Anime: Dragon Ball Z: Kami to Kami

15 years after GT, Toriyama decided that he wasn’t making enough money from all the poorly created videogames, card games, and countless types of merchandise that were constantly being produced based on his badly written franchise. So, he officially labeled GT to be not canon, and that Super is the real sequel, in effect rendering worthless terabytes of fan fiction and fan art. He still hired Toyotaro as his best imitator and the one doing all the drawing, since he couldn’t be bothered to draw as he used to. The result was a lifeless continuation that could no longer excuse itself being bad because Toriyama was not part of it.

It was also not really a continuation, since that would demand a new story with new characters, in order to start fresh and avoid all the inconsistencies that piled up over the years. But who would buy that? We live in the age of sequels and franchises that reboot every few years. Toyotaro ended up tracing over Toriyama’s artwork, and kept rehashing the exact same shit, regardless of not making any sense. It was basically fan service for nostalgiafags and it worked spectacularly since many idiots ate it up immediately and called it amazing despite being a shameless cashgrab.

So, everything began with a pilot movie called Battle of Gods. It was mostly comedy and had another terribly handled power-up. They had 15 years to take out the power creep which ruined the franchise, and not only they didn’t do anything about it, they instead made it even worse.
-It was lazily acquired, since all it took was joining hands
-It foddered everyone who was not a saiyan even further, since only saiyans could be used to unlock it and use it
-It ridiculed the concept of SSJ even further, since at this point even a fetus could count as one
-It foddered even the SSJs, since Goku became even more overpowered and in less need of everyone else to support him in battle
-Visually, it was just a hair color-swap
-Its abilities were never explained properly, as they kept changing every few episodes (untraceable aura, power output, healing, zero ki drain)
-It was pointless, as it had no significance, didn’t defeat someone, and was quickly overshadowed by the next power-up

The new villain, Beerus, was not even a villain, but rather a cosmic bureaucrat doing his job. Really badly I must add, since not only he slept for millions of years, he also wasn’t around to stop super villains when they were threatening the universe, and instead all he did was blow up planets that didn’t have tasty food. He was essentially a comic relief with ridiculously high enough power to destroy the universe with a few punches. And somehow they managed to screw up even this simple character by constantly contradicting what he did in the past.
-He said he killed all the dinosaurs, although they still exist
-He said he ordered Frieza to kill the Saiyans, but he never addresses it afterwards and even planned to kill Frieza for doing what he was ordered
-The old kaioshin said he was trapped in the sword by someone weaker than Buu, although Beerus is stronger

What baffles me is how they rewrote his backdrop story, from the one who made the Saiyans evil, to a generic destroyer of worlds looking for some excitement by fighting the Super Saiyan God. This removed the personal connection he could have with the heroes, since he would be the one who kickstarted their battle frenzy. Without that, he was just another guy who wants to fight for the sake of fighting. He even goes as far as letting the heroes turn Goku into a Saiyan God, proving how little he cares about the whole thing.

And I have to point out the plot hole with the prophecy. The reason he knew there is a Saiyan God out there is because of an oracle fish which foretold it a million years ago. How can there be destiny in a universe with multiple timelines? Future Trunks came from the original timeline where everybody had died and it was impossible for someone to acquire the god form. Thus this whole concept was bullshit. The legend of the SSJ may have been a convenience for Goku to defeat Frieza, but it wasn’t contradicting the in-series logic, unlike the prophecy of the Saiyan God. And that’s why it’s proven once again why destiny and time travel are some of the worst plot devices ever conceived by man.

Anyways, back to what was supposed to be a plot, the battle between Beerus and Goku was the most anti-climactic thing ever. Because of modern limitations, they couldn’t show gore and violence in the same volume as they could in the past, everything felt like a videogame because it wasn’t hand-drawn anymore, and the terrible low budget of the tv version made it laughable in the eyes of everyone who were simply looking for a cool fight. Many voice actors were also so old at this point, and couldn’t do their job properly. Kaio in specific can barely talk, so when he’s supposed to be screaming, nothing comes out. And even Goku’s voice actress shows her age too much at this point, you can easily tell it’s an 80 year old lady. How can you enjoy this?

Not even the conclusion was satisfactory, since Goku lost, and Beerus did not destroy the planet because he liked the food. And he didn’t barely manage to overpower Goku either. Even in his god form, Goku was a billion times weaker than Beerus. Essentially, this battle was a troll, since there was no way for Goku could win despite making it seem he stood a chance. This continues the terrible tradition of characters holding back from using their full power right away, and making it seem like they are equal in power with whoever they are fighting.

This first arc of Super was terrible. GT may have been awful for having no idea of how to use its good ideas, but at least it had good ideas. Not only Super does not have good ideas, it contradicts its own concepts every five minutes and keeps trolling you with fake tension. It doesn’t even deserve a 1/10, it was an abomination that should have never been made.