Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero: A Reintroduction To An Iconic Franchise

When it comes to anime that was well-received by American audiences, Dragon Ball should almost certainly top the list. It resonated with audiences from its debut as part of the Toonami block on Cartoon Network, and continues to resonate to this day through its legacy of fighting games, movies, continuing series, and ongoing manga run. Despite all of this, the franchise feels fairly niche to this day, however the latest movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero serves as a strong jumping on point for people who may have fallen off from the franchise.

Theatrically (excluding the show which ended after the “Tournament of Power” arc, and the manga which continued past that point by two storylines) the last time we saw Goku, he was facing off against Broly again (though this is the first time in canon) in a loose remake of the 1993 movie Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan. This movie picks up shortly after that, however this time Goku and Vegeta take a back seat in favor of other cast members like Gohan and Piccolo who must stop the revived Red Ribbon Army from taking over the world with new superhero themed androids and a new version of Cell.

For starters, there is a slight barrier to entry for newcomers to this movie. The previous entry Dragon Ball Super: Broly, spends an almost Zack Snyder-esque amount of time retelling the origin story for Goku where his father sent him to Earth to spare him from death as his home world is destroyed. There is no confusion when it comes to who Broly is, what his past ties to Goku are, and why the fight is happening. There is very little explanation for the Red Ribbon Army and what is given is superficial at best. It is especially glaring when it comes down to just how much of the story is contingent on a cursory understanding of a television show originally aired in the United States 22 years ago.

The other issue with movies in this franchise is that they tend to try and follow the general formula that an entire arc will follow, just instead of doing it over more than 30 episodes, it is crammed into two hours. Almost universally this results in a boring first half of the movie, almost entirely used to exposit why the punching in the second half is going to happen, and a second half that is basically just a long fight scene that will usually culminate in a character unlocking at least one new form or new energy-based attack that they use to dispatch the enemy. Over the course of an entire season of television, this works to better effect, however when squished into two hours, it just makes the third act feel like it is running through the motions.

All of that said, the animation is still top notch and is worth watching this movie for alone. Seeing this movie in a premium format screen is also worth the price of admission because Dragon Ball and the seemingly endless sequels usually net interesting character designs. On the other hand, if the previous paragraphs sound like nonsense, this film certainly will not do anything to convince a viewer of otherwise. As a first film that felt designed for a theatrical release for a western audience, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero manages to achieve what it sets out to do.

Final Rating: 7.5/10