#nothing-here-90

Thanks for the ask! Had me take a trip down memory lane. 😄

I do.You gotta keep in mind, the Shonen landscape was a very different place when DB came out, and think about all the series since that have taken cues from it. Without DB, there’s no One Piece. There’s no Naruto. A lot of different series that have become popular and even shaped the landscape themselves simply would not have existed, certainly not as we know them now.But even today, the impact can still be felt. Even today, people young and old still flock to it. When Super was airing, the numbers were rivaling and beating One Piece. The fact that DB can still have the legs it does in this day and age, despite being as old as it is, says a lot, imo.

Yeah, it’s not like that’s how Goku went Super Saiyan. or Gohan went Super Saiyan 2. Or how Vegeta had his little asspull power-up when he fought Beerus. Or when Gohan snapped and hit SSJ2 again seeing Videl get hurt during the Tournament. Or...

Well, because Freeza’s arc is also a flat character arc. He doesn’t really change much himself, but rather affects the people and events around him in a way that’s the direct opposite of Goku; whereas Goku typically has a positive impact upon the people in his life, Freeza has the opposite.Both are characters who cling to their “truth”, their dream. Goku’s is simply to push himself to be the absolute best he can be, someone in love with the martial arts and seeking to master them completely. Freeza’s goal is similar, but rather he wants to bend the world around him to be the best it can be for him and his goals. He seeks to become stronger not to better himself, but to bring down those who oppose his view of an ideal universe with himself at the center of it.Goku’s a happy-go-lucky guy who loves his friends and wants people to do whatever makes them happy so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. Freeza is someone who thinks the universe needs to bend to his every whim, as he’s most fit to decide what’s best, with what’s ‘best’ being ‘what’s best for him’.Their arcs compliment each other very well in that sense, and these conflicting worldviews of people who are utterly steadfast and unwavering in them are bound to collide. Natural nemesis to one another.It’s a bit hard for me to put to words properly, but I hope that helps somewhat. lol

Imma be real with you, I really don’t think they really “went wrong” with Jiren. There’s not a whole lot more you can do with him in the context of that arc as it stands. Spend too much time on backstory, you derail the tournament. Make him more sinister, and you kinda kill the emotional weight behind everything by making the last dude standing a traditional “bad guy”.I think he warrants further exploration, to be sure, but in the context of that arc they did a pretty good job of making him a threat and a bit of a “scary” reflection of Goku if he really didn’t care about anything but getting stronger (oh look more meta fuel for addressing the fandom’s perception of Goku) as it stands while still avoiding the “villain” pitfall.

Not the anime really so much as a combination of the anime and the old dub. The dub altered a LOT for Vegeta and Goku both, really.

Every moment he had to deal with Gotenks.

Not without severe backlash and losing a good chunk of your base now, sadly.Couple that with the attempts at focusing on human characters seeming to enrage half the fans over here and... well, let’s just say there’s a chance we may not see that too much anymore.