What IYO is the best and worst ending to a DB saga?

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Dbzk1999
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Re: What IYO is the best and worst ending to a DB saga?

Post by Dbzk1999 » Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:25 pm

Super Saiyan Swagger wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:55 pm
ABED wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:20 pm
Super Saiyan Swagger wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:42 pm that whole convoluted plan of King Kai and Kami's that's being explained as Goku and Freeza are fighting.
What was convoluted about it? Logically they have to use both sets of Dragon Balls to resurrect everyone and get them to safety.
Don't know if convoluted was the right word. But yeah, using two sets of Dragon balls to bring everyone back and then send them to Earth all while Goku and Freeza were fighting felt out of place amongst the action. The Grand Elder also coming back to life even though he seemed to have died of natural causes was weird.
The bolded is specifically addressed when Kami and King Kai are discussing the wish. Guru’s death was somewhat hastened from Freeza and his men slaughtering the Namekians (making him die then from the stress of it), he’s brought back for the remaining time that he still had.

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Re: What IYO is the best and worst ending to a DB saga?

Post by ABED » Thu Mar 23, 2023 9:30 pm

Super Saiyan Swagger wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:55 pm
ABED wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:20 pm
Super Saiyan Swagger wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:42 pm that whole convoluted plan of King Kai and Kami's that's being explained as Goku and Freeza are fighting.
What was convoluted about it? Logically they have to use both sets of Dragon Balls to resurrect everyone and get them to safety.
Don't know if convoluted was the right word. But yeah, using two sets of Dragon balls to bring everyone back and then send them to Earth all while Goku and Freeza were fighting felt out of place amongst the action. The Grand Elder also coming back to life even though he seemed to have died of natural causes was weird.
I'm flabbergasted as I like that they brought everyone back during the battle. Instead of leaving it for later, it's integrated with the action. This is Toriayma at his best. I agree about Freeza coming back. He survived so much stuff it's comical.
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Re: What IYO is the best and worst ending to a DB saga?

Post by dva_raza » Thu Mar 23, 2023 11:06 pm

TOP's ending, my favorite.

For me it was the most wholesome of all endings so far. The whole arc didn’t really have a villain, it was all about overcoming each other’s issues, and it all was kinda crazy and had so many things I loved about it. The fights, the twists, Frieza and his counterpart, the debut of Ultra Instinct was epic. The arc had a great buildup for a great ending basically.
17 being the one to close the entire thing and make that wish, was really cool and Whis letting Frieza go, again, wholesome is kinda the main feeling I had when I watched it.

And the final shot of Goku and Vegeta about to fight off screen, was so reassuring, and chilling.
It’s one of the few endings that didn’t have any bittersweet feel whosoever for a change, it was just completely satisfactory, which I feel is kinda rare.


Can’t think of a “bad” one other than not liking the ending of EoZ and GT cause Goku leaves everyone and it’s a downer.

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Re: What IYO is the best and worst ending to a DB saga?

Post by Wrigglything » Fri Mar 24, 2023 2:29 am

The worst one on the top of my head is the Granolah arc. It had a great first stretch and even the revelations and forms were interesting to me. But the ending fight did drag out too long, and while the stuff between UI and UE was neat, the ending just came out of nowhere and felt rather hollow, despite the character shift for Freeza being a farcry from his past days.

Honourable mention goes to Wrath of the Dragon which felt like a cheap ending to an otherwise emotional storyline. I don't need characters to die but you'd figure there'd be some melancholy instead of a bow tied solution. I say as the Dragon Ball sized elephant in the room approaches.

Otherwise, for best, I don't really have much to say about those, not counting GT seeing as I never watched it. I generally have no real issue with other endings, even the Goku Black arc which has a very divisive response if this thread is any indicator. I guess seeing it as a continuous thing I don't really process much on what happened even if I did enjoy the journey and destination.

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Re: What IYO is the best and worst ending to a DB saga?

Post by Vegard Aune » Fri Mar 24, 2023 5:06 am

Super Saiyan Swagger wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:55 pm Don't know if convoluted was the right word. But yeah, using two sets of Dragon balls to bring everyone back and then send them to Earth all while Goku and Freeza were fighting felt out of place amongst the action. The Grand Elder also coming back to life even though he seemed to have died of natural causes was weird.
Thing to remember here, which I do believe was brought up in the Intended Endings guide on the site too, is that the "People who died of natural causes can't come back" clause was introduced in that chapter. It was just there to throw in a bit more uncertainty about whether or not this plan could work. Just, throw a bunch of complications at the audience at once to raise the stakes and make it seem like there is no conceivable way this can work, only to then (in theory) make it all the more thrilling for the audience when it turns out that Kaio was right and the plan does work.

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Re: What IYO is the best and worst ending to a DB saga?

Post by Cipher » Mon Mar 27, 2023 8:23 am

Best:

Boo arc - It ends the series, wrapping up most outstanding character arcs along the way. so maybe this is an obvious choice, but it’s also one of the best self-contained arc endings in DB. The series uses its final scenes to define and lionize (in its way) Goku as its protagonist, and therein its own spirit. After a number of attempts by would-be-heroes who may seem better on paper, like the responsible Gohan and the new blood of Gotenks, it falls to pure but flawed Goku (as nicely summarized by Vegeta in the climax) and Mr. Satan to save the day. In giving the save to these flawed but pure-hearted goofs, and in requiring collective participation (albeit also tinged with the irony of the duplicitous and selfish Mr. Satan having to provide the catalyst), it also makes good on the arc’s opening lamentations about humans just being the sort of lot to turn to crime in times of peace. Yes, people are dumb and selfish and self-destructive, but yes, there’s a general goodness worth protecting there too, especially when they bond and change one another, and that runs right alongside the ugliness—the two are inseparable. Glass half empty, glass half full. And then the arc ends in just about the only way Goku’s story could, via the epilogue, which I find rather touching (at least in its original version, with Goku encouraging Oob to let loose and scream his heart out before their adventure; the Kinto’un hand-off is a bit much). Life going on ten years later, after an implied period of listlessness for Goku (which Super will undo, but Super is Super, its own series), is a nice touch as well.

Runners up: Namek (it fizzles in the resolution, but the climax of Goku vs. Freeza is so damn good, with so many great interactions and character beats woven into the action, many of which payoff on everything Goku has experienced since the start of the Saiyan arc, if not earlier), 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai (a climax that serves to basically define Goku for the rest of the run, pairing his saving the world with his ridiculous fixation on winning the tournament by its own rules, and getting the fabulous cap of Goku unexpectedly sparing Piccolo to have him act as a rival, even directly turning down God to do so).

Super runners up: Future Trunks (audacious and fitting and altogether out of the norm for DB in the best way; I can’t fathom why people don’t like it or would like it to be anymore standard a defeat-the-villain-and-back-to-status-quo thing; Trunks going on to create the new timeline is genuinely inspiring and affecting), Tournament of Power (the manga version makes good so heavily on the themes it builds up throughout the arc, with Goku’s show-stopping transformation falling short and still requiring teamwork—in a really unexpected way—to pull through; Jiren is likable as an antagonist through the climax too, with his own teammates and gods still cheering him on and believing in him; good dynamics and good stuff; the anime ending is bombastic and a highlight of the lackluster TV series too, but the manga ending a much more effective cap to the material that proceeds it, and that material is more thoughtful and effective in general).

Worst: Can’t think of any. Maybe Cell just by virtue of Gohan feeling so removed from anything prior to the climax, but the ending itself works well enough. Moro’s climax and ending I find comparatively unremarkable like most elements of his arc, but I don’t think it doesn’t work or anything.

Future Trunks aside, this is also just a list of my favorite and least-favorite arcs across their respective series, which probably isn’t a surprise. Endings are important!

I don’t know how anybody can get worked up over ”F”’s ending. It’s fluffy for a fluffy film. My favorite movie ending is probably BoG’s, for how well it works as an epilogue to the original series in addition to providing a base for new material.

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