(Hated)changing somenthing to be more "progressive" ends up being a bad thing

[u/Morr4Seiya]

Now to be clear,i am not one of these "anti-woke" losers that complain some people exist,and i am also not the type to complain about changing somenthing in a new version or adaptation,however there are cases where it did ended up being a bad idea.

-In the anime of Cowboy Bebop there is the character Gren,despite being short lived the character is very memorable specially thanks to his tragic story.Basically his story was that he was a soldier from the titan war who was a great friend with Vicious(the main bad guy)after the war he was emprisioned thanks to Vicious who testified against him and he was forced to take a experimental drug that caused him hormonal problems,giving him a feminine appearence and even breasts.

In the Netflix live action,for some reasons they decided Gren was going to be non-binary,which wouldn't be a problem(some people believe he was gay in the anime)if it wasn't for the fact that they also removed all the nuances and complexities that made the character memorable and interesting,instead of a tragic war veteran that was betrayed and had his body changed against his will,Gren is just kinda there.

-The original Rugrats cartoon had the couple Betty and Howard,Betty was a big and masculine woman while Howard was a smaller and nervous man,it was a genuine interesting relationship that stood out from the other couples who were the standard straight couple.

In the new series however they replaced Howard with a woman named Trish,two things,first off why?What was the problem with having a woman being the stronger in a straight relationship?Second why does Hollywood seem to think that every tomboy or masculine woman is a lesbian?

Overall not the worst thing but it is jarring that they had a gender reverse roled that was progressive and decided that wasn't enough.

-Oh man,this one pisses me off the most so i am gonna have to break it down

So back in the late 80s and 90s there was this anime called Saint Seiya also knows as Knights of the zodiac,it tells the story of knights who fight for the Goddess Athena to protect earth,being divided in the golden,silver and bronze knights,the anime was a huge hit in latin america and Europe and while it floped in the US it still has a loyal fanbase.

Being a fan myself i can't recommend it enough,now granted the story does have a fair share of flaws,and that's because the author was honestly just making stuff up as he went along(also a lot of side characters are poorly used or even forgotten about)still it is a great story you should check out

But then a couple of years back Netflix got the rights and decided to a 3D reboot,in this reboot they decided to make the story more "american" to try to bring more american viewers,now i could go on and on a big rant about how that was a bad idea and the execution was so terrible that it made me want to strangle someone but this post is about one specific change.

So Saint Seiya has five main characters,those are Pegasus Seiya,Dragon Shiryu,Cygnus Hyoga,Phoenix Ikki and finally Andromeda Shun.

While the other four characters were the standard masculine and brute male characters who were always ready to throw punches,Shun was smaller,more sensitive and even feminine looking,a pacifist who didn't liked fighting,but don't mistake that for weakness because Shun was loyal to his friends and was extremely powerful.

Then Netflix decided to change Shun into a girl named Shaun.

So wait,you have a male character who goes against every male stereotype and you turn him into just another generic female character?

When asked about it,the showrunner Eugene Son said he made that change because there was no girl in the group and having a all boys group wouldn't be acceptable nowadays

First off that's not true because Athena was also part of the main cast,yeah she wasn't the fighting type but she still helped quite a lot in the story even saving the knights on several occasions,second if you wanted to add a girl to the main group why not use Marin or Shaina?Hell,if you were going to change the story anyway why not turn Seiya sister into a knight?

Thankfully this monstrosity was cancelled(so much for trying to bring more fans)

[u/JustSomeM0nkE]

Basically this

[u/Downtown8Cat → u/JustSomeM0nkE]

Reminds me of Naruto

[u/wakito64 → u/Downtown8Cat]

Or One Piece. Or Bleach. Or Dragon Ball. Really most mainstream battle shonen have the hero be secretly the heir/reincarnation/wielder of the strongest ever in their verse

[u/Interesting_Food_920 → u/wakito64]

Not Dragon Ball Goku's A Normal Saiyan

[u/nagrom7 → u/Interesting_Food_920]

Not just a Normal Saiyan, a "low class" Sayian. Nappa was more of a "normal" Sayian, and Vegeta was literally the heir to the throne (technically he should be King, but he's never claimed the title given there's only a handful of Sayians left, still calling himself a "prince" instead). The whole thing of Dragonball Z is Goku not being some kind of special chosen one born super strong, and through hard work, overcoming those who are, like Vegeta or Frieza.

[u/jiango_fett → u/nagrom7]

You know his bloodline isn't important because they never talk about Raditz again lol

[u/poop_snausages → u/nagrom7]

I kinda get what you're saying but this like saying "Hercules isn't a even a full fledged god, he's just a demigod!"

Like yeah, maybe Goku isn't the most special Saiyan but there's like an entire 153 episode anime where Goku is proving that he's the greatest warrior on earth and it turns out it's because he's got super special alien blood.

[u/no_one_important322 → u/poop_snausages]

But that alien bloodline didn't matter for most of OG DB. Goku was never trying to prove he was the strongest human he just liked fighting and wanting to get stronger. The entire reason Roshi joined the tournament as Jackie Chun was to beat Goku and Krillin so that they would believe there were still people stronger than them.

And it's not like Goku being a Saiyan changed his journey in OG DB. If you turned Goku into a human, outside of Pilaf arc, none of the other stories change

[u/EmXena → u/Interesting_Food_920]

He really is. Goku just happened to be the Saiyan that approached training differently and lived a life of being good. Growing up as a Human is the only difference Goku had as a Saiyan versus the rest of his race.

Unless the commenter meant that him being a Saiyan to begin with was what made him "Special," but we already knew he came from not-Earth. Not sure why it's such a surprise, or a bad thing.

[u/Interesting_Food_920 → u/EmXena]

In Fact He Was Below Average

[u/The-Green → u/EmXena]

he wasn't born special, he became special thanks to his good nature and resolve. he kept developing and growing in a way that he beat Broly, the latest actual "legendary super saiyan," to the punch of becoming the first super saiyan in a thousand years. all because his true power is giving a shit about others and wanting to always become stronger than any threat to his friends and home planet.

Goku isn't special so much as he is a complete anomaly.

it's also rather telling that Broly is also a nice person at heart too

[u/EmXena → u/The-Green]

I know. Which is why I was saying he wasn't born special at all.

[u/The-Green → u/EmXena]

yeah, that's, kinda why i was agreeing with you and expanding on your point lol

[u/EmXena → u/The-Green]

My apologies. I am rushing around at work and misinterpreted your comment.

[u/SmoothDiscussion7763 → u/EmXena]

I am rushing around at work

the only true way to reddit

[u/EmXena → u/SmoothDiscussion7763]

Hey, those frequent two minutes I get every so often is prime reddit time.

[u/the_ghost_of_bob_ros → u/EmXena]

Yep in OG dragon ball he was still a monkey tailed freak child, and even then he was still getting beat by more experienced fighters like Jackie Chun and Tien.

[u/wakito64 → u/Interesting_Food_920]

He is still a Super Saiyan and the first in a thousand years because his body has an unnaturally high amount of S-cells thanks to his gentle nature (yeah I know that's dumb but Toriyama said it).

Gohan also got an entire "chosen one" arc until Toriyama changed his mind and brought back Goku for the final fight against Buu.

[u/Interesting_Food_920 → u/wakito64]

Except They Don't Portray It Like That Goku's Naturally Ungifted If It Was The S-Cells Then He Would Have gone Super Way Earlier

[u/uwubonic → u/Interesting_Food_920]

ok, but why didnt you capitalize the word gone?

[u/MarchRoyce → u/Interesting_Food_920]

Him being a Saiyan at all is the special boy part.