One of the reasons Jiren is so boring

[Polyphase Avatron]

In addition to not having that much of a character, I just realized something else - he has no special abilities.

Most DB villains have at least a few unique powers/abilities that make them extra dangerous. Jiren, though, can't really do anything that your average trained ki-user can't do. The only difference is that he's really strong. The closest thing he has to a unique power is that attack where he fires invisible ki blasts from his eyes, but that just seems to be a form of kiai, which again is a generic ki power. I remember shortly after he was introduced that some people were speculating that he had some kind of precognition or super predictive power due to knowing the blocks from the arena wouldn't hit him, but no, it turns out that was just because he's really experienced and fast. Jiren's powerset is possibly the most generic of any major antagonist in the franchise.

[Yuli Ban]

In addition to not having that much of a character, I just realized something else - he has no special abilities.

Most DB villains have at least a few unique powers/abilities that make them extra dangerous. Jiren, though, can't really do anything that your average trained ki-user can't do. The only difference is that he's really strong. The closest thing he has to a unique power is that attack where he fires invisible ki blasts from his eyes, but that just seems to be a form of kiai, which again is a generic ki power. I remember shortly after he was introduced that some people were speculating that he had some kind of precognition or super predictive power due to knowing the blocks from the arena wouldn't hit him, but no, it turns out that was just because he's really experienced and fast. Jiren's powerset is possibly the most generic of any major antagonist in the franchise.

For me, that's what makes him interesting. He has to use pure strength to fight. In a series that has escalated to the point where everyone has such over-the-top abilities, (usually consisting of transformation enhancing their power), he's purely physical and he uses physicality to overcome others' special abilities. Jiren would be a very interesting antagonist because you can't overthink him. You can't expect him to turn you into candy or use psychokinesis to trap you or absorb you with a hypodermic tail or spit out an egg containing his more-powerful son. He isn't immortal, nor is he able to sacrifice health to overcharge himself. He's just stupidly strong and he knows how to use that strength better than you do your own. In a manner, he's min-maxed literally everything so he doesn't need a special ability. Makes you wonder what his goals and desires might be, considering he was at the very top.

But we were left with a Superman clone who was rewritten at the last minute to be an overly arrogant prick, so there isn't really anything more to him than what you get. It's one of my biggest gripes with Dragon Ball, I think, that so many great concepts are left to flounder. Great plotlines left unexplored; great characters left unutilized; great potential techniques left unused.

[shadd21]

Honestly i feel that was the intent, it seemed like both Toriyama and Toei were banking on Jiren being stronger than the Hakaishins to be his major selling point, almost like they were pushing for him to be the "Broly" of modern DB where his appeal comes from those who gawk over feats and PLs.

Admittedly, i'm one of those people, i liked Jiren mainly due to him being the first(and currently only) antagonist of the "Super" era to be on Beerus' scale

[Yuli Ban]

Honestly i feel that was the intent, it seemed like both Toriyama and Toei were banking on Jiren being stronger than the Hakaishins to be his major selling point, almost like they were pushing for him to be the "Broly" of modern DB where his appeal comes from those who gawk over feats and PLs.

Admittedly, i'm one of those people, i liked Jiren mainly due to him being the first(and currently only) antagonist of the "Super" era to be on Beerus' scale

And that, I think, is where a lot of this falls apart. What made Broly such a titanic force was that we knew where he stood in relations to others. It was retroactive power-wanking in the video games that turned him into an "SSJ4 Gogeta fused with SSJ5 Vegetto"-tier character.
Whereas with Jiren, we only know that he's stronger than Toppo. Is he stronger than GoD Toppo as well? Arguably.

But is he stronger than Beerus? And there you have the problem— we don't know. We only ever saw Beerus fight once, and that was against a character who was at the time stated to have pushed him to around 80% of his power, but in retrospect there's no way SSJGod Goku could have been that strong if Jiren is still on par with Beerus. I'm not sure we ever even got a direct answer as to whether SSJGod is weaker, as strong as, or stronger than SSJBlue.

I recall back when we thought Hit was Beerus-tier, and then speculated that SSJRose Goku Black was Beerus-tier, then that Vegetto Blue was Beerus-tier. Now we use Jiren as that standard. We never had that problem in Dragon Ball or Z because it was so much clearer.

Point is: we need to see Goku and Beerus fight again.

[JazzMazz]

In addition to not having that much of a character, I just realized something else - he has no special abilities.

Most DB villains have at least a few unique powers/abilities that make them extra dangerous. Jiren, though, can't really do anything that your average trained ki-user can't do. The only difference is that he's really strong. The closest thing he has to a unique power is that attack where he fires invisible ki blasts from his eyes, but that just seems to be a form of kiai, which again is a generic ki power. I remember shortly after he was introduced that some people were speculating that he had some kind of precognition or super predictive power due to knowing the blocks from the arena wouldn't hit him, but no, it turns out that was just because he's really experienced and fast. Jiren's powerset is possibly the most generic of any major antagonist in the franchise.

I agree he doesn't an overtly interesting ability, like say telekinesis or time-skip, but I think something I've at least grown to appreciate about the anime interpretation of Jiren's attacks after reading his fights in the manga, is, as you've already mentioned, his kiai eye technique.

Its not much, but I think it was used enough, and had enough flare to it, to give Jiren something that could be considered a distinguishing technique.

I feels its a vastly more interesting visual attack, than say, anything Jirens really done in the manga.

[Bergamo]

In addition to not having that much of a character, I just realized something else - he has no special abilities.

Most DB villains have at least a few unique powers/abilities that make them extra dangerous. Jiren, though, can't really do anything that your average trained ki-user can't do. The only difference is that he's really strong. The closest thing he has to a unique power is that attack where he fires invisible ki blasts from his eyes, but that just seems to be a form of kiai, which again is a generic ki power. I remember shortly after he was introduced that some people were speculating that he had some kind of precognition or super predictive power due to knowing the blocks from the arena wouldn't hit him, but no, it turns out that was just because he's really experienced and fast. Jiren's powerset is possibly the most generic of any major antagonist in the franchise.

I agree he doesn't an overtly interesting ability, like say telekinesis or time-skip, but I think something I've at least grown to appreciate about the anime interpretation of Jiren's attacks after reading his fights in the manga, is, as you've already mentioned, his kiai eye technique.

Its not much, but I think it was used enough, and had enough flare to it, to give Jiren something that could be considered a distinguishing technique.

I feels its a vastly more interesting visual attack, than say, anything Jirens really done in the manga.

Is it fair to call out the manga? All Jiren has done so far is fight Hit, and that encounter was more focused on showing of Hit's capabilities than it was Jiren's. You should probably wait until Jiren does something before you start judging him.

[JazzMazz]

In addition to not having that much of a character, I just realized something else - he has no special abilities.

Most DB villains have at least a few unique powers/abilities that make them extra dangerous. Jiren, though, can't really do anything that your average trained ki-user can't do. The only difference is that he's really strong. The closest thing he has to a unique power is that attack where he fires invisible ki blasts from his eyes, but that just seems to be a form of kiai, which again is a generic ki power. I remember shortly after he was introduced that some people were speculating that he had some kind of precognition or super predictive power due to knowing the blocks from the arena wouldn't hit him, but no, it turns out that was just because he's really experienced and fast. Jiren's powerset is possibly the most generic of any major antagonist in the franchise.

I agree he doesn't an overtly interesting ability, like say telekinesis or time-skip, but I think something I've at least grown to appreciate about the anime interpretation of Jiren's attacks after reading his fights in the manga, is, as you've already mentioned, his kiai eye technique.

Its not much, but I think it was used enough, and had enough flare to it, to give Jiren something that could be considered a distinguishing technique.

I feels its a vastly more interesting visual attack, than say, anything Jirens really done in the manga.

Is it fair to call out the manga? All Jiren has done so far is fight Hit, and that encounter was more focused on showing of Hit's capabilities than it was Jiren's. You should probably wait until Jiren does something before you start judging him.

Your right, defeating manga Hit isn't an accomplishment, since he was kind of a joke, so I'll just wait to he actually does something.

[prince212]

I agree he doesn't an overtly interesting ability, like say telekinesis or time-skip, but I think something I've at least grown to appreciate about the anime interpretation of Jiren's attacks after reading his fights in the manga, is, as you've already mentioned, his kiai eye technique.

Its not much, but I think it was used enough, and had enough flare to it, to give Jiren something that could be considered a distinguishing technique.

I feels its a vastly more interesting visual attack, than say, anything Jirens really done in the manga.

Is it fair to call out the manga? All Jiren has done so far is fight Hit, and that encounter was more focused on showing of Hit's capabilities than it was Jiren's. You should probably wait until Jiren does something before you start judging him.

Your right, defeating manga Hit isn't an accomplishment, since he was kind of a joke, so I'll just wait to he actually does something.

I think you are forgetting the memory challenge , now Jiren remember gokus name . That’s an accomplishment

[JazzMazz]

Is it fair to call out the manga? All Jiren has done so far is fight Hit, and that encounter was more focused on showing of Hit's capabilities than it was Jiren's. You should probably wait until Jiren does something before you start judging him.

Your right, defeating manga Hit isn't an accomplishment, since he was kind of a joke, so I'll just wait to he actually does something.

I think you are forgetting the memory challenge , now Jiren remember gokus name . That’s an accomplishment

Um what?
I don't see how thats an accomplishment FOR JIREN.

[prince212]

Your right, defeating manga Hit isn't an accomplishment, since he was kind of a joke, so I'll just wait to he actually does something.

I think you are forgetting the memory challenge , now Jiren remember gokus name . That’s an accomplishment

Um what?
I don't see how thats an accomplishment FOR JIREN.

It’s something , isn’t it ?

[Lord Beerus]

Honestly, I think Jiren being a gimmick free character is what sets him apart from most other Dragon Ball antagonists in a good way. Much like Beerus and Whis, he's a character that doesn't necessarily entirely rely on unique techniques, transformations or abilities to get the upper hand in battle. He's just monstrously strong and uses that strength to steamroll everyone in his way. I like that kind of simple and straightforward approach.

[Zen Yabuki]

I don’t see him as boring, and I do like his style. He’s brutal and and simple but also tries to crush any hope his opponent has of winning

[SupremeKai25]

He was never meant to be an antagonist on the level of Frieza and Cell, and most certainly NOT on the level of Zamasu. Boring, the way he was meant to be. On that department, the writers nailed it.

[BrolyKale]

I wasn't too fond of him at first, but he had a mysterious air about him which I liked. He kinda reminds me of Broly base form. And he got more and more interesting near the end of the TOP, he was really entertaining to watch.

[Master Xar]

I actually felt it was one of his positives as it goes with his character. He is straight to the point, brutal, and cold, he’s a wall of nothing but stoicism buried inside an angry, relentlessness, ready to be unleashed. He is a specimen. He doesn’t aim to just beat you, he aims to crush your spirit, break you, snatch away your willpower and enforce cold reality like someone once did the same to him. He has nothing, but at the same time everything to hide, he puffs out his chest to be tough, but behind all that a broken man that can’t let go of the past.

And TBH I find it far better than just another bad guy that can regenerate from being vaporized for the 50th time, lord knows Dragonball is overrun with same-y powers, so even if they tried I don’t think he’d stand out anyways unless they can do what they did with Hit. And besides, he has a few things going like his rapid air pressure attacks.

[Zamasu55]

He could've ringed out literally every fighter on the stage, but somehow he refuses to.
Not only is he boring, he's also stupid.

[Polyphase Avatron]

Honestly, I think Jiren being a gimmick free character is what sets him apart from most other Dragon Ball antagonists in a good way. Much like Beerus and Whis, he's a character that doesn't necessarily entirely rely on unique techniques, transformations or abilities to get the upper hand in battle. He's just monstrously strong and uses that strength to steamroll everyone in his way. I like that kind of simple and straightforward approach.

Whis has tons of exotic powers, possibly more than we've seen from any other character. Beerus was pretty much a straightforward powerhouse in the movies, but the anime and manga gave him many special abilities.

[Lord Beerus]

Honestly, I think Jiren being a gimmick free character is what sets him apart from most other Dragon Ball antagonists in a good way. Much like Beerus and Whis, he's a character that doesn't necessarily entirely rely on unique techniques, transformations or abilities to get the upper hand in battle. He's just monstrously strong and uses that strength to steamroll everyone in his way. I like that kind of simple and straightforward approach.

Whis has tons of exotic powers, possibly more than we've seen from any other character. Beerus was pretty much a straightforward powerhouse in the movies, but the anime and manga gave him many special abilities.

The only abilities I've seen from Whis that I haven't seen from any other character in Dragon Ball is rewinding time and being a midwife.

Beerus' standout ability is of course his "Hakai" technique.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

Beerus' standout ability is of course his "Hakai" technique.

But how standout is that when (arguebly) every other Hakaishin has it?

[MKCSTEALTH]

I think whatever he does with his eyes that allows him to just glare away Final Flashes and Spirit Bombs counts as a special ability of sorts. Granted, it's no time skip or energy scythe, but it's still pretty cool.

For me, Jiren was set up (rather poorly) to be Goku's antithesis in this arc. From the onset, Goku was fighting for his friends, family, and universe. Jiren was focused solely on himself. He only made an effort when he found it worth his time, he left Toppo and Dyspo to handle "the rest" after knocking out Hit, which was still 5 other universes with failry strong fighters and secrets still in the bag. He was focused more on not losing then I felt the perservation of U11

Also, one of the biggest ball drops is his wish with the Super Dragonballs. Though it was never outwardly addressed in the anime (if I'm mistaken please correct me, it's been sometime since I viewed some of the earlier ToP episodes), it's been seemingly made a deal out of in the manga. Plus every time the Super Dragonballs were mentioned, it sort of gave him that extra "oompf" of sorts.

I personally love Jiren as a character and what they tried setting him up as, and I find the duality of Goku and Jiren a fascinating character study