Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

Note: This review contains spoilers for Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

While Dragon Ball remains a popular franchise, due in part to the franchise’s second wind in the wake of the success of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, the newer films had more of a focus on the characters Goku and Vegeta at the expense of just about everyone else. This would change with Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (Super Hero), which released in 2022 to critical acclaim and became the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, as well as the first one independently distributed by Toei following the Disney/Fox merger. Apart from a switch to CG animation in place of traditional, the film would also focus on the relationship between Gohan and Piccolo and revisit the Red Ribbon Army as antagonists. Although we admittedly still haven’t seen the original Dragon Ball (DB), we still found ourselves enjoying the film and its welcome change in focus.

Galaxy Express 999

Though Leiji Matsumoto is a popular mangaka and anime director, I will admit the only work of his that I was familiar with for the longest time was his collaboration with Daft Punk, Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, based on the band’s Discovery album. Aside from that, Matsumoto also has a number of works, either his creation or with his direction, that share a universe with an overarching space setting known by fans as the Leijiverse (Intertsella 5555 being one exception). Among these that I’m more aware of are Space Battleship Yamato, Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Galaxy Express 999; the last of these was a manga by Matsumoto that was adapted into an anime that itself received a more compressed film adaptation directed by Rintaro, which I recently decided to watch. Without having seen the source material, I thought the movie was overall really good, though there were some minor nitpicks that bothered me a little.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly

Note: The following review contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Super.

Since Broly’s first introduction in Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan, he has become a popular, if divisive, character among fans. After 25 years and two prior movies, Broly is the subject of a new movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which not only sees him reinterpreted by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, but also officially inserted into the Dragon Ball canon, following the events of Dragon Ball Super. Following a recent theatrical screening of the official English release, we can safely say that this film’s version of Broly is significantly improved in just about every way.

Following the Tournament of Power, Universe 7 has returned to a peaceful state. With the knowledge of stronger fighters in other Universes, Goku (Sean Schemmel) continually trains with Vegeta (Christopher Sabat) so that he can better fight them in the future. During a sparring session, six of the seven Dragon Balls are stolen from Bulma’s (Monica Rial) lab by members of the Frieza Force, which leads them to travel to the Arctic to retrieve the final Ball before Frieza (Christopher Ayres) can. When they reach their destination, however, they are forced to fight a Saiyan named Broly (Vic Mignogna), who turns out to be their strongest adversary yet.

The story is somewhat complex, though pretty easy to follow. The first part of the movie explores the origins of the Saiyans and their relationship with Frieza, specifically the events surrounding the destruction of Planet Vegeta and what led up to it. We also see the new origin story for Broly and his father, Paragus (Dameon Clarke), which provides a better motivation and context for their actions while tying them into the Dragon Ball timeline pretty seamlessly. However, there is somewhat of a pacing issue when the backstory shows Bardock (Sonny Strait), since his attempt to defend Planet Vegeta occurs very quickly after protecting his son, Goku, by sending him off-world.

When the story gets to the present day, it moves along at a better pace. It doesn’t waste too much time to get to the confrontation with Broly, but it spends enough time to properly flesh him out into a more three-dimensional character with his own personality and desires that clash heavily with what Paragus wants from him. This helps to make Broly more sympathetic and provide a deeper motivation for his anger-induced fighting abilities. Once the fight with Broly begins, the movie follows a similar trend from Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan where the majority of the remaining runtime is spent on the fight. Unlike the original Broly movie, however, the fight is more of a tense back-and-forth, with a couple major scenery changes, that escalates to a climactic finish that, in the end, feels earned.

Broly (Vic Mignogna, left) in a fight with Vegeta (Christopher Sabat, right).

As for the animation, it’s quite simply the best that Dragon Ball media has to offer. A bump in quality is to be expected from a movie with a higher budget than a typical anime episode, but the difference is spectacular here. Largely due to a change in character designer, with Naohiro Shintani replacing Tadayoshi Yamamuro after a decades-long run on the franchise, the designs are more animation-friendly, which allows the fights to be animated with unprecedented fluidity. Even outside of the fight scenes, the vivid color palette helps everything pops off the screen as a visual feast for the eyes.

During the actual fights, every movement is very fluid and the animation is highly consistent while still retaining the feeling of hand-drawn animation. There’s a portion of the fight against Broly that’s rendered in CG, but the stylized approach to it, seemingly inspired by Dragon Ball FighterZ, helps it blend in to the point where it’s hardly noticeable. Energy moves are very flashy and in a greater abundance than Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan, but does nothing to remove the tension of the fight. In fact, I felt a chill while witnessing Broly’s new transformation sequence, as the animation was able to perfectly capture the pure rage that built up within him throughout the fight.

Paragus (Dameon Clarke) as portrayed in Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

Of course, the English voice acting is the best I’ve heard yet for the returning characters, as the same voice actors have been playing them for over 20 years. Having seen Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan beforehand, there was an especially noticeable improvement in Vic Mignogna’s portrayal of Broly and Dameon Clarke’s portrayal of Paragus, the latter of which sounded much less stiff and more emotive than before. I also liked the voices of the newly introduced characters, including Erica Lindbeck as Cheelai and Bruce Carey as Lemo, as they seemed to fit the characters.

If there’s one real criticism, it would be that Goku and Vegeta don’t really have a character arc to speak of. Apart from some character development for Goku at the very end, neither of them really changes in any significant way. However, since this film placed a lot of emphasis on fleshing out Broly as a character, one could argue that this was really less of a “Goku” or “Vegeta” movie and (fittingly enough) more of a “Broly” movie.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly is, simply put, the best Dragon Ball film I’ve ever seen (even if I haven’t seen very many). The story and development of Broly are both a vast improvement over Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan and the animation shows just how far the franchise has come and how far it could continue to go with a new character designer and animator at the helm. This is a must-see for Dragon Ball fans, especially if you’ve also seen Dragon Ball Super or are a fan of Broly in general. Though the story is written in a way that could potentially be viewed on its own, it’s still not completely penetrable for those unfamiliar with Dragon Ball. That said, if you’re in that camp, I’d still recommend it on the animation and character of Broly alone.

One Piece Film: Gold

In case you’re unfamiliar with One Piece, it’s a long-running series about a boy named Monkey D. Luffy who assembles a motley crew of pirates who wish to fulfill their dreams as he sets sail across the ocean to find the legendary One Piece and become King of the Pirates. The lasting popularity of One Piece has spawned a large amount of tie-in material, including merchandise, video games and movies. The thirteenth movie, One Piece Film: Gold, is the latest of these movies and the English dub received a limited theatrical run in America. While I haven’t kept up on much of anything outside of the main series, I decided to take this unique chance to see One Piece on the big screen.

Following the events of the Dressrosa Arc, the Straw Hat Pirates are flat broke. In the hopes of making some money, the crew arrive on Gran Tesoro, a floating island and independent country resembling Las Vegas. As the crew indulges in a huge winning streak, the country’s ruler and main entertainer, Gild Tesoro (Keith Silverstein), shows his true colors after he forces Luffy (Colleen Clinkenbeard) to lose all of their money in an all-or-nothing gamble and imprisons the Straw Hat crew member Roronoa Zoro (Chris Sabat) within pure gold. To prevent Zoro’s execution, the crew must now figure out how to repay their debt before 12:00 the next night.

Gild Tesoro (Keith Silverstein) rules Gran Tesoro with the power of the Gold-Gold Fruit.

Although the story is non-canon, it does a good job keeping One Piece fans entertained throughout. The story is pretty straightforward, although the third act muddies itself a little amidst several reveals of double- and triple-crosses and outright deception (managing to make plans before someone else’s plans). Certain elements also echo previous One Piece arcs, though this doesn’t detract from the enjoyability as the movie is able to weave these ideas together into an engaging whole. However, viewers who aren’t One Piece fans may easily find themselves lost in places without some sort of primer, as the main characters aren’t explained in any form apart from their names and bounties. This extends to Gild Tesoro, who has a simultaneously simple and complex motivation, although a bit of iconography present in his backstory would only make sense to longtime fans.

That said, the animation is very smooth and visually impressive in its blending of traditional and minimal CG elements. The character models all look more impressive than their television counterparts, likely due to the movie having a higher budget, and the abundant amounts of gold are all very well-rendered, which certainly helps with illustrating Gild Tesoro’s power to manipulate gold. By extension, the impressive animation also makes the climactic battles a visual spectacle. The generally bright color palette of the series is also complimented by lighting which helps with balancing and highlighting the serious and comedic aspects of the story. Particularly observant One Piece fans may also notice Easter eggs in the form of cameo appearances by characters from previous arcs.

One Piece Film: Gold is easy to recommend to One Piece fans, as it is a very entertaining filler movie with an engaging story and a one-off villain with a surprising amount of backstory. The animation and fight scenes are also impressive and the humor is a good contrast to the relatively serious tone. Viewers who weren’t fans to begin with may not enjoy it as deeply, but with the right primer from a fan, they might have an easier time swallowing the main concepts and following along with the plot, though they may still get lost in places.

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem

Allow me to preface this review by saying that I am a big fan of the French House duo Daft Punk. I discovered this group around the release of the first DJ Hero, which lead me to listen to what their songs sound like unmixed. I ended up enjoying what I was hearing, exposing me to an entire music genre (Electronica) and have been exploring the realms of that genre, and Daft Punk memorabilia, ever since. As I was exploring Daft Punk's backlog, I discovered that their second album, Discovery, was adapted into an anime film released in 2003, the subject of this review. I remember liking it when I first saw it, and with the release of Daft Punk's fourth studio album, Random Access Memories, coming up, I decided it would be appropriate to review this film as a celebration of sorts. Now without further ado, let's take a look at Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem.

After a few briefs clips of Leiji Matsumoto speaking about the movie, the story begins on a distant planet populated by blue-skinned humanoids, most of whom are enjoying a rock band made up of four of their kind playing the song "One More Time", including the planetary defense unit. Meanwhile, a mysterious spaceship begins to spy on the planet, deploying groups of soldiers to kidnap the band. The soldiers prove to be successful, leading the defense force to send a distress signal to another, similar alien (named Shep in supplemental material), leading him to chase the mysterious craft back to Earth where he crashes. It is then shown that the alien band is being altered to resemble humans more closely, to the point where their memories are altered as well.

One thing I like about Interstella 5555 is that it manages to tell a coherent story featuring likable characters, interesting plot twists, and a number of emotional scenes, all without having any spoken dialogue whatsoever. Any "dialogue" to be found here comes from lip-syncing the characters' mouths to the music when there is any singing, but even then it doesn't happen that often. Even though there isn't any dialogue to give the characters a personality, the personality is all in their body language, somehow being enough to get you to feel for what the character is going through. This movie does have its own villain, but without any spoken word to make you get that they're the villain, the body language and animation are enough to get across their motivations and evil nature, which is truly spectacular for this movie and helps make them more memorable.

The main characters in their original form (from left): Octave, Baryl, Arpegius, Stella

The animation itself is spectacularly pulled off, being timed masterfully to the background music and managing to display any character's entire personality and emotional range. Leiji Matsumoto and the animators at Toei Animation did an amazing job especially with the more emotional scenes in the movie and getting you to care about the characters on-screen. I often found myself fascinated by what part of the visuals was timed to what part of the song (in a good way) and I especially praise the timing of the opening scene of the bands playing their song as it times perfectly with the music (something the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse would later pull off with good results). The character designs are also nice to look at, being fairly realistic with just enough cartoonish/anime elements to be visually appealing and not uncanny.

The background music, primarily being Daft Punk's Discovery album, fits well with the story presented in the movie, written by Daft Punk (Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo), Leiji Matsumoto, and Cédric Hervet; or is it that the story fits well with the music? Whatever the case, Daft Punk's album provides the perfect background for the movie, which I don't think could have worked very well without it. Discovery as an album is enjoyable by itself, and if you don't like it upon first listen, this movie might give you a new perspective on it.

Thomas Bangalter (left) and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (right)

Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem is not only an enjoyable anime film, it is one of the best animated features I have ever seen. The animation manages to things that most movies would need dialogue for and pulls it off splendidly while letting the music speak for itself. I'm not sure I would let a small child watch this movie, given that the story contains one or two heavy concepts as part of the plot. This movie may require an extra viewing to see the more minor details of the plot, but once you do it becomes easier to understand. I would consider this movie required viewing for Daft Punk and anime fans, though people who aren't that into either may want to think about giving it a shot anyway.