When Dragon Ball finally returned after its big hiatus with Battle of Gods, the expectations and the excitement were both at their zenith. Unfortunately, it failed to hold onto it with the poorly directed and somewhat unoriginal Resurrection of F. What followed was even worse with a poorly scheduled animated series that threw the animators between a rock and a hard place. The result was mass disappointment and criticism for the once beloved franchise and it wasn't until the Zamasu arc did people start seeing glimpses of what was once adored. By the time the tournament of power arc rolled around, the animation quality had gotten up considerably and while the storytelling still needed some work the direction overall was better. In a way, Dragon Ball Super Broly is a reward for those who stuck by the series despite the issues because it conquers everything that went wrong before.
Let us begin, up first I would like to get the bad out of the way. The only real problem I have with the movie is the incredibly bland retelling of the Dragon Ball Minus Manga. It is by far the least creative thing Toriyama has ever produced and it hurts me a bit that they did not keep the original Anime's take on things. However, that being said it was a fun experience to see Goku's mother Gine finally drawn out in front of us. Couple that with Toei's attempt to pay some homage to the original Bardock story with a very similar demise and it does give the older fans something to feel good about early on. The other negative is the sudden super realistic CGI that is used between all this amazing 2d animation, which can kick you out of the immersion if you notice it for a bit.
Now let us focus on the actual movie and see what it offers, the general idea of the story is to connect a line between our main characters Goku and Vegeta with the new and improved Broly. When I say 'IMPROVED' I mean that in every send of the word. The little things with Broly before any of the action even begins is what actually makes you like him. Director Tatsuya Nagamine essentially split Broly into two beings, one is this curious and unsociable outcast that really just wants to be loyal to his father and feels disconnected from the world due to his unfortunate circumstances. The other side is shown during the intense action scenes when he sheds all emotion and turns into a savage monster that embodies everything from the original noncanon movie. This way you somewhat satisfy both the casual fans who want him to be the hulk of the franchise and those who wanted more depth in the character.
Now the general plot without any major spoilers comes down to Freeza attempting to steal the Dragon balls yet again though this time for a far more ridiculous goal and while doing so, some of his soldiers come across Broly and Paragus who were outcast by King Vegeta out of sheer jealousy. They are convinced by Freeza that the best way to exact due revenge would be to travel to Earth and take down Vegeta, the eldest son of the late King Vegeta. Which automatically sets Broly on a collision course against Goku as well. They arrive on an icy land and so begins the battle. Here is where I would like to start talking about the animation and voice acting, for the longest time I looked at other animated Japanse shows like My Hero Academia, Mob Psycho and One Punch man and said to myself, how amazing would it really be If Dragon Ball could match that level? Well, I am glad to tell you guys that they have matched and exceeded our expectations for animation here. The kind of madness at display here is nothing but pure excellence. Which is expected when you have the likes Yuya Takahashi, Yuki Hayashi, Naotoshi Shida, Yoshihiko Umakoshi, Chikashi Kobuta and Ryo Onishi pulling the strings behind the frames. All this is only possible due to Naohiro Shintani freeing us from the shackles of Tadiyoshi Yamamura who had plagued the animated series with his poor designs. As for the voice acting, while I haven't had the pleasure to hear the English cast yet I can assure fans of the Japanese version that they bring out some of their best performances yet. Especially the voice acting of Katsuhisa Hôki as Paragus, he completely knocks it out of the park with arguably the most complex character. Aya Hisakawa, who had the incredibly hard job of replacing Hiromi Tsuru was also more than adequate. Other highlights include Nana Mizuki as Cheelai and of course Masako Nozawa for multiple characters.
Overall, I am happy that Toei Animation finally took the steps necessary to evolve their most valuable series through this movie and I hope this continues in the years to come.
Dragon Ball Super Broly is one of the best animated films of the year and provides you with Akira Toriyama's trademark humor and out of this world battles, which is only taken to the next level by the fantastic direction of Tatsuya Nagamine.
