Doctor. wrote:
. Firstly, Jiren was reduced to nothing more than a caricature of what a Dragon Ball antagonist should be like; he's up against Goku so let's villanize him at the cost of everything that made Jiren be. He lost anything original that he had before with that stunt of attacking Goku's friends.
Jiren is an asshole who only cares about strength, and this ep showed his true colors. Not sure what you expected, Jiren was always a jackass. Glad to see it confirmed.
Secondly, #17 being alive, unbeknownst to ALL the angels and Gods, makes his already weightless sacrifice completely pointless.
Zeno never marked 17 off as far as I remember. Likewise being an Android they shouldn't be able to sense his energy. I also don't think it makes his sacrifice pointless, it just highlights what 17 was willing to do and the surprise of seeing him still around. Looking back at it now people said his sacrifice didn't have enough impact, now I can see why because he was planned to return.
Thirdly, Goku is being hit and damaged in Ultra Instinct... how, exactly? Theoretically, just because your body reacts on its own doesn't mean it has time to react, I get that. That's a solid enough excuse. Shame the series didn't bother to provide it. UI was always portrayed as this unstoppable force before this point, and its only downsides were the time limit and the need to focus to attack (which are now obsolete), but here it is, getting hit... just because.
Jiren is still unbelieveably powerful and Goku just mastered it with his body not being used to it. It was never supposed to make you completely un=hittable.
The worst part of the episode, however, was the over-the-top melodrama. Characters getting stronger by reminiscing over their past or their loved ones. What is this, Fairy Tail? Dragon Ball had done of good job of avoiding this kind of kitsch shit. It's just so incredibly awful, melodrama like this has no place in Dragon Ball. Jiren gets mad and thinks of his past. Makes a big speech about it. Gets massively stronger. Goku gets mad and thinks of his friends. Makes a big speech about it. Gets massively stronger. You know what those kinds of emotions got you in the original series (minus some very scarce exceptions, and ignoring the fact that melodramatic speeches weren't present in the original series to begin with)? An ass-kicking.
This is the same thing Dragonball has always done, what the Spirit Bomb scenes are about, what characters giving Goku energy is about, and what Goku always does. He'll always save and believe in his friends and fight for them. This is what Dragonball is about.