canadamus_prime said:
Naldan said:
canadamus_prime said:
I've not seen it yet. I'm waiting till it gets localized as I can't stand subtitles or some of the Japanese voices. However as soon as I heard about these new movies and this new series I was immediately skeptical. I think even GT took the franchise beyond the point where it should've ended. They already had the characters exceeding the power of, what I had assumed, were the Dragon Ball Universe's gods (the Kais), but now they've introduced Beerus who actually has the title of "God" which throws that out the window. And incidentally Battle of Gods was actually pretty underwhelming as far as Dragon Ball Z movies go.
You know, Dragon Ball first started as a very loose adaptation of Journey to the West, now it's become something approaching Gurran Laugen levels of ridiculousness and I don't think I can buy into it anymore.
The synopsis isn't even bad. Toriyama pulled some good excuses out of his ass (or those asses who are anonymous) on why Beerus was unknown and unspoken of so far. Battle of Gods even is a movie I would rank among my top 3 anime movies, with the fanboy glasses on of course. But honestly, try it. Beerus is a sympathic dick, which is really good reflected in his character in my opinion.
Exactly that is also what I think is a major problem with Super. Minor spoilers of the first two episodes: Beerus is in it, since they recycle the movie with a major addition and basically a new arc-ending or twist not included in the movie. Basically another villain. But Beerus himself is a God of Destruction. So, you have this guy who is super, extremely powerful. And you have "his sidekick" (so to speak), a really flamboyant, nice guy. I really like both characters. But both a presented as villains. On paper; rightfully so! Both seem to be nearly hated and definitely feared among everyone who knows about them.
But both are really nice guys. I mean it, they are really sympathic, and that is even intentionally. They are real dicks, but more in a "chaotic neutral" kinda way. And this is established, in my opinion, in the first two episodes. These are not hyper assholes like Radditz. These are weird, powerful and strange guys, but you could imagine everybody being friends with them. So what is the point in them at the same time filling the role of being the major threat looming at the horizon? Really, there is none. There is, and you can see this left and right if you've seen ANY promo material of the series, another threat. But if you've seen even one picture, you will be assured that even that villain seems not to be that indifferent to Beerus... And Beerus and Whis have too much sympathic traits to have any resemblence in being any horrific threat. They are good characters, but as a threat... No. And the new villain is telling that he will be no different. Yes, I can say that just by looking at him. He as well has a "sidekick", and that points even more to being pretty much just a rival rather than an asshole.
Call me a doofus if I'm wrong when they're introduced. But normally and to my dipleasure, I'm -really- good at predicting storylines after a brief dive.
I haven't actually seen much promo material for this new series. All I do know is that the first arc is essentially Battle of Gods stretched into several episodes instead of being 1 movie.
As for Beerus, that's actually one of the problems I had with him. For a guy called the "God of Destruction" he seemed like an awfully amiable guy. So there was a huge disconnect in the way everyone would act all afraid of him and yet he seemed rather pleasant. Well, pleasant for a God of Destruction anyway. As you said, at worst he would be Chaotic Neutral, if we're assigning DnD alignments. It just doesn't make sense for a guy called the God of Destruction to be so likable.
Another beef I have is that after downloading the latest DLC for Dragon Ball: Xenoverse and watching the promo for Fukkatsu no F I discover that they've introduced a new form beyond even the Super Saiyan God which I already thought was ridiculous. I'm just about ready to wash my hands of Dragon Ball.
Defence of Beerus!
As far as the cosmology of Dragonball has shown, the Heavens really are a bit more comical than you might expect. I mean, King Yamma? The Ogres? King Kai? The Supreme Kai? The whole thing is a bit mis-shapen and weird, you're annoyed Beerus isn't a laughable stereotype of evil but somewhat sympathetic, but King Kai is a god who spends his time puttering around in a tiny car!
Beerus is based on a cat, he acts LIKE a cat, his personality and his job title are independent beings. He's a grumpy puss with a cosmic job and he goes around filling his quota. He only threatens Earth because Buu's an ass-hat about Pudding, but he's a real threat because it's Dragonball. Being an oddball doesn't mean you can't be incredibly dangerous.
Like Buu! Remember that? When he was the strongest character around and was a goddamn MARSHMALLOW who turned people into candy? Yeah Super Buu and Kid Buu were more dangerous because they were flat eviller and primal respectively but Majin Buu was still dangerous even if he did keep a puppy and Mr Satan as friends.
It makes TOTAL sense that the God of Destruction might be likeable because there's no reason he'd be EVIL, he's just filling in one of the roles of the Universe. The Kais create, Beerus or whoever the chubby version of him is, destroys. So while the creator gods are all sunglasses wearing folk with an affection for cars, the destruction gods sleep, act like cats and destroy arbitrarily.
Battle of Gods is probably my favourite DBZ movie because it isn't a random new enemy designed by a commitee who don't know what they're doing and gets killed off shortly after (unless they're popular then they come back as 'Metal' versions or 'Bio' versions because the Dragonballs only work on GOOD guys), it's because Goku goes through all the motions of a regular movie, the stakes are still raised (though maybe don't feel as desperate as usual), he gets a new power up and he... doesn't win.
Anyone else notice that?
Goku actually LOST a fight? Like, an IMPORTANT one? The Earth was only saved because Beerus didn't feel like destroying it after the food and party. It's probably the only time Goku's personality really had to evolve since he talks about how he feels inadequete having to rely on his friends for strength to beat Beerus, he has his own personal Vegeta moment when he feels his own lack of power, but sucked it up because his pride shouldn't matter more than saving people.
Y'know how often he gets introspective in Dragonball Z? FUCKING NEVER!
/rant closed