Movie Review: Dragon Ball Z - Battle of Gods

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (Kami to Kami)

Just like most big anime series released at that time, Dragon Ball Z has had its share of formulaic movies. I haven't seen any of them in full, but the gist of most of the movies are similar -- new threat emerges, our heroes fight it, threat is defeated. It's more formulaic than a James Bond movie, be it Naruto, One Piece, Bleach or Dragon Ball Z... yet in 2013, Dragon Ball Z, by then a series that had ended its run to bring up the cirrs on both manga and anime for a decade, created a canonical sequel for a movie. It would be a formula that would be picked up by Naruto a year later, which would release Naruto: the Last and Boruto the Movie, both movies that took place as sequels to the then-finished manga.

Suddenly, the stakes were high. The original writer was involved, the movie was explicitly rooted in canon, and is it going to be the model for all other big animes that has finished? Will they just continue on in huge big-budget anime movies every couple of years? As it turns out, Dragon Ball Z lasted another big-movie with Resurrection F, before adapting both movies into anime arcs for a proper sequel anime series, Dragon Ball Super.

But it's interesting to bring up the circumstances behind Battle of Gods before I begin into reviewing it, becuase it's not just a movie. It's also meant to be a self-contained arc in and of itself, one that would probably lead to more adventures down the line.

And, well, it's been some time since I finished reading the entire manga of DBZ, and while feeling very drained after the exhaustive Majin Buu arc, I returned to this with relative gusto. After all, a single two-hour movie is a lot easier to take in (and a lot prettier, too) compared to several hundred chapters of manga. And Battle of Gods, if nothing else, is a very solid movie.

It's a movie that, as mentioned above, is your standard anime fare -- we get the new threats in the God of Destruction, Beerus, and we quickly set up the conflict. There are some comedic bits before we finally get to the big showdown between Goku and Beerus. That's what the plot boils down to, and the movie makes great usage of the 'Worf Effect' by having Beerus effortlessly take down the entire supporting cast from Tienshinhan, Piccolo, Android 18 and even Gotenks and Majin Buu without literally breaking a sweat. No, there's no real sense of threat that the Earth will be destroyed again or that any important character will die, but Beerus is such a compelling and wacky weirdo of a character. And it's always telling when a character is going to just be important for this arc, or if he's going to be built up as a recurring character down the road... and despite him going into a hibernation, Beerus and Whis are definitely characters that aren't built to be disposable filler, giving them so much more charm than other movie-exclusive characters.

Beerus is a weird fucker. He's this weird purple dog/cat-man that seems to be styled like an Egyptian god, clothes wise, and he lives in his own dimension. He also has the lofty title of the God of Destruction, literally able to blow up planets and the mere whisper of his name has badasses like Vegeta and King Kai pissing their pants. Goku's latest form, the Super Saiyan 3, barely causes Beerus to raise an effort more than a flick of his wrist. But for all his talk of the God of Destruction and his very awesome voice, Beerus also  has the mentality of a child. He's so, so easily enticed by amusing things and delicious food, and is easily distracted from his threats of destroying the Earth when given food. Whimsical is, I think, the best way to describe him, because he just decides to spare and/or destroy Earth on a whim.

Maybe the slapstick that Beerus and Whis engages, or the food jokes that they make, causes them to be taken less seriously than the likes of Cell or Frieza, but at the same time it's not like Beerus is all talk. In a sense, I think he's actually one of the more interesting enemies in that he embodies everything Goku normally is -- unbeatable, childlike, obsessed with food and insanely freaking strong. It's just that the problem being that Beerus gets pissed off and about to destroy the fucking Earth just because Majin Buu is a stingy little shit who refuses to share pudding.

The middle bits where they're having a party for Bulma, crash-landed by Beerus who's looking for the mythical 'Super Saiyajin God' (again, literally on a whim), has the movie's most hilarious bits but also at the same time the movie's least hilarious bits. Who gives a shit about the whole Pilaf plotline where he and his two cronies try to steal the Dragon Balls and gets involved with little Goten and Trunks? Certainly not me. But Vegeta trying his best to pacify Beerus by, at one point, getting up on stage and fucking dancing and singing about Bingo? That is hilarious as all hell. And how he gets absolutely insanely angry and powers up to throw down with the God of Destruction when Beerus (more accidental than not) pushes Bulma? Amazingly awesome.

The actual fight scenes are fine, though definitely super-duper gorgeous. Goku returns back to life and manages to unlock a new form, Super Saiyan God (with red hair!) and fights Beerus. And there's not much I can say other than the fight scenes were enjoyable. Perhaps the most striking thing is that Goku doesn't actually beat Beerus, only manages to impress him enough that he decides to bugger off from Earth with Whis, with the private note that he barely used, what, 60% of his strength? It's definitely a sequel hook.

The movie's a great, fun watch for me personally, though, insomuch that this is the first time I've heard the Japanese voices of anyone that's not Goku or Vegeta. There's a large amount of in-jokes to be hand among the script, too, which is nice considering the series is relatively fresh in my head. It's nothing super-duper spectacular, but I enjoyed it more than I expected I would, and Beerus is a far more entertaining character than I thought he would be.