Why do some have a dislike of the climax of the Zamasu/Black arc?

[precita]

So I just recently rewatched this arc and I noticed from the point Vegetto appears a lot of people have problems:

1. Vegetto is retconned to only last an hour outside of Supreme Kai's (I have no problem with this, in fact it fixes a plot hole from DBZ)

2. Future Trunks summons energy to form a Spirit Bomb using his sword, somehow without Goku or King Kai ever showing him how to do one.

3. Trunks' entire timeline gets erased, so all the kids he was trying to protect, the world he saved since killing 17/18 and Cell...is now gone too. So that timeline had a little over 10 years of peace before being destroyed entirely. Trunks seeing Gohan as he is heading off acknowledges that he failed to protect his world/timeline. In addition to that Trunks/Mai travel to an earlier timeline where they already exist in, so now they exist with doubles of themselves in the same universe.


So now that so much time has passed, why do people have issues with these 3 events?

[Grimlock]

It wasn't even a little over than ten years, Cell was killed in AGE 788 and the timeline was erased in AGE 796. Merely eight years of peace. Anyway, the only issue I have is with number three, the very last part.

Trunks living with himself is stupid, no matter how you see it. No matter how you play it out. No matter what. It's the only option that should not have been picked. You could have made him stay in the present. You could have made him pay for his crimes and become a Time Patroller... You could even have killed him off. But not an ending as stupid as that.

I'm indifferent to Vegetto's thing. And I see no issue with number two. In fact, I thought it was pretty cool. Especially the Xenoverse 2 version, which made things even more interesting.

[Cipher]

I’m in love with the actual ending of the arc in both the manga and anime. Trunks choosing to forgo his own comfort to begin another timeline because it is, in some sense, the right thing to do is a better culmination of his role as a symbol of hope, and in providing a focal character arc to someone who was only a plot catalyst/catalyst for Vegeta’s growth in the original run, in to a character in his own right than simply staying in the present would be. In the manga, retreating to the past is something Trunks is actually considering, on Future Bulma’s advice, at first, but which he grows out of wanting at a certain point. Ultimately there’s a way Trunks can provide hope that no other character can, in his time-traveling, which is especially moving even when it doesn’t directly benefit him. (The original run touches on but never highlights this.)

However, the anime’s resolution to the fight via Trunks is a little unsatisfying in just how out-of-nowhere it feels.

[Polyphase Avatron]

Because people have different opinions on things, and not everyone is going to like or dislike the same things.

[Jack Bz]

I am a big fan of Zeno erasing the whole timeline. His powers were only described in the previous arc, and even seemed somewhat overblown and possibly a myth, just judging from his demeanour. But nope, this guy is the real deal, even if you've wished for immortality from a being that can grant any wish. It's finally justified why even Beerus cowers in front of him. It was necessary set-up to make us actually feel in danger of him during the tournament of power. It's also an uncharacteristically dark consequence for the show, which was an interesting direction. I like how it's an example of a deus ex machina actually backfiring horrifically.

What I'm not a fan of though, is a lot of everything that surrounds it. The less said about spirit sword Trunks the better, but Vegetto was really inconsequential too. You can easily tell it wasn't Toriyama's idea. I would say that the manga should have just went directly to the full power SSB Goku vs Zamasu battle, but the situation becomes so dire that it would be silly if Goku and Vegeta didn't try fusing, too.

But what I really don't like is Trunks going to a duplicate of his own timeline. It's just... it's almost a black mirror-esque modern horror story, having to live in a universe identical to your own that you know isn't actually yours. But it's not treated like that at all, it's treated like a genuine solution that you can just copy and paste your old universe if your old one is ruined. Like damn, Trunks, your mom is dead! That's just a very similar copy of her!! Her soul is less than dust! It's utterly bizarre and isn't given enough emotional weight, probably just because of the nature of Dragon Ball. I'd have preferred if Trunks goes off to find a way to restore his old timeline perhaps.

[Kinokima]

.
But what I really don't like is Trunks going to a duplicate of his own timeline. It's just... it's almost a black mirror-esque modern horror story, having to live in a universe identical to your own that you know isn't actually yours. But it's not treated like that at all, it's treated like a genuine solution that you can just copy and paste your old universe if your old one is ruined. Like damn, Trunks, your mom is dead! That's just a very similar copy of her!! Her soul is less than dust! It's utterly bizarre and isn't given enough emotional weight, probably just because of the nature of Dragon Ball. I'd have preferred if Trunks goes off to find a way to restore his old timeline perhaps.

This is my problem with the ending as well. They act like it’s some happy ending but everyone who died in that other time line is still dead. It’s a tragedy but it’s not treated as such because Trunks and Mai can just return to some other copy timeline where it didn’t happen except it still did.

It was just so creepy with everyone smiling and happy at the end when they literally failed but no one even seems to acknowledge that.

[UpFromTheSkies]

I don't really have any issues with the arc and just assumed that off screen they used the Dragon Balls to resurrect all the good people killed by Zamasu and Zeno and sent them to Trunks' new universe / timeline

[precita]

I don't really have any issues with the arc and just assumed that off screen they used the Dragon Balls to resurrect all the good people killed by Zamasu and Zeno and sent them to Trunks' new universe / timeline

Hm, is it even possible to wish people back from an alternate timeline? In Trunks timeline, Zamasu even destroyed the Super Dragonballs which is why they didn't even consider searching for them even after Zeno erased it all (granted they would have been erased after that anyway).

I'm not even sure if it's possible to use Dragonballs to correct stuff in alternate timelines, but I don't think it has ever come up.

[pepd]

1. The kind of retrospective explanation present in DB. Don't have a problem with it, and is nice to have an explanation.
2. Hard to explain if you don't see the problem yourself, but in short, the same problem I have with the anime as a whole, just more evident: I just don't buy it.
3. Tragic, but I like it. Is not just that his timelines gets eliminated and he goes to live with other of himself; he initially considers to stay with his parallel family and friends, but then decides to travel to his past that he couldn't save, save it and stay. Wish this implication was better communicated

[UpFromTheSkies]

I don't really have any issues with the arc and just assumed that off screen they used the Dragon Balls to resurrect all the good people killed by Zamasu and Zeno and sent them to Trunks' new universe / timeline

Hm, is it even possible to wish people back from an alternate timeline? In Trunks timeline, Zamasu even destroyed the Super Dragonballs which is why they didn't even consider searching for them even after Zeno erased it all (granted they would have been erased after that anyway).

I'm not even sure if it's possible to use Dragonballs to correct stuff in alternate timelines, but I don't think it has ever come up.

The Super Dragon Balls have no limits, they even brought back universes erased by Zeno

[Cipher]

But what I really don't like is Trunks going to a duplicate of his own timeline. It's just... it's almost a black mirror-esque modern horror story, having to live in a universe identical to your own that you know isn't actually yours. But it's not treated like that at all, it's treated like a genuine solution that you can just copy and paste your old universe if your old one is ruined. Like damn, Trunks, your mom is dead! That's just a very similar copy of her!! Her soul is less than dust! It's utterly bizarre and isn't given enough emotional weight, probably just because of the nature of Dragon Ball. I'd have preferred if Trunks goes off to find a way to restore his old timeline perhaps.

The Goku, Gohan, Vegeta and Bulma of the main timeline aren’t “his” version of those characters either, but they’re still real people, and real alternate outcomes for “his” versions, who are grateful he gave them a chance.

That’s what he’s doing by creating another timeline at the end, splintered off from his own recent, pre-Black past. The presence of an alternate Trunks and Mai is just enough to drive home that he’s doing so in spite of his own comfort, because that’s the moral imperative he’s accepted/the kind of hope he brings. In the original series, his time-travel does save the present, but it’s ultimately for his own gain as well, in either finding a way to defeat the androids or bringing Goku along to do it for him. His choice at the end of his Super arc is a purely altruistic use. Of course it would be easier for him to stay in the present, but that’s not the kind of character he is/has become.

I’m not against Trunks’ timeline being restored in, for example, a future arc. But I think leaving this particular one off where the story does was absolutely the right choice for it, in that it was both surprising and affecting/fitting.

I don’t think either version dances around the implications of the ending either. The anime has his breakdown upon seeing Gohan (and the idea of a version of Gohan having been granted a happy life through Trunks’ actions helps reaffirm his choice/the worthiness of what he does), and both versions present the idea of the Trunks and Mai doubles being ... not great, but the two resolving to go through with it regardless because it’s the right thing. The manga’s a little more relaxed, but that’s DB. Plus, they have stopped Zamasu from going after every other timeline, after all.

[Grimlock]

The Super Dragon Balls have no limits, they even brought back universes erased by Zeno

The Super Dragon Balls can't be used during the Future Trunks saga events, as they were last used in the Universe 6 saga, which takes place in the same year. They were recharging.

[UpFromTheSkies]

The Super Dragon Balls have no limits, they even brought back universes erased by Zeno

The Super Dragon Balls can't be used during the Future Trunks saga events, as they were last used in the Universe 6 saga, which takes place in the same year. They were recharging.

They waited for the Super Dragon Balls to recharge and wished for everyone to be brought back and sent to Trunks new universe at the point in time when he arrived there. Problem solved.

[Matches Malone]

1- I wasn't a fan of Zamasu melting, as I vastly preferred his...healthy look.

2- There was no need to change Vegetto when they could've just done the fusion dance or had one of the dragons split them.

3- Trunks' spirit sword literally comes out of nowhere. No build up, no explanation, nothing.

4- Sending Trunks to an identical timeline took away from the tragedy of him loosing his. 2 Trunks and Mai, really ?

I'm also not a fan of his "rage" form, but I could've looked past it had the above 4 not happened.

[ZeroNeonix]

I have a number of problems with it. Trunks gets a new powerup, it's never explained or named in the anime, and it amounts to nothing. It just seems like TOEI thinks we'll lose interest if we go an arc without a new transformation.

Then there's that part where Trunks learns the Evil Containment Wave after watching a video of Piccolo demonstrating it. This after Goku stayed up all night practicing. Trunks using the spirit sword thing was fine, though. It's a new technique, and new techniques are made up all the time. Hell, Black does that sky rip thing that is never explained, and he didn't even know what he was doing when that happened.

Vegito being given a time limit makes him no different than Gogeta. Before, it was a sacrifice one had to make for a greater boost of power. Vegeta had to agree to give up him independence to fuse with Goku. And while Buu's digestion (we were told) turned them back anyway, it was still seen as something very permanent.

I hated the ending too. Having Trunks split Zamasu in half was a great way to finish it. They built it up like this. One part of Fused Zamasu was immortal, but the other half was not immortal. So what happens? We see one half regenerate immediately as normal, and the other half become corrupted. That meant his immortality was imperfect. Slice him right down the middle, problem solved! Having him come back in metaphysical form was such an asspull. And having a little button to summon the most omnipotent god Zeno to defeat him for you was such a weak conclusion.

[The Undying]

I like the manga's version of the ending. From start to finish, Trunks is constantly forced to rely on others, contributes to the conflict in only minor ways, and is never once given the slightest degree of comfort, fairness, or ease of mind. Irrespective of the amount of effort he or his friends put into stopping Zamasu, his situation never really improves; it's actually by clinging to hope in those hopeless circumstances that he's able to pull through in the end, even when he fails and his whole world is tragically erased.

Meanwhile, the anime has him randomly getting unexplained rage forms and spirit swords for "DA EPIC HYPE!!!!" moments, both of which run completely counter to the underlying themes of the arc. Pretty wishy-washy stuff. It wasn't a story that knew what it wanted to tell, and the botched pacing probably didn't help, so I can't blame people for finding the epilogue jarring in that light.

Vegetto is vapid fanservice in both versions. Didn't care for his inclusion.

[Grimlock]

They waited for the Super Dragon Balls to recharge and wished for everyone to be brought back and sent to Trunks new universe at the point in time when he arrived there. Problem solved.

What a weird turn of events.

Because the Super Dragon Balls would again be used in the Universe Survival saga one year later. So the characters would only be able to do what you say in AGE 781, two years after Future Trunks saga, and who knows how long has passed in Trunks' timeline since then. Bit of a stretch, don't you think?

By now, the characters probably don't even remember Trunks anymore. They never even reacted to his absence when picking members for the tournament: "Damn! If only Trunks had stayed here with us. He definitely would be of a great help!".

[Jiren The Alpha]

Fans don't like when Dragon Ball is predictable and also don't like when it's unpredictable, so you can't win.

[SupremeKai25]

My guess would be the ending. I'll agree that the execution was rushed, but the concept was superb.

Every single arc of Dragon Ball ended in a good way. Yes, even the Saiyan and Cell arcs. Some might have died, but the planet was still intact, the people were alive.

The Future Trunks arc has the darkest ending in the franchise, because Zamasu actually WON. He completed Project Zero Mortals by eradicating the entire mortal population of the Future multiverse. And since Zamasu destroyed all Dragon Balls, NO ONE can undo his actions. There's a reason why Trunks cries when he sees Gohan and even says "Forgive me master, I failed, I couldn't save my world". It's because he realized he lost. Now Trunks has to spend the rest of his mortal existence in a duplicate timeline. The very existence of 2 Trunks and 2 Mai will forever remind him of his failure. That's not his timeline. That's a fake timeline created because he failed to protect his actual one.

I never thought that a show named after plot balls that can bring everyone back from the dead would have an arc ending in such a grim way. Those kids who were cheering for Trunks? Erased. Future Gohan? Erased. Future Bulma? Erased. Future Goku? Erased. Everyone is gone, nothing is left. The Z Fighters LOST, they couldn't save anyone.

[Matches Malone]

Fans don't like when Dragon Ball is predictable and also don't like when it's unpredictable, so you can't win.

No one has an issue with an unpredictable ending, we just want one that isn't a convoluted mess. This is modern DB we're talking about, so asking anything of it is asking too much. If I were to ever write a story I'd kill to have such a loyal fan base that has 0 expectations and praises everything I put out for them.