@Nobodyman:
In the most ass way possible.
It had gotten to the point where Toriyama just wanted to end it. There are rumors aplenty that he'd wanted to end it sooner (though nothing anyone can confirm)
The Kanzenban (Manga "Perfect" re-release done in Japan recently) has an extended ending that brings the theme of passing on the torch a little better. Instead of just Flying off with Oob, Son calls Kinto-un (the cloud you can only sit on if you're a good guy) and sets Oob down on it, and there's this shot of him Flying away on Kinto-un with an after-image of Little Son flying right next to him to visually show the symbolic "Passing of the Cloud" if you will.
It's not much better, but hopefully that makes it seem like less of an "ass-pull" to you.
@Nobodyman:
It still seems like kind of an asspull to me. So Goku randsomly asks the gods "Hey, can you reincarnate this super powerful guy for me since my sons (and everyone else) fail so hard?"
I'm gonna have to call you out on this one.
It's never stated, but is made ABUNDANTLY Clear through the course of the series that the afterlife in the Dragon Ball world is the Buddhist Afterlife. The Afterlife is run by The Great King Yemma (Enma in the Japanese reading), Hell is run by The Ogres of traditional Buddhist folklore, And there's a River of Blood which is popular iconography of Buddhist Hell.
It's PRETTY damn obvious the afterlife in the DB series is Buddhist.
What you're saying is: "The Idea of Reincarnation in a Buddhist afterlife system in a Story written by a Buddhist Author in a primarily Buddhist Country is a complete ass-pull". When Reincarnation is One of their MAJOR FREAKING TENANTS!
Yeah, Right.
Also, don't quote me on this, but when Son first arrived in the Afterlife in the Saiyan arc, I remember the Ogres organizing them into lines, and I remember one of the lines being a line for "Reincarnation".
And I know someone will call "Non-canon" on this, but the entire Plot of Movie 12 was based around a "Soul Washing Machine" that cleaned Evil souls for their reincarnation, breaking and creating Janenba.
@Nobodyman:
So turning SSJ changes Goku's DNA? Interesting.
That's just a Fan Theory, but it makes sense. Having achieved Super Saiyan before the birth of the Children is the only X-Factor.
@Nobodyman:
But Goten was training…with ChiChi! (if it's documented that he trained with Gohan any time before he taught him to fly, please let me know). Trunks I can kind of understand, but I still think it's kind of a stretch.
To be fair, the kids being able to achieve Super Saiyan was odd in-universe too. It's not like they achieved it and everyone was like "Well, that's perfectly normal!"
Gohan got upset because Goten did it much more easily than he did, and Vegeta was flabbergasted that Trunks could have achieved it without him knowing and said "What is this, a Super Saiyan Bargain Sale?!"
@Nobodyman:
I've addressed this already in a prior post, but here's my main gripe. Regardless of whether or not Gohan is truly qualified for the job, Toriyama had to make a decision. He could either A: let Goku defeat Cell and remain the protector of Earth or B: let Gohan defeat Cell and have him be the new protector. He went with B, but then he did the worst possible thing and went back on it in the Boo saga by having Goku become the protector once again. If he wants Goku to remain the main hero, fine. And if he wants Gohan to be the new hero, that's fine as well. But he can't do the latter and go back to the former.
Yeah, it's been said to death already, but it's really not Toriyama's fault, not completely at least. The Editor has a lot of pull. The Editor is the reason The Artificial Humans arc had 7 Different Villain designs.
Cyborgs 19 & 20, then Cyborgs 17 & 18, then Imperfect Cell, Then Imperfect Cell + C17, then Perfect Cell. Every time he designed a villain for the arc, the Editor went "I Don't like that, do another one" and he had to come up with a reason why the villain changed. That's why Trunks initially comes back and says "Two Cyborgs, Numbers 19 and 20 will attack 3 years from now…" but then when they fight 19 and 20, when he sees them he goes "No, those aren't them! The real ones are 17 and 18!" It wasn't some convoluted "The time line is screwed up now, so the numbers got screwed up", 19 and 20 were literally supposed to be the main villains of the arc, but the Editor forced Toriyama to change them so he had to come up with a story-reason to change them. Then he did it again, and out came Cell. Then he said he didn't like Cell's design, so Toriyama had to redesign Cell for his next form. Etc, etc until you get to Perfect Cell.
Every author is prone to this. Oda removed Usopp's fight with Daddy the Father from the manga at the behest of his editor, and he changed the Whitebeard Pirate Flag for the same reason. His editor is also the reason Chopper is cute, originally he wasn't gonna be drawn that way.
I personally LIKED The Boo arc, it felt more Fresh than the previous few arcs. There was more comedy, and the Villain was something more than just "Generic guy who thinks he's the Strongest in the universe and wants to prove it/ use his 'strongest' power to take over the world/universe".
Pilaf, the RR Army, Both Piccolos, And the Saiyans wanted to conquer Earth (Everyone but the Saiyans wanted to Rule it, the Saiyans wanted to SELL it)
Vegeta and Freeza wanted immortality so they could "Rule the Universe", both fancied themselves the "Strongest who ever lived" (Vegeta as the Strongest Saiyan, Freeza as the Strongest period)
The Artificial Humans started out with the purpose of just "Kill Son Goku" which was KINDOF Original, but Cell Degenerated into basic "I'm the Strongest now, so fight me to decide the fate of Earth so I can prove I'm the Strongest".
Boo was a breath of Fresh Air. Babidi DID want to use Boo for universal conquest, but Boo was just a mindless tool of destruction. Once he killed Babidi and went off on his own, that was his prime motivation. He had no real mind of his own so he was killing which was all he'd known. He was MAINLY just out to have fun, which as a killing machine, meant to kill people. Satan even briefly made him good before that maniac shot the dog and brought out his evil side.
He was just a destructive dog with no real morals let off its leash.
I liked that a lot better than "ANOTHER Dude who is strong and just wants to prove it."
And am I seeing Robby spell "Saiyan" as "Saiyin"?...
I mean, I know I raised a stink about "Frieza" vs "Freeza" but at least "Frieza" is the actual official English FUNimation name.
Where is he getting "Saiyin"? Is it a combination of "Saiya" and "Jin"?
I've never EVER seen anyone spell it that way…
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