Dragon Ball Super is a very interesting case. Starting July 5th, 2015. I was at this point in my life about to go to College. I was going to major in International Business, learn Japanese and be a translator for my country (The United States) and my hopefully visa country (Japan). As I say this with great pride, I have changed since then. I was, like many people, a western weeb. My Japanese was horrible, my experience with Japan being fairly limited with only Anime. When I found out that Japan is releasing Dragon Ball Super, I was excited. For one, I love Battle of Gods and Revival of F and two, I felt like Dragon Ball Z brought me into my love for Anime, alongside Naruto and One Piece (which by the way, if I ever make a blog for them in the future, know that I like all three of these for vastly different reasons.)
Now, March 25th, 2018, it is 12:45 in the morning. I am at a different college (transferring for the third time.) and I am doing far better then I was back then. I am now a different major (Biochemistry) and I instead shifted my love for Japan to my love for the world and culture. This has shaped my world view to be far more nuanced. I am no longer 17 and going to college, I am 20 and I am a sophmore. I watch every episode for the most part...and I have ALOT to say about this show.
If you want a TLDR: I think the show is okay, but with huge, glaring problems. Alot of the fanbase wants to ignore my nitpicks, which is fine. They are indeed 'nitpicks' with a few exceptions I will fight to the death for. It isn't good or great, but enjoyable. A bad show can be enjoyable, and that is okay. If you want to enjoy the show, by all means.
I am just here to educate you from as an amateur writer and someone who loves to digest fiction, that this show has alot of problems.
But first, I will start with the good part of the show.
Okay, we all like to joke about the animation early on. I want to add that I think me, and many others will probably agree that the animation sky rocketed in quality by the end of the series. A lot of the animation is very fluid, very dynamic and generally is modernized. The issue with DBZ and partly why Kai was invented (even though Kai is shit), is because the animation didn't really age well, especially for the modern formats such as Blu-Ray and 4K. I think this is probably the 'easiest' thing to defend in the show. The fight scenes, especially anything involving Ultra Instinct Goku or with Hit, I felt that this was well done.
Return of Trunks Saga[]
I love Trunks,
Goku vs Future Trunks - Dragon Ball Super - HD (English Sub)-0
I really think it is impossible to hate Trunks. He gets shit done. Alot of reasons why DBZ plot progressed the way it did was the personal faults of the Z-Fighters. Now granted, this is not a bad thing in the series, especially since Vegeta's entire character is really well written. What I think a lot of people don't like is his villain: Zamasu.
Zamasu kills a babarian on planet Babari HD (English Sub)-0
Zamasu is a good foil to Trunks. I don't want to say he is a good 'villain' per se, which I am sure I will tackle later. What matters here however, is how he is a direct anti-thesis to Trunks.
Trunks is a caring, emotional Sayain hybrid. He is from a heart breaking future where literally everyone he knew and love died. Ever wondered why he is quiet, doesn't look up to Vegeta and is very polite? It is a consequence of the future torn from two monsters that shaped it to their own personal playground. In fact, this is probably why I think he so willingly dispatched Freeza with ease. He has to get stuff done, his hesitation led to his defeat to the Androids not once, but twice. I also want to add what I think drives my point home is how he turns Super Sayain. He just lost his mentor, the last tie of his heritage and this is what drove his transformation
Future Trunks turns super saiyan for first time-0
Now what about Zamasu? Well, he is apathetic, doesn't feel any emotion or sympathy for his actions, the opposite of Trunks. He is very arrogant, something Trunks is not, something that is driven home in the original series with his relationship with Vegeta. Trunks and Zamasu also have a thread to the world around them in a different mind set. We never saw this other then a few exposition statements. Zamasu despises humans, and how this impacts his general character is the years of his being a mere attendant and the 'violence' of human nature led him to develop a god complex. Trunks, meanwhile, saw a direct consequence of the Violence of human nature via Gero creation of the androids. Yet what makes him different is his acceptance of humanity and his willingness to remake society, to try and change it with peace. Zamasu is the opposite, he uses violence and his status to achieve his means.
Gowasu ask Zamasu Why He Hates Mortals (DBS 55 English Dub)
Goku and Vegeta[]
I say this very, very loosely. I want to add this with a personal theory of mine, so lets go to the very far future, to when Vegeta 'mastered' Blue and Goku 'mastered' Ultra Instinct.
Vegeta's character development relies on hard work, something he never once had to try growing up considering he was the 'Prince of all sayains'. You see this in DBZ, his willingness to try and break his barriers, to defeat Goku, his one rival. With hard work and training, he eventually would become 'even' with goku. This is why he gets the mastered blue form. See the subtext here? You don't 'see' it, but you feel it. This is great writing, and one of the few acts of Dragon Ball Super that I can write off in a good light.
Goku's character development, while he did strive for hard work and trained for his ability, in early Dragon Ball, he was a clear natural talent. You would see this as many of the peers around him praise Goku. Even in his fight with Jackie Chun, he only 'barely' lost after a mere year of training. He is an instinctual fighter, generally speaking. A lot people like to think these two can be NLFed that with training, they can overcome any barrier. While this is partly true, this subtext is subverted with Goku, and you can see the early echoes with SSB KK x 10. This is his 'unique' technique. He made this himself, his talent brought him here, that is why he 'Mastered' Ultra Instinct', something that you can't really learned easily.
Although I will concede this theory is partly thrown out the window with PIS lul jiren energy beam, but hey, I think I get the overall message here. Also,
Vegeta defends Frieza lies that hes a good guy now to Trunks very painful for him DSuper 94 Subs
this scene is hilarious.
Tournament of Power[]
This is the last 'good' thing about Dragon Ball Super, and this one is both in the 'pro's and the 'cons' category. This is when I will take out my writer/nerd glasses.
Lets start the few things I did like, with bullet points to avoid expalining everything
Jiren is a really good villain. He is the big bad, with Freeza being in this arc and beats the shit out of everyone around him. He has fought everyone that goku has beat before, like Vegeta and Freeza and won. This sets him up as a villain you have to respect, also knowing that he has to be beaten by a three man tag team is what I think makes this a good plot twist.
Character Development and Acknowledgement. I want to get into this one more, but to give a quick run down, Roshi just before he gets eliminated. 18 witnessing 17 'death, Vegeta breaking his limits and Goku vs Kefla.
Dragonball Super - Ultra Instinct Reborn (HQ Recreation)
Ultra Instinct OST, nuff said
Alright, now I listed the good, and all of these are enjoyable. Now lets talk about what I find is downright bad.
Zamasu is typical, god complex[]
Zamasu is a god, and thinks he is above everyone, and that is about it. What I find partly disappointing about his character is while he is a good foil, he does nothing 'new'. I don't think anyone can dispute this per se, even the most hard core might have to give me this point. Name one unique thing he has done...that freeza has not.
You think I am joking?
Well.
Both destroy planetary populations with little remorse
Both view themselves above the characters they want to kill (Trunks to Zamasu, Goku to Freeza)
Both introduce a new power ceiling for this verse. DBZ introduced a casual planet busting warlord, and DBS introduced a merge, time-space monster thing that would eventually be supassed by Jiren.
So why does Freeza suceed and Zamasu fail? Well to put it simply; character.
Freeza views everyone beneath him, sure, but I want to point to three scenes that make him unique.
1. His fight will Nail shows a genuine curiousiy for Namekians. Many people will scoff at this, but consider this. What trait does this symbolize that mixes well with Freeza? Well, he is Curious and Intelligent, he was the mastermind of a galactic empire and is a ruler. Despite this immense knowledge, he is not omnipotent. He is bound by his limitations of his arrogance, which is linked with his Curiousity.
He chose to fight Nail because he was curious and to find out the locations of the Dragon Balls, and what makes this work is this feels something small, but an important trait of his character that we just digest as 'Oh that is cool'.
2. His power feels just right and 3. One falls because of his own hubris. Goku and Co time traveled two times (or three I dont really remember but point will stand either way.) When Goku fought Freeza the first time, Goku was weaker, but he didn't feel too far behind him. and
When Goku
Goku SSJ2 VS Goku Black First Time Fight!
fights Goku Black for the first time, the fight is largely in Goku's favor for the most part, and he held back to get a glimpse of his power.
Goku Black Goes SSR and Nearly Kills Vegeta-1
And then we get this scene, where Super Sayain Rose no sold Vegeta, and there are plenty of moments of this fight where either Black or Zamasu just pummeled Goku. The ceiling in power is just thrusted so far up for no reason, we can't really keep up anymore. Thus, we time travel because the 'plot demands it'. The plot demanding something to a solution sounds like a "deus ex machina." While this later would turn out partly for the better, when we see an Infinite Zamasu casually take attacks from 3-A goku, and we call Zeno, this is especially apparent.
Now, Dragon Ball Z does have its habit of doing this writing technique, the Hyperbolic Time Machine in both the Cell and Buu arcs seem to be good examples, but at the very least Cell had some character by which defined him. Vegeta's pride and arrogance, Trunk's patience and politeness, Goku's love for fighting etc. Zamasu is motivated by one thing, and this brings us back to Freeza.
What motivates Freeza other then galactic conquest? Absolute Power and Immortality. He knew however, he couldn't just get this himself. When he found out about the dragon balls on namek, he went immediately after it. This power was later confirmed by King Kai.
Even he is not infallible, he knows this and this is further displayed by Goku vs Freeza. We get this scene that is just majestic, this is Goku at his current limit and he was able to injure and push back a final form freeza. What makes this work in my opinion is that the character development is possible and its there. The digust and anger he feels toward the Z-Fighters is combined with his arrogance.
When Goku vs Black happened, and then Rose one shots Vegeta, we don't get a real clear view of his power. This is classic power creep.
Freeza is killed with his own energy disk, a fault of his own hubris. Zamasu is killed because of a Deus ex Machina. Even if you are a foil to the almighty Trunks, that doesnt save it from bad writing.
HD Dragon Ball Z- Frieza Is Cut In Half Goku Slaps Frieza
Zeno destroys Zamasu-0
The World-Building is Shit[]
Now in 130+ episodes of Dragon Ball Super, I have but one question. Can you name five traits about each universe? Pro tip, you can't.
Now when they announced the Dragon Ball Universe was part of a multiverse, especially of one of only 12 universes in size. I was actually thrilled. I wanted to explore most of these universes, see what makes them unique and what cultures exist, what characters lived there and more.
I got nothing. Now alot of people will probably say I am being too harsh on this point.
I don't see how an anime like Gurren Lagaan or Evagelion, both of which are 26 episodes or so, have better world building and lore with this point then the Dragon Ball Multiverse.
This is also further matched with disappointment by the other parts of the Tournament of Power Arc I just did not like. (More on that later.)
Alright boys, now time to talk about world building with your resident amateur writer, KinkiestSins. I am indeed an expert what makes a good world and how to build it sentence by sentence.
But I am lazy, I will write more for this section later, but I will write bullet points.
Shorter anime create more substantive lore that build upon the story's main story, Super does not.
Multiple universe, as seen by Magic the Gathering or perhaps to some extent Warhammer 40,000 has more background knowledge. (Serious nerds can explain what makes Zendikar different then Innistrad.)
The 'twin' universes are only that by name, they have very little in common that we know of other then (LUL THEY ARE TWINS)
The universes all feel very samey. They all use Ki in similar ways (with an exception of Hit and Jiren, they get a pass.), and this is just boring.
Our lord and savior, Brandon Sanderson explains this. A good power system has rules. Ki does have rules, but what I don't like about it is that these twelve universes or this new introduction of the Gods could introduce new ways to use Ki and yet don't.
Also, find it hilarious that Namek and the World of the Kai's is more explored then the other universes, just saying.
This is an issue and this is a glaring flaw in Dragon Ball.. which is part of...
Scale[]
Bigger =/= Better. I don't like how many shonen up the stakes of their own universe and just...forget about the issues that makes. For one, increasing the scale, either in the power of a person or the scale of a universe or the scale of ability usage.
What the issue here is this, as outlined above, Dragon Ball Super is at best inconsistent with the above, or at worst just downright bad writing.
Now, Dragon Ball always potrayed this with the Scale of a Person's power, I am not stupid. Freeza, Cell and Buu all used Ki (Well, Buu can use magic, but I dont wanna touch on that.). What I have an issue with, is outlined above, that the power scaling in this verse is all over the place.
Admins who are reading this who have to powerscale the last episode and probably the new series outlined by Toei
Plot Twists seem Redudant and imply no greater meaning.[]
I am going too add videos for this later, but lets just pull an Egoraptor and gush.
DUDE WASN'T IT FUCKING COOL WHEN TRUNKS TURNED SUPER SAYAIN RAGE AND BEAT THE FUCKING SHIT OUT OF ZAMASU!!!? BOY DID THAT FUCKED HAVE IT COMING
DUDE WASN'T IT FUCKING COOL WHEN GOKU MASTERED KAIO KEN AND BLUE TOGETHER AND BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HIT!!!
DUDE WASN'T IT SO FUCKING COOL WHEN ANDROID 17 SACRAFICED HIMSELF TO SAVE EVERYONE IN UNIVERSE SEVEN FROM BEING KNOCKED OUT!!!!
DUDE WASN'T IT FUCKING COOL WHEN WE SEE ULTRA INSTINCT FOR THE FIRST TIME AND GOKU FINALLY KEEPS UP WITH JIREN FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!?
And the biggest one of all: DUDE WASN'T IT FUCKING COOL WHEN GOKU FINALLY MASTERED ULTRA INSTINCT?!!!!
Alright, lets break this down, with the same bullet points
Trunks killed Zamasu, and he became Infinite Zamasu = Redudant
Goku never used this technique ever again in comparison, he got ultra instinct afterward = Partly Redudant (Led to Ultra Instinct)
Android 17 didn't die, we were cock teased and he hid away instead.
This one is actually kind of cool still, but this is mostly an issue with the perhaps PIS energy beam or the god tier goku learning things with his instinct (pick your choice)
Goku didn't beat use UI to beat Jiren, he teamed up with Android 17 and Freeza to beat him.
Now okay, I will give a disclaimer on the last one because I already know WHY this happened. The theme of Goku vs Jiren is basically Power of Nakama vs Power of a Beater (Sorry for using a SAO reference, but it fits.).
While I do like this, these issues felt largely redudant by the plot.
"BUT WHAT, THAT IS DRAGON BALLS MAIN THEME! GETTING POWER UPS AND TRANSFORMATIONS TO BREAK LIMITS."
What I think seperates this from being 'character development' and 'pulled from the ass' is really a knifes edge. I love Manga and Shows that don't 'rush' things, and this is rushed (minus UI, but this was later turned to be redudant). Some plot events NEED to happen. I never really was a big fan of people in dragon ball coming back because of the dragon balls though to be fair, this is an obvious Deus Ex Machina.
It is not that hard to keep a character dead. Also, as for the transformation thing, this is a nitpick. Take of this what you will. This might not be an issue.
In other words, the most heart breaking parts of the shows or the most epic are later written off by the plot, making it reactive more then anything else.
Lack of Focus[]
You can watch the each saga by itself. That is a good thing. You can't see an established 'end goal' per see for the end of the series. Goku to surpass Beerus? Okay, sure. My issue here is that Jiren is not beerus. Beerus was built up and left to basically be forgotten.
Honestly, this isnt an issue that much by itself. What I don't like is how each episode feels reactionary, reactive to the events of the plot. Think about it say like this.
When a show is reactive, it means that characters react to events in a story. When it is proactive, it moves at a day to day pace. When it is active, it means that it is always active.
To give you an idea on what i mean, Fantasy would be perhaps Proactive, and a Boxing Match or any sports anime game would be 'Active'.
Dragon Ball Super reacts to the above as if it is a seperate event, not an event in a timeline. What I mean by this is generally speaking, characters are never reused in an appropriate matter and never address previous issues with the plot.
Goku forgave Freeza far too easily, Gohan suddenly wanted to become like his dad again, We never hear from Trunks again. We never hear about any of the consequences of Goku time traveling in the future and despite it being super illegal, gets away with it.
My issue with Goku just before the Tournament of Power arc and some of the cast with Super (mostly Goku). They never consider the consequences of their actions.
Why is this an issue? Because in DBZ, most of the time, they did. Goku did, to be fair, want to see Freeza at his strongest and I guess it makes sense in character for him to bust out the 'I wanna fight someone strong'
But when we do get consequences...
A cardinal sin: Consequence has no Consequence[]
This can also be called the "The Part I don't like about Tournament of Power."
So wait, we are playing for keeps? The universe that loses will actually be erased? And there is 6 other universes stronger then 7? HOLY FUCK THOSE ARE HIGH STAKES.
You saw everyone give it there all, everyone tried. Even Roshi, who we haven't seen in action since DB was in this arc. You saw characters develop and they get stronger.
And then...all the universes are wished back by the Super Dragon Balls.
So Jiren can also blast a crowd and get away with it, and we can wish back universes that were just erased and Zeno is not going to bat an eye?
To be honest, I don't have an issue with this fundamentally, I have an issue with this as a writer.
So what was the purpose of this tournament? Goku didn't master UI and everyone who was fodder before is still fodder. People that break the rules aren't enforced and we just get the ultimate 'fuck you' that the universes were wished back by the Super Dragon Balls.
Just...why? Was it because the sequel series was announced? If so, that is bad writing and disgusting business. Was it because to teach the characters the power of friendship? They already knew that, they didnt need a tournament to do so. Heck, a 'Universal War Arc' would have been better suited for that. Was it because the Plot Armor of Universe Seven was too strong, thus they can defy the rules? Yeah, that must be it.
The last Cardinal Sin: The only 'memorable' antangonist was Jiren, and his backstory is standard.[]
The heading reads itself, but I will break it down.
-Beerus, well, he is now a protagonist.
-Freeza, well, we liked him before. And if you didn't, he didnt learn anything from his experience and goes back to my previous point.
-Zamasu is shit, explained above.
-Toppo is forgettable and is a cuck. (Sorry man I do love you tho)
-Every other universe was boring
-Kefla....or Kale or Caullifa just didn't really seem all that unique. Fanservice, I guess
I can forgive all of the above, but in an action series or story or whatever, without a good villain, you are doomed to fail. I think what this can be boiled down too is lack of a good personality trait of many.
What Makes a Villain Feel Real?-1
And now back to Jiren. I love Jiren, I think he is a great character. His backstory, however, is standard. I don't think it is too harsh for me to say this, and what I think makes him memorable is this back story as a whole.
But the issue I have with this is the lack of brevity to this one scene. What was the point of the flashback? To explore a sad part of his life? Fine, but Flashback's arent a replacement to an actual character development.
I will say this, I think Jiren DID develop after this tournament, that is why I am giving him a pass, but my issue with it is that the lack of time.
The time management of the above seems to be so stretched in some parts, either too thin or to be too long, and that is my final issue with the series and why I fell out of watching it: The lack of time in this one part of Jiren seem rushed, and the focus on him and partly this arc, does seem to leave the other characters short.
"But I still love Dragon Ball Super!"- Dragonballfan123[]
Fine by me, You can clearly enjoy it. This is just my opinion.
I want to say this, and this is sincere.
I tried, I really did. I tried to find solutions to my above issues, and I came up short. This is at best only for the most hard core of fans. I am a DB fan, but not a fanboy. If this is the direction of the show, count me out.
If the above is addressed in the sequel anime, sure, I might give it a chance again.
I think what I want to end with is this. I really think the show has its problems and people enjoy it because of Goku, and Gohan, and Piccolo etc etc. These are characters ruled by nostalgia and that is probably why the Goku vs Superman debate is so toxic.
These are our memories, and I was filled with hype of those memories. Yet I got nothing.
Am I being too harsh? I don't think so. Would I recommend it? Sure, you should still watch it.
The key to writing something new is to analyze what has been written before.
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