No tags yet.
Dragon Ball Super: Broly
Truly Super
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
With this being the spoiler-filled review, I can finally expand on what I said about loving that this movie expanded on the universe without needing to add anything substantially new. First of all, I loved the look at the past of the Saiyan race. Sure, we’ve seen Bardock before in a lot of different forms but here we got to see the little things. Saiyan villages felt alive, the look at the Saiyan beauraucracy was interesting and drama-filled, and the fan service of seeing a younger Vegeta hanging out with a younger Nappa and Raditz caught me off guard in the best way. Likewise, Broly’s past and childhood was extremely interesting when coupled with the ultimate idea that he was a kind-hearted Saiyan. The whole movie, I sat there thinking that he could have been the main protagonist given one or two changes based on his innocence. That leads into my second point: The characters. In the original Broly movie, Broly was a tool that his father used with no true character. Here, he remains a tool but has his own personality as, again, a kind-hearted Saiyan. In fact, this bolstered Goku and Vegeta’s character throughout the movie. As per the usual, those two had some great moments both individually (Vegeta’s initial fight was amazing) and as a pair (that fusion scene was hilarious) but there was an overall feeling of mentorship and intrigue that covered the whole movie. For the first time canonically, both Goku and Vegeta were faced with a Saiyan that was stronger than them individually and seeing them come to terms with that was great. In fact, and going forward based off of the ending of the film, I could see Broly filling in as a long-term pupil character in the series that comes back every once in a while for major events or tournaments. This relationship isn’t anything that Goku has had in the series before (Uub excluded) and it opens up so many possibilities for growth, just look at Vegeta and Cabba. I mean, that last “You can call me Kakarot” line screamed that Goku accepted Broly as a friend, rival Saiyan, and pupil and that alone is huge for character development going forward. Gohan has been a disappointment so maybe Broly can fill that third character role.
My third point that I loved was how powers were handled. As I said in the beginning, this show did so much without adding any new concepts: We know the fusion dance, we know Super Saiyan, we know Super Saiyan God, we know Super Saiyan Blue. Here, these ideas were simply polished. Each transformation was highlighted and each had a different feel (SSG’s calming energy and tricky moveset in comparison to SSB’s rage-filled, full-powered attacks stood out to me). Perhaps most importantly, show breaking powers that people were worried would lead to an even more endless powercurve, like Ultra Instinct and the (I guess non-canon) Super Saiyan Blue Evolution, were left out. I cannot express how much this restraint on behalf of the writing team meant to me because it showed that they were willing to take the unpredictable route. And, of course, each transformation had beautiful battle animations and extremely hyped-up moments, like Gogeta’s Soul Punisher or Broly’s super saiyan transformation. A quick note on Gogeta: Correct me if I'm wrong but, "Fusion Reborn" aside, I believe this is the only time that a fusion lasted an entire fight and won. I was expecting Gogeta to come apart a-la Vegito, Gotenks, or even Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta and was pleasantly surprised that my expectations were wrong.
Finally, I would be doing this review a disservice without mentioning the comedy. The reasons that Bulma and Frieza were searching for the Dragon Balls were appropriately whacky and true to the pedigree of the series, Frieza’s encounter with Broly was like Loki fighting The Hulk in the best way, and again the Fusion training had some great visual jokes. Also, Frieza killing Paragus was both hilarious and satisfying despite how devious it was. None of this humor, though, felt out of place and only added to the feeling I had watching this that the movie was the perfect culmination of the entire franchise.
What I Didn’t Like
I just gushed about the things I liked so let me BRIEFLY talk about the two very nitpicky things that I didn’t like. First, I didn’t like the slight change to Goku’s backstory. Yes, it was essentially the same, but by making it more emotional without showing Bardock’s warrior side the parallels to Superman’s backstory stuck out even more. Secondly, and finally, the screen break leading to some other dimension during the Gogeta v. Broly fight was pretty confusing. I want to believe that the whole shift was a visual effect only, but Gogeta acknowledging it made it almost feel like it could be a look into some wild multi-dimension arc to come later. Hopefully it isn’t that and was just some fourth-wall breaking but it felt out of place either way.
Overall Feelings
I liked Battle of the Gods, I like Resurrection F, but I ADORED this movie. There was never a dull moment, I never wanted it to end, and immediately after finishing it I wanted to see it again. The potential for Broly to be a recurring character excites me to no end and, given the recent introduction of universes of extremely strong characters, he wouldn’t feel out of place. The history of the saiyan race was entertaining and a great way to open the movie, too. Not to mention that there were easter eggs and callbacks everywhere (Never forget Krillin haha). If you like the Dragon Ball franchise, see this movie. If you like anime fights, see this movie. If you like anime, see this movie. Toei did it right, folks, and that’s a treasure in and of itself. With enough love, effort, and respect, anything can be made super.