Dragon Ball Super’s Jiren is infamous as one of the strongest foes that Goku has ever faced. He was silent and dangerous, making his character an enigma for most of the Tournament of Power.
Originally, however, Jiren’s characterization was radically different. When Akira Toriyama sent over his draft of the storyline forthe Tournament of Power, he didn’t include any information on Jiren’s backstory or character, forcing the writers of the anime to begin designing their own personality for Jiren.
Jiren’s Personality Was Originally Closer to Top’s
Jiren Was Originally a “Hero of Justice”-type Character
In an interview with producer Satoru Takami and series director Ryota Nakamura,as translated by fan site Kanzenshuu, Takami described the creation of Jiren like so:
In[Toriyama]’s initial rough draft, there was no information indicating Jiren’s personality. Since the tough opponents inDragon Ball Superup until then had been nihilistic, cool characters like Hit or Zamasu, we thought it might be best to make Jiren very talkative, so we came up with the background of him being a hero of justice. Jiren was central to this squadron of heroes.
Director Nakamura agreed, continuing on:
When we suggested that to Toriyama-sensei, he replied that “Jiren is a character who doesn’t speak.” It was then that Toriyama-senseisent us the backstory that his parents and martial arts master had been killed. He said that Jiren was this type of character, in contrast to Hit or Zamasu.
The two later stated that the characterization that they had originally given to Jiren was ultimately passed on to Top, who had also been designed early on, but was without a clear personality. And that’s how one ofDragon Ball’s quietest enemies ever was nearly one of the most talkative.
What Would Super Have Been Like With the Original Jiren?
Jiren’s Original Characterization Would’ve Radically Altered The Arc
Jiren’s first draft characterization was so radically different that it would’ve necessitated massive changes to the arc. Jiren couldn’t very well be spouting off about justice and constantly talking to his opponent if he merely sat down and was inactive for most of the match, the way Jiren does in the final version.
One can then expect that Jiren would’ve been a far more aggressive attacker with this original characterization, probably driving him to fight Goku several times before the number of contestants had dwindled. Jiren would also likely be responsible for far more KOs than he was in the final version.
On the other hand, Jiren’s more tragic characterization that Toriyama provided did make him a little more interesting, in a sense.Dragon Balldoesn’t often do tragic villains; even characters that defect to Goku’s team, like Piccolo, had pretty clear-cut villainous pasts.
Since Top inherited the characterization originally meant for Jiren, fans didn’t actually miss out too much on what could’ve been. Top’s Hero of Justice bit was definitely more interesting when combined with beingthe future God of Destruction, so perhaps the final draft ofDragon Ball Super’s ultimate arc was the best after all.
