My dear Vegeta fans. I know how tough it must have been waiting for years to get a glimpse of badass Vegeta once again. Now we can finally rejoice! All Hail the Prince of no one all Saiyans! We finally got the Vegeta moment he deserves for a long long time in Dragon Ball Super chapter 74. But the question is, will this only be a single chapter kinda thing where you raise hope but ultimately amount to nothing. A “Vegeta’s ascension to his unavoidable fall from grace” kinda scenario. I’ll discuss this and more in this article so stick around!

Before we dive into the Chapter, can I talk about what an impact Dragon Ball has on the world? Not even the chapter dropped and the spoilers received so much traction even amongst casual fans. So much so that Vegeta started trending on a mere spoiler.

3 Days later, #Vegeta and #DragonBallSuper again started trending after the chapter dropped.

Of course, this spoiled the Anime-only watchers but Twitter is a dangerous place you know.

This major spoiler of Dragon Ball Super Chapter 74 first leaked on 17th July when a famous One Piece leaker named Redon uploaded the chapter summary out of nowhere on the Kanzenshuu site. Most fans were skeptical because it sounded too good to be true (putting aside the criticisms for the form design). On the same day, DbsHype confirmed the leaks by posting some page snippets of the chapter.

Since then, Twitter and Instagram were on fire with the panel of Vegeta’s new form being circulated left and right. Honestly, this is one spoiler I wish was removed from my memory. And this is coming from a guy who checks every hour for spoilers to show up.

The anticipation for this chapter was so high that in r/dragonball, around 800+ comments were there on the spoiler leak thread alone. Irrespective of opinions, the overall hype for this chapter was as high as Broly’s height. We haven’t seen this much enthusiasm for a Dragon Ball Chapter in a long time and I can say it totally earned it. The chapter was nothing short of a banger!

So without any delay, gather those vegetables and Granola bars and let’s get crackin’ on analyzing Dragon Ball Super Chapter 74 – Vegeta Vs Granolah!

Granolah is Strong but a Dumbass

“Granolah’s knowledge of martial arts is impeccable” This is exactly what I wrote in an earlier article when describing how the Cerealian overpowered Goku. So why am I suddenly calling him a dumbass? In short, Granolah is intelligent and resilient, but he lacks street smarts.

Previously in Chapter 73, an illusory Granolah went toe to toe with Perfected Super Saiyan Blue Goku. Then the real Granolah emerged and took out MUI Goku with one tap and a punch on the heart, sending him flying. I explained in my Chapter 73 review article why Goku didn’t lose his guard in this scenario so do check it out!

As the Cerealian was about to take Goku’s life, Vegeta stepped in and told Granolah to fight him instead. Strangely, Vegeta was pretty sure of himself doing better than Goku. If Granolah wrecked MUI Goku with a single tap, what chance does Vegeta have of winning? This was the question in all our minds… until Dragon Ball Super Chapter 74 dropped. And boy did it exceed our expectations! Even the Manga haters within the fandom couldn’t hide their excitement.

Prior to reading this chapter, I expected Granolah to outclass Vegeta. He did, but not as much as I anticipated. As a result, I’d like to respond to the following question raised by fans.

Was Granolah nerfed in his fight with Vegeta?

I wouldn’t say he was nerfed. A more appropriate phrasing would be – Many of us overestimated his abilities. And it’s not exactly our fault as the dude jobbed MUI Goku like it was nothing. We still don’t know how things would turn out if those two collide head-on.

Granolah took advantage of MUI Goku’s vulnerable state (visible confusion and decrease in his form’s accuracy) & zoomed in to strike him at a vital point, all before Goku’s body could react. This is analogous to SSB Vegeta losing to Hit without landing a single blow, whereas base Goku did inflict some damage. Vegeta could only perform at 10% of SSB’s normal strength in that fight because it consumed too much energy. Furthermore, Goku had the advantage of seeing Hit fight beforehand.

I think this is why Vegeta asked Goku to fight Granolah first. He had the opportunity to closely observe the Cerealian and attempt a SWOT analysis.

Toronbo granted Granolah’s wish, bestowing strength, speed, techniques, and a body to wield them on him. Not to mention his unrivaled sniping abilities. However, there are three key attributes that no Dragon can grant.

Combat Experience

Unless you personally go through those instances in life, you’ll never know what do to when that instance actually happens.

Vegeta has fought hundreds of battles, each one tougher than the last. Granolah, on the other hand, might have had fewer confrontations. The fact that he thought that strength alone would be sufficient to win a battle speaks volumes about his fighting experience.

This is why Master Roshi was able to dodge Jiren’s punches in the T.O.P, despite his strength paled in comparison to Goku or the others. His martial arts experience compelled Goku and Krillin to return and take lessons from him in Dragon Ball Super.

Psyche

No Dragon’s wish can replace hard work and grinding. This includes both physical and mental training.

When Toronbo granted his wish, Granolah’s physical capabilities improved but not mental. If it truly did, Granolah should not have allowed his anger to spiral out of control and let his power get into his head. His naivety remained the same. His mind was too focused on vengeance that he failed to see the bigger picture. Nor did he listen to others like Oatmeel. Speaking of whom, that “aim-assist” thing could imply that Oatmeel is indeed an AI.

Anyway, Vegeta had no trouble getting under Granolah’s skin. His words were enough to affect the Cerealian’s psyche, making him all riled up. This made him lose his focus and even failed to see where his Ki blasts would hit if he misses.

Also, Granolah is too fixated on his past. Beerus mentioned in Chapter 69 that as long as one is trapped by the past, he’ll never grow beyond that point. Therefore, unless Granolah attempts to reconcile with the innocent Saiyans, he will never be able to move forward.

Ki Control

This is also something one cannot obtain by a wish as it involves both the mental and the physical dimensions. Goku and Vegeta trained on Planet Yardrat to learn how to maintain balance in body and spirit. This involves keeping your life energy steady by calming down the mind and focus on a single point.

In explaining the phases of Ki control in another article, I imagined Ki as a wave in a graph. Right now, Granolah is obsessed with vengeance and rushing to kill Frieza and the Saiyans. Plus his mind is so agitated. His Ki wave pattern fluctuates a lot. Contrary to him, Vegeta is cool and confident. His mind does not jump from one place to another. Therefore, his Ki wave pattern fluctuates lesser than Granolah’s.

Now you can argue by saying “Granolah can use the cloning & teleportation techniques which are similar to the Yardratians. Being a sniper, he can suppress his Ki, making it difficult for the Saiyans to pinpoint his location. What the hell are you talking about man??” I’m not saying he has no control over his Ki bro. What I mean is, despite being the strongest in the Universe, his level of Ki control is lower than Vegeta’s. This is simply because the latter trained under the experts while the former didn’t do any training at all.

Now that I’ve presented my arguments on why Granolah wasn’t nerfed in Dragon Ball Super Chapter 74, let’s address the elephant in the room.

How was Vegeta in control while being outclassed?

This really surprised me when I re-read the Chapter. I absolutely adore this genius piece of writing by Toyotarou (Please do this often ma man). Normally, when one starts jobbing the other, the latter tends to lose his confidence and gets even more jobbed. But this is not what happened here. Vegeta, in this entire fight, did not land a SINGLE BLOW on Granolah with the exception of the leg-breaking attempt. In fact, it was the Prince who got kicked, slammed and blown away. The gap between their strength was pretty evident and Vegeta himself admitted that.

But what truly made Vegeta shine in this battle was the fact that he was a sincere student of his teacher and followed his example diligently. Beerus brought up one important aspect about Vegeta’s past which made him all riled up.

Granolah’s pillar of hope is the idea that he is the strongest being in the Universe, and that the Saiyans, despite being stronger than expected, are no match for him. Vegeta used the same tactic as Beerus and hit where it hurts – attack Granolah by shitting on his people along with making him doubt that he’s the best. Now, this is where Vegeta’s expertise on mind-games comes into play.

He understands who Granolah is and where he comes from. On the contrary, the Cerealian is clueless about the two Saiyans he’s dealing with. Vegeta uses this information to his advantage. First, he levitates a couple of stones and Hakais them. The Cerealian is unfazed and shows his version of the G.O.D’s signature move. This affirms the difference in strength and techniques between the two warriors.

Next, Vegeta makes sense of Granolah’s powers by observing them. Through this, he was able to find out that the Cerealian had only recently achieved this new power. So the next step is – drop the truth bombs.

When the Prince directly counters Granolah’s “I’ll win because I’m the strongest” statement by stating that the outcome of battles is unpredictable and that’s what excites him, it really gets to Granolah. Look at how he gets so worked up:

The more Vegeta talks, the angrier Granolah gets. Vegeta is calmly demonstrating his poetic skills while Granolah is visibly getting more irritated. He is worried that the Saiyan would surpass him the more he prolongs the fight. So he immediately goes for the kill and strikes his vital point. But Vegeta hangs in there, making Granolah shocked as heck and that’s when transforms.

Finally, The Prince of all Saiyans rattles his opponent by targeting his people and emotions. He mentioned about erasing the Cerealians from history twice and purposefully caused Granolah to accidentally destroy parts of the ruins.

Granolah’s expressions in the above images clearly show the effectiveness of Vegeta’s trick. To make this all possible, Vegeta had to endure Granolah’s powerful attacks, a Granolah who one-shotted MUI Goku. So how did he do it? Two possibilities come to mind:

• Vegeta secretly used Forced Spirit Fission to decrease Granolah’s power. Yes, this is quite a bold assertion because we didn’t see pellets of energy escaping Granolah body. What’s more, FSF works when the opponent’s energy is stolen or doesn’t belong to him. We don’t know how the technique fully works so we have to wait for more information.

• Vegeta’s endurance is insanely high. Remember when Kid Buu was pummeling him mercilessly, covering him in blood from head to toe? He still managed to hang on and fight. In the T.O.P, Jiren whacked him left and right but Vegeta was determined not to give up. Aiming to achieve his objective pushed him to go on and on. I think the cause of this is pure adrenaline rush (The words “getting a battle-crazed Saiyan’s blood pumping” gave me a clue).
  • Recall episode 1 of Tonikaku Kawaii where Nasa-Kun, who had broken legs, was driven solely by adrenaline to run and catch up to Tsukasa-Chan. Vegeta gets this quite often and this time, the desire to enjoy battles like this pushes him to endure and keep going. Granolah’s surprised expression after punching Vegeta in the gut illustrated this.

Now that I’ve addressed the main aspects of Dragon Ball Super Chapter 74, let’s take a bird’s eye view of the chapter.

Dragon Ball Super Chapter 74 – Vegeta Vs Granolah

The entire setting is so beautiful. Goku and Granolah fighting in a forest, Vegeta jumping from a waterfall and swimming away in a river, the ruined Cerealian buildings in the background. These would make great maps in a Budokai Tenkaichi 3 fight. These kinds of arenas are a much-needed change from the usual barren wastelands.

Vegeta needed to swim instead of flying to avoid detection. Granolah doesn’t notice this and continues to fire in the wrong direction. Now some fans address the following question: Granolah, having a right eye capable of sensing muscle movements, shouldn’t have made this mistake. Why did it happen? The answer requires looking into a common issue snipers face in general.

Snipers usually keep their eyes only on a single spot. Patience is in their blood and that is an advantage as well as a disadvantage. The advantage is, they can kill the target with one shot when in range. The problem comes when there are obstacles in between. In between Granolah and Vegeta, there is water, rocks, wood and so on. Granolah didn’t even sense Vegeta’s Ki moving from one location to another. This must mean Granolah was too preoccupied with shooting and didn’t pay attention to other things.

The same thing happened to the Cerealian when fighting against PSSB Goku. Granolah was so focused on one spot that Goku’s close approach caught him off guard.

The Return of Badass Vegeta

The Vegeta we saw in this chapter reminds me of Saiyan Saga Vegeta but better in certain aspects. That Vegeta was an egocentric maniac who was desperate for immortality and gets butt hurt when someone surpasses him. This Vegeta, however, is a poetic detective who fights just for the love of it. And surprisingly, he’s not bothered about rankings, “who’s the strongest” and all that stuff.

He even admits twice that Granolah is stronger than him. Saiyan Saga Vegeta could never admit a low-class warrior could surpass him. Vegeta is no longer the ego-driven, obstinate brat he once was. Ma boy has finally grown. And did I mention how his intelligence sky-rocketed?

Toyotarou really knows how to write Vegeta. The Prince’s monologues in this chapter made non-Vegeta fans fall in love with him. Truth bombs which he normally wouldn’t say are coming out of his mouth. My three favorite Vegeta monologues in this chapter are the following:

1) Hmph.. That’s the great thing about a battle. The outcome is never quite set in stone. It’s exactly what I love about fighting

2) Strongest? Second strongest? Rankings are well and good but they only reflex a moment in time. Once that moment has passed by, it’s nothing but history.

3) There’s no planet to protect. No people to save. Just me, immersed in battle. My happy place.

Vegeta the IV, Dragon Ball Super Chapter 74

Vegeta really felt so nostalgic. The last time he experienced such a battle was probably in early DBZ fighting against Goku. Then there’s the panel that has Vegeta fans all over the world drooling.

There is clearly a difference between Goku and Vegeta in terms of battle style. Goku was overconfident, testing his UI with various forms and wanting to make peace. On the contrary, Vegeta just wanted to have a good battle. His trash-talking isn’t the typical arrogant kind. It actually made sense.

MUI Goku took Granolah’s pressure point attack head-on while Vegeta thought about grabbing his arm to reduce its impact. Best Vegeta I’ve seen in Dragon Ball Super for sure.

My views on Vegeta’s new form

There are mixed opinions amongst the fandom on Vegeta’s new form, but I dig it. The inclusion of eyebrows would have made him very similar to UI omen. Vegeta didn’t have an SSJ3 form apart from the games and the authors would have thought “Okay. How to satisfy Vegeta SSJ3 fans and give him a Hakaishin form? Combine the two!”

People are overly concerned, but I believe the coloring and animation will distract us from the lack of brows once the Anime comes. I elaborated more about Vegeta’s new form in another article. So do check it out!

Final Thoughts

Without a doubt, Dragon Ball Super Chapter 74 is one of the best chapters Toyotarou has ever written. It’s funny that I said the same thing for the last two chapters. It just gets better and better and I love it!

The art and the choreography were simply outstanding! I especially like that panel where Goku is looking above at Vegeta and Granolah exchanging blows. Toyotarou’s drawing skills are improving at a substantial rate. He’s not the old “Trace-atarou” anymore. He’s ultra pro max Megatarou (I’ve got poor naming skills. I know). Hope he keeps this up. Take a bow man.

At the beginning of the chapter, the Sugarians are fleeing their towns to a safer place. They have no clue about what’s going on. I’m wondering what they’d think of Granolah when one of them checks out the battlefield. They’d witness the Cerealian’s true colors and might develop ill feelings towards him. I think this would make Granolah think about his actions. But then again, he doesn’t care much about the Sugarians. Deep inside, he may not want them on his home planet. So this would give the chance for the Sugarians to show what they’re made of I suppose.

As I read Vegeta’s monologues, Monaito’s words constantly ran in my head. He knew Granolah’s powers went into his head which made him cocky.” He may be the strongest now but who knows what tomorrow would come”. This line clearly foresaw the happenings in Chapter 74. In the 3 week time skip, Goku and Vegeta continued with their training whereas Granolah sat on his ass. This is why Granolah couldn’t be the strongest for long. Many fans including me expected this to happen and I love that the authors reached the same conclusion as well. So this is what feels like when your theory comes true. Huehuehue.

With Chapter 75 dropping on August 18th, we’ll finally get to see Vegeta’s power of Destruction in action. And for the love of all that is good, please give him a W. Please. I have a fear that Vegeta’s strong desire to fight may be his undoing. In the Cell Saga, he let Cell absorb Android 18 just because he wanted a decent challenge. This Vegeta is different than that idiot. So please, Toriyama and Toyotarou, you’ve got the best chance to give Vegeta a W. For God’s sake don’t screw this up.

Before taking off, check out the following PV of this awesome chapter!

#DragonBallSuper Manga Chapter 74 "Vegeta VS Granolah" PV!
(English Subbed)

▫️ READ: https://t.co/A0zovpILUl
▫️ RAW PV: https://t.co/tQktB8vAzu pic.twitter.com/ZN1no97jrG

— SUPER クロニクル (@DBSChronicles) July 20, 2021

What do you think of Dragon Ball Super Chapter 74? Did it live up to your expectations? Let us know in the comments below!