Do you think your age has anything to do with how you view Super?

[precita]

I'm curious about this. I'm not even talking about being a kid watching Super as opposed to adult.

But I notice a large difference between the opinions from people in their early 20's (like around 20-24 or so), compared to people in their late 20's or early 30's (28-30+) in regards to Super. It seems people in their early 20's tend to nitpick things and make a bigger deal out of Super's various flaws than there are, while older people who are nearly or around 30 something tend to be more forgiving or overlook stuff. I'm in the latter category, and while I recognize Super's flaws, stuff like Trunks Spirit Bomb Sword, Caulifa's quick power ups, or the recruitment eps or the tournament is being handled doesn't bother me.

Whereas I notice people in their early 20's have a larger hatedom for Super in general. I know there's exceptions of course, a 30 year old can hate Super just as much as a 20 year old for example, but I noticed this trend from people who have their ages public or revealed.

[VegettoEX]

Generally speaking, younger people (uhh... I guess people up through their 20s?) haven't traditionally had a chance yet to be a part of a community and dissect things. They go all-out and in the process tend to confuse being a critic with being critical. They're not jaded enough yet in life to realize that endlessly criticizing something doesn't actually bring them any joy and it hasn't emptied out their shell of a human being yet.

(I'm old, been-there-done-that, and don't have time for that anymore. I have negative opinions, but don't feel the need to shout them from the rooftop each week. I take no enjoyment in being constantly negative. I'd rather write up a guide about family names that three people will ever read.)

There are plenty of nuanced discussions happening around Super (some from older people, some from younger people), but quite frankly, it's a tiny amount in a sea of loud-mouthed, internet-culture adolescents. Negative opinions drown out positive opinions. Negativity begets more negativity. It's an endless cycle. It takes experience and it takes determination to strive for and achieve something more than constant whining. Some people never get there.

It's also tied to the medium and the format: a weekly show encourages weekly discussion. However, and I say this all the time... I don't think Dragon Ball (or most weekly shonen, for that matter) is something worth discussing on a weekly basis. Very little is achieved each week, and said weekly discussion encourages a focus on the minutia rather than the long-tail game the series is playing. This is the "missing the forest for the trees" analogy I keep bringing up.

(We're part of the problem in that we have weekly episode discussion threads on the forum. This is a necessary evil to keep things at least somewhat contained.)

Soooooooooo... yes. Age is a factor, but is not the sole answer. Some people are just different from other people.

[Akyon]

I'm 31. Personally I enjoyed most the recruitment filler...bar maybe Tien's one due to a lack of him doing anything. Yup, can even stomach Space Poachers.

Not sure if it's an age thing, but I personally find power levels a bore, and thus some of the more outlandish things Super does that seem to bother a lot of people who obsess over such things. I'll probably never forget the rabid reactions to things such as Krillin Vs. Goku in the recruitment part of this arc or this week's entire Kale incident or god forbid the Trunks Spirit Sword, which I felt was actually pretty good. Trunks comes into his own and protects his own world no longer needing to rely on Daddy and Goku. I didn't particularly care if Trunks was supposed to be...I dunno... 90 X weaker than SSR Black which really seemed to bug some people back in the day.

I'm certainly not above disliking certain aspects of Super though, but it's never a power level issue with me as much as a "where's the damn payoff" issue.
Buu falling asleep all the time for example is a very tired gag for Super and really needs to stop. I'd rather he be killed off and unable to fight or trapped or something other than selfishly asleep for three arcs out of five.
Yamcha's cutaways during the recruitment arc lead...absolutely no where. Not even a gag about him being shocked he lost out to Frieza. He took it really well.

Out of character is another annoying issue for me. Buu and 18 being jackasses to Satan and Krillin respectively seems awfully ooc. Compare Buu during the Kid Buu fight or the Basil fight to the one against Beerus and his treatment of Mr. Satan. It's a totally different character. 18 can't decide if she has total faith in Krillin(RoF) or is constantly surprised when he manages to do something semi impressive(ToP). Yamcha isn't the same guy anymore. He's amusing, but he's a walking meme now and hardly feels like the same guy he once was.

Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and Krillin meanwhile keep regressing back and forth with their character arcs;
Goku constantly learns to not let his guard down but forgets by the next episode sometimes
Vegeta is back to being Cell Saga Vegeta this arc
Gohan vowed to not neglect training in RoF and FT arcs but didn't really stick by those words until ToP's third time charm allowed him to keep that promise
and Krillin has overcome his fear in battle and got his fighting spirit back THREE times now. Usually I love both Krillin and the overcome your fear storyline but three times is recycling it a little too many.

So even at my age I have nitpicks. I just wouldn't say they totally destroy my enjoyment of the show.

[Snakeway Skywalker]

Yeah, I remember you raised this same issue on another thread recently, but not with the same detail as this.

Super is hated because all the original fans are now adults and have outgrown kids shows.

If all of you were 10 years old right now, you guys would absolutely love Super.

I know what you mean, there certainly seems to be a lot of hate from the fanbase, but I don't really associate it among a certain age group. I'm 18, and I didn't get into the Dragon Ball fandom until recently, when I watched Kai in my later teen years as I got into anime, so it's not like the series holds any nostalgia value to me, unlike Pokemon or Naruto. What I've noticed from other teens who watch DBS is that they are genuinely excited each week waiting for episodes, and discussing it with friends. There's not a whole lotta criticism, but the negatives don't seem to diminish their love for the show.

But when I go on twitter, there seems to be an endless war among viewers. One one side; the haters who seem to just watch Super to blast on it and put down the fans, and those who seem to enjoy Super no matter what happens because they like anything DB and don't really acknowledge the negatives because it just doesn't seem to bother them. You're entitled to whatever opinion you have, but it just gets annoying because it feels like I'm always having to choose sides between friends in the fandom.

Where's the people like myself who in general enjoy Super and look forward to it each week, even though it's disappointing sometimes?

[Yomi]

I'm 21, and I'm a lot more relaxed about super. My negative opinions are usually
in one reactionary post on the specific episode thread or in the animation thread.

The rest of my time on Kanzenshuu, is probably spent discussing spoilers and
defending Super from criticisms I find over-reaching.

I believe I know the "young" people you're talking about. They believe that if they give a positive rating
or don't point out every flaw in an well-worded essay, they would lose their credibility.

Unless the show is considered perfect by the internet's standards (like Berserk, HxH, One Punch Man, Yu Yu Hakusho)
I love these shows too.

This attitude probably comes from the ever growing Youtube anime community.

These days there are several 15-20yr "anime commentators" that have little credibility/experience/knowledge
about the industry (other than watching anime); yet goes on in length about what makes a show good, what makes a studio good,
how animation should be done, how story's should be written, and what shows are acceptable.

They often lack specific director/animator names and references but feel the need to to tell "the Japanese"
or "Toei" or "Studio Perriot" as a whole what they should and shouldn't do.

[omaro34]

It does, at least for me. When I was younger, it was all about the action and the fights, and solely on that. Now its more on the development of characters, their interactions with one anther, effective story-telling, good plot twists, etc. I've matured over the years so now 2 people powering up screaming and punching each other's brains out has taken a backseat to my aforementioned preferences.

[TheZFighter]

Tricky one really because no two cases are the same. I guess it depends on the individual's general outlook. Some people just don't like new content from franchises they followed as a child. I know some people who hate everything that Pokemon has done, simply because they "only liked the original 150".

From my point of view, I'm 26 and have followed this series closely for most of my life. I'm mature enough to accept that there is good and bad in everything, irrespective of whether I like it or not. As an example, I have always detested GT, but even I can admit I have always loved Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku, and even the concept behind some of the stories.

Main thing from my point of view is that I'm just glad to be getting regular Dragon Ball again. It has been too long! Do I like everything Super has done? No, of course not, but there is a lot I have liked. I like Hit a lot, what a great character. I liked Future Trunks's comeback and the use of Future Mai. I like that they've found a way to make use of some older, loved characters like Roshi, Krillin and Tien in the current series. I like what they have done with 17 and his return. I like that they've had to recruit Frieza, which was such a shock! I've been excited to see Jiren and the Pride Trooper for aaaages as well.

Gohan is always a character I've had issue with. I found him boring and pretty annoying when he was a whiney kid, I found him a pretty uninteresting lead when he took on Cell, and I found the whole Gohan at High School thing pretty dull. I did, however, love the character after the Elder Kai unlock thing (I always cite Tien's "hardly recognise you Gohan" quote as the one that sums it up best). I love what Super have done with him again. They've made him awful and useless, infuriating Gohan fans, to slowly rebuild him as he trains with Piccolo. I've thought from the beginning that he is going to star in this tournament and I'm really, really looking forward to it.

Sorry aha rambling.

[Chuquita]

My real life independent of Super has been a series of challenging times, two deaths, a brush with death of my own, and losses since around the time Super began. I do not think fondly on 2015/2016. I'm very tired right now and trying to move forward and figure out where to go from here.

I do think this colors how I view Super. It's why I don't care about certain things, why I'm hungry for others, why stuff that I was neutral about in years past irritates me now, why I've been toying with no longer wanting to watch live, but haven't been able to pull the trigger because unlike Z my favorite character is in every episode and I'm now starting to wish they'd give him a break so I could take a break myself.

I have been working to improve things, and there are areas in which I've been successful in that, but I'm still not in a good place right now. I want to know how my view of Super changes once life is better.

Yes, reactions based on age matter, but even more reactions based on your own experiences matter. I can't stand the way the Zamasu arc ended, but only because of how real it was. Future Trunks is a very real example. Sometimes you can try your hardest and things still end up pear-shaped. Some things might not work out and the hardest thing is to pick yourself up and hope against the knowledge of those losses that something may work out someday and that life may get better.

[ssjprodigy]

i think kids would love it as i see it being better than most cartoons being played on tv today. but older fan like me would like the cool and lighthearted moments when they happen and watch it for the memorable characters alone. but in the future would probably die down and be forgettable while only running on hype and marketing. while dragon ball and Z will live on as the golden age despite having problems too which seem to be forgiven due to nostaglia

[omaro34]

My real life independent of Super has been a series of challenging times, two deaths, a brush with death of my own, and losses since around the time Super began. I do not think fondly on 2015/2016. I'm very tired right now and trying to move forward and figure out where to go from here.

I do think this colors how I view Super. It's why I don't care about certain things, why I'm hungry for others, why stuff that I was neutral about in years past irritates me now, why I've been toying with no longer wanting to watch live, but haven't been able to pull the trigger because unlike Z my favorite character is in every episode and I'm now starting to wish they'd give him a break so I could take a break myself.

I have been working to improve things, and there are areas in which I've been successful in that, but I'm still not in a good place right now. I want to know how my view of Super changes once life is better.

Yes, reactions based on age matter, but even more reactions based on your own experiences matter. I can't stand the way the Zamasu arc ended, but only because of how real it was. Future Trunks is a very real example. Sometimes you can try your hardest and things still end up pear-shaped. Some things might not work out and the hardest thing is to pick yourself up and hope against the knowledge of those losses that something may work out someday and that life may get better.

I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you nothing but the absolute best.

And you're right about Future Trunks and what he represents. Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control, and all we can do is adapt because that's what we humans do.

I'm sure there are better days ahead for you.

[Torturephile]

I recall watching or just being familiar with the first two series since the end of the '90s as a five-year-old. I didn't watch them for plot or characterization or anything like that, I watched them for their humor and the fights. Growing up, I began to understand their plot better but didn't have many critiques outside of garbage like Bulma on Namek. I was still watching for entertainment purposes. It was at that point that I was introduced to GT. I remember being more critical of that show than the others, but i still had fun.

Fast forward to the early 2010s. At this point, I was at the end of my adolescence, turning 18 in 2012. I grew very opinionated, and after rewatching the series, I found OG DB to be the best for its humor and focus on martial arts, and for not being too over-the-top. Z I still liked for many moments, but I disliked plot decisions quite a good amount, and GT I felt was enjoyable but flawed, just as before. Mind you, I was in high school at the time, and I was often assigned to read books to criticize them. Nowadays, I am less critical of things and am generally more relaxed, unless I'm given a reason to act otherwise. Congratulations, my adolescent phase is (thankfully) over, now I can be happy again.

Super gets the benefit of me not taking it too serious and being very skeptical of its quality before premiere. If I had seen it as an infant, I would have liked it. If I saw it as an older child, I could have been able to tell how different it is from the other shows. If I saw it as a teenage, I would have hated it. As an adult that Gohan needs, I enjoy it when it's good, and present my criticism when it's not without taking it to personal level.

[Asura]

These days there are several 15-20yr "anime commentators" that have little credibility/experience/knowledge
about the industry (other than watching anime); yet goes on in length about what makes a show good, what makes a studio good,
how animation should be done, how story's should be written, and what shows are acceptable.

They often lack specific director/animator names and references but feel the need to to tell "the Japanese"
or "Toei" or "Studio Perriot" as a whole what they should and shouldn't do.

Who cares what the director or animator's name is? Who cares if you're not studious enough to know the correct terminology? As long as you get your point across and don't screw up the facts, what does any of that matter? Why should it matter?

I see this type of arguing a lot. Where if you aren't some expert with a PHD in animation or whatever you can't comment and criticize the show. But if something is bad, it's bad. You don't need a PHD to identify it. I don't need to be an art major (although I am an art major) to look at drawings from episode 5 to know it looks like garbage. A great example is Berserk 2016. It's absolutely horrible. Yet still I would see arguments that no one can complain about the show unless they can do better.

What makes someone a writer? Is that something you have to go to school for? To spend years learning about? A ten year old can come up with a plot line just as good as a 40 year old can in some situations, so why is it not fair to criticize the writers? Why are my ideas for the show any less valid than the writer's ideas?

To tie this back in to the OP question, no I don't think age has anything to do with how people view Super (To an extent. Obviously a young child wouldn't be as critical as someone who is in their twenties, this would apply to, well, every subject since you're just comparing children to adults). If someone thinks something is bad, they don't have to be a certain age or hold certain credentials to think so. Likewise, if someone thinks something is good they don't need to be a certain age or hold certain credentials to think so. I was 14 when I first signed up for this website. 7 years later and here I am back at 21. I'm sure that if I was 14 and watching Super today, I would mostly have the same opinions as I do now. I don't expect masterpiece levels out of Super, I simply compare it to its predecessor. I don't expect it to do anything better than Z did (because it's not like Z is the greatest thing blessed upon this Earth either in terms of writing or characters or etc.), and I think my expectations of the show are pretty grounded in reality with what they can and can't do, and what they should and shouldn't do.

[Chuquita]

My real life independent of Super has been a series of challenging times, two deaths, a brush with death of my own, and losses since around the time Super began. I do not think fondly on 2015/2016. I'm very tired right now and trying to move forward and figure out where to go from here.

I do think this colors how I view Super. It's why I don't care about certain things, why I'm hungry for others, why stuff that I was neutral about in years past irritates me now, why I've been toying with no longer wanting to watch live, but haven't been able to pull the trigger because unlike Z my favorite character is in every episode and I'm now starting to wish they'd give him a break so I could take a break myself.

I have been working to improve things, and there are areas in which I've been successful in that, but I'm still not in a good place right now. I want to know how my view of Super changes once life is better.

Yes, reactions based on age matter, but even more reactions based on your own experiences matter. I can't stand the way the Zamasu arc ended, but only because of how real it was. Future Trunks is a very real example. Sometimes you can try your hardest and things still end up pear-shaped. Some things might not work out and the hardest thing is to pick yourself up and hope against the knowledge of those losses that something may work out someday and that life may get better.

I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you nothing but the absolute best.

And you're right about Future Trunks and what he represents. Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control, and all we can do is adapt because that's what we humans do.

I'm sure there are better days ahead for you.

Thank you. I really do appreciate it.

Future Trunks is inspiring. He lost everything and went through so much, but he's still able to move forward. That's what I'm trying to do; move forward.

I want to hope for better days, and do everything I can to achieve them.

[Grimlock]

I don't know, maybe so? All I want from Dragon Ball Super (and Dragon Ball in general) is good content. If it is to bring back an old series, then bring along new and exciting stuff that catch my attention and keep me happy (because my real life really sucks by many problems and etc) and entertained. I tend to don't care that much and to avoid stuff that I didn't like but I really appreciate things I liked very much. I find excitement in diversity. I don't remember if I was like that years ago, so I can't say if my age has anything to do with the way I view the new series.

[LightBing]

If by age you mean maturity then yes. Age is nothing more than a counting system and I dislike seeing it used as a qualifier. It just adds another excuse to segregate people.

What I noticed is as more time passes, I have less will to discuss. I believe it's due to exposure to the forum. Jaded and disappointed that probably conversations just aren't worth having.

One significant factor connected to maturity is people who "grew out of Dragon Ball." Obviously if you saw Dragon Ball as a child your perspective was completely different than now, if you are an adult or a teenager.
Yet I see a huge number of people who didn't adapt, suffering from cognitive dissonance. I believe the common topic "is Dragon Ball for kids" who popped up frequently is in many cases related to this phenomenon.

The bottom line is that there's a bunch of different people and the loudest, those who just want to rally people to be as upset as them and don't care to hear anything else, are the ones more noticeable and obnoxious. They might be fifteen years or thirty doesn't matter, it's their character and maybe they will be mature enough to understand that's not how discussions are held.

[KingKaash]

I'm 22 but I try not to nitpick as much as I can. Unless something is totally unreasonable or made no sense at all.

I'm just happy to have DB back and get new content and I wish more people from my age category would do the same

[Bansho64]

I'm 15, so I don't really know if my age really has anything to do with it. I guess? I don't know, I'm really not that young. I can think for myself and I don't see why I have to be som 15 years older or something to like a show. I think claiming that you'd enjoy it at 10 no matter what is one of the most outlandish claims I've heard in all of the defense attempts I've seen thrown at Super.

[Li'l Lemmy]

Oh, I'm sure it's at least somewhat of a factor for me. I'm simply not as forgiving about what I expect from DragonBall as I used to be, mainly because the majority of my time within the fandom saw only the very occasional new material as opposed to an ongoing weekly series that upends my expectations of what I always thought a non-GT sequel would be.

I have a little less patience than I used to. The stresses of career and family tend to crunch my feelings about recreational indulgences like DragonBall into kneejerk reactions and summary judgments that do not always befit my otherwise easygoing temperament, particularly when Super does something I dislike.

[SSJ YUSUKE]

I'm 24 and I have zero complaints about Super, as was stated earlier once you get older and more mature complaining about things like a children's cartoon is just not going to get you anywhere in life. On the list of things in my life I have to complain about a children's cartoon isn't even on the list.
I don't think it really has much to do with age it has more to do with maturity. Unfortunately there are many people who have never grown out of their adolescent mindset and the medium of the internet sort of encourages this behavior and the loudest people will always be the most immature, that's simply the nature of immaturity.

[Saturnine]

I don't think it does, because I like Super