Marlowe89 wrote:I further clarified that I'm not interested in fretting over which composition is more appropriate with you because of its basis in those very, very baseless nitpicks.
The entire premise of my post was “which composition is more appropriate”, by not engaging in that discussion you're not responding to what it's actually about. Thanks for the definition of quibbling, and an actual demonstration of it. You're quibbling over my "any trace" phrasing extracted from a paragraph largely directed at Kahseral to try to reframe my argument to something it wasn’t. You want me to admit the scene didn’t showcase Jiren as having zero intelligence? Well done, I admit it.
Back to the actual point I was making. In this chapter Roshi’s intelligence was highlighted at the expense of other fighters. Kahseral and Goku repeated the trite lines about power we’ve heard bad fighters in the past spout, something which Roshi referenced from a position of superiority. This makes their intelligence, their understanding of the complexity of fighting, seem
relatively less than. The same way most rookies appear to be nothing when they start playing with the pros. Again, well done for spotting the inaccuracy of my exaggeration and masquerading it as the main point.
When it came to Jiren, what happened? At best it can be said we don’t see his thought process so we can’t draw any conclusions. I know this already, and did not base any arguments on it. But this is still not ideal, because while you can’t say he showed any poor insight, nor can you say he displayed any.
If you make some judgments about how the fight played out, as I did, there’s some worse assessments you can come away with. And I did. Namely, that Roshi has a better grasp than Jiren, he just lacks the power to match.
It's also quibbling because it ignores how easily Roshi was dispatched to make a thoroughly unsupported point about Jiren's supposed incompetence.
Rather than ignoring it, it’s almost the only thing I’m talking about. I’m directly addressing it and calling it insufficient. Taking six pages was meant to demonstrate how difficult it was for Jiren, not how easy it was. Needless to say, but apparently I have to, it still was ultimately easy for him. Obviously he didn't strain himself or come close to even remotely being threatened. But in the context of Roshi demonstrating technique over power, it should be
explicitly reinforced and built upon that Jiren is a complete fighter who lacks for neither. In two pages or less.
This isn't just good for him, but it also reigns Roshi back into the realm of believability. Roshi did almost this exact thing in the anime with the reception not nearly so mixed, and it's because it's a question of degree. "More or less" isn't good enough when you're walking the fine line of people's credulity.
Does that make sense? Is it finally getting through?
It makes sense you'll do and say anything you can to dismiss what others think. That aspect of your personality got through to me a long time ago. Mildly charming, really.