Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

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Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
File:Dragon Ball Super Hero Movie Visual.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tetsuro Kodama
Produced by Norihiro Hayashida
Screenplay by Akira Toriyama
Based on Dragon Ball
by Akira Toriyama
Starring <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Music by Naoki Satō
Production
company
Distributed by Toei Company
Release dates
 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • June 11, 2022 (2022-06-11)
Running time
 99 minutes[1]
Country Japan
Language Japanese
Box office ¥2.48 billion ($18.5 million)

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (ドラゴンボール超(スーパー) スーパーヒーロー Doragon Bōru Sūpā Sūpā Hīrō?) is a 2022 Japanese computer-animated martial arts fantasy/adventure film, directed by Tetsuro Kodama, produced by Toei Animation and written by Dragon Ball series creator Akira Toriyama. It is the twenty-first Dragon Ball feature film overall, the fourth produced with Toriyama's direct involvement, the second to carry the Dragon Ball Super branding, and the first to be produced mainly using 3D animation.[2][3] The film follows Piccolo and his former student Gohan as they go on a mission to save the world from the newly reformed Red Ribbon Army.

It was originally set for release in Japan on April 22, 2022, but was instead released on June 11 due to a cyberattack at Toei Animation.[4][5][6]

Plot

On Beerus' planet, Goku and Vegeta continue their training under Whis, now joined by Broly to help him control his rage. Meanwhile, on Earth, the revived Red Ribbon Army, led by Commander Magenta and Staff Officer Carmine, recruit Dr. Hedo, the grandson of Dr. Gero, to seek revenge against Piccolo and Gohan. Under Hedo's guidance, the Army creates two new androids, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2, to act as superheroes in the public eye. They deploy Gamma 2 to attack Piccolo, who loses the fight. Piccolo follows Gamma 2 back to the Red Ribbon Army's base and discovers that Magenta and Hedo are working on a new android named Cell Max, a new and improved version of Dr. Gero's ultimate weapon, Cell.

In order to lure Gohan into a trap, Magenta decides to kidnap his daughter Pan. A disguised Piccolo, having learned of this plan, volunteers himself for the kidnapping party, and intercepts Pan, who agrees to go along to get her father to pay attention to her. After learning that she has been "kidnapped", Gohan leaves his studies and launches a full-scale assault on the base alongside Piccolo, who has used the Dragon Balls to attain a new form dubbed "Orange Piccolo". Unleashing his "Ultimate" form, Gohan battles Gamma 1 and overwhelms him while Piccolo battles Gamma 2 using his "Orange Piccolo" form. Piccolo defeats Gamma 2 before stopping the fight between Gohan and Gamma 1. After seeing Carmine trying to kill Pan, the Gammas have a change of heart and help Gohan and Piccolo save her.

In a fit of rage, Magenta prematurely activates Cell Max, causing him to be released as a giant, rampaging monster. Hedo kills Magenta to stop this but is too late. Gohan, Piccolo and the Gammas, joined by Goten, Trunks, Android 18 and Krillin, battle Cell Max. Goten and Trunks fuse into Gotenks and, despite botching the Fusion Dance, are able to crack Cell Max's skull, revealing that he does not have a healing factor like the original Cell. Gamma 2 sacrifices himself to injure Cell Max, destroying his left forearm. Combining his "Orange Piccolo" and "Great Namekian" forms, Piccolo battles Cell Max but is ultimately defeated. This causes Gohan's inner rage to finally erupt, unlocking an evolution of his "Ultimate" form called "Gohan Beast". As Piccolo holds Cell Max in place, Gohan kills him by destroying the nucleus in his head with a supercharged Special Beam Cannon. With the battle over, Gamma 1 and Dr. Hedo renounce their evil ways and join the Capsule Corporation.

In a post-credits scene, Vegeta defeats Goku by landing a soft hit after both fighters exhausted all of their strength in their sparring match. Vegeta gloats about his victory as an awestruck Broly and Lemo look on, much to Cheelai's irritation.

Voice cast

File:Charles Martinet Photo Op GalaxyCon Richmond 2020.jpg
The English dub of Super Hero features actor Charles Martinet, pictured in 2020, as Magenta.
Character Name Japanese English[7]
Gohan Masako Nozawa Kyle Hebert
Goku Sean Schemmel
Goten Robert McCollum
Piccolo Toshio Furukawa Christopher Sabat
Vegeta Ryō Horikawa
Gamma #1 Hiroshi Kamiya Aleks Le
Gamma #2 Mamoru Miyano Zeno Robinson
Dr. Hedo Miyu Irino Zach Aguilar
Magenta Volcano Ōta Charles Martinet
Carmine Ryōta Takeuchi Jason Marnocha
Trunks Takeshi Kusao Eric Vale
Android 18 Miki Itō Meredith McCoy
Broly Bin Shimada Johnny Yong Bosch
Krillin Mayumi Tanaka Sonny Strait
Yajirobe Mike McFarland
Pan Yūko Minaguchi Jeannie Tirado
Videl Kara Edwards
Bulma Aya Hisakawa Monica Rial
Korin Ken Uo Christopher Sabat
Dende Aya Hirano Justin Cook
Shenron Ryūzaburō Ōtomo Christopher Sabat
Beerus Kōichi Yamadera Jason Douglas
Whis Masakazu Morita Ian Sinclair
Cheelai Nana Mizuki Erica Lindbeck
Lemo Tomokazu Sugita Bruce Carey
Cell Max Norio Wakamoto Dameon Clarke

Production

Production of Super Hero began before the release of Dragon Ball Super: Broly.[8] It is the first film in the franchise to be produced largely in CGI,[2][9] and the fourth to have heavy involvement from series creator Akira Toriyama, who provided the original concept and character designs. The use of CGI visuals was a decision made by Kodama, who is experienced with using them.[10]

To differentiate the movie from prior films, Piccolo and Gohan were made protagonists (as opposed to Goku and Vegeta) and the Red Ribbon Army were brought back as villains. Toriyama personally designed the characters of the Red Ribbon Army, as well as their vehicles. Kodama explained the narrative would further explore human drama, most notably the idea of Gohan being a warrior and a scholar at the same time.[10] Toriyama said that he wanted the plot to focus on the Gohan-Piccolo relationship, given Piccolo motivates Gohan to fight even more than his father, Goku.[11]

The film introduces new transformations for Gohan and Piccolo. Gohan Beast (孫 悟飯・ビースト Son Gohan Bīsuto?), a form unique to Gohan, is based on the awakening of his powers ("the wild beast", per Toriyama) as a boy. Toriyama attempted to draw Gohan Beast with a "scary face", but finding this did not fit his character, gave him upturned hair as well.[12] Orange Piccolo (オレンジ・ピッコロ Orenji Pikkoro?), which Toriyama considers Piccolo's first transformation, was made orange and extremely muscled to distinguish him from Piccolo's regular form.[13]

Hiroshi Kamiya and Mamoru Miyano voice the androids Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. Miyu Irino voices their creator, Dr. Hedo. Kamiya was surprised by his casting, as he was a fan of Miyano, and also because the two would be a duo of villains. Despite the similarities of both androids, Kamiya looked forward to potential differences in their personalities, as it would bring an element of surprise to the narrative.[14]

Marketing

A sequel to Dragon Ball Super: Broly was officially announced on May 9, 2021.[15] At 2021's San Diego Comic-Con, a short clip of Goku with the film's logo was shown, revealing its title as Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.[8] Character designs for Piccolo, Pan, Krillin, Gamma 1, and Gamma 2 were also shown, as well as the design of Piccolo's home.[16][17] The first trailer was released on October 7, 2021. The Japanese release date was announced with a new trailer at Jump Festa 2022.[3][18]

Novelization

A novelization of the film written by Masatoshi Kusakabe was released on June 14, 2022. In its first week, it sold 3,946 copies, making it the 9th-best selling light novel in Japan.[19][20] As of June 26, it had sold 10,365 copies, the 10th-most that month.[21]

Release

The film was originally scheduled to be released in Japan on April 22, 2022, but it was postponed to June 11 after Toei Animation was affected by ransomware.[5] The film was released in IMAX, 4DX, Dolby Cinema, and MX4D.[22][4][6]

Distribution

The film is distributed in Japan by Toei Company. In addition, due to the influence of Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, 20th Century Studios will no longer participated in the distribution of this work as their japanese division was dissolved on September 1, 2020, so this film will become the first part of the series to be completely independent by Toei itself since 1996's Dragon Ball: The Path to Power.[23]

Crunchyroll has announced they will distribute the film outside Japan with Sony Pictures Entertainment, except in North America, where they will release it on their own.[6][24] It will be released in theaters worldwide across August and September 2022.[24] This will be the first Dragon Ball film distributed under the Crunchyroll brand, after Sony Pictures acquired Crunchyroll in 2021 and merged it with Funimation.[25]

Reception

Box office

Japan

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero topped the Japanese box office on its debut weekend, selling about 498,000 tickets and earning around ¥670 million (about $4.98 million).[26] In its second weekend, the film's gross dropped 55% to ¥300 million (about $2.2 million), placing it second behind Top Gun: Maverick.[27][28] After 12 days of release, the film had sold over 1 million tickets.[29] In its third weekend, the film remained in second place, earning about ¥232 million (about $1.71 million) from 166,000 tickets. It had cumulatively sold 1.21 million tickets and earned about ¥1.64 billion (about $12.11 million).[30][31][32][33]

In its fourth weekend of release, Super Hero dropped to fourth place in the box office, earning about ¥155 million (about $1.13 million).[34] In its fifth weekend, the film surpassed the ¥2 billion yen ($15.04 million) mark, although it also dropped to fifth place with earnings of ¥121 million (about $879,900).[35][36][37] In its sixth weekend, Super Hero dropped to sixth place, earning about ¥72.4 million (about $523,900).[38][39] In the film's seventh weekend in theatres, it earned about ¥44.3 million (about $324,600), dropping to 8th place.[40][41]

Cumulatively, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero has earned ¥2.3 billion (about US$17.03 million), surpassing The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie to become the fourth-highest grossing Japanese anime film of 2022.[34][42][41][40]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 11 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. Filmarks, the Japanese survey firm, ranked Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero 3.98 out of 5.0 in its first weekend, behind only Teasing Master Takagi-san: The Movie. Currently, the film has a ranking of 4.0 out of 5.0.[43][44]

Richard Eisenbeis of Anime News Network gave Super Hero a B-. He noted its extensive callbacks to prior Dragon Ball moments and appreciated its exploration of Piccolo, who he considers a neglected character. He also praised the film's animation. However, Eisenbeis criticized Cell Max for being a lackluster villain.[45] Cezary Jan Strusiewicz of Polygon described the movie as nostalgic, remarking on its accessibility to casual fans and people who have never watched Dragon Ball before. Unlike Eiseinbeis, Strusiewicz disliked the animation, which he found to be unusual for the series.[46]

References

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  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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