It's been a while since I went on a proper DBS rant. These last few chapters have been thoroughly "meh" to the point that I didn't have much to say in the way of positives or negatives due to how ho-hum it all felt.
This chapter though. Wow.
*cracks knuckles*
WARNING: IMAGE HEAVY, NO SPOILERS.First, a nitpick:
...As opposed to when it wasn't? Like...all the way back in DBZ? Goku's been fighting universe-busters since Beerus, I mean c'mon Piccolo. Hell, just last arc multiple universes were at stake! Moro is decidedly a step down.
Now, on to the main event:
Goku transforms to UI Sign or Omen or whatever the hell it's being called now and opens up his assault by...punching air at him. He is
PUNCHING. AIR. AT. HIM. UNIVERSEBUSTING >>>>> PLANETBUSTING >>>>>> PUNCHING AIRThe first one doesn't even DO anything to Moro. He's so
confused by this attack he literally just lets several of these air punches hit him before getting irritated by them.
GOKU USED AIR PUNCHES!
ENEMY MORO WAS CONFUSED!
Considering that later in the chapter it's revealed that Goku is trying to end it
as quickly as he possibly can,
WTF IS HE EVEN DOING WITH THE AIR PUNCHES?Now, credit where credit is due, Toyotaro is trying to be a bit creative here. Shake up the DB formula a bit. Problem is that these air punches ironically enough lack the weight to even mean anything. Goku's essentially flailing his arms around and giving him light smacks and nothing else. I honestly have no idea what Goku is trying to accomplish here. I feel like Vegeta spamming his ki blasts that never work would
actually be more effective.
It should also be noted that UIO Goku does in fact use an air punch in the anime, against Kefla specifically. Except there it actually knocked her halfway across the stage and made her crash through a couple of mountains, not just ineffectually do anything.
Eventually Moro gets pissed off at these ineffectual attacks and strikes back. I only bring this up since hilariously enough Frieza just did a similar attack not too long ago in our DBM/DBS/DBZ comparison thread.
And yes, Frieza's looks more impressive.
So Goku and Moro fight for a little bit and then this happens.
Hmmm.
HMMMMMMMM.
What's wrong with this picture? Oh wait, I know. Let's rewind to the last story arc and see what Whis had to say about this...
...
I mean, wow. Technically UI Omen of a Sign of a Living On A Prayer Goku failed to dodge
THREE attacks in a row since Moro first immobilized one hand, then the other, and THEN HIS LEGS. Following that there is a FOURTH attack that he failed to dodge since Moro also directly kicks him!
Four attacks in a row!
"B-but Axalon! He was immobilized! That kick doesn't count! You can't dodge if you're immobilized!"BULLSHIT. 
He's got the goddamn Instant Transmission and he's using Ultra Instinct. Realistically he wouldn't even have to THINK about using Instant Transmission, he would be like Nike and JUST DO IT.
Ultra Instinct combined with any kind of teleportation technique like IT or the Kai's IM would be
insanely broken. Every single defensive action is thoughtless. Goku using this flawed form of UI only means he has to think about how to attack, NOT on how to dodge.
So Goku then
actually dodges some more attacks from Moro.
I will now interrupt this rant with a side rant about Gohan chiming in.
...
So you've gathered the Earth's DBs at Dende's. Okay. "Don't worry about the Earth!" ...What? You're telling a universebuster fighting another universebuster to not worry about the EARTH? The planet that holds the DBs you claim will fix the damage? What if the planet gets destroyed Gohan, what then?! Dende's gonna die too! This is Toyotaro trying to show that no, Goku really is going to go all out and doesn't need an excuse to hold back, but it just feels so nonsensical when he still has to hold back since otherwise he's going to destroy the magic dragon that can fix it all.
A better solution would've been to have Jaco and Piccolo or someone run off into space while Moro and crew are distracted by Goku and Gohan/17/whoever to a safe planet or something with the DBs and coordinate from there should the Earth need to be restored or something.
Anyway:
UI Omen of a Sign of a Living On A Prayer Goku not dodging counter: 5It's even the same kind of attack Moro has used on Goku once already. So even if you try to wheel out the tried and true "Oh well Goku was just caught off guard by Moro's magic that first time" --which let me remind you should be IMPOSSIBLE for him to be off guard when he's using UI--here he just...does it again!
Goku Bon Jovi Counter Level: 6And again!
So it's worth stopping the clock for a moment to bring up the actual counter-strategy I had come up with to counter UI. One that I thought maybe Moro would actually be using (spoiler: he's not). I brought it up a long time ago, either during the anime's or the manga's Tournament of Power, I forget which. It went something like this:
- Let's imagine, for the sake of example, that wayyyyyyy back on Namek we have Krillin, Gohan and Vegeta facing off against 2nd Form Frieza, with his power level of over 1 million. Let's say, in pure desperation as Frieza is about to impale Krillin with his horn, something in Krillin's mind snaps and he unlocks Ultra Instinct. Let's say he even gets a substantial power boost from unlocking UI as well, shooting his PL all the way up to a hefty 500,000 BP.
- Guess what? Frieza is still going to demolish UI Krillin because it doesn't matter how fast Krillin can dodge if Frieza can literally move faster than Krillin is capable of moving or comprehending. I
thought that was what Moro was going to do here, just be
stronger and faster than Goku.
Nope.
And there we have it. Goku is "clearly faster". There is no excuse. But wait, there's more. Right after Piccolo says this, Moro just tries to do the energy absorb thing BUT...
...So he could dodge Moro's energy absorption but not the other attacks?! ...but why.
So Goku kicks Moro around for a little bit before Moro reveals that
THIS ISN'T EVEN HIS FINAL FOR--I mean he isn't even at full power!
...I don't know why this is a surprise to them at this point. Jaco can be somewhat forgiven as he isn't always around, but Piccolo and Gohan? Seriously?
List of opponents
since DBZ who have knowingly concealed their full power level and not revealed it right away:
- Vegeta
- Zarbon
- Ginyu
- Frieza
x4- Cell
- Buu
- Beerus (still hasn't gone 100%)
- Frieza
again- Frost
- Hit
- Goku Black
- Toppo
- Kale
- Jiren
- 7 3
- Probably some other randoms from the ToP who aren't worthy enough to remember
- Probably some other characters too, IDC, tired of writing a list
- Also not even counting the number of times the heroes have done this exact same thing either
Point being, this happens a LOT in DB.
Anyway, Moro then says this as he powers up:
1. I'm assuming most of these planets were lifeless since there quite frankly aren't that many planets with life on them period in U7.
2. Moro doesn't seem to know about Beerus (and likewise Beerus doesn't know about Moro), so the only gods he could be referring to are the Kaioshin...who got surpassed long ago by this point, so random flex but whatever.
3. Apparently these "countless" planets didn't include the planet with Broly on it, or anything to do with Frieza's empire at all. Wow.
So then Moro fires a blast at Goku, who visibly scoffs at this even though UI is supposed to make him super calm and all that, and then Goku chooses to attack the blast and deflect it instead of, y'know, dodging. So he did this once in the anime too against Jiren, but that was with the Mastered version which lets him counterattack immediately. He does not have that here. He then suffers the consequences of his rash decision.
Ultra Bon Jovi Dodge Fail Counter: 7Then Moro sucks Goku's energy out with his energy drain attack and he reverts to his base form.
ZA WARUDO Bon Jovi Goku Instinct Fail Omen Counter: 8Now, it could be argued that with Moro's powerup he is indeed now employing my theoretical counter-strategy to stop UI, but considering Goku straight up calls him out as not being confident that he can beat him when he's at full power, I highly doubt it. The rest of the chapter is essentially Whis reiterating that Sign is a big stamina drain (which to be fair it is, saw that in the ToP), and that surprise, surprise, Goku has even more energy and just...transforms right back into the form again.
So really this entire chapter boils down to them kicking each other around, Moro finally trapping Goku and absorbing his energy, only for Goku to hop back up and say he's got even more energy and immediately transform right back into the big stamina draining form again. Yay.
What this chapter ALSO does is show that Toyotaro...just...really does not understand what UI is supposed to be. Namely in that the core concept is to dodge
everything.
Toyotaro and the word dodge:
And make no mistake--this is not limited to just this chapter either. Let's rewind back to the Manga ToP:
Jiren punches UI Bon Jovi Goku square in the face:
This also isn't limited to just the weaker form either. Even when Goku is using the actual Mastered Ultra Instinct...HE STILL GETS GRABBED AND TOSSED LIKE A RAGDOLL:
That being said, the instances that Jiren actually tags Goku in some way or form are few and far between. Most of the manga fight is Jiren just tanking Goku's attacks while forcing Goku to dodge all of his and expending all of his stamina in doing so, a contest that Jiren ultimately ends up winning between the two.
What this does mean though is that the manga has had the untouchable, auto-dodging mindset/form fail as Goku's been attacked at least 10 times total, 8 of them coming from this very chapter. Essentially, UI has already become just another Super Saiyan form, and it hasn't even actually defeated anyone yet! Jiren
defeated UI Goku in the manga and required everyone else teaming up on him at the end to win!
Side note: Moro not being confident that he can take on Sign Goku at full power whereas Jiren slugged it out with MUI Goku and won means that Moro also pales in comparison to Jiren as well. Even after all those planets he's eaten.
Finally, let's look to see how the anime handled Ultra Instinct:
The only time one could argue UI Goku not dodging in any instance (unless you count Kefla slicing off a hair) is in his final confrontation with Jiren towards the very end where he just blocks all of Jiren's attacks simultaneously to give him an uppercut to the chin. So if were to count that as an actual "hit" (I don't count straight blocks in either the manga or anime personally) it's Anime: 1, Manga: 10, but realistically UI Goku was untouchable every time he appeared. I dunno, feel like Toyotaro's really just watering down the form on this one.
