FortuneSSJ wrote:Fans complaining about how bad Jiren's backstory is in a franchise that is known for not giving backstories to most of its antagonists/villains, in the first place...
I'm actually glad they bother to came up with one this time and it fits his character.
Tao Pai Pai, Raditz, Nappa, Dodoria, Zarbon, Ginyu Force, Dr Gero, C17, C18, Pui Pui, Yakon, Dabra, Babidi, Beerus, Whis and Hit don't have backstories for example and yet I see fans acting like this franchise was high standards when it comes to this.
Even Freeza, the most iconic villain of this franchise, doesn't have a proper backstory. All we see from his past is his interactions with the Saiyans.
20+ years later we still don't even know where he came from, how he met the Saiyans and what's the official name of his race.
I can only speak for myself, but I don't think people annoyed at Jiren's backstory are crazy about backstories in general. At the end of the day, backstory is not the same as story. Story is much more important, but backstory can be used to supplement a story. You're right. Those other villains don't have backstories either. And that's okay, because most of those other examples have personality, motivation, charisma. Jiren was a boring blank slate. The series was trying so hard to hype him up as this huge threat we should all be in awe of, but he was far too dull to carry the story. Viewers like me were casting out for something, ANYTHING to grab on to in order to connect with this character. I was holding out hope that maybe, once everything came together, he would work as a character. That maybe, just maybe, this would all be worth it once I had the whole puzzle. And then, finally, after months of his underwhelming presence, we finally get a bit of information on him: a by-the-numbers tale delivered with tepid dialogue breaking the flow of a moment that should be urgent (they're only supposed to have two minutes left of this tournament, their side is losing, so their god wastes precious time through exposition? Ridiculous!).
So, yeah, the backstory sucks, and its execution is even worse. After all those months of nothing, it was the final slap in the face. Jiren was never going to be compelling. He was never going to be more than the best insomniac cure Dragon Ball had ever invented. And it was at that moment that it became clear. So, yeah, I think it's understandable why so many people take issue with it while not raising the same complaints against other Dragon Ball antagonists.