Dragon Ball Super. I just started catching up and finished the fight with Zamasu and Goku Black. Didn't like that character so much at all really because he was boring and another rehash in character design, which DBZ has always had even conceptually. It can't break out that mold comparatively. A bad example is they already did the switch body stuff with Captain Ginyu, and the fusions aren't cool anymore, not sure if they ever were. They're trying to keep the cast size up by re-introducing characters such as Frieza but they also can't help other characters actually being the same people in disguise. But Black actually being Zamasu was especially lame and not too unpredictable. In a previous analysis I already said the Frieza fight represented Earth vs aliens, so this series is all about vs Gods, which Zamasu was, and Beerus too (I'm not sure what his name is. Bills? Beers? Beerus?). Only thing is he kept referring to them as humans which they aren't, although Goku always thought he was and Trunks is half human. So it didn't make sense that much, they probably were just trying not to get their planet blown up. After that they meet Arale from Dr. Slump again.
But then it becomes time to introduce some new characters. You'll either see similar design schemes or it's a different version of the character from a different time frame or dimension or what have you. For example they'll either be wearing the same clothes or have the same haircut even though they never met, presumably, nearly recycled in design. Well, I don't want to spread rumors or put words in mouth. Even though he's a movie character there's Tapion with mohawk as well as the Kais. The androids were always fairly unique in design. As Frieza was an alien, Cell was just a recycling of everything up to that point, a biological organism and machine from Earth, a weapon. Someone said they could have had him be a movie villain and had Broly replace him in the serial timeline in order to flesh out that development. Whether you agree with having Cell replaced by some other try out sagas or not, Cell himself was kind of random. There was Bojack who Gohan also killed but that couldn't really be fleshed out enough to comprise a whole saga. Gohan had to be there after Goku died, and the Buu saga was just an Indian inspired debacle. Buu and all the fusion characters wear a vest. And then, they decide to keep Buu around to add to the overall cast, as a friendship he made with Mr. Satan.
But there's another trope to be found within his wardrobe, that being his pants. The original one wore tights. Then, he started wearing pants and just copied whoever he absorbed's clothes. Gohan was supposed to beat Buu too but they had to bring Goku back for more audience appeal. He had him beat square for square but Buu was never really that strong, just invincible. He was killed many times throughout the fight but always regenerated, as he could never be fully destroyed, apparently. Vegeta tried when he was Majin but it didn't work, it only took a spirit bomb to fully disintegrate him.
I like the pace in Super so far, it doesn't drag on too much, although they do talk a lot during battles still, something that people always complain about when discussing DBZ. It doesn't happen in DB so much.
So Gohan quit fighting and became a Jew, studying all day and not being very helpful when it comes to saving the world. It's weird that they want to focus on Goku and Vegeta as if they were superheroes. I didn't finish watching it. Gohan supposedly reconciles his usefulness as new challengers get introduced. He mostly seems a shadow of his former self but they obviously wanted to give him a chance for redemption. He isn't using his full power anymore.
The entire series is about redemption. One Piece kept going on forever after DBZ originally ended so they wanted another chance to do it proper which is everything it should have been. It takes place before DBZ ended so it prevents a few characters from getting involved and the reason they become different, as they get older and lose an interest in fighting. They try to make martial arts a thing of their youth before they stop practicing, used to varying effect. I disagree with that use of the characters but maybe they'll get more screen time for redemption, but so far it looks like the series could end early at this rate. May be a shame because it started off promising, with a nice slice of life vibe intermixed with DB elements but without losing the strength of the DBZ household name.
Beerus was just too good a concept so they wanted to see him stick around and are using his power to access all sorts of things about the universe, which is unprecedented. That's all the story is about, Goku getting stronger and fighting. In fact the last few episodes were just excuses to show some fights for the characters, and were kind of boring. But I'll still watch it. I agree that it doesn't seem to have delivered upon its promise yet. Besides Hit, maybe it needs a cool stock villain to hold things over. It shows they aren't relying on brute strength anymore since the time skip is kind of a cheat technique, so it changes the pace of the battles. No one seems to be able to handle it, not even Goku.
In a previous report I said Goku was Fe. With the way the story seems to be headed they paint Goku as a person who does selfish things for personal gain, making him technically villain like. This is probably an aspect of that function, as he does ended up manipulating events through his bubbly personality. However, this is all very predictable. They want to further show he's a bad parent, and are intent on it.
I watched it in sub but need to find better formats for it next time because it's hard to find. The dub is a little bit behind but I want to rewatch it with that. The last few episodes sort of sucked so I'm holding off on it until a while when I can batch watch and binge it.
