Dragonball captivated a generation. Many young boys (and I'm sure girls) would spar with their friends or siblings and pretend to power up. I know I sure did. One could argue that Dragonball Super did not have the emotional tension of Dragonball Z's Saiyan and Namek Sagas or the stakes that the King Piccollo Ark had in Dragonball, however it did have its standout moments.
Who would have thought that the tournament of Power could turn a long ignored character like Andorid 17 into a consummate fan favorite; from the fight against Ribrianne; to delivering the death blow to Aniraza; to sacrificing himself in a "self destruct" move for Universe 7. We can argue that bringing 17 back in Episode 130 did show the vanity of his self-destruct technique but the tournament of power was the first saga that truly put the spotlight on a plethora of the other Dragonball charecters we have grown to love.
- Master Roshi's impassioned speech to Goku and Krillin with the ultimate kamehameha after which we thought he'd died. It reminded us that the lecherous old man was still the great Master Roshi who taught Goku and Krillin the ways of the Turtle Hermit back in Dragonball: Rocky Balboa's training has nothing on rock sled pushing and focuson the philospohy of strengthenin their minds.
Our master strategists in Gohan and Piccolo, with their defeat of Universe 6's Namekians leding to their erasure. With the stakes so high in this tournament, it was sobering and poignant to see how many U6 Namekians gave their lives to fuse with Pirina and Saonel.
As much as much could be said about Goku's ultra instinct being an a**pull, I wish to focus on Vegeta's resolve not to give up is pride and identity in his fight against Toppo. The royal blue transformation wassubtle but a masterpiece in seeing a moment in which Vegeta stopped trying to surpass Goku by using Goku's methods but acknowledged that he could win in his own way. Not to get too philosophical but the character development that Vegeta has consistently shown throughout the series has been stellar. In a moment, even in the heat of battle, we saw Vegeta fight with an inner peace which he has never had. Even in his defeat against Jiren, he fought until the bitter end. I tend to look at these moments in Dragonball and apply them to aspects of my own life be it getting through a study session for the CFA exams, financial difficulties or whatever strife; I realize that what this show has always encapsulated for me is importance of the size of the fight in the dog no matter how much the odds seems stacked against me.
I have omitted many characters from my analysis for the sake of brevity but lastly thinking of Goku and Frieza. Yes, the mastery of ultra-instinct in less than an hour was a stretch but the fact that Goku could not maintain the form to the end and needed the assist from Frieza and 17 to stay in the tournament was definitely the best way play it. We had so many theories about how Frieza would double cross U7 in the end and take the wish for himself but Frieza, always the pragmatist (it's too early to call him an anti-hero) was willing to sacrifice himself to take Jiren out at the end of the tournament. Goku may seem naive to deal with Frieza in this manner but their seamless teamwork n the end to take Jiren out and the homage to the old DBZ with a classic SSJ Goku and final form Frieza was classic. Many argue about how DBS has been a trash series and yes the animation and initial sagas did leave a lot to be desired but overall the tournament of power showed many off some of the bests fights, character development across the board and homage paid to many characters other than Goku. Say what you want, but the TOP was not just the Goku show. The wish may have been predictable but anyone who says they called the delivery of the final few episodes is probably lying.
The TOP had some great throwbacks to the old Dragonball series and a few fresh moments that none of us could call. Anyway nostalgia is never as good as we member it. I try to remind myself this when being too critical of the new over the old.
What were some of your favorite moments of the tournament of power, the series or your least favorite moments?