'Dragon Ball Super' Gives Kefla a New Origin

Dragon Ball Super's latest manga chapter saw a pivotal turning point in the Tournament of Power, as Universe 6's shy female Saiyan Kale unleashed the rage and power of a Legendary Super Saiyan! Stopping Kale became top priority for Kale's Universe 6 Saiyan teammates Caulifla and Cabba, who launched a desperate gamble with Lord Champa, to channel Kale's rage into a bold new form: the Kale / Caulifla fusion warrior, "Kefla."

However, like so many things in the Dragon Ball Super manga's "Tournament of Power" arc, how Kale and Caulifla fuse into Kefla was depicted much differently on the page than it was on the anime screen.

First of all, the nature of Caulifla coming into possession of the Potara earrings is handled entirely differently: in the anime, she's given the earrings as a secret weapon for the tournament; in the manga, Caulifla is much truer to her roots as a leader of one of Sadala's Saiyan punk gangs by swiping the Potara from Universe 6's Supreme Kai, Fuwa. When Fuwa and Champa realize what's happened, they are both angered and frightened, as the move could be seen as a cheat. However, The Zenos love fusion, and let the theft ride.

When Kale goes LSSJ and loses control, he eliminates a handful of competing universes in an instant, and then begins to turn on her own Universe 6 teammates! In horror, Cabba and Caulifla try to intervene, realizing that Kale is actually the Legendary Super Saiyan. When Universe 11's Pride Troopers gang up and knock Kale out of the ring, Cabba must sacrifice himself by leaping out behind her and throwing her back in, while simultaneously attaching the Potara to her ear. The mystical artifact pulls both Kale and Caulifla into the center of the ring, where they fuse into a warrior that quickly renames herself "Kefla." Kefla sets her sights on finishing off heavy hitters like Goku and Jiren, but has to take a detour, as Gohan steps up to challenge the fused Saiyan!

As stated, this manga origin and Kefla's role in the ToP is vastly different than the anime. The latter debuted Kefla as an opponent to Goku, when he almost knocks Kale and Caulifla out of the ring; Kefla was then used for a tit-for-tat power-up game with Goku, which saw SSJ, SSG, SSB, SSJ2 and Ultra Instinct "Sign" all trotted out for the multi-episode battle. Kale and Caulifla's powers have been much greater in the manga, with Kefla having the power of a LSSJ, with Caulifla's mastery over that power. It's testament to the fact that Kefla is one of the most powerful Saiyans in Dragon Ball canon, which should get real interesting when the original LSSJ bad boy, Broly, also becomes canon.

Dragon Ball Super chapter 38 is now available at Viz Media. Dragon Ball Super: Broly will hit Japanese theaters in December, and is expected to arrive in the U.S. around mid-January 2019.

Dragon Ball Super is currently airing its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on Funimation, VRV, and Crunchyroll.