The Granolah arc of the Dragon Ball Super manga has had its ups and Downs. More downs than ups, really. During the course of this arc we have seen a new dragon that uses two balls instead of seven, and yet somehow this dragon has more power than the Earth, and Namekian Dragon Balls. They were able to grant a wish that those dragon balls, according to Goku in the Broly movie, cannot grant. At least not the Earth’s Dragon Balls. Seemingly placing them somewhere between those two sets and the Super Dragon Balls on the wish granting power scale. This brings us to our first issue with the Granolah arc that could have been avoided. The use of Granolah’s wish to be the universe’s strongest was indeed lazy writing, and in a way unjustifiable.

So how could they have avoided this? Easy, let Granolah find out about the Super Dragon Balls from Zuno, the all knowing alien, whom they did include in this arc (albeit it was the Heeters that used him). And then introduce the Cerealian Dragon Balls and use them as a means to gather or locate the Super Dragon Balls since their power had not yet been displayed in the series. This would have caused a lot less outrage among fans as the Super Dragon Balls have been shown in the series to match the power of the Omni-King with their wish granting capabilities. After all they did revive multiple universes he erased all at once. Not only would it have made more sense, but it would have been a lot more believable than an irrelevant condition like the 3 years left to live one that Granolah agreed to. In fact it wouldn’t even have been necessary to have a condition in the first place. Death is hardly a consequence in Dragon Ball as it is anymore since most of the Z fighters have been killed and brought back many times over now. Asking the dragon for abilities like the ones Granolah asked for is not a new concept like some fans seem to think it is. Zamasu did the same thing wishing for immortality and Goku’s body, as did Garlic Jr. With his immortality wish. Frieza and Vegeta both tried their best to make the same wish as well. It is the same concept but with a different wish. It is a recycled trope.

The second issue with this arc is the fact that Granolah has become far too strong. Why would they have Whis state that Goku and Vegeta must become stronger than they were yesterday to defeat Granolah, and then they train to master their techniques of the gods, seemingly for nothing. Goku with his Ultra Instinct attempting to master using it in base along with his other forms, and Vegeta with his Hakai, a move we will almost certainly see him utilize against Granolah in the next chapter. Yet Granolah was still capable of defeating Goku. And not only did he defeat him but he did most of the work with a clone! The real Granolah only coming out at the last second to catch Goku off guard. It has been said in the series that the Multi-form technique, the one Granolah used to create his clone, requires the user to divide their power in half. Granolah was capable of putting up a major fight against Super Saiyan Blue Goku utilizing Ultra Instinct, all with a clone at half his full power. Granted, Goku dominated Granolah’s clone when he finally transformed into the True Ultra Instinct form, but Granolah was able to catch him off guard far too easily. The whole point of Ultra Instinct is to not let that happen. Granolah is far too strong considering Whis stated Goku and Vegeta were the strongest warriors in the universe when the wish was made. That wish which basically equates to cheat codes put Granolah league’s ahead of them.

This leads us into our next problem with this arc. Ultra Instinct is now draining Goku’s stamina? The point of Goku’s training was to prevent this and it felt as though he was able to maintain the form in the last arc against Moro, and against Jiren in the Tournament of Power, for far longer than he did against Granolah. Whis did say it drains stamina but this is the first time we have heard that the form slows down over time, at least according to a statement from Granolah. Granolah claimed he couldn’t find an opening at first but then found one after enough time passed and the forms power drained. This takes away from what once made the form so cool in that it was very close to being untouchable. Aside from fighters like Jiren, Moro, and the angels it was essentially impossible to defeat. Moro 73 had to absorb Merus’ abilities, a literal angel (although in training), just to be able to put up any sort of a fight against what we know as “Mastered Ultra Instinct" and Moro’s body couldn’t even control the power. I personally refuse to call the form Mastered anymore. Whis said Goku is at the bottom of the Ultra Instinct ladder, and with glaring flaws such as a massive Super Saiyan 3 style stamina drain, there is no way the word mastered is at all fitting for Goku’s current proficiency in the form.

This essentially ruins the power and mystique of the form entirely, and makes it seem as though the form is going to become the new Super Saiyan Blue, losing more fights than it wins. So how will they resolve this? Well Toei needs to sell toys, so this is likely going to lead to yet another new form for Goku to master. It will likely be some form of Super Saiyan stacked on top of Ultra Instinct just like he does now with Super Saiyan Blue. Maybe he will stack the Kaioken on top of Ultra Instinct? They really could go either way despite fans being for the most part sick of new transformations. This is going to be the most likely outcome. It is the Goku show after all, and he will have to surpass Granolah, and everyone else somehow. It’s up to Toei, Toyotaro, and Akira Toriyama to decide how that will happen. But you can bet that at some point it is going to happen. New forms are what Dragon Ball has become all about.

Now the next question many people have been asking, will Frieza, the one Granolah desperately wants to kill, get a power up? Maybe even a new form? This is entirely possible. If Granolah were to fight Frieza at his current power that we last saw him with in the Broly movie he will one shot Frieza. It would be a very dissapointing fight. However, they seem to be building up tension for this fight for some reason. They are projecting it as though Frieza may have trained more, and now stands a chance against Granolah. Is Frieza a threat again? It is entirely possible. Although with the way chapter 73 ended, I believe we may see Vegeta actually stand somewhat of a chance against Granolah, maybe even win. The newly released draft page for chapter 74 suggest Vegeta is going to try to talk Granolah out of this fight. The fight will almost certainly happen though. I predict Vegeta stands a chance. Although history says this is the wrong prediction to make. Vegeta hardly ever wins against main villains, or in Granolah’s case anti-heros, but with the way the last chapter ended I think it’s possible. He now has the Hakai, knows about Granolah’s race’s history, just watched Ultra Instinct Goku lose while remaining confident, and his earring was shinning in the last panel of Chapter 73. Is it possible that he may win? I would say there certainly is a way, although unlikely.

What might this way be? Well many people have predicted that Forced Spirit Fission will play a role. This theory makes no sense as Forced Spirit Fission is only useful against a fusion character, or someone with stolen/absorbed powers, so it would make no sense for it to be the key to Vegeta’s victory over Granolah. No, the way he will beat him would have to be far different than that. I predict it will be much more likely that we will see him utilize his Hakai powers in the way that Toppo did in the Tournament of Power. He will likely use it as a full body shield making it impossible for Granolah to hit him without getting his limbs dissolved into nothingness, or at least taking massive damage. So his pressure point attacks he loves so much will be useless. And he will likely put a stop to Granolah’s sniper style ki blasts by using the Hakai to neutralize the energy before it can hit him. This form will be stronger than Toppo’s version as well since Super Saiyan Blue Evolution Vegeta was able to defeat Toppo in his God of Destruction form without the Hakai. Vegeta has also become far stronger since the Tournament of Power. This will likely give Vegeta at least some sort of fighting chance against Granolah, although he likely will not kill Granolah either, even if he were to win the fight. The Heeters will more than likely interfere somehow, or Vegeta will somehow bring Granolah over to Goku and Vegeta’s side. Goku has stated that he can tell Granolah isn’t actually a bad guy, something we already knew, and this means he will probably come to the side of Goku and Vegeta.

So then who will become the true enemy in this arc? We have two options for this based on the way the arc has gone so far. Either the Heeters will get their wish and Gas will become the strongest warrior in the universe, and the new existential threat for our heros. Or OG 73 will come back and become the new major threat, possibly both. It seems likely it may be both since the chapter started with the kidnapping of OG 73 by Granolah and clones of him have been made as well (although supposedly all destroyed by Granolah, we know 73 isn’t that easy to kill). All of which could prove to be a problem later on if any of the clones survived the initial attack during the kidnapping. This was before Granolah’s wish after all, and OG 73 was a fierce opponent. To top it off the Heeters now have OG 73 in their possession and are positioning themselves to become the most dangerous force in Universe 7. If this happens then Goku and Vegeta will almost certainly need Granolah as an ally. At their current level they stand no chance against this upcoming threat. Hopefully we will see some further development for them in this arc so they can become strong enough to compete with the new oncoming villain.

With an upcoming threat such as this, it may even be possible we will see the return of Broly in this arc. This is something many fans have been theorizing and looking forward to. After all he is Frieza’s greatest asset, so his return makes sense. We will almost certainly be seeing Frieza in this arc at some point, and that would signify the return of Broly as well. What role will Broly play in defeating the Heeters? We can only speculate, but his power may be useful and turn him into a great ally for Goku, Vegeta, and Granolah, to defeat the Heeters. Even if Frieza wouldn’t normally allow Broly to work with them. It will more than likely end up being a scenario of “the enemy of my enemy, is my friend" although Goku, Vegeta, and Broly can hardly be considered actual enemies at this point. We may see a full on war in this arc. What do you guys think is going to happen? If we went over every poorly written aspect and plothole of the series we would be here all day, but alas the show is still enjoyable, and there just isn’t that much time in the day. I think we may see some redemption for this arc in the upcoming chapters. But so far, the best thing about this arc has been the amazing artwork. Toyotaro has definitely improved as an artist since the earlier chapters, however, he still isn’t on Toriyama’s level. He is certainly working towards it though. He is doing an amazing job from an artistic perspective. Toriyama did something great with Granolah’s design as well. The Dragon Quest feel he gives off was definitely a much needed breath of fresh air when it comes to the character designs of Dragon Ball Super. Hopefully we continue to see some great things, and this arc makes up for it’s rocky start. And please, Toriyama, Toyotaro, don’t let Goku give the enemy another senzu bean. We are sick of the making Goku look stupid trope. I think we can all agree on that. And please don’t let Ultra Instinct become the new Super Saiyan Blue. A lot of us love the form simply because it is so powerful and we do not want to see it become useless. Ultimately though it is up to Toriyama to decide where this arc will go. We are just along for the ride.