Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero or Super Zero?
With Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero hitting western cinema on August 19th, we have our spoiler-free review going over our thoughts on the film, the new 3D animation style, and if anything is waiting after the credits.
Special thanks to Crunchyroll for giving us the chance to bring you this review.
Previously on Dragon Ball Super…
Last time we saw Goku and friends was in 2018s Dragon Ball Super: Broly, featuring Akira Toriyama’s reinterpretation of the classic Dragon Ball movie exclusive villain, Broly.
Following Frieza’s resurrection after the Tournament of Power, the evil emperor begins to bolster the ranks of his army, The Frieza Force.
An epic battle ensues between the fusion of Goku and Vegeta, Gogeta, and Frieza’s newest recruit, Broly, a Saiyan banished from birth for his uncontrollable power.
Once the dust has settled, Broly is offered the chance to train alongside Goku and Vegeta. However, with the Saiyans busy honing their skills, an old threat re-emerges…
Red Ribbon Returns
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero takes place 3 years after the events of Broly. In the years that have passed, Piccolo has begun training Pan, Gohan has started to lose himself in his work (like father, like son) and the Red Ribbon Army has returned, led by the son of Commander Red, Magenta.
With the help of Dr. Gero’s grandson, Dr. Hedo, and his new android creations, Gamma 1 & 2, Magenta plans to exact revenge on Goku and friends for the defeat of the original Red Ribbon Army and Dr. Gero’s deadliest creation, Cell.
When Piccolo gets wind of Magenta’s sinister plot, the Namekian prepares for battle with the new android threat, and with the help of Pan, tricks Gohan to step back from his studies and help save the world.
Our superheroes and supervillains
Goku and Vegeta do pop up in Super Hero but don’t be mistaken, this is very much a Piccolo-centric movie. He is, by all means, the main protagonist of this story. But don’t let that put you off.
Dragon Ball has been very Goku and Vegeta focused over the last few years, so it’s a nice change to have some of the characters who have fallen into the background like Piccolo and Gohan step back into the limelight.
We even have return appearances from long-time Dragon Ball characters Korin, Yajirobe, and Dende, who haven’t felt relevant since Dragon Ball’s renaissance started in 2013 with Battle Of Gods.
Along with returning faces, Super Hero includes some great additions to Dragon Balls’ long list of villains with Dr. Hedo and his Gamma’s. Although not a good guy, Hedo is far from being a villain, only agreeing to help The Red Ribbon Army, due to Magenta’s deceitful tale of Capsule Corp’s evil plan to take over the world, using the Saiyans as their invasion force and promises to fund Hedo’s research.
Dr. Hedo’s Gamma’s are the namesake superheroes of the movie. Created to enact justice and defend the earth. They, like their creator, aren’t the true villains of the tale but prove as challenging foes to our protagonist.
Dragon Ball in 3D (animation)
Toei Animation are no stranger to using 3D animation for Dragon Ball’s theatrical releases, with mixed results. Key fight scenes in previous movies felt jarring when switching from 2D to 3D and took away from how good the 2D animation looked.
So when news broke that the latest film would be entirely 3D animated, fans were a little hesitant. One of Dragon Ball’s best aspects is its 2D animation (not including early Dragon Ball Super) which had hit a new level with Broly.
But after waiting over a year with bated breath, I was pleasantly surprised. Some of the landscapes and background shots early in the film looked a little shabby, but all the characters looked on point throughout and the fight scenes looked outstanding.
Maybe it was because the entire film is 3D animated, but I never felt like the characters looked off-model, only being reminded when the camera moved in a way that wouldn’t be possible with 2D animation. Making every fight scene a spectacle.
Sub or dub
For this review, I watched the film with English dubbing and in Japanese with English subtitles.
As expected, both voice casts bring their A-game. They have been voicing these characters for a couple of decades now after all.
Christopher Sabat and Toshio Furukawa both return as Piccolo as do Kyle Hebert and Masako Nozawa as Gohan, in their respective languages.
The new member of the cast fit straight into their roles, with the Gamma’s even having recognizable Japanese voice actors with Hiroshi Kamiya famous for voicing Levi Ackerman in Attack on Titan Mamoru Miyano known for lending his talents voicing Light Yagami from Death Note.
In the English Dub, Gamma 1 & 2 are voiced by Aleks Le and Zeno Robinson respectively. Both make their character likable and I hope to see both of them return in the future.
So, should you watch the film in sub or dub? Well, that depends on you and your preference. Both casts are at the top of their game and being familiar with both, I wouldn’t pick one over the other. Go with whichever you usually watch and you’ll be sure to be entertained.
Post-credits scene?
So, does Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero live up to its namesake and include anything extra once all the credits are done?
Short answer?
Yes!
Keep yourself sat in that chair till the very end. Long answer? Well… you’ll just have to wait for our spoiler-filled review.
Will you be watching Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero on release? Are you excited to see Piccolo take the spotlight? Let us know on our social media below.
And stay tuned for our spoiler review coming soon.
By Liam Priestley