Jiren is overrated

Jiren reminds me of Gast.
The quiet big [green/purple] fighter turns out to be a total badass. He "one shots" the threat Son Goku was struggling with.

Jiren is just still in man-of-mystery mode.

Hit was pretty much the exact same way until he actually started getting serious. In fact, Hit is a good gauge to use in judging how dangerous an opponent is:

- With Vegeta he only ever took his hands out of his pockets to punch him.

- With Goku he eventually took his hands out of his pockets and began truly fighting him.

- With Narirama he's back to only removing his hands from his pockets to punch/flick him with his finger.

- With Jiren the fight hadn't even started and Hit's already ready to throw down.

Off-topic, but dude would have ALL the hype if his voice sounds anything like this in the Dub. 

I think that on a surface level he can come off a bit bland and uninspired. However, after recently studying him, I must say that I'm quite impressed out of what I'm seeing from Jiren thus far. To say he has "no personality at all" (not talking to anyone here; just speaking in general) is a bit of an exaggeration. I think Jiren's most defining characteristic is simply his strength. 

He clearly enjoys being strong and showing off said strength, but at the same time, unlike past antagonists, he's doesn't go overboard. I suppose a good example of this would be when he allows Goku to power up his Spirit Bomb, even though he could've just finished the fight at any time, not because he's stupid or arrogant but because he wants to defeat his opponent at full power. You could argue he outright humiliates Goku, but unlike Frieza or Piccolo, it never falls into anything sadistic. He is a man- er, alien of justice after all. Even when Goku begins to reach his level, he doesn't panic or get worried or even gloat about how weak Goku is compared to him. Instead, he stays composed and defeats him -- displaying the utmost confidence in his abilities and enlightenment as a fighter. 

In some regards you could boil him down to being Goku. Not particularly the Goku we know, but rather a "version" of Goku that has reached his goal. A Goku who improved so much that there's nothing that can stand against him and has seen it and faced it all. Jiren isn't just a threat that he overcome this time through fighting, but also a mental wall for Goku, who must find himself through this fight. To also add: his sense of justice seems to be much more reserved and rather condescending than his fellow pride troopers such as when he considered Hit's pride "rubbish" being an Assassin and all. Which, in some regards... is he wrong? What pride should an Assassin really have? I'm telling you guys this character literally had me ponder that after the episode.   

Finally there's still an air of mystery to him if that makes sense. What's his use for the SDB's, for example? He's so much more layered than what I feel others give him credit for and there's only probably so much more we have left to explore of his character. I'm not really one who feels the need to "enlighten" others, but I hope my post perhaps clears up some things about Jiren the Gray.       





       





   
         

Most Villains / Antagonists in Dragonball were the strongest opponents in each arc. And mostly they followed their own path, visions, etc.
But Jiren on the other hand, he follows orders. And I have to give DBS the respect due to Jiren not being an alpha-male monster who wants to destroy our heros, because he is evil and nothing more (looking at you Piccolo Daimao, Movie Villains, Freezer, Buu). Pride Troopers, you read it. He's a soldier.

If I remember correctly, only Tenshinhan and Tao Pai Pai were similar to Jiren. Both are kinda following orders. And both were the strongest opponents in each arc.
Tao Pai Pai is a mercenary, he fights Goku for money. Commander Red is kinda his boss as long he pays.
Tenshinhan is a pupil under Master Shen. He has to beat Goku to disgrace the Turtle school.




So, about Jiren I'm positive he can be interesting. Unfortunately, DBS took way too long to give him some actual screentime and overhyped him way too much. And almost no background story.

I honestly think it's still too early to judge.

We've gotten some amazing demonstrations of his strength, but quite frankly Jiren is bored. I'll wait until he actually gets fired up by Goku unlocking Ultra Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Instinct Blue 2.5 to see just how fully fleshed out he is as a character. Hit was similar at the time. He had his time skips, Jiren has his overwhelming strength, but as the fight progressed more of Hit's character got revealed, at least enough to show a glimpse beyond the resting stoic assassin face he has. Jiren still hasn't had that yet, because quite frankly no one's been able to push him that far.

Nothing beats the fail!hype that was Golden Frieza though.

This is why I see parallels between the two though. I'm not saying Jiren's going to be identical to Hit, simply that the two situations themselves have parallels, even if the characters are different. I think judging Jiren as a character now is no different from judging Hit based on just his fight with Vegeta and nothing else. So all that character development just hasn't happened yet for Hit.



If Goku hadn't actually pushed Hit to do something he would've just been the latest in a long line of people who were easily dispatched via Time Skips, no different from how Vegeta failed to do anything noteworthy to get Hit to open up as a character. Had Goku not been up to the task, we never would've gotten Hit's character development. He would've just walked away victorious, hands in his pockets and not said a word. Then he'd be wordlessly flying around in Vados's cube I'd presume and people would be complaining about how Hit is overrated and a dull character because he's so powerful and barely talks.

Goku was able to outpower Hit's own abilities, thus awakening Hit's instincts as a fighter and drive to push himself forward. Goku has so far failed to do this with Jiren, because quite frankly he just isn't up to the task yet even with Ultra Instinct because Jiren is an absolute monster who barely powered up even after Goku unlocked a new form. Maybe Jiren will react similar to Hit, or maybe he'll react like Frieza first reacted to being overpowered back on Namek and just lose his composure, or maybe he'll just curl up into a ball and cry for all I know. Until Goku can break through his composure and reveal the true Jiren we're going to get this stoic warrior persona. 

Or maybe that's all he is, just a stoic warrior. We'll have to wait and see is all I'm saying. 

Jiren has had more hype yes, but that's also DB power creep at work. The next obstacle in shonen is always going to be stronger than the previous one. The stakes are also higher in this story arc than they were when Hit was the greatest obstacle at the time: Swapping out Earths vs. Destroying several universes. That urgency could also give Jiren a boost when Hit's big story arc ended up being a fairly harmless tournament. At the time though Hit was also fairly hyped up. Not as much as Jiren, but he had a lot going for him.

- Hit was the "final boss" for U6. He was presented as the anchor of the team, literally the strongest person in his entire universe. Champa counted on Hit to win everything for him.
- He was U6's man of mystery. He mostly sat on the bench and just watched things when he could even be bothered to take notice.
- He barely talked.
- He had a strange ability that no one had figured out yet.
- He dispatched Frost effortlessly.
- He made SSB Vegeta look like a bumbling idiot (as is DB tradition sadly).

Compare this to Jiren:

- Jiren is the "final boss" of U11. He's presented as the strongest person in his entire universe, perhaps even stronger than Belmod. Belmod is counting on Jiren to win everything for him.
- Jiren is U11's man of mystery. He mostly stands there and scowls when he isn't meditating.
- He barely talks.
- He has an unholy amount of strength.
- He dispatched Broly Kale effortlessly.
- He made SSBKKx20 Goku look like a rank amateur, then barely powered up against UI Goku.

I dunno. Maybe I just expect so little from DBS then I don't see much difference between these two, character-wise, as of yet. It's really all the same formula so far, which is why I'm hoping we see more Jiren character development later on down the road since if they are indeed following the Hit formula, that's what we're going to get. I'm sure DBS will give me a wonderful anti-climax ending like it's done with every arc so far though.

I think your accelerated pacing was a bit helpful for Hit actually. Or any of DBS if I'm being completely honest. I think I wouldn't mind the ToP as much if I could just binge through the entire thing instead of slowly waiting. DBM I find is a similar situation. It's much easier to start NOW and have plenty of material to read than we who are caught up and waiting ever so slowly for a single page to get uploaded every few days.

I think there's a few ways to go for Jiren, assuming they go the cliche DB route:



1) They follow the Hit formula completely. Jiren warms up and is a pretty cool guy who fights aliens and doesn't afraid of anything. He eventually becomes fodder for the next super powerful character to show off how strong that person is.

2) They make him absolute evil. Have him be like Cell where he can't comprehend that Goku has surpassed him and make him go berserk. Have him knock Toppo or Dyspo out of the ring in anger or something. Justice is a lie. So Frost, basically.

3) He stays exactly the same. He accepts his loss to Goku with quiet dignity, but doesn't warm up like Hit does. Doesn't change at all. The most boring route. I'd agree with this thread if this is all they do.

I'm sure there are a couple more ways they could go but those are just off the top of my head. They aren't the greatest ways to go, but then again DBS isn't exactly the cream of the crop.