Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero [2022]
I must say that I wasn't actually particularly interested in this movie from the trailers. The villains in the trailer -- Gamma 1 and Gamma 2 -- didn't look particularly appealing, looking more like a 'knockoff Hit' according to many people online, and I tend to agree. They also didn't draw this one, rather relying on 3D-animated software similar to what they did for a lot of the cel-shaded games recently like Xenoverse, FighterZ and Kakarot.
I don't really have the energy to really break down every fight scene, but I will say that I was absolutely proven mistaken. Sure, the animation was a bit rough in some of the earlier non-action scenes -- there's a particularly long car ride between the human villains -- but the action scenes are where this new animation style shines particularly well, and I absolutely love the rain fight between Gohan and Gamma #1, which shows just how gat just showing them zipping around and slowing down and whatnot end up being. The Piccolo and Gamma #2 fight, particularly before Piccolo goes full orange, is also particularly smooth, particularly when telekinesis is involved.
And so, yeah, I wasn't particularly impressed and it took me even longer to actually finish watching it. The movie, however, is... surprisingly good! And one of my biggest praises for this movie is that it acknowledges the increasingly-large cast that Dragon Ball has... but gives us a nice way to sideline them that doesn't seem bullshit. And I think my favourite part of this movie is that... this movie is Gohan and Piccolo's movie. Goku and Vegeta's roles are reduced to an extended cameo, and I actually do think the movie is much, much stronger because of it.
Because, really... Goku's fun, and I'm as much a Vegeta fanboy as the next DBZ fan, but they've had a lot of their stories told. Sometimes at the expense of characters who are basically cannibalized for screentime -- and the biggest person that people point this out to is Gohan, who was really built up to be the next generation hero after the Cell Saga, and... just... peters out in favour for "Goku must be the one to gain the strongest-est power-up and deliver the final punch".
In addition, there's always hints at Super doing something interseting with Gohan, particularly at the beginning of the universal survival arc, where it seems like Gohan's going to need to find a balance between being a career professor and being the protector of the universe. I do like that the movie does find a middle-ground that's not just 'Gohan needs to FIGHT because that's what sells tickets', where the thing that Piccolo tries to get Gohan to focus is not him becoming a warrior full-time, but rather to keep a balance on his training and stuff.
The movie also brings up a lot of nice, forgotten continuity from the original Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, and does so in a way that isn't eyerolling as 'this is suddenly super-duper relevant' like the Mafuuba in the Zamasu arc. The villains of this piece are the remnants of the Red Ribbon Army that young Goku demolished, with some of them being out for revenge and some being bamboozled. There's a nice little motivation arc of them using the cover story of 'Capsule Corps is working with super-powerful aliens'. Piccolo's role as a designated punching bag is even explored a bit, with his more diverse powers that the franchise forgot about (like gigantification) being brought up. Pan, Goten and Trunks growing up is explored a little bit.
And yeah. I am not really the most impressed by the human villains, I have to admit, but I do like their backstory. Magenta is the son of Commander Red, and he recruits the oddball Dr. Hedo, grandson of Dr. Gero. Hedo's not the most ethical guy out there, but he's got some interesting ideas of superheroes, and Magenta and his head flunky Carmine does deliver a rather convincing way to get Hedo to work with them to purge evil alien invaders from Earth.
We then cut to basically the main character of this movie, Piccolo, and this movie kind of takes the meme of 'Piccolo's a good dad' and runs with it full-force. The thing is, that meme is honestly very applicable to his role in DBZ, and seeing him being supportive to Pan and being a good uncle/grand-uncle to her. It's nice to see that they'er acknowledging Pan again, too, who is the cutest little child in this movie. I like that Pan's never really in danger because she's a Saiyan kid, and she's already going around breaking handcuffs and headbutting evil Red Ribbon kindappers and stuff. We don't really know if GT is still considered canon or not (and at this point, even 'End of Z' is kind of handwave-y) but it's nice that this Pan is much less irritating than her GT counterpart.
Piccolo gets a bit pissed off at Gohan being so obsessed about his scientific works, and while Gohan's not completely out of practice, and his defense that 'Goku and Vegeta will always be around' isn't completely invalid, this movie, of course, goes to deconstruct that. Of course part of it is also Piccolo trying to get Gohan off his ass and be a dad.
Goku and Vegeta, of course, are just hanging out in Beerus's world with Beerus, Whis, Broly and his two hanger-ons. It's a nice way to subvert the reason that Resurrection F was so derided -- that Beerus is there to solve everything. Here, with everyone focused on training, it gives a nice little explanation as to why none of the super-god-tier characters are involved while we're dealing with Gohan and Piccolo's story. There's a brief bit of comedy as Beerus gets a generic anime crush on Cheelai, and some callbacks to the fight against Jiren as the state of power control that Vegeta tries to get him and Goku to learn, but ultimately I do like that this is kind of a way to sideline our big two heroes.
And then the action scenes happen! Gamma #2 is the more eneretic, goofy one, and he's basically a 'perfected' version of the Androids from the Cell Saga. Gamma #2 attacks Piccolo and I absolutely love that Piccolo actually sees the giant comic-book sound effects behind him. It's apparently holograms that Dr. Hedo adds in just to make things look cooler since Hedo thinks he's designing peacekeepers.
And then this leads to a part of the movie that I feel is simultaneously dragged out but raelly fun, which is Piccolo infiltrating the Red Ribbon Army, by stealing someone's full-body uniform and pretending to be a dork to get into the inner workings. I love that we get a bit of smarts involved in this movie, and while the dynamic of Hedo and the Gammas being duped by Magenta is a bit simple, it does add just a bit of 'these guys aren't completely flat' to the villains. We get to meet Gamma #1, who's basically the serious guy to Gamma #2's goofiness, and we also get hints that Hedo is working on Cell Max. There's a typical cartoon villain stupidity going on here where Hedo keeps insisting that Cell Max isn't able to be controlled while Carmine is like "but he'll let us control the world!"
And admittedly, the way Piccolo gets his superpowers is a bit too rapid for my tastes, but at the same time the movie isn't about that, necessarily. Still a better origin for the powers than Super Saiyan Blue, in any case. We get some comedy with Bulma, Dende and the Dragon Balls, but Piccolo then asks Shenron to unlock his latent potential the same way that Guru did for Gohan and Krillin all the way back in the original Namek arc.
And then we get the final act of the movie, which is kind of a big, extended action scene. Magenta sends out his troops to kidnap Pan to target Gohan, and Piccolo, disguised as a Red Ribbon soldier, decides that this is a good way to get Gohan to get a power-up while also guaranteeing Pan's safety. I love that Pan isn't fooled for one second about Piccolo's disguise, and the next sequence as the Red Ribbon soldiers confront Gohan is probably one of the coolest shots in the movie.
Gohan just doesn't really give a shit when all the goons are doing is pulling guns at him, but the moment they threaten Pan, Gohan just goes all superhero mode, speed-blitzes in front of the soldier, and the sheer crater from his power-up causes the ground under his house to collapse. And then when the jet finally enters Red Ribbon airspace and Gohan sees Pan, he just doesn't give a shit and powers-up so hard that the plane explodes and Gohan flies down.
And then we get an extended fight scene, which is probably the best part of the movie. As mentioned above, the animation is fluid, the effects are cool, and while I don't really think the Gammas really do develop between 'serious' and 'more lively', they make for decent enough humanoid enemies for our heroes. Piccolo and Pan do some 'bad acting' to get Gohan to get super pissed-off and go into his... 'Ultimate Gohan' form? Potential Unleashed form? My Dragon Ball terminology is rusty. I also like that the Gammas are actually disturbed by seeing what they think is a Red Ribbon soldier harming the little child hostage, showing that they're still programmed as superhefoes at heart.
Piccolo eventually fights Gamma #2, and it's a bit hard to tell, but he's actually fighting in a powered-up form where his green skin is a bit lighter. We get some really cool shots (particularly that square segment of the battlefield collapsing) before Piccolo realizes that Shenron gave him an additional power-up... and this is Orange Piccolo, where he grows a bit more demonic (reminiscent of his original Demon King Piccolo form) and his skin goes orange. Honestly, about damn time Piccolo gets something, and in this form Piccolo manages to one-shot Gamma #2.
So yeah, we've got a fun victory for Piccolo. At this point, Piccolo manages to get Gamma #2 to listen, and the sight of Carmine holding a gun at Pan (who casually conks him to submission) causes the Gammas to realize that the Z-Fighters aren't villains after all. Bulma arrives, bringing the backup army of Trunks, Goten, Krillin and 18. They regroup for a bit and chat.
Meanwhile, Hedo and Magenta confront each other in the Cell Max chamber, and there's a moment when it actually does look like Magenta pulls a gun on poor Dr. Hedo and shoots him dead. This is where the foreshadowing of 'shock-absorbant' skin pays off, but then Magenta puts on a Robocop cyborg suit, and... okay, I must say that after the sleek Gamma fight before, this sequence is honestly kind of bland. It doesn't take too long, but Magenta unleashes Cell Max.
Cell Max is basically a red, gigantic kaiju version of Semi-Perfect Cell, but with none of Cell's mind or charm. Oh, he's also got a club for his tail. Cell Max rampages, and all the heroes there fight him and... I can enjoy a superhero-versus-giant-monster movie! I don't necessarily think that the Cell Max fight is more impressive than the Gamma fight, animation-wise, but there are certainly a lot of shots here that make it look pretty cool.
And since they have to build up Cell Max as a credible threat while also simultaneously finish him off in under 30 minutes, the Gammas reveal that Dr. Hedo built a weak point on top of Cell Max's head. Gotenks' fusion ends up fucking up and he spends the rest of the movie as fat Gotenks, durable but ultimately not particularly useful. Everyone's attacks fail to really damage Cell Max's head but then we get an epic sacrifice from Gamma #2 as the rest of the cast hold Cell Max in position. However, Gamma #2 isn't strong enough, and even with his self-destruct all he manages is to tear off one of Cell Max's arms.
...and I sound flippant, because I am. We barely spent any time with Gamma #2, and as I mentioned before he does come off as a bit of a caricature more than a character. Hedo's death would make me feel something, I guess, but he survives. At least they killed off #2, the more interesting one, so I felt a little something? I wouldn't care any less if the boring #1 was killed.
Anyway, Piccolo goes Orange Piccolo, and we get a fun return of an old technique -- Krillin reminds Piccolo of Gigantification, which allows him to grow to Cell Max's size and match him physically -- even if giant Piccolo doesn't actually get a power boost. We also get the return of the fun giant Sun Wukong pole, which I appreciate. The rest of the cast (mostly Piccolo, tbh) hold Cell Max together, while Gohan is given a Senzu Beam to charge up his attack. In a sequence that's framed similarly to when Gohan originally unlocked Super Saiyan 2 upon Android 16's death, Gohan gets a badass power-up into Super Saiyan Beast, I think? He sure gets red eyes, super-spiky white hair and a whole lot of aura.
Again, some really great visuals, like Gohan standing still as Cell Max punches him with enough force to obliterate the terrain behind him. Cell Max summoning a gigantic ball of black-purple energy that he condenses into a small bomb. And, of course, Gohan unleashing the move he's been powering up all this while... the Makankosappo, which, of course, is Piccolo's signature move! Again, a very great tribute to Gohan's other (and to some fans, better) mentor and father-figure, and Gohan blows the shit up of Cell Max.
There's a bit of a wrap-up after that, where our heroes pick themselves up from the gigantic explosion of Cell Max's selfdestruction. Pan also learns to fly somewhere in all of this, which helps to tie up a little character arc she had. Piccolo is impressed with Gohan's new form, and has a bit of a moment with Gamma #1 as they see #2's body disintegrate. Bulma gives Hedo and Gamma #2 jobs in the cosmetics division of her company.
And... yeah! Very self-contained, and there's a lot of moments that are devoted into characterization more than anything. There's a bit of a 'fanservice' vibe from this, sure, where Piccolo and Gohan are immensely popular in a lot of parts of the world but they've been sidelined into doing 'Makankosappo' and 'Kamehameha' once an arc throughout all of Super. I do really like that we're moving away from forcing every arc to be about Goku and Vegeta to the exclusion of everyone else, and I think after the Broly movie managed to make it more of a movie about Broly and Vegeta instead of Goku, the writers have finally realized that they could move the show out of the comfort zone of always relying on Goku.
Anyway, I'm very happy that Piccolo and Gohan actually get the movie for themselves. The power-ups are fun, the animation is gorgeous and the action scenes are thrilling. Highly recommended!
Random Notes:
- Dr. Gero's family -- Android 21's base from the FighterZ games, as well as Android 16's human counterpart (which to my knowledge has only been acknowledged in supplementary material), makes their proper 'canon' cameos in Gero's family tree.
- Shout-out to Carmine, who has powerpoint presentations set up like Youtube channels, as well as creating a custom little dome for his gigantic pompadour while he's driving his boss around.
- Also love the little gag of Piccolo constantly getting mascot dolls and even phone casings from Gohan and Videl.
- The cast lampshades that Saiyans (even half-ones) go from 'chibi' to 'full-built adult' after a growth spurt, which is basically what Goku goes through. As per this movie, Goten and Trunks have finished their growth spurt.
- Man, Goten is just irrelevant, huh?
- Also love the gag of Gohan being actually unable to see and needing glasses in his 'base' form, which Piccolo lampshades. "Does going Super Saiyan cure your eyesight?" It apparently does, since Gohan does a badass flick of his glasses when he transforms to fight the Gammas.
- It's a huge, missed opportunity that Hedo or the Gammas never interacted with Android 18, and honestly beyond a close-up to her horrified reaction at the sight of Cell Max, 18 really feels criminally underused in a movie about Androids.
- Piccolo, Vegeta, Buu and Android 18 actually being villains .efore the Z-fighters reformed them is probably really helping out Magenta's arguments, huh? They could probably find a fair bit of recordings of these guys specifically causing havoc.
- Mr. Satan doesn't make an appearance, but I do like that he's still acknowledged mistakenly by the Red Ribbon Army as a particularly huge threat.
- I love that after Piccolo reveals that the jig is up, Pan just very casually demolishes the Red Ribbon troops with the same ease that her grandpa Goku did when he was her age.
- Gohan's Makankosappo is cool as hell, but the animation on Piccolo's regular Makankosappo is also not bad!
- Gohan claims that Goku and Vegeta might not have been able to beat Cell Max on their own... which you could take as another example of Dragon Ball's ever-increasing power-up scaling, or just Gohan riding the high of his new form.
- I do love that Hedo was willing to give himself up to the police. Krillin, who is a policeman, panics at the idea of holding someone as powerful as Gamma #1. And in the background while Piccolo and Bulma are talking to the reformed villains, we get Android 18 being kind of pissed off about that and arguing with Krillin.
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