HeroR wrote:While that's fine, Z had it share of humor even in serious situations like the Ginyu Force, Mr. Satan at the Cell Games, Buu who ping-pang between being dangerous and being hilarious. So even the original material had humor in the 'serious' arc. Even then, the wackiness stopped in the Future Trunks arc after they went to the future the first time and it grew steadier darker from there.
There's a marked difference between inserting levity into a tense situation and putting the tense situation on the backburner for the sake of levity. I'm not keen on picking apart specific examples, but the ones you used show what I mean rather perfectly. Satan, Buu and the Ginyus are all comedic moments in dramatically tense situations, where the danger is very present. In the anime, Black and Zamasu are off where they can't hurt any of the main cast, while Trunks and the rest of the cast are doing whatever.
In the anime, they went to the future three times. The first time going back was a big deal since the heroes suffered an utter defeat for the first time in this series. The second and third trip could have been combined, but they retreated the second time because Beerus kept insisting that everything was fine and they went in woefully unprepared.
There can be any number of reasons a writer can use to justify how many times a character does something. You can, likewise, justify their multiple trips to and from the future. They don't work for me because it shows poor plotting on Toei's part. If not poorly-plotted, then at least meandering in nature.
Storytelling wise, I just can't agree because the manga abridge too much stuff. Zamasu has no personal connection with Goku despite taking his body because he became obsessed with him through GodTube. That is far less personal than Zamasu snapping because a mortal beat him in a sparring match and raises the question of why Goku was choosing and not several of the other powerful mortals he saw during the tournament. The manga itself lampshades this. Black's identity was also giving in an info dump where everything perfectly came together for the heroes instead of the slow build and the mystery the anime gave Black's origin.
All of that's fine. Your preference is fine. I'm not at all attacking that and saying you're wrong for liking that more. Absolutely not and please don't take that from my words. I'm just saying the manga works better for me.
With that out of the way, there weren't any grandiose leaps in logic to determine Black's identity. The characters used knowledge that they quite frankly
should've used in the anime to figure out what Black is. Really, the anime falters with its mystery aspect. "Who" Black is became irrelevant the moment they introduced the working theory that he is a product of the Super Dragonballs. At that point the characters stopped caring and that became their explanation. It was then unnecessarily, in my opinion, revealed to actually be Zamasu in Goku's body and that there's an alternate universe Zamasu he's working with. All of that is both needlessly complicated and not how you write mysteries.
As for characters, I can see why people would prefer the manga version of Goku over the anime
For one, the manga version of Goku isn't annoyingly stupid. I don't blame Toei for this, really. They need to pad out episodes and they need fillers. I'm sure if the manga was weekly there'd be a lot more moments of Goku being several magnitudes stupider than he currently is.
Trunks, however, has almost no characterization or growth in the manga compared to the anime. In fact, he doesn't seem all that traumatize about what happened to him in the manga. Anime Trunks had PTSD, low self-esteem, depression, and a number of other issues he needed to overcome, something Vegeta and even Kid Trunks helped him with.
I'd say I prefer the manga's approach. Trunks grew up with everyone around him dead and dying. Let's not forget it was the dead body of his only father figure that enabled him to transform. Then, by the end of the Android Arc he has become protector of the future and is a steeled warrior. While him going into PTSD and self-doubt is an interesting route to take the character, it's not one that builds on the state he was when we last saw him, nor is it one I feel is wholly necessary in order to "develop" him.
The Trunks we have here is reasoned, resolute and determined. This is the Trunks that went back to his timeline confident and saved it.
Manga Trunks has done nothing besides give information and play go-kart, and seems just fine mentally despite all the crap he has been through.
Actually, the manga put Trunks in a much better position to be relaxed than the anime did. Trunks wasting time in filler is at odds with the sense of urgency the anime established, but the manga makes it clear they aren't exactly in a hurry. In addition, the manga
showed us the lengths this Trunks has gone to to protect his timeline, from training with Kaioshin to killing Dabra.
He's fine in the head and can play DBZ Go-Kart
because he's used to this shit. The anime version, which has the aforementioned stressors
shouldn't be doing what he was doing in the glorified filler.
