The Red Ribbon Army was once destroyed by Son Goku. Individuals, who carry on its spirit, have created
the ultimate Androids, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. These two Androids call themselves "Super Heroes". They
start attacking Piccolo and Gohan…What is the New Red Ribbon Army's objective? In the face of
approaching danger, it is time to awaken, Super Hero!
(Source: Crunchyroll)
This movie addresses my biggest issue with Dragon Ball Super, in that Goku and Vegeta are the only characters in Dragon Ball Super. They simply got way too much screen time and we rarely got moments with other characters where they could shine, the Tournament of Power also addressed this and we got some great memorable moments outside of Goku and Vegeta but they still got the most spotlight. So this movie feels like a breath of fresh air knowing how little we see these two, but don't get me wrong though I love Goku and Vegeta but we needed a break from them. Despite not watching this with the greatest of quality I was a fairly surprised at how good the CGI animation was, admittedly when I first saw it in the teaser back when it was shown I wasn't too big on the idea but looking back on Broly's CGI scenes I thought that they could pull it off and they did very well. Some frames look a bit funny when paused but in motion I have no problems with how the movie looks, the animations come to life during comedy along with it's great art style. With the fight scenes being CGI too you get some great camerawork during fights. I did see studio JC Staff and Orange in the credits, though I'm not sure on what exactly they did to assist here but I wouldn't be surprised if they helped out with the CGI part. If you're a Dragon Ball casual or like me whose seen almost everything the series has to offer the story here is nothing you haven't seen before, it's fairly standard and the twists are very predictable though even with it's at worst somewhat underwhelming story the overall experience is still an absolute joy to watch. The fight scenes too have some great sound effect design to go alongside it, specifically the fights against the Gamma units. You can easily hear the more metallic sound effects for when Piccolo and Gohan hit them, it gives the fighting much more weight to it all and I love it. img800(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/905345690853605427/986899126413295656/unknown.png) The music wasn't very noticeable sadly even near the end, probably my biggest issue with this movie is that it almost feels like we're creating the same problem here. I'm going to assume here that you've seen a good chunk of the trailers here, but just like the Dragon Ball Super problem Gohan and Piccolo got a lot of very deserved attention here. Maybe I'm just greedy but I was kind of hoping for a bit more with Goten and Trunks since they finally aged them up alongside Pan. They all got great moments, but I feel Goten and Trunks should've gotten a bit more then what we got. And even then this isn't even that big of an issue, if anything I'm grateful they finally gave them enough attention to aged them up. They even gave a reason as to why they didn't which was totally made to get fans to shut up about them not caring about doing that sooner. I'm simply worried that in the future when Goku and Vegeta have gotten too much spotlight we're going to switch back to Piccolo and Gohan so that fans don't get burnt out on the main two, and really never give the side characters a major role. My favorite arc is the Majin Buu Saga for how well it treated the characters in it, everyone felt important one way or another even the ones we'd never expect to be. I long for the day when we can get an Arc written like how the Buu Saga was again. I hope I worded that properly. To clarify again just incase, I'm very happy with the treatment Gohan and Piccolo received this movie my issue just comes from a doubt for the future of this series where they just become another Goku and Vegeta situation in where they get more spotlight and ignore other characters who could very well use it. This movie was a very fun watch, I had gotten spoiled on something major and not wanting to get spoiled on anything else rushed to quickly watch the movie even if it wasn't in the best quality. It was definitely worth it, great character comedy moments brought to life by the well executed CGI _one scene in particular shocking the absolute hell out of me_. Intense battles left and right filled with a hint of fanservice if you notice it that also had me screaming very loudly at 3 AM, also Oreos, a lot of Oreos. A must watch for any fan of Dragon Ball, just go into the movie expecting Dragon Ball.
# ~~~__THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR DRAGON BALL Z (CELL SAGA) & DRAGON BALL SUPER: SUPER HERO__~~~ Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is the "glorious" return for the fan favorite Son Gohan. At least I would say that if most of this movie wasn't a damn Piccolo film. # ~~~STORY~~~ Whilst our main two Saiyans are on leave on Beerus's planet, the dasteredly Red Ribbon Army is rising from the ashes under the command of Dr. Hedo and Magenta. The emergence of the new Androids Gamma 1 & 2, so called "Super Heroes", forces Piccolo and Gohan into a situation where the Earth is under threat of domination without its two ace fighters. I hope you already see something wrong here. The return of the Red Ribbon Army is kind of uninspired and lazy, nor are the specific antagonists of Hedo and Magenta any sort of interesting. Hedo is gullible and that's about it. My personal favorite part of the movie was Piccolo. Specifically his interactions with Pan. The first thing I noticed is just how easy-going Piccolo was with Pan's training as opposed to her father, and it does a good job illustrating Piccolo's growth throughout the franchise. I also enjoyed the escapades of Piccolo sneaking into the RR base. It's an interesting change of pace from the Dragon Ball norm of throwing hands first, asking questions second. After Piccolo schemes about with ideas to defeat the Gammas, however, he ultimately comes to Gohan. Oh, gosh, Gohan. So much of the imagery surrounding Gohan's involvement in this film is just repeating his development in Z. Hell, the true final big bad of the movie is a GIANT STAGE 2 CELL WITH A PALETTE SWAP! I WISH I WAS LYING! The issues involving their lazy treatment of Gohan requires me to talk about forms, sooooooooooooo Piccolo and Gohan get a new transformation each in this film. Piccolo becomes "Orange Piccolo", a form granted to him by getting Shenron to be able to harness the potential unlocking ability of Namekian Elders. Yes, it's deadass called "Orange Piccolo". He bulks up to about double his normal size and, well, has an orange tint to him. It's a decent power boost, but not the most relevant in the movie. GOHAN HOWEVER-- Y'all remember Gohan's entire character arc in Z that culminated in his SSJ2 transformation at the Cell Games? Guess what got recycled! OH JOY! So we got this big ol' bug man, icing everyone in sight. Here comes Gohan, who doesn't really stand a chance with how he walks into the fight. However, after a sacrifice in vain and the villain seemingly murdering a character both the audience and Gohan have become attached to does Gohan snap and his true power become manifest...to the point that snap is visualized with the exact same effect from the GODDAMN 90s! Gohan's new form, which is never officially named in the movie unlike Orange Piccolo, is the quintessential lazy Super Saiyan reskin. White hair and red eyes this time. Don't worry, though! This time, they enlarged Gohan's hair modeling by like 3x! That means it's totally different. Yeah...yeah. From the basic premise of the Red Ribbon Army's remains created Androids to murder our protagonists to every involving Gohan, Super Hero is genuinely uninspired, lazy, and disappointing. At least story-wise, we're apparently still living in the Cell Saga. Just swap #16 for Piccolo. Gohan's first Mankankosappo was fucking sick, though. That was nice. # ~~~VISUALS/SOUND~~~ Positive, EX. Positive. Okay, so, what about the CG? Honestly, I'd personally say they made it work surprisingly well. Obviously, it's still CG, but the Dragon Ball artstyle has been adapted very well. Some shots of Piccolo seemed a little off at certain angles, but aside from that, everything looked great. Less Berserk, More Lupin the First tier 3D anime. Repeated fighting frames are rare to nonexistent here as well. All your favorite DB sound design is still here, and lemme say, the sound of metal getting bashed on every hit that connected onto the Gammas is satisfyingly as all hell. # ~~~OVERALL VERDICT~~~ Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is stuck in the past. Its story feels like a lazy retread of the Cell Games carried by Piccolo, contrasting the quality of the presentation of said story. If this was supposed to be Gohan's grand return, it fell flat on its damn face. Decent Piccolo movie, though.
Spoiler Warning: Don't look if you don't want to see. Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO is definitely taking steps into the direction that I want to see more of in Dragon Ball. I love Goku and Vegeta, but having a movie almost completely remote of them is so satisfying. I love seeing Piccolo and Gohan doing more, and Trunks and Goten growing. That being said this movie was far from perfect. I wish we could have seen more from Goten and Trunks, instead of just having them be extremely sidelined. Beyond that seeing more of Broly and Cheelai and Lemo would have been super nice too. But this was all in the right direction for me. Finally, I really didn't like the new forms. They looked super silly, I get Gohan had crazy hair in SSJ2, and the hair was a call back to that, but it looked extremely silly, and Piccolo's new form is also kinda whack. It's nice to see the fan-service, pandering and call backs, but it'd also be nice if they ironed out some of these designs more. The movie shows extreme potential for the future of Dragon Ball Super, however it has the age old Toriyama type quirks. No single Dragon Ball property, in the history of ever, has ever had a well written female character, which is a tad disheartening. I think the best example so far is Cheelai in Dragon Ball Super Broly, but thats the best I can think of. I hope this is an aspect of the franchise they can improve upon, but Dragon Ball is taking baby steps to realize the potential of the series. I'd love to see a well written teen Pan or something along those lines, but who knows where the franchise will go from here. Now in terms of overall movie ranking, I'm still steadfast in believing Dragon Ball Super: Broly is far and wide the best example this franchise has. Its peak Dragon Ball in all it's glory, and it takes one of the worst fandom characters and makes him one of my personal favorites. In a similar sense, this film takes some of the most betrayed characters in the franchise, Piccolo and Gohan and brings them back to characters of respect, or at least thats the goal. What Dragon Ball Super: Broly attempts to do for Broly and Gogeta, this movie attempts to do for Gohan and Piccolo and I'm hopeful that will ripple into the rest of the franchise. This movie isn't as proficient with it as Broly but that would be a serious feat to accomplish. Lastly what I hope for the franchises, future? I hope to see more exploration of other characters. I want to see the next movie do something like this with Goten and Trunks. I really hope for whatever reason Goku, Vegeta, Gohan and Piccolo aren't around resulting in Goten Trunks and maybe even Pan having to save the day. Honestly this movie was such a long shot for them, going against the established norm of Dragon Ball and I can do nothing but praise them for it. I really hope to see more characters fleshed out and a serious image improvement for Goten and Trunks who were nothing but comic relief this movie. All in all I enjoyed my time with this film. I won't be recommending it as rabidly as Broly, but I will tell my Gohan fan friends about it.
[MINOR SPOILERS] Dragon Ball is one of the most infamous anime franchises to ever grace this earth. I myself really like Dragon Ball out of the big three, being One Piece and Naruto. This anime has been popular for generations as Akira writes more content for his fans. Dragon Ball does have its ups and downs though, but the charming characters, unique designs, and linear but fun story is what drives this series on, so I am here discussing the newest movie after Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Yes I am a big fan of the franchise, but the reason why there is no Dragon Ball ratings on my list is because I didn't watch all of it, I watched a lot of it, but not all of it because I used to watch it on cable and would miss some episode either the fault of me or the tv channel. Nevertheless, I will watch the entire series again all the way to the original Dragon Ball, but for now I will review and rate the new movie, so lets get on with the review. Animation: The animation is quite unique to the Dragon Ball franchise, after the Broly movie I expected the animation to be the same, but the creators seem to want a new style and experiment on what is better for the series. Many have mixed feelings about it, but I will say in my opinion the animation can get jarring sometimes and will take time to get used to, but I found myself thoroughly enjoying myself 20 minutes into the movie and not even minding the animation even if it sometimes looks like a video game. The fights is what the animation excels at, the animation can be a bit weird in slower parts but once they start moving and fighting, it gets really good. Some might diss the movie for the 3D aspect, but I found it ok with only some tweaks here and there, but whatever you're into, I suggest you to watch the clips or trailers to make sure you will enjoy the experience. The colors in the ending fight does remind me of the Broly film and the movements are also more clearer to watch. It all depends on your tastes, some find the animation weird or ugly which I completely understand, you'll just have to see things for yourself if you're curious. Story: Most Dragon Ball movies have a linear story or more fun to watch. The Broly movie surprisingly had some lore in the first 20 minutes and many liked that aspect, this movie however feels more like a side story. That's not necessarily bad, but it can turn off some people to watch it. I quite enjoyed it for what it was since this movie is about Piccolo and Gohan who are sadly secondary characters in the franchise now, so the movie can feel like filler, but some may find it great to give Piccolo and Gohan some spotlight which I definitely agree. The beginning of the movie can feel a bit weird in a writing perspective, but it gets better around the 20 minute mark where things start to pick up instead of listening to dialogue from characters for a long period of time AHEM the Dr. Hedo monologue AHEM. I felt a little weird as well, but I just turned my brain off for a second and found myself laughing and chuckling sometimes. Another thing that is mixed within viewers is the comedy, I mostly liked the comedy and made more hits than misses on their jokes, but for those who want a serious Dragon Ball movie like Broly won't get their wishes. The last 40 minutes of the movie also felt a little rushed in my opinion, it didn't get me out of the experience much, but I definitely noticed a change of pace which to some people will find it annoying. Most of where the movie shines is the characters, but I will save that in the next part of the review. In short, the storytelling is a little dumbed down from the Broly movie, but its still fun to watch. Characters: This is where the movie truly shines. Every character in this movie, even the new ones, are amazing and charming to watch. I always smile when Piccolo acts like a father to most saiyan children and Beerus with his shenanigans and many more other characters. Minor spoiler here, but don't expect Vegeta or Goku to appear much, this is a Piccolo and Gohan story so only expect like 10 minutes of screen time with them which Broly also is in. Pan is another character is that I enjoy watching, she is so cute, sassy, and intelligent for a 3 year old and to see her bond with Piccolo like Gohan did in the Z days also warms my heart. Beerus and Whis are also on screen for quite a bit and their interactions are also priceless. Bulma for some reason has a lot more screen time than the others, but the body gag from her is funny in my opinion. I have nothing against Bulma, but like the series she can get on my nerves. Piccolo shined hard this movie, he is the most amazing and wholesome character in the movie with him almost dying to save everyone. Gohan was a bit of a step down in my opinion, he is the same, but a little careless especially about Pan and how he only cares about work. It isn't until some tomfoolery from the villain's is when he starts to truly care. Gohans character development felt a little rushed, it might be because it is a movie and was running out of time, I can see why the ending can get people to question things about the movie as well. Gohan is the second main characters of this movie, but kinda dumbed it down a bit as well and his transformation didn't have some sort of rising action to get to the climax, it just happens which can turn off a lot of people. I had a bit of a problem with that as well. Moving onto the villians, I didn't expect to like Gamma 1 and 2 so much. Their personalities are opposites and show more charm into the movie, they are definitely the best part of the movie besides Piccolo and Pan. Their rivalry aspect also makes me chuckle, Gamma 2 especially with his one liners, narcissistic tendencies, and random movements in talking scenes. The main villians though being the chubby Dr. Hedo, short Magneta, Elvis Presley Carmine, and the ultimate angry villain that arises at the end are okay. Carmine and Magneta are bland greedy corporates which is a little cliche, but aye we must move the plot forward. Dr. Hedo stands out as the new villain and can be a goofy goober while being the intelligent prodigy, he has a very unique character design, but there is nothing to add for his personality other than chubby smart prodigy. What makes it up though is Gamma 1 and 2 and the special surprise villain at the end which turns into the climax point of the movie. Most of the characters are great, but some may be underused, rushed, or bland, but most of them are not the focal point of the movie which might make you enjoy the movie more. Voice Actors, Soundtrack, etc.: I went into the theater for dub since sub only had one seating and I missed it due to oversleeping, but as the other Dragon Ball dubs, the dub is quite good. Dubs can be controversial, but the Dragon Ball dub will always be one of the best and this movie didn't disappoint. Soundtrack is oddly great. Some people had a bit of trouble liking the soundtrack for the Broly movie with its weird chanting, but this movie only has battle music and I heard some rock in between a fight scene which I thought was great. This movie could've gotten a 75%, but I was enjoying the movie so much that I bumped it up a bit, it has some noticeable flaws but some wouldn't mind and some will. I found this movie hard to review because I am a little based on this film, in a critical standpoint it should be lower than an 80%, but it was just so fun to see on the big screen that I added some points out of pure enjoyment. Some may not agree and that is okay from me. Let me know what you guys feel about it in my Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Discussion thread if you have any thoughts. Anyways, next I am going to review an anime that missed the mark, Noblesse. Otherwise have a nice day, peace.
Dragon Ball Super is by far the weakest Dragon Ball Series in the franchise, and sadly it appears that this movie is following the same standard. The Red Ribbon army is back with another set of never ever mentioned members that create machines that are capable to pose a threat to the good guys. It makes you wonder how they were never mentioned until this point other than: the author didn't come up with them. There are other problems that jump from minor but questionable to "If that were possible, why weren't they doing it before?". Bulma still uses the Dragon Balls to make herself look "more beautiful", following the tradition to misuse the Dragon Balls for selfish reasons. You would expect the Dragon Balls to be kept in a secure place in cases of crisis instead wasting wishes like that for trivial and selfish wishes. The real problem starts here: Piccolo wishes for his potential to be unlocked. Why didn't anyone do that until now? You know how much time has wasted watching characters train to get stronger or work for the next power up? Piccolo fused with GOD to get the power to fight Cell. Most of that effort has been in vain since just wishing from the Dragon Balls to do that could have solved several issues in the story. Not only that, but it adds to the pile of many plot devices that give a free power up that likely nobody else is going to use: - Super Saiyan God Ritual - Always carrying the Potara in the cases of crisis. Considering Goku and the gang have a good relationship with the gods, that should not be an issue. Meanwhile Goku, Vegeta and Broly train so Broly learns to use his power. A pointless scene. Why not just wish from the dragon to be able to control your power and your potential to be unlocked like Piccolo? Gohan could wish his potential and power never to disappear and he could fully dedicate his time for his family and research. Speaking of Gohan, the movie is about him. Not only did he neglected his training again and became weak, but also neglected his family because of research. So this movie focuses Gohan to reach his peak again. And because this has been done so often, it makes you wonder if Gohan will keep all that power or has to start from scratch. Also the visuals look better than in the trailer which looked like the opening from Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi Budokai. But they aren't visually pleasing like any other Dragon Ball movie thus far. A disappointment considering Dragon Ball Super Broly set a standard for fans what future productions have in store. Overall, I recommend skipping this movie. The meat of the plot takes a while to get through and it's not something we haven't seen thus far.
~~~youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5CIs0jDqC8)~~~ --- _Apart from the cool and interesting transformations that Gohan and Piccolo received, the movie has very few redeeming qualities. Unfortunately even the transformations aren't as satisfying as they should have been because they are rushed out and feel unearned (sort of like the movie itself). This is the struggle that all anime movies have to overcome given the short time slot they are afforded, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero just does a terrible job of mitigating that pitfall._ _The main antagonist is Cell-Max, a bastardized version of one of Dragon Ball's finest villains in Cell. Cell-Max is most aptly compared to another terribly conceptualized villain by the name of Bio-Broly, of whom gets most of his value as a villain in the form of comedic value, because of how comically bad he is. Speaking of Broly, I don't know why they even teased him in the movie. They didn't show him much at all and what they showed felt like they should have showed us more, in retrospect at least it serves as hope of something interesting happening in the future after what id consider Dragon Ball Supers lowest point. Part of what makes it so bad is that the movie is canon and not only that but written by Toriyama himself.. yikes. Hard to believe Toriyama actually played a hand in this movie._ _Gohan and Piccolo were in need of a power boost so I am glad that their transformations are canon, however its as if Toriyama liked the transformations and said "yep, lets make the whole thing canon". They should have made the transformations canon and took the time to flesh them out properly instead of being conceptualized to fit within a movie. ~!Cell-Max cracking at the seams and dying the way he did didn't make any sense to me, Cell had to be destroyed on a cellular level in DBZ ITS IN HIS NAME. I understand Cell-Max is just a derivative of Cell but still he should of needed to be destroyed on a cellular level, his name is CELL after all.!~ Why did they cheap out with CGI when the Super Broly movie looked much better despite being the older of the two, is it because they knew that they would have been polishing a turd?_ _There is probably several other things I could criticize about the movie, its been months since I watched it and my mind is subconsciously attempting to forget as much of it as it can. I am genuinely curious how this movie is one of the highest rated Dragon Ball movies on this app, seriously?_ _I enjoy the majority of DBS post ToP despite the moral backtracking in regards to power-scaling with dragon balls etc. Hopefully one day they actually get around to animating the manga again! Dragon Ball Super catches way to much hate but I can't defend this movie and I was looking forward to watching it too._ _Respect to Toriyama and his past creations but bad writing is bad writing.._ --- ~~~img330(https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/gohan-beast-orange-piccolo-dragon-ball-super.jpg)~~~