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Jiren.
This fella has basically become the RoF of DB characters, so I figured I& #39;d weigh in on how he& #39;s settled in my mind in these two years since his conclusion in the anime.
So, it& #39;s time to thread.
This fella has basically become the RoF of DB characters, so I figured I& #39;d weigh in on how he& #39;s settled in my mind in these two years since his conclusion in the anime.
So, it& #39;s time to thread.
Jiren might come off as uninteresting due to his character design, but he represented the mountain Goku and Vegeta spent the whole Super series trying to climb, but as a mortal like them instead of a god (of destruction).
Like Toppo, he went against the idea that slimming down was the next step in their evolution as martial artists, but I think it& #39;s less likely intentional to show mortals evolving in their own way and more so that the idea itself was just being thrown out the window (see: Broly).
There are basically three phases to his arc: in the first (up to 109), he& #39;s a blank slate that expresses nothing. In the second (up to ~126), he undergoes very minor changes. In the last (which spans 5 episodes), he goes through the bulk of his character arc. Not very promising.
A lot of the frustration with Jiren imo came from how he was dragged out while the fanbase was keeping up with the series in a grueling weekly endeavour. That bad taste cemented even before his character started to be redeemed, so a lot about him is handwaved away as a result.
Beyond the musclehead trope, the idea with him is that his rough life where he felt both the loss of loved ones and abandonment of friends led him to choose a life of solitude, one where he can& #39;t be hurt by others anymore. It& #39;s not unique, but there& #39;s stuff to appreciate in it.
Jiren& #39;s inaction makes sense in retrospect of his arc, since he doesn& #39;t see it worth dirtying his hands when everyone else can handle things themselves. He sometimes gets involved briefly, then dips out. Goku posed a challenge to him that appealed to his inner martial artist,
and that& #39;s when his shell started to crack a bit. It didn& #39;t last, though, because he quickly lost faith in Goku when he lost UI Omen, and went back to letting everyone else do the dirty work. He only rejoined when they were the last enemies left.
Jiren regained interest in Goku when he saw that he could tap into UI again, which is why he relaxed a bit in 122 and didn& #39;t just destroy Goku and Vegeta: I& #39;d argue he was trying to force *both* to transform, hence why he tried to drain Vegeta dry too instead of tossing him out.
Things pick up from 127, but 130 is where the classic clash of philosophies happens, and Jiren& #39;s individuality is proven to be inferior to Goku& #39;s crew of loyal allies, many of whom had their hearts won over by him.
While a little on-the-nose, I think the idea of Goku achieving the pinnacle of martial arts while simultaneously calling back to his roots the whole time makes for quite the sincere conclusion to a Dragon Ball series, despite all the mishaps in between.
So, while Toppo had more going for him in some regards, I think Jiren& #39;s conclusion only worked the way it did because Toriyama set him this way. Toei had something going, but it wouldn& #39;t have worked where it mattered most. Imo, them giving Jiren& #39;s character to Toppo was needed.
At the end of the day, I think the main issues with Jiren& #39;s character are production-based. For the most part, there was plenty to make out of him, but a lot of potential was lost with both a lack of focus on him early on and a mountain of padding that killed the arc& #39;s momentum.
