No.19066[Reply]
I feel like a huge reason people misunderstand Jiren's characterization and subsequently dismiss it as "bland", "boring", and "generic" is that they don't recognize the meticulously-crafted nuances that give him form. This isn't an insult; newcomers--also known as "casuals" to the more uncouth individuals--are unfamiliar with shonen tropes, and only regurgitate what they perceive as ultimate truths as a result of blind hearsay. Again, this is not meant as an insult: ignorance in and of itself is not an imperfection. It is only when that ignorance germinates and blossoms into WILLFUL ignorance that it becomes detrimental to one's continued existence as a worthwhile member of humanity.
Jiren the Gray transcends the quintessential tropes of a shonen character who lost someone important to him/her and seeks to atone and rise above this tragedy. He does not cleave to his deceased master's teachings as if they are gospel merely because he was unable to safe him; he instead crafted his own ideals, virtues, and motivations in the way he saw as most advantageous in regards to accomplishing his ultimate goal: to utterly, WITHOUT FAIL, espouse his master's teachings. Jiren is not beholden to Gicchin's viewpoints or personal, individual ideals: he instead recognizes that his fallen master would want him to walk his own path, regardless of the possible and probable contradicting vectors their respective moral codes could cross.
This, more than anything else, cements Jiren as his own character--indeed, his own man. He pulled himself up by his bootstraps, using his beloved master's demise not as a crutch, but as a singular motivation to reinforce HIS OWN beliefs, HIS OWN ways of life, while at the same time deftly weaving Gicchin's persona into his own mode of existence.
Jiren is more than a character in a legendarily-influential shonen story that will never be surpassed. He is an ideal. A belief. A way of life.
He is the summit.