I think seeing it animated certainly improved my opinion of Minus somewhat, mainly since the original comic was little more than a footnote, barely a story at all. I guess it was always intended to be part of a larger narrative. However, reading Toriyama's manga take on Trunks: The Story, it seems that he generally doesn't do too well with stories set in the past. He just kind of rushes through everything with no real causality between events. Like a grandpa in front of an open fire rushing through a bedtime story so he can get back to his brandy and cigar and sit in peace.TKA wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 6:14 pmI profoundly disagree.Matches Malone wrote: Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:30 pm
This would be OK if it wasn't Freeza, one of the franchise's greatest villains. If you want a story where the villain isn't that big of a threat, then introduce someone new who fits that idea, not Freeza. The other issue is that it was following BOG. If you're going to follow up such a great movie, then you better bring your A game to the table, something RF wasn't.
Check my Broly review in my sig to see exactly why I think Minus, as adapted in the Broly movie, is leagues beyond the original Bardock tv special. The tl;dr version of that is Minus presents a better character and grounds the story of Goku's parentage more.
As for Res F, I prefer it to Trunks and the Tournament of Power. I prefer Super to be low stakes because the time after Buu is supposed to be peaceful. Res F is also honest. It doesn't try to convince you that this new villain is the end of the universe like the typical filler arc or movie does. At this point, I'm too old (over 25, under 29) to fall for that kinda thing.
I still prefer the TV special version of Bardock but I don't have an overblown loathing for Toriyama's version like some people do. I'm more or less ambivalent. I always liked the detail about Toriyama's Bardock genuinely being an unexceptional nobody in Saiyan society, but rewatching the Bardock special, I think that theme is retained in that version as well. In the special, they establish that Bardock is only as strong as he is because he constantly throws himself into the thick of battle and comes back half dead, exploiting the Saiyans' natural capacity to come back stronger with each life-threatening injury. He was naturally weak and his strength ultimately came from hard work just like Goku's, but he's nevertheless kept in the bottom class -- a slightly higher rung but still considered a low class simian, showing that Saiyan society is full of shit. But Bardock's still blind to it all, and he's bought into his toxic culture hook, line and sinker, to the point where he dismisses his own son. Him gaining psychic powers is a bit... contrived, but it puts Bardock in a Cassandra-like role, pitifully unable to defy fate. In the end, all he can muster is a pathetic little football-sized energy blast and he dies for nothing.
But what I like most about Toei's original Bardock is that he's genuinely an asshole. Outside of the Funimation dub, they don't sugarcoat his shitty personality at all. Even though it's not what Toriyama would've done, I certainly appreciate Toei for having the balls to depict a character like this in a protagonist role.
I think what I like most about Toriyama's Bardock however is that he's intelligent. He deduces everything going on with Frieza's plan through simple logical observations. However, even though Saiyan society is broader in Toriyama's vision, his opinion isn't valued because he's just a Saiyan grunt. He's not expected to be intelligent and certainly not caring towards his sons. But overall I find him less interesting.
I've seen this argument that Toriyama's change of Bardock somehow ruined Goku's entire character which I just don't get. Even though Minus does kinda peg on Superman a bit too much, it doesn't fundamentally change anything about Goku's character or journey.
