So who will the battle of the ages? Stay tuned on the next episode of Dragon Ball Z. XD
Ok, ok let's get serious now. This isn't really a thread about who would win, even though I called it that way.
It's actually about something that I wanted to talk about for quite a while now. As most of you know Dragon Ball Super ended a couple of months ago, and I want to talk about how the ending to Dragon Ball Super made me feel and how the ending to Naruto made me feel. But I couldn't do it back then since I've things to do and also something happened with my health that doesn't allow me to do what I want.
I'm going to start with DB. Now some of you may or may not know that Super is under Toriyama's supervision. And unlike Kishimoto; Toriyama actually got involved in the process of making Super.
He wrote bullet points and the people working on Super had to follow those points. He wasn't the one that wrote episode after episode, just gave a summary of his vision and then off to the races. He actually was pretty involved in it.
But for the last two episodes he took charge and we can see that. The difference is instantly noticeable.
Now I'm not going to praise Toriyama for being this great writer because he isn't. And anyone who actually says he is, doesn't understanding writing.
However he does do one thing really good, but before I talk about that let's talk about what happens in the episodes for the ones who haven't watched them. So spoilers ahead.
Not going through every single moment, just specific moments. In less than 2 minutes he captures the essences of Goku perfectly through flashbacks. Something that Kishi would need 10 chapters or the anime will need several episodes to do and still it wouldn't be a match to what Toriyama does.
Goku finally defeats Jiren, but his body gives up before he could eliminate Jiren. Goku is about to get eliminated and the one who saves him is Frieza the most ruthless of them all.
17 and Frieza take on Jiren, manage to bring him to his knees, but Jiren overpowers them. We see 17 and Frieza trying their best to hold Jiren's monstrous power, as we see a struggling Goku trying to get up and just in the nick of time our hero saves 17 and Frieza. Then we see something that I never thought I would ever see on Dragon Ball.
Goku and Frieza working side by side as team and working well together. Together Goku and Frieza with the help of 17 manage to eliminate Jiren. We see Frieza in his final form while Goku is fading in and out of Super Saiyan. A reminder of Namek.
17 as the last member of Universe 7 gets to make the wish and everyone is brought back. We see Whis reviving Frieza as a thank you for all he did, and Frieza says he won't change his ways. Then we see the 5 warriors that fought him on Namek, as Goku says if that happens he will defeat him.
We get the credits and they wrap everything so nicely. And just to be in fashion with what other pieces of media do, they also have two after credits scenes. The first one is the Emperor of the Universe returning, while the second one is Goku and Vegeta fighting and standing in the exact poses that they did in the manga when they first fought.
Now let's talk about what I felt when I watched these two episodes. When I was watching those two episodes, especially the last episode. I felt like I was a kid again that just came home from school and turned on the tv to watch DB. It really managed to make me feel nostalgic and happy at the same time. The entire time I had this grin on my face. It was exactly what I wanted and more. It managed to make me happy about an ending. Because what Toriyama does really well, is that he knows how to end a story in such a way that it doesn't really end. The story continues because like life itself, it's never the end. Life goes on, things continue to move. And Toriyama showcases that well. While Super came to an end, the story in DB continues. New adventures and new opponents are on the horizon.
And both times he ended DB, he never ended it on a "Here's some kids in order to continue selling merchandise" note. He always ended on the note that there are still plenty of adventures left for Goku and everyone else.
Moving on to Naruto. I'm not going to discuss what happened in the ending of it, because we all know. And I'm not going to talk about why it's bad and how it doesn't make sense. Because I've already talked about that several times, and you guys and gals have done that so many times.
I am however going to mention what I've felt after I read those two last chapters.
For those of you who read my rants, you know those really really really long ones. I did cover a bit of what I felt in those, but I never talked about it properly because honestly at that moment, I didn't quite knew what that was.
For an entire week I felt weird. Like things just didn't seem the same. everything just felt off. Weird.
And it wasn't until a couple of months ago that I thought about it and realized what it was.
It was depression. I know, I know it sounds weird, how could you get depressed from a fictional story?
Well that's what happens when you invest yourself emotionally in it and you really like it.
But it is what it is. And Naruto's ending instead of bringing joy. Brought sadness and depression.
Interesting, isn't it?
One ending brings hope while the other brings destruction. And Naruto is mirrored after Dragon Ball.
Edited by Nostradamus, 13 November 2018 - 03:07 AM.