Several Differences Between The Dragon Ball Anime And Manga Part 3 – The Tournament Of Power Edition.
(AfroGamers.com) I have previously written two articles detailing the major differences between the anime and the manga of the Dragon Ball continuity because one has to understand not everything is as it seems in the anime and the manga version of a particular series.
Here are several more differences between the Dragon Ball anime and manga via The Tournament Of Power Version.
1. Vegeta’s Motivation For Achieving Super Saiyan Blue Evolution – Anime: In the Dragon Ball Super Tournament Of Power Anime Arc, I actually liked Vegeta’s motivation for achieving Super Saiyan Blue Evolution much better than I liked the manga’s portrayal of it when Vegeta was heavily thinking about his promise he made to Cabba, his family, his Saiyan race, and the desire to keep his universe alive were all factors that played a role in him tapping into and achieving the anime exclusive Super Saiyan Blue Evolution.
Manga: In the manga version of The Tournament Of Power Arc, Toyotaro recycles the old tiresome Goku vs Vegeta trope by having Vegeta seeing Goku surpass him once again using Ultra Instinct and him saying, “That clown surpassed me again, but I won’t let him 
fully surpass me”, so he taps into the manga exclusive Mastered Super Saiyan Blue transformation. I didn’t like the manga’s portrayal of Vegeta’s motivation for wanting to achieve Mastered Super Saiyan Blue.
2. Kefla – Anime: In the anime version of The Tournament Of Power, Caulifla and Kale got fodderized by Super Saiyan Red Goku and when he was about to eliminate them with the Kamehameha, both Saiyan females used to the famous Potara earrings to fuse into the extremely powerful female fusion known as Kefla. When Kefla first appeared in her base form, her speed shocked Super Saiyan Red Goku and she transformed first into Super Saiyan and then into Super Saiyan 2 absolutely overwhelming Super Saiyan Red and Blue Goku until he tapped back into Ultra Instinct again and completely mollywopped and eliminated Kefla as a Super Saiyan 2 from the Tournament Of Power stage.
Manga – In the manga version of The Tournament Of Power, Kale in her Super Saiyan Berserk form was growing way too powerful to the point of going out of control, so Cabba puts a Potara earring in the other ear of Kale right before he gets eliminated from the ring and then the two fuse into Super Saiyan Kefla and starts to immediately eliminate fighters from other universes notability some of The Pride Troopers from Universe 11 and here’s where I get pissed off: the writers made her look extremely weak by nerfing her for the sole purpose of letting Gohan get his shine by eliminating her along with himself from the ring and the power scaling from this fight greatly pissed me off.
Kefla’s portrayal in the anime was far better to me than it was in the manga.
3. Dyspo and Toppo – Anime: In the anime version of The Tournament Of Power, Toppo and Dyspo were the second and third strongest members of not only The Pride Troopers, but also Universe 11 behind the strongest mortal of the multiverses in Jiren. Dyspo and Toppo were real credible threats to Universe 7 In The Tournament Of Power When Dyspo was so fast that Frieza was forced to use his True Golden Frieza transformation to actually keep up with him and Toppo In God Of Destruction Form beat the living daylights out of Frieza almost killing him and getting disqualified from the tournament in the process.
Manga: In the manga, Dyspo and Toppo were actually buried in the manga version of The Tournament Of Power by being portrayed as being weak when they were getting beat down by Frieza and getting tricked into one of the rocks by Frieza which later caused both of them to get eliminated from the ring.
The portrayals of Dyspo and Toppo in the anime was much better to me than in the manga.
4. The Final Battle Against Jiren – Anime: In The Anime Version Of The Tournament Of Power, the final battle against Jiren was Goku and Frieza in a once-In-a lifetime teamup working together as a team to take down a common enemy in Jiren which they eventually eliminate along with themselves from the ring. The scene from the anime was so badass, emotionally driven, and epic. I absolutely loved seeing that scene so much because it was definitely one of my favorite moments from The Tournament Of Power Arc in the anime.
Manga: In the manga version, the final battle against Jiren was Goku and Vegeta teaming up again to take down a common enemy in Jiren. Both Saiyans were basically giving it their all and both did a Final Kamehameha has separate beings and while they were doing that Jiren used his sheer power basically ran through the entire blast and emerged from the smoke and then eliminated Vegeta from the ring (just like he did in the anime) and then Goku somehow grabs Jiren from behind while Frieza charges up and unleashes his iconic Death Ball attack eliminating him, Goku, and Jiren In the process. Universe 7 was more strategic in the manga version of The Tournament Of Power than the anime version.
5. Ultra Instinct (Omen) – Anime: I didn’t like how Goku tapped into Ultra Instinct (Omen) the first two times via Spirit Bomb and being knocked out with a kick to the face from Super Saiyan Kefla. But when Jiren has beaten him down so bad to the point of near death, he tapped into Ultra Instinct for a third time, but it was much better than the first two times he did it. The only technique that can even be at Jiren’s level is Mastered Ultra Instinct. The Ultra Instinct is an extremely powerful technique, but it’s unreliable and worthless from the mouth of Vegeta.
Manga: The Ultra Instinct concept from the manga had legitimately pissed me off because not only when Master Roshi used a technique that was very similar to Ultra Instinct where for a moment he was constantly dodging Jiren’s attacks, but even worse, Goku just tapped into it so easily at will and to me, that diminished the significance of obtaining Ultra Instinct because you’re supposed to get beat down so physically and mentally to the point of giving your mind, body, and soul to instinct which is something Vegeta isn’t a fan of at all (he said so himself in the anime and manga)
The Conclusion – In many ways, The Dragon Ball Super anime outshined the manga with the exception being The Future Trunks/Goku Black Arc.
Staff Writer; Kwame Shakir (aka Joe D.)
