Yuki The Snowman

The Universe Survival” arc of Dragon Ball Super introduce fans to a brand new ending theme song for the series titled “An Evil Angel and Righteous Devil” by Japanese rock band “The Collectors” (ザ・コレクターズ).

The song is told in the perspective of a man stuck between an angel and demon with an unnatural friendship.  The man doesn’t know who is right and reflects on the options given to him by the pair. Towards the end he realizes whatever choice he makes will ultimately have the same sorrowful result.

Just like in the film and television industries, the anime industry use lyrical theme songs to narrative the plot for animated series’s arc (season) and Dragon Ball Super is no exception.

As both an anime and music fan I love when the ending theme of an anime provides clues to the story.  Music helps tells the narrative of any show in my opinion. In this post  I will give my analysis on the song and what possible clues and theories it may have in relation to the current arc.

(NOTE: This is all speculation and holds no solid truth to anything for the arc.)

“An angel and a demon are sitting together like friends
I’m in the middle
Which way do I face?”

The friendship of the demon and angel confuses the character.  This results in him not knowing who to face.  Normally demons and angels opposed one another but we have these two just chilling like bros.  It doesn’t help that the angel is evil and the demon is righteous.

It’s a twist on the classic Shoulder Angel and Shoulder Demon trope.  Rather than the angel and demon fighting one another to win you over,  they’re on friendly terms.  Seems pretty suspicious.

Dragon Ball fans have theorized that the angel and demon may have some influences on the Tournament of Power or at the least influences on a certain character.

“Either destroy myself or destroy everything else.”

The character has two dire choices.

Choice 1: He could destroy himself to escape the politics of the tournament, the  demon and angel who shouldn’t be friends by nature, and the tournament itself.

Choice 2: Fuck everything else.  Destroy them all for all he cares,

The theme of destruction is interesting in this line and for the arc as a whole.  Remember that the losing teams of the Tournament of  Power will have their universe’s existence destroy.  Survival means destroying all others to protect your universe.  In short: It’s destroy or be destroyed.

“They scream it in my ear all night.
Is there a right answer to this?”

All sides are presenting the character with voices but none are the clear, right answer. This is assuming if there are any at all.

An interesting note: The music video of this song portrays a solider at war dealing with the politics behind it. Now, I am not a solider and I have never been in a war.  However I can assume being a solider at war is about making unclear moral choices and questing what you’re doing is right.

The Tournament of Power can be seen as a war.  You’re fighting a war to ensure the survival of your people.  As a warrior you must do anything to come back  home safe and alive.

What more is that you’re fighting for not only yourself, not even your love ones, but the universe you live in.  You must kill the opposing sides.  It’s doesn’t matter if the other sides have generally good people.  This is survival.

“The masks of angels on the faces of demons”
The Grand Priest and his children might be demons masquerading as angels.
They may not be literal demons but their actions and personalities may as well paint them as such if they’re the ones orchestrating the tournament.

Organizing a tournament were the losing teams have their universe destroy and taking advantage of the two Zeno Kings’ innocent and naïve nature are pretty demonic things to do.

Angels, for the most part,  are perceived as good  in fiction. However, good isn’t always righteous.  How can pitting different people against one another for survival can be righteous?  Controlling two childlike beings who do not know better for your own personal greed isn’t good.

“They beckon to me and say to me
‘For the sake of goodness destroy all evil right now'”.

The demons and/or angels are attempting to manipulate the character into thinking whatever he is doing is right  because it’s  justice.

Destroying evil for the sake of goodness may seem like a great idea.  However, you must realize people views of what is good and evil differs.   Some views on justice are twisted and perverted.

We saw this with Zamasu and Goku Black in the previous arc.  They believed wiping out humanity and killing the other Gods was “justice”.  Killing others for the sake of justice isn’t justice.  It’s murder.

“They say the world is waiting for me.”

This smells like a false promise from the demons and angels.  They want the character to believe the world needs him as a savoir.  They want to soup up his head to make him think what he is doing is for justice.  He’s doing this for the greater good of humanity .

It’s all bullshit.

While I did say I would focus on the TV size version of the song, there’s a verse in the full size single I found interesting.   It’s a depressing reflective on the impact resulted from the action the character selected to follow through:

“Even if angels are demons and demons are angels
Even if the line between justice and evil are muddled
I will not be manipulated to worry about losing or winning
Because at the end of the day, any sort of action will only bring everyone sorrow”

The character knows that whatever action he decides to select at the end on will only cause the sadness for all.  Everyone wants to manipulate the character for their own gain.

It doesn’t even matter if he wins or lose the fight as long as the ones behind everything have their own greedy goals achieved.

Good and evil.  Justice and injustice. War is still war. War and fighting only brings in sadness, pain, and suffering.

War sucks.  Fighting sucks.
REFERENCES:

Music video of “Evil Angel and Righteous Devil”.
It’s a powerful music video even if you do not understand Japanese.

Kanzenshuu announcement article on The Collectors’s and Dragon Ball Super.
Short article detailing the band’s involvement on Dragon Ball Super.  Kanzenshuu is an awesome website for accurate Dragon Ball news in geenral straight from Toei Animation and JUMP Magazine.  They don’t bullshit.

Anime Live Reactions’s Analysis of “Evil Angel and Righteous Devil”
The inspiration for this post lol.  Follow him on YouTube for the most up-to-date and no bullshit accurate news for Dragon Ball Super.