Here’s our take on an exciting new chapter in the Dragon Ball saga. With a franchise like Dragon Ball, that’s more than just a series, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero marks a significant shift by spotlighting characters other than usual leads. Rated as one of the best anime to watch, a franchise like Dragon Ball can come with a lot of baggage, expectations from the fan, and much more.
And, the brand new Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is here to answer it all. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is directed by Tetsuro Kodama and Akira Toriyama.
Dragon Ball Super- The Plot
While the previous movie, “Broly” focused on Broly being a tragic victim of patriarchal abuse, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero focuses on the plot development of a father-soon relationship.
The movie focuses on the one-time villain- Piccolo and his son- Gohan and their relationship.
While Piccolo is quite stern, inside, he’s a total softie. The plot touches on the parental relationship between a father and his surrogate son, despite all odds. This movie can be considered as a follow up from some of the Dragon Ball series, specifically Dragon Ball’s Ribbon Army Saga, Android Saga, and Broly. These three series talk about one of the characters, Gohan, who was meant to inherit his father’s mantle of the saver of Earth, but somehow was cemented by his defeat of the cell. Offering a genius status quo shift to Gohan and his short lived spotlight, the series, however, rolled things back to Goku.
Goku’s Return in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
While this is one of the best anime to watch, Gohan’s exit from the spotlight felt more like a shame, especially considering the follow-up momentum fans had about this one particular plot.
The series involves a lot of callbacks to the OG Dragon Ball Z era, where we could see new characters taking over old lineages. We also saw Kodama and Toriyama talk about a strange web lore that connects the series with the famous video games.
Our Verdict on Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
After combining old grudges and establishing new threats in this new adaptation, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has been super accessible to new viewers who can not relate anything to the past shows. Offering a fresh aspect, the film however, decenters Goku, Broly, and Whis (who spend most of the time offscreen) and circles back to the long-time threat- battling literal cosmic gods.
Despite its critics, there’s an obvious sense of nostalgia associated with some scenes of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. The movie replays some familiar moments in a new light, shows old battles, and is ultimately impressive in how it tells the new version of its story.
Beyond just attaching the past glory with new possible threats, the movie has also done great work in terms of animation. Using 3-D computer generated animation with awesome graphic style, the series has renewed the classic era of Dragon Ball Z in a new light.