The big appeal about The Tournament of Power was that it would give the chance for forgotten Z-Fighters like Tien, Krillin, and Master Roshi their chance to shine one more time. If there was one character that desperately needed a return to glory then it was Son Gohan. So did the tournament of power achieve this? Well, I'm not so sure.
This episode gives Frieza the spotlight for the most part and while I do enjoy seeing the show try to focus on the three main fights simultaneously, the execution is lacking. I think it was a mistake pairing Frieza up with Dyspo, who is clearly the weak link out of the three remaining Pride Troopers. There was no point during this episode where I doubted Frieza could beat Dyspo and the whole time it just seemed like he was toying with him. As a result, there's no real tension here and you're desperately wishing the episode could get back to Goku and Vegeta's fight with Jiren.
Dyspo poses no threat and his gimmick of being able to move at lightspeed is something we've seen done countless times in
Dragon Ball. Frieza even comments on it at one point saying that it's all he's good for. In a way, it makes the outcome of this fight all the more disappointing.
Gohan sacrifices himself to take out Dyspo. There was a lot of hype and build up for Gohan's return as a fighter all the way back in the recruitment stages for the tournament of power. There was also talk of a new form for Gohan but perhaps this was written when the future of
Dragon Ball Super was still uncertain. I can live with Gohan not getting a new form, and seeing him slowly regain his fighting spirit during this arc has been great to watch, but I can't help but feel a little cheated.
If this was Gohan's big moment then it does feel a little bit cheap. It's fitting for him to sacrifice himself for the greater good, but It's almost like the writers don't have a clue what to do with him and I have a theory behind that, I don't think that Gohan got his time to shine in this arc, not properly anyway. This isn't only a problem with Gohan, it extends to most of the Z-Fighters with the exception of Master Roshi, who got two big moments.
The problem with this arc is that there's too much going on and they don't know what to do with these characters. Which begs the question of why bring them back at all? I'm not expecting Gohan to go up against Jiren, that's preposterous but I can't help but feel like the character just got the short end of the stick.
Gohan's return was to appease fans who were outraged about his portrayal in Super. Toriyama has said that he doesn't see Gohan as a fighter, but Toei quickly caved under the pressure and brought him back for no other reason than fan service, and it's pretty apparent.
Dragon Ball shouldn't be a union show and despite Toei having the best of intentions, fan service for the sake of fan service doesn't always work out. But, that's a topic for another day.
What do you guys think? Were you disappointed with Gohan's elimination?
Sound off below! Cheers guys!