Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Review

Super-Fun Super-Heroes!

Can we all agree that adding that second "Super" was a terrible idea? It was a perfect pun to just call it "Dragon Ball Super: Hero", but here we are from the same people that gave us Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan. Luckily, that's probably the biggest issue I had with this film because damn it's a lot of fun!

Note: Full SPOILERS ahead. 

So in today's newest film, written by Akira Toriyama himself and directed by Tetsuro Kodama, Goku and Vegeta take a backseat as Piccolo comes across a surprise conspiracy to bring back the Red Ribbon Army through the use of androids created by Dr Gero's grandson, Dr Hedo. Without the usual characters to carry the responsibility, Piccolo must convince Gohan to return to his former strength and help him take down Dr Gedo, the new Red Ribbon army, Commander Red's son Magenta, and the new superhero-themed androids Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. Also, Beerus meets Broly, Cheelai and Lemo! Hooray!

I was watching the dubbed version, and I can honestly say this cast is still one of the best in anime. Christopher Sabat as Piccolo, Monica Rial as Bulma and newcomer Zeno Robinson as Gamma 2 were my personal highlights, but there's not a bad performance amongst them, and the amount of actors returning is surprising. They even got Robert McCollum to return as the teenage Goten, last seen in 2003. And Johnny Yong Bosch is our new Broly, and does a fantastic job as expected. Can't wait to hear him as Ichigo again.

The personality, the attitude, the colour blue... if this wasn't an anime, Gamma 2 would absolutely have been played by Ben Schwartz. 100%, no question.

I love these new characters too. Dr Hedo, Magenta and Carmine seem to be uninteresting on first view, but then Carmine reveals his YouTube channel which he has put a lot of work and self-congratulating into but only has ten views per video, and you realise that Toriyama still hasn't lost his comedic touch. Toriyama is the kind of writer I can get behind, someone who adds a little detail to something mundane, turning it into a great laugh. For example, Piccolo finally gets a house and a phone but Toriyama being Toriyama, the house is full of plushies because Videl mistakenly thinks he loves them, and the phone has a cat theme and ringtone. Hysterical.

Purple gi with glasses is Gohan's best look. That is not debatable.

The best new characters are definitely the Gammas however, with their posing and different personalities working together well. Much like Beerus, Whis, Jiren and the new rebooted Broly, the Gammas definitely feel like a new but natural addition to the Dragon Ball cast and ones I would love to see more of in the future. Dr Gedo is alright too.

But what you really want me to talk about is the animation, which has gone for a surprising 3D style instead of the gorgeous animation displayed in the previous movie, or even the first two and the Dragon Ball Super series. And... it's okay. There are some scenes where it feels like a really bad decision, usually when a character is just talking to someone else and there's no action sequences going on, but then you get absolutely gorgeous scenes like the climax that make you realise why they went for the style they did. It's a million times better than the CGI moments in Resurrection F, at least, but this film didn't manage to convince me that it's the better option than what Super: Broly gave us.

I probably laughed way too hard at all of Piccolo's interactions when he wore this outfit, but I also don't regret doing it so...

I should probably talk about the final enemy of the climax as well, Cell Max. In essence, he's a brand new copy and successor to the original Perfect Cell, a giant kaiju of amazing strength based mostly on Cell's Semi-Perfect form, and he's a little disappointing honestly. The design is very colourful, probably to fit the theme of superheroes like the Gammas do, but there's no personality or reason for him to be Cell. I'm sure it's mostly just for fanservice and because Gohan's final rivalry with Perfect Cell was the top of his entire career, but you could have easily made this Hirudegarn or something else new and nothing would have changed except the visual. The climax is amazing, with huge blasts, an utterly gorgeous transformation and some lovely character development, but Cell Max is just a big hulking monster to defeat and nothing more.

While I'm on the nitpicking train, why does this series hate Videl so much? Between the brutality of Spopovich, the pointlessness of her in films like Broly: Second Coming, and her utter lameness as a character ever since she got pregnant, Videl really does get screwed over more than probably any other character, which sucks. Videl's daughter Pan is finally grown up now, and kicking major ass, and has the most wholesome moments in the show with her father Gohan and her teacher/grandpa Piccolo, but Videl, the kid's mother, is not present for the entire situation. She can use ki, she can fly, she deserves something good too!

Pilaf, Frieza, Buu, Ginyu, Red Ribbon Army, Androids, Broly and now Cell... I hope the next returning villain is Cooler or Janemba. Or everyone's favourite, Yakon.

Oh yeah actually, Pan grew up a little! She's now four years old, talking and flying and being adorable. And Trunks and Goten finally look like they did in the Dragon Ball Z epilogue and GT, and Goten doesn't just look like a clone of Goku anymore. And we see Gotenks but the fat version because they haven't practiced it in so long, and it's great! To finally see these characters grow up at least a little is so comforting, because I thought we'd never get this, and it has me super-excited for the future of the series. Please Toriyama, don't backtrack on this growth. Give us Uub next, kill off Majin Buu because his "too busy sleeping to help out" shtick is the worst, and bring back the real stakes we all miss. 

The main draw of this film however is not the great action choreography you were expecting, or the new 3D animation, or even the new characters. It's the relationship between Gohan and Piccolo, and the way these two care about each other as an apprentice and mentor, and as an adoptive son and parent. I'm not going to badmouth Goku and Gohan's bond, but it can't be denied that Gohan's time under Piccolo will forever be the best and this film cements it, showing appreciation and understanding from one another and remaining such a large part of each other's lives. Gohan's final strike against Max Cell being a tribute to Piccolo instead of the usual Kamehameha... well, I'll admit, I got the biggest smile on my face at that sight.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero lacks the emotional strength of it's predecessor (Battle of Gods and Super: Broly are still my two absolute favourites as of this moment), and some of the animation gets in the way of the story it's trying to tell, but plenty of laughs, tons of fun action, a suitably heroic soundtrack, and a spotlight on the supporting heroes that have long deserved it elevate this film to be one of the best of the franchise's long looooong history. We're four films in since Akira Toriyama decided to return to the writing table, and the mad man is four for four. I have no idea what the future of Dragon Ball is, but it's been a great ride so far and it's future is looking good. Or should I say... Super?

Oh yeah and for some reason, Whis just looks... bad. Really bad. Super Saiyan Bad.