Dragon Ball Super‘s Tournament of Power happened much differently in the manga than it did in the anime series, and one of the major differences is how Jiren was finally defeated by Universe 7.
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Although Jiren’s elimination eventually leads to the same result, and involves the same core characters, it shocked fans by just how suddenly and differently it happened.
In the anime series, Jiren had to fight back against a team effort of Goku, Freeza, and Android 17 during the final seconds of the Tournament of Power. With Goku and Freeza working together in an unprecedented way, the two of them manage to push Jiren out of the arena after a major struggle that almost ended with their defeat entirely.
But Jiren didn’t get to struggle so much in the manga. Taking place of that final teamwork between Freeza and Goku is instead a final push from Goku and Vegeta. When Vegeta is defeated, Goku is nearly eliminated as well as he and Jiren struggled on the egde of the tournament stage. It’s here that Freeza mounts a different comeback in the anime and fires a Death Ball at Jiren.
Jiren is able to catch and knock it away, surprisingly, but that was merely a distraction for Freeza, who uses a fully powered tackle to knock Jiren, Goku, and himself out of the stage, leaving Android 17 as the sole winner. Though this happens in the anime, it’s a solo push from Freeza that does Jiren in at the end. Goku is able to hold him back, which is something that didn’t really happen in the anime’s final battle.
In the anime, Jiren mounts a much more impressive final effort as he easily bats Freeza, Goku, and 17 away. It’s their determination and trust in one another that eventually wins, and Jiren recognizes that himself. While Jiren ends up feeling the same in the manga as well, his final fight in the anime seemed more bombastic. Though that may be more of a restraint from the medium than anything.
What did you think of Jiren’s new elimination? Do you have a preference between the manga or anime versions? Let us know in the comments!
Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 11:00 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and Crunchyroll. The manga has chapters that can currently be read for free thanks to Viz Media.
