Post
by Osmium » Mon Dec 30, 2024 4:19 pm
Oozaru is essential, and I shouldn’t have to explain why.
Kaio-Ken (if even considered a form) is an extremely well developed concept that honestly should have gotten more screen time than it did. It’s one of the few “forms” that actually has very tactile consequences to its use.
Super Saiyan is the most iconic one obviously, and I think it works quite well in the context of where it’s used; Goku, completely out of options and patience simply snaps in a way he never had before, not even during the Piccolo Daimao arc. I have quite a lot of problems with it, as it is what made the power scaling go from troublesome to catastrophic for the non-Saiyan characters, but it’s definitely important.
The different grades of Super Saiyan I think are interesting in that they also show the consequences of neglecting one stat for another, but I’m not sure if they really needed to be considered separate forms, instead it could have been the results of different approaches to chi control, as a continuation of the past two arcs. However, I feel that the emphasis on bulk slowing you down is contradictory from what we see earlier in the series; considering both Kaio-Ken above x2 is probably the bulkiest “form” in the series and it certainly didn’t slow Goku down, but maybe that’s just a peculiarity.
Super Saiyan 2 is really nothing more than a set piece so Gohan can have his big crybaby moment. To this day I don’t really understand the point of it of all, because all it is is “it’s like Super Saiyan, but better in some nebulous sense!”. Maybe it could have been treated alternatively as what Super Saiyan looks like when chi use is the most efficient or something.
Super Saiyan 3 is completely pointless and could have been removed without affecting the Boo storyline. Goku literally accomplishes nothing with it, except for draining his power therefore screwing him over. It’s like Kaio-Ken except just way more boring. In fact, I’d argue it was detrimental to the story since it takes away a lot of the tension of Majin Vegeta vs Goku in retrospect. Toss it into the bin.
The several types of fusions are interesting I suppose, but I’ve never been much a fan of them and they mostly just feel like material to pad out the Boo arc, as if it needed any more padding. It comes off as Toriyama looking for a new gimmick. Maybe if there was more emphasis on possible drawbacks of their use I’d like them more. Not essential for the story in my opinion.
Super Saiyan God is a weird one because the concept is good, but it was put into a gimmicky shell. All it needed to be was the mastery of godly chi, the bridge between the mortal and divine realms. The ideas behind it are pretty good though, and harken back to stuff going back to the very beginning of the series. The ritual part though I find to be just bizarre and really disappointing. I think it should be kept, but given a different exterior.
Super Saiyan Blue works well enough in context of what it is; being a super saiyan of a super saiyan essentially. The concepts are also interesting, but once again, these are ideas that go back to the very beginning of the series and shouldn’t need to be wrapped into yet another new form. There’s really no reason why it couldn’t be normal super saiyan just with godly chi mastery; maybe just a subtle change in colour to signify it. I like how Vegeta uses it in the manga though; using it almost instantaneously at points for reasons of stamina.
I’m not familiar enough with a lot of the forms after this to give much comment, maybe apart from Ultra Instinct, which I think is yet another example of trying to make concepts already established seem new by putting a flashy shell around it, but that’s my opinions on all the big ones.