So, where do you all stand on the Boo arc?

[DonAce]

I find my feelings on the arc incredibly mixed. I feel we get some fantastic development on Vegeta, I love that it seems to go for a more mystical approach rather than the science and technology on the last arc. Mister Satan is an absolutely phenomenal addition to the cast, and I love how goofy it all is. On the other hand, it really is just a mess that drags on too long. It is one of my favorite parts from the "Z" portion of the series, but I can't help but see why it's so shit on by a lot of people.

[B]

I love it for its finality. It's a hodgepodge of things I don't think Toriyama would've came up with if he hadn't decided this was it(at the time). These are all things people pile on the arc for; its lighter tone, Fusion, Super Saiyan 3. Gohan and Vegeta receive serviceable to outstanding closure on their character arcs. The ending is true to the series... in that nothing ends at all.

I don't know what I could complain about. The art isn't super-duper polished and leans heavily on the "triangle crap," but that's so minute.

[DonAce]

I agree with most of what you have to say about what you like about the arc (not a fan of Super Saiyan 3), but I find that there's so much time spent on establishing things that don't go anywhere. Toriyama just writes himself into corners then just bullshits his way out, like with the Vegetto thing. It was incredibly blatant.

[Esfír Dedragón]

The Majin Buu saga was the saga that I grew to love for its character development of Vegeta and Goku. At the time, I only cared about these two.

Although, I must admit I still had misconceptions about the relationships of some characters due to my sporadic viewing of the show.
Here are some examples:

I thought Kakarot was Goku's father
Majin Vegeta was hallucinating Goku as being Kakarot due to them looking exactly alike
Super Saiyan 3 Goku was Raditz brought back to life for some extra help

It wasn't until I saw the entire saga and with the help of the Budokai series that I finally got the story right.

[Gorou]

Is another arch which is wrongly demonized excessively from the fandom ( not at the same level as the Cell's arc where, at least here on this forum, I heard the most absurd and unjustified criticism). The Boo's arc represents a phenomenal return to comedy and a perfect end for the original story and for all the various characters's interactions. Buu is great in all its forms.

Has any flaws? yes, of course, but these are offset by the overall beauty of the arc.
The positive factors are: Vegeta's maturation, all the epilogue, relationship between Boo and Satan, Gohan-Videl story and the return to comedy. The final scene with the genkidama is one of the most beautiful of all the franchising.

The defects are inconsistencies and excessive randomness in some scenes: all the initial part with Babidi, Boo's transformations, Vegetto ( who was useless) and the final change of course of Toriyama about who would be the hero between Gohan and Goku, which kicked off in one of the most controversial discussions about DB.

[fadeddreams5]

It's much, MUCH, MUCH better than absolutely everything that's come after it. However, it was also the downfall of the series and the catalyst for all the things that's plagued it since. The Buu saga pissed on the SSJ concept by introducing Goten and Trunks, and making SSJ2 and SSJ3 a thing--though SSJ3 looks really cool--which has resulted in more and more unnecessary SSJ transformations. It started the trend of Gohan not training. And overall, it was just wacky, which a lot of people were put off by after experiencing the significantly darker tones of the Saiyan-Cell sagas.

As for the story itself, it was a mess. People complain about the Android saga, but at least that had legitimate threats (albeit, ones that could have been prevented if they listened to Bulma). Buu was never a threat. Vegeta and Goku could have beaten him together, but Vegeta knocked the latter out cold. SSJ3 Goku could have beaten him, but he decided not to for a reason that contradicts everything his character is known for. SSJ3 Gotenks could have beaten him, but he was a cocky little shithead. Vegito could have beaten him, but he decided he wanted to save the people Buu absorbed, only he ended getting them killed later anyways. Kid Buu could have been killed multiple ways.

[Gorou]

Goku decides to not kill Boo is stupid Yes, but has its own logic. Goku has always been a naïve that she preferred to run its risks, instead of taking the logical and simple step, and in this case he did it to verify if on the planet there were valuable protectors ready to replace it.

Gotenks and an arrogant kid who loves to play and have fun, and to someone like him i don't claim any thoroughness. Vegeth.. yes, his plan didn't make sense (Gohan and Piccolo and the others could relive again without problems) and in this case I cannot find any logic or any good motivation related to the characterization of the character. The only case is this.

[Esfír Dedragón]

The major problem I have with the saga was how indifferent they were in giving a rational explanation as to how did and why didn't Babidi showed up in Age 774 but never did(?) in the alternate timelines.

[Gorou]

The major problem I have with the saga was how indifferent they were in giving a rational explanation as to how did and why didn't Babidi showed up in Age 774 but never did(?) in the alternate timelines.

Read here http://i.imgur.com/S6mqJ.jpg
"The answer is simple: there was no longer anyone on Earth with a large amount of energy"

[Kunzait_83]

Its definitely one of the sloppiest arcs in terms of narrative flow and probably suffers the most for Toriyama's, at the time, immense fatigue with the series. But at the same time, and its to Toriyama's immense credit, that despite his exhaustion he still really went for it here. The more I think about it the more I think that the reason I'm so able to give the slipshod writing and occasional character mishandling (Gohan in particular in the later parts) as much of a pass here as I do is that its overall so exuberant in how much it all just goes for fucking broke without the slightest bit of self-consciousness. What it lacks in storytelling elegance it more than makes up for and gets by on immense amounts of energy, momentum, and sheer, unbridled, batshit imagination.

"So yeah, uh... Gohan's a superhero for a hot minute or so, then there's a big Budokai reunion, but then these mystery guys who could be demons or dark magicians or what have you that show up, and there's a ton of mystery and build up about what they're all about ala the earlier Cell arc, and there's a god who's the god above all the other gods, but he's overmatched and is kind of the underdog because there's a gigantic pink bubblegum demon who looks goofy and silly but is a total terrifying force of murderous reality-destroying nature that's a threat to all of existence itself, and he fucks everything and everybody up, Goku now has a new weird/awesome looking Super Saiya-jin form but that has its limits and drawbacks, meanwhile he also has his big rematch with Vegeta who undergoes a TON of character development he was sorely lacking in the previous arc...

...but then the bubblegum demon befriends Mr. Satan, demonstrates a good side then "splits" just like Kami and Piccolo with the evil side overwhelming the good, everything's in REALLY deep shit, but now the characters learn how to fuse with each other and combine to make totally new characters, but then the bubblegum demon commits mass genocide and kills every non-fighter on Earth, Kami's temple gets destroyed, then Goku and Vegeta get shrunk down and enter into the bubblegum demon's innards and have Innerspace-like adventures inside his body, then the Earth itself get destroyed, then there's a big showdown in the god's heavily realm where all of the afterlife and reality itself is at stake, and finally the reality destroying bubblegum demon is defeated, Vegeta finally completes his transformation into a proper martial artist, Earth and its population is restored, and years later afterward Goku finally becomes a teacher and ends off the series about to instruct his new student who is the bubblegum demon reincarnated as an Indian peasant boy."

Yes... all of that in INSANELY silly and ridiculous nonsense, but goddamn it if its not delivered with utmost conviction and a ton of genuine craft (both in the manga and ESPECIALLY in the anime, which has some of the best ever animated and directed episodes in the series for this arc). Its sugar-rushed and manic and utterly bugfuck bonkers as all get out. The Boo arc can be rightly and fairly criticized for a lot of things: lack of energy and imagination by far ain't among them. That it comes across as so genuinely enthusiastic despite the author's own drained exhaustion is something that makes me have a fair amount of respect for it, despite its other failings.

Its a weird ending to a weird series, which in its own way is fitting enough: grand operatic, tonally broad Wuxia myth with tongue firmly embedded in cheek the whole time in that distinctive, trademark Toriyama style.

[Gorou]

@Kunzait_83
Every time I totally agree with all your posts

[Chuquita]

Gohan's school life and Great Saiyaman stuff was fun. Vegeta getting matched up against Gokû in the tournament was great. Majin Vegeta part was exciting, the battle's one of my favorites. Gotenks I enjoyed at the time. Ultimate Gohan was ok, but didn't get to do much. Vegetto was a fun experiment, but I'm glad it wasn't permanent because I like Gokû and Vegeta as individuals better. The after effects of being fused that way on their psyches still interests me. I enjoyed how everything kept switching up near the end. Vegeta trying to convince people on Earth and them not trusting him because of how he's taking. Using the db's to restore Gokû's strength was nice.

Overall I enjoyed it.

[DonAce]

Oh, Kunzait_83! I absolutely loved your Wuxia post and have read through it. It has really gotten me interested in getting into Wuxia, which is something I always desired from afar but never knew where to start. I think you really hit the nail on the head in this post, as always. Love reading your thoughts and opinions.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I don't hate the Buu saga as many people do, I actually quite like it. I understand the problems many have with it, but for many reasons I always have a lot of fun watching it, as there are many things I like about it. For instance:

- the lore expansion, Supreme Kai and Kibito were worthy and interesting additions to the series

- Vegeta's character development, as said before

- I liked how Toriyama kept us guessing about who would defeat Buu

- Goku defeating Kid Buu had the greatest emotional payoff of any animated series I've seen, that said I haven't watched a lot of anime

I also never had a problem with Gohan giving up fighting, because he was always more of a studious kind of person. In actuality I think it's good because that adds just a little diversity to the Son family, which is always a good thing.

[thomas1up]

I think the Boo arc was a brilliant end for DBZ, well the Kid Boo fight anyway, it had the hypest ending (with the best track in the series playing mind you ) and the fact that everyone on earth's energy was being used to kill pure evil was honestly the best way a villain is killed in the entire series. I also like Mr. Satan so that's another reason for my enjoyment

[Lord Beerus]

I'm gonna be lazy and just repeat the same answer I gave in a thread similar to this many moons ago:

Honestly, I love the Majin Boo arc just for how crazy and ridiculous it is and it how it reviled in it. It may have been inconsistent and logic may have been backwards-ass at times, but it was entertaining as fuck. I don't think the arc was meant to be taken seriously. But if you did, I can see why some people would be let down by the arc to a degree. The Majin Boo arc was basically a throwback to some of the early arcs in Dragon Ball.

[dae428]

Honestly I've got nothing else to really add. I love it. It's a mess, but it's one of the most entertaining messes that I've had the pleasure of reading. It's an arc that encompasses all of what Dragon Ball is to it's absurd cornball moments of the first few arcs to it's surprisingly darker and bloody moments of the Saiyan arc and onwards.

[fadeddreams5]

The Buu saga, for me, is basically a combination of terrible concepts saved by wonderful execution that resulted in an entertaining story. It's the weakest DBZ saga, imo, but like I mentioned before, it's still much better than everything that's come after it. Also, it has many memorable moments you can't help but rewatch as a fan.

[Wezenheim]

Kunzait hit the nail on the head, as I feel pretty much the same. The second half of the arc is a little shaky and it might be my least favorite in the series (although I go back and forth constantly about whether or not I'd put it above the Demon King Piccolo arc or the Artificial Human arc) but at the same time there's so much that I do enjoy. I like its occasional sense of self awareness as well as how unafraid it is to be absolutely ridiculous.

I also still hold onto the firm opinion that Vegetto vs. Boo is probably my favorite way to handle a one sided ass beating.

[sintzu]

It was a great arc and a great way and place to end the story.

It's currently my favorite arc.