Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (2022)

The Red Ribbon Army, an evil organization that was once destroyed by Goku in the past, has been reformed by a group of people who have created new and mightier Androids, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2, and seek vengeance against Goku and his family.

Super Hero carries on the tradition of amazing DB movies, it combines the best elements from the series, from the fast paced action to the subtle comedy, not to mention the incredible visuals that are worth being seen on the big screen. It also has a touch of heart and development for important characters that fans wanted to see for so long, alongside interesting villains.

I am a huge DB fan. I have seen every episode of DB, DBZ, Super every movie and DBZA on top of that. I was hesitant going into this movie. From the trailers, the animation style was very off-putting for me. Disney stops doing 2D animation, then Studio Ghibli and now even Toei has succumbed to 3D computer animation. The new style certainly took some getting used to, but save for a few shaky parts, it didn’t get in the way of an excellent story.

The movie goes at much slower pace compared to some of the more action heavy DBZ movies. The first ~10 minutes is a lot of set up for the villainous force. Thankfully they know how to keep the exposition interesting through quirky characters, fun dialogue and some background gags.

As a huge fan of the series, the story delivered on just about everything I wanted in a Dragonball movie. There were several scenes that felt like were a love letter to the longtime fans of show. They do this, not in a forced pandering way, but in a natural character driven manner. For those who think the series was losing steam and relying too heavily nostalgia this uses old tropes in a new way.

The new characters they introduce are a ton of fun, and the returning characters are pitch perfect the way they should be. I give a kudos that this movie gives some characters other than Goku and Vegeta some much needed time to shine. There are two scenes towards the end that are some top-tier Dragon Ball stuff, I was cheering in the theatre.

Overall this is a movie that will please both long time fans and newer ones, its a movie that anyone that likes action, comedy and of course, beautiful animation deserves to see it!