Dragon Ball Super Rant Follow-Up: Bleached Goku vs Jiren the Generic
As of March 25, Dragon Ball Super has finally ended. *hallelujah booms loudly in the background* Since the last time that I ranted about Super, more things have happened that I need to address especially the ending. So, let us begin.
El Goku Blanco:
I was in the middle when it came to the first reveal of Ultra Instinct. It came off as a technique similar to the Kaioken, and had a freshness to it that made me enjoy the Super Saiyan 4 Transformation. Like clockwork, Toei failed hard in its execution. The Spirit Bomb absorption method was ripped from the Android 13 movie. Including, Goku getting the energy from eliminated teammates should be counted as cheating.
The fights, while flashy, only felt like it was trying to pitch the form than actually make it feel ... necessary. While the first fight with Jiren was entertaining, it only added to my list of problems with Jiren as a character. I already brought up that Kefla's strength felt unnatural as a fusion. It becomes clear that she was that strong to sell Ultra Instinct again when it should have been the last hurrah for Super Saiyan God or Super Saiyan Blue before UI became the main focus. As for the final fight, it was a dragged out mess! There were multiple times the fight could have ended with better pacing, but this is Toei Animation. Toei's story pacing is so bad that a group of One Piece fans made One Pace to fix the pacing issues for their series. However, I'll move on to the final nail in the coffin.
So, the mastered form of Ultra Instinct is Goku Blanco or Super Saiyan White.
*exhales* Okay, it's time to go into my problems with this. First, we officially got enough multicolored forms from DBS alone to create a Power Ranger team out of it. The second problem is that we have Super Saiyan 5, the old rumors and jokes of Super Saiyan White, and the most recent Gohan Blanco meme. With all these things existing beforehand including the comparison picture above, it makes this one of the most unoriginal looking forms to date. The third and the most important one is that they've wrote themselves into corner again with the strength of Ultra Instinct. It was so strong that Goku can not turn to it anymore even when it supposed to be MASTERED! This form was just a waste, and ultimately came down to being a temporary power-up used to hype up viewers and sell merchandise. Did I mention that I miss Super Saiyan 4?
The Jiren Inconsistancy:
*breathe in* BOI! What in the world happened!?! I think the DBS writers read or heard many people's complaints with Jiren, then took a 270 with his personality. He went from quiet and uninterested to a pompous S. O. B. who hates friendship aka a generic Saturday morning cartoon villain.
*exhales* Okay, it's time to go into my problems with this one too. FIRST OFF, this came out of nowhere. There was no signs of this type of attitude from Jiren until Toppo's elimination. A good example to show Jiren's transitioning between attitudes would for him to show slow irritation like him clutching his fist when losing most of his team to Kale and Caulifa. Or show a scowl of disappointment when losing Dyspo to Frieza and Gohan. Then again, subtlety is dying along common sense apparently.
Second, Jiren's backstory is very unoriginal. It's a weird combination of Sasuke Uchiha, Young Taguro, and Batman's backstory that doesn't name any important characters of his past. Like I said in my original rant and I quote: "Even if they bring in his motivation later, he's still spent most of his time throwing one punch every few episodes, and keeping people that he could easily eliminate in the ring. His actions are all plot based and not character based." Even with all this brought up and repeated, we still have no clue what he was going to wish for. Jiren was just a obstacle disguised as a character. His personality can change on a dime to fit the writers' agenda with all it takes is a duct taped backstory to fill in the seems. While we're on the subject of Duct Taped CRAP...
The Dollar Store Ending:
This is where it all comes together. I personally felt the last few episodes were both rushed and dragged out. I will first start with the fall of Vegeta. I thought Ultra Blue form (I'm not calling it that "Evolution" mess) was interesting concept, but was mucked in execution. Because, he thought about a person that he had small interactions with to gain the transformation instead of his wife and family that he had for years. The beat down from Jiren did not need to be as long as it was. While I personally thought his elimination was fine, he was learning a lesson that was already learned by the end of Z. While I made a mistake about Vegeta stopping competing with Goku in GT, it was still more a small part of his character there than it was in all of Super.
Android 17 was a mixed bag with me. I loved everything that he did in this arc. He was definitely a MVP of universe 7. However, Android 17 faking his own death to just return out of nowhere a couple episodes later bugged me. Not only did it look like he was killed which could have gotten Jiren disqualified. He gets the final wish. Sure, he made the correct wish, but he didn't know it was going to work. None of them knew a wish like that was going to work! The wish undoing Xeno's erasing actually brought up more questions about the Super Dragon Balls than answers them.
While the montage of all the Universes was nice, I still remember how poorly written most of them were leading to me not caring. Frieza was brought back to life by Whis meaning he's a recurring villain for the franchise. Yay. We also end with another montage of Universe 7 team being greeted by their families. Meanwhile, we get to see that Goten, Trunks, and Maron are fine after protecting 17's island. Since I already went into depth about the wasted potential of those two, let's move along to the point. This sucks. We have an arc that was being sold as the biggest event in the franchise. However, it ended up having more writing problems than the Anime Goku Black saga. Most characters were inconsistent in personality and strength. Some characters like Ribrianne, the Saiyan Girls, and the Jiren's trio felt like I was being sold $300 cardboard. Goku's team got most of the victories like a bracket match when this is supposed to be a BATTLE ROYALE! As of Fall 2018, I've come to like Ultra Instinct more. However, it wasn't because of the anime.
The Ballad of Toyataro:
I praise Toyataro once more for handling the outlines again. Frieza's trick on Frost was both in character and logical. I blame Toriyama for giving Krillin and Tien the short end of the stick in this situation. I also blame him for Piccolo and 18's screw-over as well. I'm glad that 18 still got to take out Ribranne whom the latter wasn't that annoying in this. Manga Kale's fear of outshining Caulifa makes her one of my favorites while I found Anime Kale to be Waifu/Tumblr bait. Caulifa isn't made overpowered for the sake of it here. While still used as a way to hype Jiren, Goku and Hit's team up against him was great. We also got Hit's Time Lag which made Jiren's overpowering of him make sense. (Seriously, transcending time, Toei.) Kelfa and Ultimate Gohan being evenly matched makes sense because two novice Super Saiyans with little training in the form should not add up to SSGSS. Their fusion should at least be Super Buu level if they're going by OG Broly strength with Kale. Most of the contestants being taken down off screen make sense because it's supposed to be a BATTLE ROYALE. Vegeta's development also feels right because like he said he works better as his own teacher, and it's best direction to take his character since GT minus the mustache. I love Whis response to this as well. Jiren getting depth added to his established character through the declining helping Toppo and Dyspo and 17's actually believable sacrifice was also top notch. Finishing with the icing, Goku learns Ultra Instinct from being reminded of the basics by Roshi aka Technique over Power. This is good writing, not great but passable. Something that Toei's version lacked.
I know people are making excuses on why they both hate or like this. However, here's why I personally think the "Ultra Instinct" Roshi actually works. Ultra Instinct was always meant to be a defensive ability however thanks to Toei making it a flashy overpowered transformation even logical people are desensitized to Toei's writing. The reason that Roshi was able to pull off a similar technique is because he has the right mindset for it compared to Goku and the Gods of Destruction. However, he ultimately lacks the strength and God ki leading to his quick defeat by Jiren. It's why Roshi needed to reteach Goku the basics of defense, and show the mindset for the actual Ultra Instinct. Because not only was Goku counting way too much on strength stressing his mental state, that his reliance on offense power was clouding his use of defensive instincts. This is why it works in my opinion.
I feel like Toyataro is getting the backlash now because he's not following the anime. This brings up my point from last time which I will quote. "While Toyotarō's manga was more consistent due to its monthly format, the anime is the thing that people will remember most meaning all his hard work will go to waste." I might not be a fan of Super in general especially thanks to the anime. However, there is one of many things that admire is actual EFFORT. Mr. Toyataro, if you're somehow reading this and can understand English, you are doing good so far, but you have room for improvement. I just hope your Broly 2018 retelling shows off your abilities better because I see some good things here.
The Conclusion Z:
As of working on this closing paragraph on 9/27/18, there are rumors that the Super anime might be returning which upsets me. I finally finish this because of the rumor. To be honest, I won't watch it. The dub has made the show somewhat tolerable to watch again because of the self awareness. However, I have no hopes for Toei to improve. Toriyama definitely doesn't care. While "canonilizing?" Broly interest me, I feel like it just a cash grab stunt as well as a reason for Kale fanboys to make more excuses for her writing. Let's just hope things don't get worse. Well, thanks all of you for reading and patiently waiting for this. I hope you all have a good one. Peace.
Also screw S-Cells...
Drinking: Water
Listening to: Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth OST
Games that I'm currently playing: Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth (Completed)
