Most of us expected Carrot to eat Granolah for breakfast (pun intended, yes.) but oh boy, can this BE more unexpected?

Dragon Ball Super Chapter 73 continues the raging battle between Goku and Granolah. I did predict in Chapter 72’s review article that Goku will use Mastered Ultra Instinct and he’d find difficulties in using UI in his Super Saiyan forms. But bruh, the moves Granolah pulled off. How was it possible?? We did see the Spoilers beforehand but, nobody had a clue how it worked. I’ll be discussing about that later on.

Prior to the chapter release, a lot of people on social media were going on about Goku dropping his guard at a critical moment. They ranted about how it’s becoming a recurring theme and criticized the authors for their lazy writing. I will talk about that later on as well.

Surprisingly, a lot of spoilers came out this time (courtesy: DbsHype and DBSChronicles), apart from the official sneak peek. So much so that, even before the chapter dropped, our minds were set on chapter 74. A suspenseful chapter. Vegeta fans… (Ugh, here we go again) let’s hope for the best, that’s all I can say I suppose (Hope is a wonderful and dangerous thing).

So without further ado, let’s get ready to rumble!!! (Goes to grab a Granola bar)

Goku uses Perfected Super Saiyan Blue plus Ultra Instinct

The battle continues with Goku and Granolah hurdling Ki blasts against each other. Their speed and accuracy are spectacular as they avoid the other’s attacks as well as the trees. It’s been a long time since we saw a battle within a forest. The last we saw such a landscape is Goku VS Beerus in Battle of Gods, but only for a brief period.

Fans also recall the fight between Piccolo and Salza in Cooler’s Revenge. The forest setting is a fun arena for a brawl, for the viewers at least. For the artists and animators, well… (Let’s move on).

Granolah pulled a Spiderman by swinging from a tree using his scarf and whacks Goku, sending him flying. After a few hits, Goku gets annoyed and proceeds to push his power by charging up. Then he calmed down, reduced thoughts generated and activated Ultra Instinct in his Perfected Super Saiyan Blue form. Granolah notices this by the change in Goku’s blood flow and cell movements in his body.

Granolah thinks Super Saiyan Blue + Ultra Instinct isn’t that different from Super Saiyan God + Ultra Instinct but Goku disagrees. The Saiyan warrior proceeds to dodge around Granolah as the latter struggles to hit with his Ki blasts protruding from his finger. This goes back and forth until one of the best panels of this chapter appears.

It seems the Kamehameha was inaccurate. Just before unleashing the Turtle school’s signature technique, Granolah struck his neck; weakening and making him revert back to base form. I don’t know why Goku took the risk. He should have dodged Granolah’s attack by teleporting behind him and then release the energy wave. Sigh, let’s move on.

Attacks and evasion abilities in Super Saiyan Blue + UI are better than its preceding form. However, Goku makes an important disclosure – “I’m still in need of training. I’m not yet used to using UI as a Super Saiyan, so I’m quite vulnerable.” This raises two points.

• In my review of the earlier chapter, I mentioned that Super Saiyan forms are fueled by pure rage and calming it down will be difficult. Without sufficient training, the user won’t be able to wield the true potential of UI in those forms. This is confirmed by Goku. Merus also said something along these lines as well.

• This also signifies that Granolah won’t be the strongest for long. He may not have room for further improvement as he’s already at his peak. On the contrary, there is still room for Goku and Vegeta to grow. They could surpass the Cerealian with more training.

How did Granolah acquire Moro’s technique and cloning ability?

This is a question I’ve been asking myself ever since the spoilers dropped. Granolah raises his hands and screams, releasing the planet’s energy from where Goku stands. The latter himself says that move resembles Moro’s energy absorption technique when used in direct attacks.

What’s more, the cloning ability he possesses bears a striking resemblance to the cloning ability MUI Goku uses against Whis.

Granolah’s clone took some portion of the power from his real body. This is also similar to Tenshinhan’s Multi-form technique or Shishin no Ken [Fist of Four Bodies]. But the difference is, Tien split himself into four copies and the power and speed of each copy is only 1/4th of the user’s full strength, while the quantity of the power taken by Granolah’s clone is unknown. Also, I don’t know whether Granolah can make more than one copy of himself.

When MUI Goku uses this technique, the amount of power his clones have is unknown as well. And there are other similarities. Both Goku and Granolah can keep a considerable distance between their real bodies and their clones. Both can suppress the Ki emitting from their real bodies, making it quite difficult to detect.

This explains how Granolah was able to hurdle Ki blasts at the Saiyans from opposite directions in an instant. Both he and his clone were attacking from different points. It also makes me wonder, what if he had more than one clone and it’s hiding somewhere for backup?

Now, to address the question raised before, how did the Cerealian get these OP abilities? There are two possibilities:

• When Granolah asked Toronbo to make him the strongest warrior in the Universe, the dragon searched for Mortals who had the strongest techniques in recent times. And those would include, Goku, Vegeta and Moro. To surpass them, Granolah needs to have techniques similar to theirs but stronger. So Toronbo took their best moves, made them stronger than the original users and gifted them to Granolah.
  • But there’s one issue with this idea. Toronbo made him the strongest amongst those who are alive AS ON THAT MOMENT and not the strongest of all time.
  • During that time, Moro was dead. One could argue that the dragon considered even dead people. However, there are so many dead warriors in this Universe and scanning through all of their techniques one by one would take so much time. This brings us to the second possibility.

• What if you replace Moro with Seven-Three in the above list? I speculated in another article that Seven-Three has the powers of Moro, Merus and Vegeta cause’ he has three forehead crystals intact.
  • Toronbo took the best techniques of Moro (energy absorption) and Merus (Ultra Instinct, Instant Teleportation, healing and cloning) that exists within Seven-Three & strengthened and gifted them to Granolah. Does this make Granolah stronger than Merus? Not exactly but, he could have techniques on par with the former Angel.
  • Why would Merus have a cloning move? MUI Goku’s cloning technique is copied from Whis. Assuming all Angels have similar moves, then Merus’ has moves akin to Whis, including cloning.

This also explains why Granolah is really really fast, faster than Goku’s teleportation technique. If Granolah’s clone went toe-to-toe with SSG Goku, imagine how powerful the real Granolah would be. Fake Granolah knocked out Goku twice and the real one took out MUI Goku in one shot. Now we come to the point of addressing another important question that was raised in the introduction.

Did MUI Goku really lose his guard in DBS Chapter 73?

My answer is a hard NO.

There are so many fans on social media shitting on Toyotarou for lazy writing. I don’t quite get them. If Goku wins, some are like “As usual, Goku saves the day. Give us something new!” If Goku loses “As usual, Goku loses his guard. Give us something new!” The following Tweet sums it up perfectly:

>Goku beats an enemy
“Why does Goku always get the win it should’ve been someone else >:(“

>Goku jobs to the enemy
“Why does Goku keep losing >:(“

WHICH IS IT YOU GUYS pic.twitter.com/ac1Le1Y9kD

— Frank “Salad” Heffley 🥗 (@SaladSaiyan) June 17, 2021

They recall the times Goku loses his guard and gets beaten down. Sorbet (Frieza Force commander) shooting SSB Goku in the heart with a common ray gun. Moro pierced a hole in Goku’s chest. Goku giving a senzu bean to Cell and Moro. This has got to stop! – says those fans. And I’d agree with these arguments.

These were times where Goku did get overconfident, lost his guard and telling his opponent “Train, get stronger and come back to fight sometime”. This creates an opening for his enemy, making him vulnerable. Even Majin Vegeta exploited this weakness of Goku and attacked him from behind. Whis told Goku again and again not to lose his guard. So why this recurring nonsensical trait?

The thing is, in this case, Goku DIDN’T LOSE HIS GUARD. Three things happened in this situation:

• The explanation of Granolah’s clone and his disappearance bewildered Goku. He was looking here and there, not knowing where the Cerealian is. Hence, this left his guard open.

• But Goku should have raised his guard as soon as the clone vanished! What Bullshit is this? Previously, I mentioned how Granolah could be as fast as Merus. His body movements are insanely quick, thereby rushing towards Goku and striking at his heart. This happened so fast that MUI Goku didn’t have the time to raise his guard up.

• We also learned a ‘new’ tit-bit about Goku’s Ultra Instinct. The longer Goku stays in his MUI form, the faster his accuracy drops. Now some fans think this is a brand new piece of information. This was never mentioned before! Toyotarou is making shit up as the story progresses! Screw this!
  • Recall Whis mentioning Goku’s stamina and time limit problems in Chapter 71. Now extend this logic. If your stamina decreases, you become tired right? You become fatigued both mentally and physically.
  • When this happens, it’s hard for you to consciously reduce thoughts from being generated in your head (that requires energy). And your body takes more time to decide and act on its own. Putting all of this together, Goku’s mental and physical attributes decreases, including his accuracy.

But hold on! The duration of MUI Goku’s battle with Moro was more than the fight with Granolah. But he didn’t lose much stamina that time. So what the heck man??! Calm your horses down bruh.

MUI Goku was miles ahead of Moro’s overall strength. Even if his stamina reduces, he’s still stronger than the goat-like monster. But still, he lost a lot of his God Ki towards the end and Moro (post merging with the Earth) grabbed him in his hands. This made him revert back to his base form.

So it’s not like UI has been nerfed. It’s Goku’s lack of expertise to wield the technique properly. And Mortals trying to use Godly techniques will take its toll. I doubt Goku would ever reach Whis’ level cause’ his Mortal body will always be there to slow him down (Unless he pulls a reverse Goku Black wish).

Now, Granolah may be as quick as Merus. And he has a body to withstand the power of those techniques. So of course he’d be stronger than Moro and give a hard time to Goku.

One more thing I’d like to point out is, Ultra Instinct doesn’t rely on the user’s stance. Whether Goku is keeping his guard up or not, it’s his body reflex that matters. It will automatically dodge on instinct irrespective of whether Goku is mentally aware of his opponent’s incoming attack. So the question of “keeping one’s guard up” doesn’t even matter. It’s just that Granolah was too fast for his body to dodge. Goku’s body isn’t as nimble as Granolah’s and that’s all there is to it.

Final Comments

DBS Chapter 73 was as good as the previous one. Toyotarou really outdid himself with the magnificent artwork. The whole chapter is clean and gorgeous. It’s so enjoyable to read when the art is this good. Unfortunately, there weren’t any flashbacks in this chapter. Proceeds to cry for want of backstories.

Granolah’s raging hatred for the Saiyans has gotten out of control. He’s letting it get over his head, slowly losing his sense of differentiating right from wrong. A few chapters ago, he was all nice and friendly towards the Sugarians and cared about their wellbeing as well as the planet’s. Now, he doesn’t seem to mind to use something as devastating as Moro’s technique, endangering the planet’s inhabitants. This raises doubts whether he has become evil after all.

Also, did you notice the improvement in Granolah’s sensing abilities? He was able to predict and track Goku’s movements even before the latter actually moves to his target location. This is as quick as Merus’ tracking ability.

Another time was when Goku used Instant Transmission to avoid the Moro look-alike technique. Even before Goku arrives at Vegeta’s spot, Granolah could sense his movements. Notice that even Vegeta could sense Goku’s presence only after the latter arrived there.

Now regarding Granolah’s unwarranted anger, Vegeta did say the Cerealian’s beyond reason. So both he and Goku have to beat him up to make him heed to their words. Since Goku’s out of commission, Vegeta is the only one who can smack some reason into Granolah’s head.

The Saiyan Prince surprisingly doesn’t seem to be frightened of Granolah’s OP abilities and him finishing off MUI Goku with one blow. In fact, he was smiling at Goku scuffling against the Cerealian. “Struggling much?” The man seems to be way too calm.

Of course, he did express some shock when Granolah’s revealed the truth about his clone. Other than that, he seems to be way too proud with himself. And yes, it’s always a delight seeing the good ol’ Vegeta trash talking.

Fans are skeptical about the Prince taking home the trophy but (for good or bad), I’m always a positive person (proceeds to deprecate myself). I have hopes that Toriyama and Toyotarou will NOT do my boy dirty. At least for this fight (Then again, who am I kidding? My back and forth emotions are hopeless isn’t it?).

Goku is most likely alive. He’ll definitely get a Zenkai Boost from this fiasco. And when Vegeta gets jobbed, he’ll come back and save the day, is what you expected me to say huhuhu. Still keeps his hopes. We expected Carrot to belt the Granolah bar but the Cerealian munched on the Carrot. Will Vegetable break the bar in two pieces? (I couldn’t help myself) Stay tuned for more scenes in the next chapter of DRAGON BALL SUPER!

Chapter 74 will feature Vegeta’s battle with full powered Granolah. Will the authors give the Prince his big break or will it be the usual formulaic outcome? Let us know in the comments below!