I do not like Dragonball Super. I agree with all of the criticisms against it and all of the character assassinations present. Sadly it is a stain on something I love. But if you take one thing away from this please let it be this: Battle of Gods is not Dragonball super it does not suffer the issue of misunderstanding its source it does not deserve the hate its given. Battle of gods is brilliant. I mean it Battle of gods is beautiful. First keep in mind the period it was being released. We had gone so so long without NEW Dragonball stuff. After all this time its back. Dragonball our childhoods our inspiration and dreams its back. The man who could do anything who rest assured his wife and audience everything would be ok was back. That same Goku does not last too long. Beerus shows up and molly whops him. The impossible happens Goku loses and is embarrassed. Immediately the goal is clear as day as always in dragonball: beat the big bad beat Beerus the man on the hunt for a Super Saiyan god. It doesnt waste much time setting up who Beerus is hes divinity and he is merciless and hes coming to earth to take our childhoods away. I adore Vegeta here. Hes still a bit of an egotist as he always will be but hes a family man and a defender of earth first and foremost. Hes fine with doing a dumb dance and eating Takoyaki and putting on a show so long as it protects his home. A lot of DBS regresses the purity of DBZ Vegeta but I personally thought he ruled here fighting a man he knows he has a guarantee of losing to purely to protect his loved ones. No cares for surpassing Kakarot or being number one just to keep the ones he fought for vs kid Buu safe. Vegeta at his purest after Z. And he loses as Vegeta tends to do lol. Showing first and foremost a new conflict: the old Ki wont work here we cant win with emotion and force we must ascend we must go higher. Its brilliant in setting up the soon faulty DBS power scaling and it sets a distinct tone for the movie and a distinct goal for Goku: ascend and save the world. And that he does as he comes to earth last second to save the day as he always would. Through Shenron and through Videls child showing how far Saiyans have come due to earth and just how important these bonds really are he achieves it. Anti climatic dont you think? Intentionally so and Goku makes full point of such pointing out how hes not happy with his form as he does not feel he earned such. Intentionally anti climatic giving the audience the same feeling of dissatisfaction as Goku and hinting towards the climax by leaving a gap in our expectations purposefully. Its genius. They do battle Goku stands his own but never fully grasps Beerus. As hard as he fights he never fully feels Beerus out. This isnt Goku fighting Beerus this is super Saiyan god doing battle. This is not the way Goku fights hes built HIMSELF to be so strong this is not how he wants to win. And thus its not how he wins. Channeling super Saiyan god into super Saiyan the form he worked on and perfected with his son he fights Beerus as son Goku going all out as the warrior raised on earth not the warrior gifted a new form. He loses. Despite going all out despite fighting as Goku he loses. Thus Beerus explains the universe. or well universes. There are 12 total and within just this one is Beerus and Whis two people so much stronger than him. As Gokus mentor Roshi did his best to instill one moral into his student: there is always someone stronger than you. And it comes full circle here. Now not only are there two impossible to scale people but potentially billions across MULTIPLE UNIVERSES. As an ending to Dragonball this would genuinely be the best there is leaving such ambiguous and leaving Goku to train on this new level in a sense that satisfies him sending him on a now infinite quest to be the strongest. I believe dbs ruins such by exploring said universes but i digress. There is no better example of Goku as a character than Battle of Gods dont misread this as this is the best Goku. Comforting backed against the wall trying to the end. It is Goku at his purest bringing out all of his best qualities and displaying just how special he really is. Dragonball really was back Super Saiyans were back Ki blasts were back GOKU. was back. That alone is beautiful to me.