Super, Chapter 74, “Vegeta vs. Granolah” |
Ultra Instinct
While Ultra Instinct was a technique that was first awoken by Goku during the Tournament of Power arc, its debut in the series goes much further back, to the very first episode of Dragon Ball Super. When attacking Beerus in his Super Saiyan 3 form, Goku’s body instinctively reacted by strangely stopping and retreating mid-flight, which was something that Goku remarked as being something that he didn’t even consciously think about.
Most fans of the series now know this to be the first instance of Ultra Instinct within the story, a feat impressive enough to make Beerus himself momentarily think of Goku as some sort of fighting genius. This foreshadowing eventually paid off when Ultra Instinct was confirmed to be a Divine Technique that belonged to the Angels of the multiverse and was thought to be the peak of Martial Arts.
Ultra Ego
Ultra Ego, on the other hand, is a fairly new transformation in order of appearance. After Vegeta tried and failed to awaken Ultra Instinct in the Tournament of Power, he vowed to surpass Goku on his own terms, which prompted Beerus to tell him of the secret technique of the Destroyer Gods that serves as the direct opposite of Ultra Instinct. Upon donning his version of this form, Vegeta named it Ultra Ego.
According to Beerus, Gods of Destruction are beings who are unable to naturally be in the calm and emotionless state needed to perform Ultra Instinct due to their job as beings that must destroy all the time, despite himself being an exception that can actually use the Angel’s technique. Due to this, they are always in a different state in which their minds are constantly fixated on destruction, which is how they can use the powerful Energy of Destruction.
Why Divine Techniques Should Be The End Point
Ever since the release of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, the hierarchy of the multiverse has become quite clear. This is because Gods of Destruction are the most powerful beings in their entire native universe, surpassed only by their Angel attendants who have to remain neutral and out of all action. Sure, the Divine Hierarchy places the Grand Priest and Zeno above them too, but these are just a higher version of the same dynamic.
So, when Goku uses his version of Ultra Instinct and Vegeta his version of Ultra Ego, they are effectively using the techniques of the Angels and Destroyer Gods respectively. So, to have the main characters undergo a transformation that is somehow even greater than what the divine beings of their universes can do would just make no sense!
I am the God of Destruction, and your destruction is inevitable! Even the mighty warriors must learn humility in the face of destruction!
Many fans theorize that Goku and Vegeta will eventually surpass Beerus when Dragon Ball Super enters its closing stages. However, if they do this out of nowhere with forms that have absolutely no build-up to them, it would just make for nonsensical storytelling. The best way forward for the series to go is for the Saiyans to train their respective forms that house the Divine Techniques to a level of refinement so that they reach their maximum strength. This would be a far better option since constantly having new transformations cheapens the impact of those that came before, which is something that Dragon Ball has suffered from in the past.
Moreover, Beast Gohan is an example of what not to do in this regard. While a well-designed form that finally brings back a fan-favorite Saiyans into the limelight, there should be no reason why Gohan’s ‘latent potential’ can bridge the gap between him and the techniques that belong to the most powerful beings in the entire universe. While it is refreshing to see Gohan become relevant again, it makes very little sense how a single angry outburst by him could match up to Ultra Instinct, a Divine Technique that Goku went through so much to master.
Dragon Ball can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
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