Dragon Ball Super: did Goku master Ultra Instinct too soon?

Characters getting stronger as the series goes on is something we have to accept in Dragon Ball. It has been part of the franchise from the very beginning. But with Dragon Ball Super, I feel like they may have gone a bit too far in a few places, and maybe went a bit too fast. My main concern is simple: "I really do feel like Goku mastered Ultra Instinct way too soon." I see this most in the Moro arc, also known as the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc.

Why Goku getting stronger has always been part of Dragon Ball

A big reason this franchise is so popular worldwide is that it tells the story of characters overcoming obstacles and breaking their limitations. That's something we can all relate to as people. I would assume most of us aren't intergalactic warriors, but we still go through challenges in life that we have to overcome.

We can relate to Goku getting stronger because we want to become stronger too. We can see ourselves in him and live vicariously through Goku and the other characters. My problem is the pace and the scale of it in Super, and what that has done to the rest of the cast.

Ultra Instinct was hyped as the most powerful form Goku could achieve

Around 2017, Dragon Ball Super was hyping up a big one hour special that would reveal Goku's new limit breaking form. We later found out it was called Migatte no Gokui, the mastery of self movement, also known as Ultra Instinct. Throughout that arc, Goku tapped into what would later be known as Ultra Instinct Omen until he finally achieved the silver haired, completed version.

We soon found out from Goku himself that he didn't even know how he got into that power. When the story moved on to Dragon Ball Super: Broly and then the Moro arc, Goku still didn't know how to willfully tap into the silver haired form, or even Omen. As a lifelong fan of Dragon Ball, this excited me.

Ultra Instinct was hyped as the most powerful form Goku could ever achieve, and it took inspiration from many of the teachings of Bruce Lee. As a fan of Bruce Lee, and as a fan of Toriyama's love for Bruce Lee, that was exciting too. What really got me going, though, was the idea of Ultra Instinct as a ghost that Goku is chasing, a goal he keeps reaching for as the newer story arcs unfold.

Goku needed a new goal after everything he had been through

I like the idea of Goku having a new power goal to reach in Super, because he has been through pretty much everything. He has died twice. He has a family. He's a grandfather. There isn't much left story wise for him to do. When you think about it, the story of Goku's life ended with the original Dragon Ball manga. Z, GT and Super are add-ons, newer stuff.

I'm not comparing the two. I'm happy it's back, and I'm glad Goku is back in the action. At the same time, I wondered what goal Goku could possibly want. Then came Super Saiyan God and Beerus. The goal was to eventually defeat Beerus, or at least surpass him in power. At the time, we still hadn't seen that rematch, and the discussion around Goku surpassing him in power has been quite controversial.

Nevertheless, Dragon Ball Super showed Goku chasing that power. He mastered Super Saiyan God, then reached Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan, also called Super Saiyan Blue. He kept getting more powerful until he finally discovered Ultra Instinct.

The Moro arc let Goku use silver haired Ultra Instinct at will

I was under the assumption that chasing Ultra Instinct would take up multiple arcs. I thought Goku wouldn't be able to master this power right away, and that it could take possibly three, four or five arcs before he could really control the silver haired form.

I liked the idea of him chasing that form down and not quite being able to get it, slowly learning to hold on to it for longer periods while still not being able to trigger it at will until much later in the series. Instead, by the end of the very next arc after Jiren and Broly, he already had it down. By the end of the Moro arc, Goku proves multiple times that he can tap into Ultra Instinct at will, with the silver hair.

Because of that, is there even a need for Goku to use Super Saiyan Blue or Ultra Instinct Omen? I don't see the point if he can use Ultra Instinct at will. Goku loves to test out his opponents, though, so I was sure we would see those forms before he unleashed Ultra Instinct.

Mastered Ultra Instinct leaves Gohan, Piccolo and Vegeta behind

The issue I have is that going forward, the enemies Goku has to face will be on such a level that it wouldn't make sense for anybody else to compete with them in combat. That goes for Gohan and Piccolo, and in some cases even Vegeta. The power of Mastered Ultra Instinct is so far above everything else in the franchise that their involvement would seem like a moot point.

That leaves two options. They will either have to figure out a way to take Goku out of the action, as they did multiple times in Dragon Ball Z, or they will have to give him another transformation that sits higher than Ultra Instinct. I don't want the second option, because I think I'm suffering from major transformation fatigue in Dragon Ball Super. In my opinion, they put in too many forms, way too fast. Because of how incredible Ultra Instinct is, "it should be his final form."

Dragon Ball Super chapter 68 introduced tiers of Ultra Instinct

With chapter 68 of the manga, we found out that there are now different tiers to Ultra Instinct. Every character who uses it does so at a different level, specifically the angels, who have Ultra Instinct turned on at all times. That's the mastered version, not Omen. The idea is that although Goku has supposedly mastered Ultra Instinct, he hasn't truly mastered it.

To me, this comes off as a major contrivance. The angels having Ultra Instinct all the time isn't the contrived part, because I had suspected that for quite some time. It's the idea that Goku, even though he mastered it, hasn't truly mastered it, and now there are higher tiers for him to achieve. I'm not a huge fan of that. To be fair, I think it's a better idea than giving him another different looking transformation. Then again, perhaps a mortal reaching that level will get a different looking transformation compared to an angel. I can't predict the future.

It seems like this came out of nowhere, with no real buildup and no foreshadowing. It also shows the ever increasing power creep in Dragon Ball Super and the ever increasing distance between Goku and everybody else.

Vegeta's own techniques point to a better path for Goku

I think what they were doing with Vegeta, having him develop his own techniques and learn to do things his own way, is a step in the right direction. I'd rather Goku learn different techniques than new transformations. I think the drama isn't as unique or as creative if they keep up this higher and higher escalation. I want Goku to go back to being a smarter fighter, not one who gets new forms whenever the plot wants him to.

I'm not opposed to Goku training with Whis to learn higher levels of Ultra Instinct. My point is that it came out of nowhere, and it shows that Goku has gotten so powerful that the villains he faces are reaching the point of being ridiculous. If Goku and Beerus's punches were cracking the multiverse back in the Battle of Gods era, what could Goku do now?

Goku being too powerful takes away dramatic tension

Dragon Ball fans keep asking for Piccolo, Gohan and the other Z Fighters to be made relevant again. But how could they be relevant when the power gap between Goku and everybody else is so wide? We're going to see Gohan and Krillin fighting the henchmen for the rest of the series. If Goku's next goal is to surpass the angels, what happens when he gets there? Where does the story go from there?

You don't want a superhero or a protagonist to be too powerful, because it takes away from dramatic tension. There was far more drama in the original Dragon Ball and in Dragon Ball Z than in Super, for two reasons. First, we didn't know what was going to happen, because we weren't stuck inside a 10 year time skip. Second, things felt like they had more of an impact.

The more you ground a story, the more relatable it is to its audience. We here on Earth don't have Ultra Instinct, but we can relate to having our ribs broken, having a limb injured or being bloodied up. Some of us have experienced that in our lives.

How Toyotaro could bring Goku back down

At this point, I do believe Goku is a bit too overpowered. I hope that going forward, Toyotaro figures out a way to lower his power a bit, maybe through some kind of god intervention. I've seen some fans theorize about this and hope it happens. Another option is finding a way to take him out of the action, or giving Ultra Instinct some kind of flaw that Goku has to patch up.

The ultimate goal should be Goku's self improvement, and I do think that's a decent way to keep Dragon Ball going. But to me, it's a bit too much too soon, and I really did hope they would take their time with it more.