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Dragon Ball Super: Broly
Maximum!
Series in a Sentence
Post-Tournament of Power, Goku and Vegeta’s training is interrupted by the arrival of Frieza and two new saiyans: Paragus and his son Broly.
What I liked
It’s going to be really hard to do this section without spoilers but here I go. At the most basic level, this movie is gorgeous. It has a hand-drawn quality to it that the “Super” series lacked while also maintaining a level of fluidity in motion that the original series lacked. Character models, even when done in CG during the intense fights, were crisp, the action was fast-paced and well-executed, and the sound design (I watched the English dub but I imagine the music is the same) is top-notch. Beyond the animation and sound design, the actual story was surprisingly lore-heavy for a Dragon Ball Movie (though it being canon helps) with some really emotional moments, some cool callbacks to the original series, and some really heavy implications for where the Dragon Ball Franchise could go from here (and with which combination of characters). Plus, unlike the classic Broly movie, this iteration of Broly has his own characters and motivations that made me
enjoy him in a way that I couldn’t enjoy the old Broly. Throw in some truly funny moments and what you have is, perhaps, the most consistent-in-tone and true-to-its-roots Dragon Ball movie out there. Again, I can’t really get into saying what I liked without spoiling anything so please, for the love of King Kai, go out and see this movie in theaters while you can.
What I Didn’t Like
Here’s the section that I’m going to say is a reach for me but I have to admit these might bother some people. First of all, there are some effects during a certain fight scene that the movie even acknowledges as weird and out there. Again, I can’t spoil anything, but certain things felt out of place. Second, while I loved the music and the soundtrack, some people might not like the fact that some tracks are paired with a vocal track consisting of names being yelled like “Kakarot” or “Broly.” Likewise, there are some moments where a special move is launched in time with the music and, rather than a character saying the move name, the vocal track (that is a different and unique voice) yells it out instead. Finally, there are some lore-specific details and retcons that came off as a little too much but you’ll have to wait until the spoiler-review to hear about those.
Overall Feelings
I said it in my initial reaction and I’ll say it again: this movie was a triumph. The characters were well written/animated, the lore was interesting and deep, the story implications going forward are vast, and (most importantly) the experience was amazing. This movie was able to grab my attention from the start by simply adding onto pre-established Dragon Ball rules and powers instead of by adding something new and that gave it a deeper and more true feeling than any other film in the series, canon or not. To parrot my reaction and the “what I liked” section: WATCH THIS MOVIE! Even if you aren’t the biggest Dragon Ball fan, this is just a fun time and is, I believe, a truly important moment for the anime community as a whole. Look inside yourself for that drive to succeed and push even further beyond.