Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Review

The Dragon Ball franchise is an almighty media franchise from Japan. There have been many anime series, anime movies, manga, and video games. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is the second film based on the Dragon Ball Super anime series.

Magenta (Charles Martinet) wants revenge against Piccolo (Christopher Sabat) and Gohan (Kyle Hebert) after they defeated the Red Ribbon Army. Magenta recruits Dr. Hedo (Zach Aguilar) to make powerful androids to defeat the powerful beings. Piccolo and Gohan are forced into action once again.

Dragon Ball is extremely popular amongst anime fans, hence why it has lasted for nearly 40 years. Yet to newcomers the franchise seems impenetrable, even with the various reboots. Super Hero needed to open with a massive info dump that told the story of the Red Ribbon Army, Dr. Gero and his work making androids, and Dr. Gero’s ultimate creation, Cell. Yet the story of the film can be summed as a villain who wants revenge and world domination and the heroes must stop them.

A newcomer could follow the film easily enough. The film focuses on a small set of characters like Piccolo, Gohan, and Gohan’s daughter Pan (Jeannie Tirado). Other major characters like Goku and Beerus were side-lined for most of the film. There were moments in the film that would lead to a ’what the hell is going on’ reaction, but a go-with-the-flow attitude would suffice for casual viewers.

Super Hero aimed to be a big action spectacle and it does that successfully. The second half of the film was relentless to the point it was exhausting. I was worn out just watching it. There was a lot going on because characters were flying around, performing martial arts in mid-air, and shooting energy blasts. As a fan of the Matrix Trilogy I can see how Dragon Ball influenced the final fight in The Matrix Revolutions.

Super Hero needed some terrific animation to make the action work and the film manages that. There was a flow to the fights when they were conducted in the air. Punches and kicks were impactful, especially when Piccolo and Gohan had to fight the Gamma androids. When laymen think of anime their thoughts will turn to something like this.

Super Hero was also a funny film. There were some genuinely good jokes and visual humour throughout the film. Piccolo was particularly funny because he was a short-tempered male who got put upon by those close to him who took advantage of him. Piccolo had to disguise himself to infiltrate the Red Ribbon lair and he was prepared to embarrass himself to get the necessary intelligence.

The two androids in the film were called Gamma #1 (Aleks Le) and Gamma #2 (Zeno Robinson). There were equally powerful and looked similar. However, they had different personalities. Gamma #1 was the serious one, whilst Gamma #2 was lighter-hearted and cocky. Both characters had a moral code and Gamma #2 was willing to throw himself into danger. Gamma #2 was how I pictured Sonic the Hedgehog being produced in video games or an animated series and I could imagine Robinson voicing the character. Gamma #2 was given more attention than Gamma #1.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was mostly an action-fest and as an action-fest it was a fun experience. The simple story allowed newcomers to jump aboard without much prior knowledge whilst long-time fans will enjoy all the references.