Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Review: Satisfactorily upholds the franchise legacy without exploring new territories

If pop culture icons of the world can be allegorically imagined as a huge city, with every building representing an IP, then the Dragon Ball franchise stands as a dizzyingly tall skyscraper that could be seen from any street corner. The influence of creator Akira Toriyama’s work transcends mediums and casts its ever-growing shadow upon every form of modern entertainment. However, in recent times, there were concerns that the franchise might have crumbled under the weight of its own popularity. That’s why it comes as a refreshing surprise when Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero effortlessly solidifies its pop culture prominence by doing what a Dragon Ball film does best and makes no big, sweeping efforts to prove itself. The film travels on a deceptively simple story that exudes energy and fun without straying too far away from tried and tested tropes. 

Director: Tetsurô Kodama
Written by: Akira Toriyama
Voice cast: Masako Nozawa, Toshio Furukawa, Ryō Horikawa ,Yūko Minaguchi, and Mayumi Tanaka

Red Ribbon Army is back to exact vengeance upon Goku and his gang by recruiting a boy genius named Dr Hedo, who builds two superhero androids. The androids, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2, face off with Piccolo and Gohan. The film asserts its confidence in the story by focusing heavily on Gohan and Piccolo, instead of relying on series heavyweights Goku and Vegeta. Rather than rushing through the story beats and action, the film takes its time with wholesome scenes - like where Piccolo trains Gohan’s daughter Pan, picks her up from school, and essentially babysits her throughout the film. Even though Piccolo isn’t training Gohan anymore, the brief moments that show the heartwarming master-student dynamic between them leave us wishing how it could have been explored further. 

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has everything you would expect from a competent film - Gohan and Piccolo go through their own arcs that show them handling new responsibilities, the antagonists have clear and perceptible motives, the writing stays true to the source material, and the underlying themes give the story some semblance of depth. But everything falls just short of being fully fleshed out. Take the creator of superhero androids Hedo for example... He is shown as someone obsessed with the concept of superheroes, which ends up being exploited by the cunning boss of the Red Ribbon Army. The 14-year-old Hedo gets manipulated by the head of the evil corporation into thinking his “superhero” androids are fighting to protect the world from aliens while we know that it's far from true. The film briefly indulges in commenting on the absurdity of black and white morality tales ingrained in superhero tropes. But the pace at which we are made to cross these brief moments tell us clearly that the film has no intention of exploring larger themes like the over-exploitation of the superhero genre by giant corporations. 

Humour and high voltage action have long been the strong points of the Dragon Ball franchise. The film never falters in leveraging these strengths to their fullest extent. Although, surprisingly, the makers have exercised restraint in pushing the fight sequences to their maximum possible length, which could even be considered a break from tradition for the Dragon Ball franchise. 

A collective groan could be heard all around the world every time an anime film is announced to have 3D animation, and the disapproval is not unwarranted seeing as how anime studios usually stumble to get the most out of a still developing 3D animation technology. It comes as a pleasant surprise when the animation in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero wonderfully elevates the film. The 3D animation works because it is not an upgrade for the sake of upgradation but it complements the fighting style, look of the world and the overall visual language that the franchise is known for.

Could this film be enjoyed by anyone not familiar with the Dragon Ball lore? Probably not. But seeing how we are currently inundated with franchises that force us to catch up on ten to fifteen years of content before watching a film, brushing up on the basics of this delightfully simple universe does not seem that tedious. As for someone who only had faint memories of early Dragon Ball Z episodes, watching the 2018 film Dragon Ball Super: Broly helped massively.

As for the fans, the direct involvement of creator Akira Toriyama, quirky characters, copious amounts of action, and signature humour, combine to form a pleasant wave of nostalgia that makes Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero a fun, enjoyable watch.