The thing with the Boo arc—more specifically—is that it’s simultaneously Toriyama at his loosest and most burnt out—which he’s earned over the course of nine idiosyncratic and tightly delivered arcs, such that a level of seam-showing can be a pleasure rather than distraction...

*and* an effective ending with some of the best character beats in the series.

I feel like people miss the context on the former a lot when trying to critique it, despite context like that being essential for critique. You don’t read the Boo arc blind—you read it after spending nine precious arcs with Toriyama/the series.

That’s why I can say things like “Torishima was almost never wrong,” while knowing he would never have approved half the Boo arc—my favorite in the series—and see no contradiction. Those tight Torishima-edited arcs are exactly what pave the way for something like Boo working.

Its other highlights—like the series finally finding a way for both its humor and moments of serious tension/horror to feed into one another—are just icing.

*previous arcs, not "precious arcs." Though I suppose that gets more at the idea of the Boo arc coming at a point in which both series and author (who really shows through in it) have been familiarized and endeared to the reader. I'll let it stand. A serendipitous autocorrect.