Long time no see, DMC Forums! I love how this thread is still going. XD I gotta say, my hype for DBS has died down rather awfully. DBS has a lot of flaws and so did DBZ but the thing that really made me drop dbs is that it lacks that one thing which made me love Z. Of course i could rant&nitpick the inconsistencies&animation quality of super like most critics but its been done to death, the core reason why DBS is so unappealing to me is because it lacks organic storytellnig and moment to moment character growth that made DBZ more than a mindless action show, which DBS sadly appears to be.
Let's take Gohan's Kamehameha, one of most Epic moments in Z and see why its so good. It wasn't just about cell VS gohan it was about Gohan being in shock and being uncertain of himself(like he always was) while everyone around him was trying to give it all. Gohan is a character who went from a timid boy to a reluctant warrior who tried to help others in distress(mostly in vain) into a true hero. Same could be said for Goku&Trunks's SSJ transformations they were cool moments that had an impact on the characters themselves.
DBS has many cool moments but none of them have any real value to them, SSG,SSB,SSBKaioken, Ultra Instinct etc are all cool stuff but they have no bearing on character growth, and the way the characters are written in DBS is just boring&amateurish. Vegeta is made into this flanderized parody of himself, after
THIS scene Vegeta is regressed into
THIS, seriously!? is this the best way to write Vegeta's character? by making him retread the same obsession with surpassing Goku? Vegeta gave up his childish desire to play catch up Goku and rather just focused on being his own man. Even GT with its awful Vegeta character design got this right.
And Trunks just maybe my least fav character in DBS, his Crying&whining overdone to the point of annoyance. This isn't the cut throat silent badass Trunks from Z who always kept it to himself and the fact that he pretty much chooses to not accept his failure just makes him a pathetic guy who would rather go to a new universe which is similar to his universe so he won't feel bad about it, like i get that Akira wanted to give Trunks a "happy ending" but there's no happy ending here, universe was destroyed and it won't ever come back. Speaking of which, Future Bulma is ONE character DBS who was written well and she's killed very soon so she's treated like Piccolo from GT, and mai was just thrown in there to give Trunks SOMETHING, anything to care about in a world where there's literally no mortals left... in fact, why even bother? just go back to peaceful timeline and let Zamasu have his timeline with no mortals left! what was even the point of fighting at this point?
Zamasu was also interesting with his moral&philosophical dilemmas but then he just became a Freeza 2.0 or a Broly 2.0, just some jerk obsessed with Goku(because he's the main guy) and just irredeemably evil, it would've been much more interesting if they followed Zamasu's narrative of being a good guy. Rather than just making him a sadistic murderer complete with evil smirk and evil psychotic laughter, why not make him act like he's genuinely doing a good thing? That would have been very interesting to see a villian who thinks he's doing good but is actually doing something horrible, Zamasu was such a good villain and they ruined him.
Finally, i really have almost nothing to say about TOP despite the fact that ironically its the saga of DB which has the BIGGEST stakes ever and where characters are "Supposed" to be fighting for survival, but garbage like
this doesn't convince me that its actually a survival tournament. So yeah and then there's this jiren guy and *Yawn* and there are some Saiyan girls who can fuse and be SSG level or something. I think i'm already done with this arc and can't wait to see it end already! I have a whole new appreciation of GT because it at least had one well written villain bebi and Goku&Vegeta were mature&wise and GT did try to tell you a decent story TOP is best described as a Storyless Saga.
