Just some thoughts on Jiren.
I know he’s quite a controversial figure in Dragon Ball, mainly because his dynamic in the story feels flat. I’m not here to sprout out meaningless phrases like “bad writing, lazy, its shit”. It’s ineffective, disrespectful, and not criticism. But rather, open up a discussion regarding Jiren and his place in the story.
Had Jiren appeared in any other arc, perhaps his characterization would’ve been better suited (albeit with some changes here and there). Because this was a tournament arc, his overall characterization was undoubtably undermined by the lack of stakes, lack of danger and the overall formulaic feeling.
Tournament Arcs in selective stories can run into issues. Namely, lack of build up with characters, and the predictability of story beats and ending. Thus, a sense of danger isn’t present, and readers can pin down how majority of the arc will play out, who they fight, etc.
Tournament Arcs is one of the staples in Dragon Ball, starting at its beginning depiction, where the theme of the 21st Tournament revolved around “there’s always a bigger fish out there”, 22nd Tournament reveals a darker element (Tienshinhan breaking Yamcha’s legs, and gags were shown less compared to the beginning parts of Dragon Ball), while showcasing the growth of characters since the last tournament. 23rd Tournament was perhaps one of Toriyama’s best arcs, with the overall themes and plot twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
So, it was nice to see a return of Tournament Arcs to come back fully in Super after it’s noticeable absence in the second half of Dragon Ball (Cell Games and 28th Tournament aside). Yet, I felt that the Tournament of Power, although there were several layers of themes for characters (both manga and anime depictions), I felt that Jiren was a lot of going on, but not much substance in comparison.
Of course, it’s possible that there is different depiction of Jiren (although both falls on the same significant issues) in the animated version and the comic adaptation. Ultimately, I think the problem is that they went a bit overboard of tying into a sad backstory for his overall motivations.
I believe that they should’ve stuck what they have going on already: Someone similar to Goku whom hard work and became an unstoppable force, but on a different spectrum. He has no regards to friends and isn’t interested in personal relationships, and scoff at the idea that anyone can help you achieved strength (hence the parallel between the two, i.e., Goku was trained by various masters, while Jiren did it all by himself). He’s not even interested in the Dragon Balls or the Tournaments, only in it to see the “fruition” of other universe fighters, and if not, he’ll just go back to his universe doing his hero duties (and then he met Goku that pique his interest). Hell, when Goku commented that his friends paved the road for him, Jiren rejects it because he seen it all before, and they only get in the way, hence why true power is when you selfishly attained for oneself (wink wink, nudge nudge). Of course, Goku will prove the latter wrong towards their ending battle and seeing that “trust” and “friends” do allowed you to greater strength than one can hope to achieve by their lonesome.
Basically, I think the sad backstory was an unnecessary aspect of the arc, especially during a tournament. Had this been a different arc, it will work better and his characterization will be better use there, but I think Jiren should’ve stay as "an wall that Goku has to over come both physically and mentally" because he's similar to him in a lot of ways, but on a different spectrum in a sense. Hopes this makes sense for some of ya'll lol
I know he’s quite a controversial figure in Dragon Ball, mainly because his dynamic in the story feels flat. I’m not here to sprout out meaningless phrases like “bad writing, lazy, its shit”. It’s ineffective, disrespectful, and not criticism. But rather, open up a discussion regarding Jiren and his place in the story.
Had Jiren appeared in any other arc, perhaps his characterization would’ve been better suited (albeit with some changes here and there). Because this was a tournament arc, his overall characterization was undoubtably undermined by the lack of stakes, lack of danger and the overall formulaic feeling.
Tournament Arcs in selective stories can run into issues. Namely, lack of build up with characters, and the predictability of story beats and ending. Thus, a sense of danger isn’t present, and readers can pin down how majority of the arc will play out, who they fight, etc.
Tournament Arcs is one of the staples in Dragon Ball, starting at its beginning depiction, where the theme of the 21st Tournament revolved around “there’s always a bigger fish out there”, 22nd Tournament reveals a darker element (Tienshinhan breaking Yamcha’s legs, and gags were shown less compared to the beginning parts of Dragon Ball), while showcasing the growth of characters since the last tournament. 23rd Tournament was perhaps one of Toriyama’s best arcs, with the overall themes and plot twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
So, it was nice to see a return of Tournament Arcs to come back fully in Super after it’s noticeable absence in the second half of Dragon Ball (Cell Games and 28th Tournament aside). Yet, I felt that the Tournament of Power, although there were several layers of themes for characters (both manga and anime depictions), I felt that Jiren was a lot of going on, but not much substance in comparison.
Of course, it’s possible that there is different depiction of Jiren (although both falls on the same significant issues) in the animated version and the comic adaptation. Ultimately, I think the problem is that they went a bit overboard of tying into a sad backstory for his overall motivations.
I believe that they should’ve stuck what they have going on already: Someone similar to Goku whom hard work and became an unstoppable force, but on a different spectrum. He has no regards to friends and isn’t interested in personal relationships, and scoff at the idea that anyone can help you achieved strength (hence the parallel between the two, i.e., Goku was trained by various masters, while Jiren did it all by himself). He’s not even interested in the Dragon Balls or the Tournaments, only in it to see the “fruition” of other universe fighters, and if not, he’ll just go back to his universe doing his hero duties (and then he met Goku that pique his interest). Hell, when Goku commented that his friends paved the road for him, Jiren rejects it because he seen it all before, and they only get in the way, hence why true power is when you selfishly attained for oneself (wink wink, nudge nudge). Of course, Goku will prove the latter wrong towards their ending battle and seeing that “trust” and “friends” do allowed you to greater strength than one can hope to achieve by their lonesome.
Basically, I think the sad backstory was an unnecessary aspect of the arc, especially during a tournament. Had this been a different arc, it will work better and his characterization will be better use there, but I think Jiren should’ve stay as "an wall that Goku has to over come both physically and mentally" because he's similar to him in a lot of ways, but on a different spectrum in a sense. Hopes this makes sense for some of ya'll lol