The third arc of Dragon Ball Super is out now in print. With the Universe 7 vs Universe 6 tournament ending, things go back to normal for Goku and friends, but not for long. After the sudden appearance of Future Trunks is sparked a new threat arrives that once again endangers the Z-Fighters, this time however, the threat is Goku himself.

Dragon Ball Super is a 2015 shounen manga series by Akira Toriyama and Toyotaro, it is produced by Shueisha and licensed by Viz Media. It is currently available in print and digital formats in English.

Editor’s Note: Near complete to complete spoilers for Dragon Ball Super Volume 3 will be present in this review.

Future Trunks returns to Dragon Ball in Super Volume 3.

After meeting Champa and the most powerful warriors of Universe 6 including a Saiyan, Goku & Vegeta train for the proposed Multiverse Tournament. Trunks from the future timeline is on the run from a danger being who has caused even more damage to his timeline than Future 17  & 18 did. After returning to the past, Goku and co. are stunned to learn that Trunks’ assailant is actually a malevolent version of Goku himself. The three must use their new god-like powers to defeat an even more divine & powerful foe referring to himself as Goku Black and his rogue Kaioshin partner Zamasu.

One of the most interesting Dragon Ball villains of all time is here in Goku Black.

THE GOOD: The introduction to Goku Black is in my honest opinion one of the best Dragon Ball arcs since the introduction of Frieza and the Super Saiyan transformation. Initially, the idea of an evil Goku Black sounds incredibly idiotic and when you think about it, it’s been done in Turles and what not. However, the execution of Black is so well thought out and written that it’s difficult to find much wrong with the character. They did a lot to ensure the Black character wasn’t just some multiverse trope, even with the body snatching aspect of it all. As for the actually arc itself it’s crazy dark, probably one of the darkest in Dragon Ball. Black isn’t phoned in as a villain, he’s very deadly & destructive and I love how his power scaling is explained with him getting used to how Goku’s body works over time. Though this advantage does run it’s course after Goku & Vegeta return to the past, with the latter training. Between the two versions, I’m honestly fine with both the manga and anime endings for this arc (mostly). In the anime version Trunks defeats a fused Zamasu with a Spirit Bomb Ki Sword only for Zamasu to become Infinite Zamasu, which leads to Zeno erasing him; in the manga Zeno is the one who ultimately defeats Zamasu after his immortality causes a mutation during his defusing.

Yes that’s Goku using the Hakai.

THE BAD: The differences from the anime version vs the manga are both fantastic and very disappointing. For one thing it really screws with the canon, and another is we likely won’t ever see the manga panels in animated form, unless of course Toei decides to do OVAs of the manga content or remakes, which is very unlikely. Apparently Toriyama prefers the manga version of these stories to the anime version, so who knows what’ll happen with Dragon Ball back on top.

Differences for key moments between the manga and anime will always be a big issue for Super.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Dragon Ball Super Volume 3 is one of the greatest highlights to come out of the new ‘Super’ continuity. While it shares problems that’s common with some adaptions, a lot of the core concept, writing, and character directions remain exact. Otaku Dome gives Dragon Ball Super Vol. 3 an 88 out of 100.