Official On-Going Dragon Ball Super Movie #1 Thread: "Broly"

[Zephyr]

We've had 3. Battle of Gods and RoF (movies)

What do you mean "now"? That has been the case since Dragon Ball Super started in 2015.

BoG and RoF are Z movies.

Branding doesn't mean a thing. It's still the same franchise-revival batch of Toriyama storylines.

[Grimlock]

BoG and RoF are Z movies.

So? That matters nothing.

[Mister_Popo]

I'm just afraid Super is only going to become movies. The animation is maybe better in a movie. But it does not compare with the weekly enjoyment, speculation and nostalgia of a series. A movie is only 2 1/2 hours and it's gone. You cannot speculate about how the arc goes further next week. This is a real shame, because the real Dragon Ball-fans (which are a lot) deserve a proper anime-series think. It's always been a series, why change that concept?

Is there any real hope left for a continuation of the series? Will this movie be integrated in the series? Or will they just start with episode 132 of Super or a new series without talking about this movie? The main canon has always been received an anime adaptation. I would like it to stay that way.

[TheQuazz]

All the excitement I experienced from seeing the promotional Goku image and the staff list was very quickly drained when I read Toriyama's comment: "(the movie) will give a little better understanding about Freeza and the Saiyans, which I hadn’t properly depicted up till now".

Come on, seriously!? F*cking Freeza and the Saiyans?! What more is there to tell!? Yeah sure, you never went into great detail about it in the manga Toriyama, but does any of that stuff warrant being dug up to be major plot points in a new narrative with Dragon Ball's level of storytelling?
Freeza killed all of the Saiyans but Goku, Vegeta and those two other guys. Boom. Got it. Goku (and the story) doesn't need to worry about running into any more Saiyans, and Freeza is established as a super strong guy who is connected to Goku and Vegeta so they have a reason to fight him. It doesn't need exploring and we don't need a "better understanding" of the details, the whole backstory thing has already served all purpose it could possibly have.
Even if you're of the mindset that the original manga skipped over something in terms of Freeza and the Saiyans' history, you've already got stuff that explores that! The Bardock specials and Minus exist, there's already a sizeable chunk of spin-offs dedicated to "giving a little better understanding" of this specific part of the series' lore, and that's not counting the animated filler.

Including this shit in the movie's plot is so reductive at this point, it's a continuation of the narrowing of the type of stories that Dragon Ball can tell. Dragon Ball is very close to becoming Star Wars in this sense, a new instalment can't be made without it including all the expected elements. In the case of Star Wars; Lightsabers (goodie has blue one baddie has red one), X-Wings and other familiar ships, Stormtroopers, big ships or bases that need to be destroyed, AT-AT-like walkers, endless meaningless drivel about the Light and Dark sides of the Force etc.

Dragon Ball now has its own share of stuff it can't not include; Goku (he gets a pass because he's the main character), Vegeta (but don't make his role in the story significant!), Freeza, past characters who show up for the sake of being there, past characters who are given "arcs" that either run into the ground or are constantly re-set, Beerus, Whis, the hilarious food gags, new hairstyles or "forms",
new insight about the existence of Saiyans and their limits (often related to the new "form"), endless (and often hilarious) comments about the nature of Saiyans, boring "plots" that either have no stakes or the characters act like there aren't any,
big baddie who is stronger than Goku and Vegeta so Goku and Vegeta do something to attain more strength, big boring tag-team fights against the big baddie, stupid shallow twist endings that only serve to make the story look less basic than it actually is etc.

The fact that the movie is based around Saiyan-Freeza stuff in some capacity is also a massive red flag to me that the creative process is focused on the goal of making the movie the best "product" it can be. If they're drudging up the good ol' Freeza and the Saiyans shtick, which has been proven to be the most marketable thing about Dragon Ball (see Revival F and the Universe 6 bunch), it almost certainly means they're not very committed to telling a good story, or even making an enjoyable movie. This thing's probably going to play it safe, it's going to be simple, it won't do anything Dragon Ball hasn't already done, it's going to be passable slop that everyone who likes Dragon Ball will eat up.
Maybe I have my expectations wayyy too high for a silly Japanese kids franchise that has always been about appealing to the masses, maybe the old Dragon Ball Z stuff just turned out good by chance and not by design. Either way, I'm not really looking forward to being disappointed by this movie.

But hey, I could be wrong, maybe the whole "Freeza and the Saiyans" thing will be completely incidental to a really well-made, decently written and fun Dragon Ball movie.
And it looks like the character designs will be a departure from Yamamuro's, that's something to look forward to. Anything would be better than the terrible look of post-Kai Dragon Ball, I'm getting real sick of continually having to put up with that garbage from Super most weeks. I can't even mindlessly watch Dragon Ball for the good-looking animation anymore, goddammit! Fingers crossed that I can at least enjoy this movie from a "turn your brain off and look at the pretty drawings" perspective.

[Grimlock]

but does any of that stuff warrant being dug up to be major plot points in a new narrative with Dragon Ball's level of storytelling?

If they dedicated ("wasted" is a better term) a whole movie just to bring Freeza back and kill him in the same movie, why can't they actually do something right and depict what should have already been depicted?

Freeza killed all of the Saiyans but Goku, Vegeta and those two other guys.

Oh yeah, I forgot this movie has a chance to actually show more of Tarble as well. Hopefully Toriyama remembers him and put him in this movie.

[Nevaeh]

So the new movie is called "Dragon Ball Super Movie"? That's such a lame title if true.

It'll be 'Dragon Ball Zuper Movie' ala AcrSys

[PsionicWarrior]

BoG and RoF are Z movies.

So? That matters nothing.

I thought it did... Super is the continuation of DB and starts by retelling the BoG... To me Super starts from the anime and manga, not the latest Z movies...

Come on, seriously!? F*cking Freeza and the Saiyans?! What more is there to tell!? Yeah sure, you never went into great detail about it in the manga Toriyama, but does any of that stuff warrant being dug up to be major plot points in a new narrative with Dragon Ball's level of storytelling?

I'm actually much looking forward to this, I just hope Toriyama deals with it seriously.

[Grimlock]

I thought it did... Super is the continuation of DB and starts by retelling the BoG... To me Super starts from the anime and manga, not the latest Z movies...

Then that is your continuity, how you want it to see/be. Others will see in another way. Me, for example, I take into consideration the movies instead of the retellings, this is my continuity, the way I prefer to see it.

But it's a reality that there are different continuities of the same things, all because they contradict each other and follow their own set of rules and logic. For example, in the manga Bulma says that if a day passes in the present, one day passes in the future too. This goes against the majority of the timeline as we know it. But this information was only stated in the Toyotaro's version/continuity, in Toei's one, Bulma never said that, which obviously means this is a manga-only issue and it cannot be treated as a general problem if a person does not consider the manga.

[sintzu]

To me Super starts from the anime and manga, not the latest Z movies...

It doesn't matter what those 2 movies were called, both BOG and RF are the start of the revived DB stories from Toriyama.

Seriously!? F*cking Freeza and the Saiyans?! What more is there to tell!?

The fact that the movie is based around Saiyan-Freeza stuff in some capacity is also a massive red flag to me that the creative process is focused on the goal of making the movie the best "product" it can be.

I was hoping for something new myself as modern DB has done A LOT with saiyans and Freeza but...I guess all we can do is wait and see.

When they said best product they were talking about the production side of things and based on who's working on it, it most likely will be the best DB produced piece. The story on the other hand is up in the air as we don't know anything but very basic small things. I think BOG is the best DB movie and Black the best DB villain so if we can get a mixture of that we'll be good.

Funny to think about it that GT never got a movie, but a TV Special only.

That's because GT never took off the way Super did. I think if Toei weren't as busy as they were we would've gotten one sooner.

[PsionicWarrior]

[...] which obviously means this is a manga-only issue and it cannot be treated as a general problem if a person does not consider the manga.

Well, for DB, I consider both the manga and anime to be canon on their own level, but when there is a contradiction I consider the manga is holding the truth. I also consider BoG and RoF canon. But with the anime of Super beginning and the manga on the side, I see a clear separation since both hold the same canonical 'value' if you see what I mean, and now I need to add a third layer with the upcoming movie... I can't make sense of any of it.

[jeffbr92]

Funny to think about it that GT never got a movie, but a TV Special only.

That's because GT never took off the way Super did. I think if Toei weren't as busy as they were we would've gotten one sooner.

I would be interesting to see a GT movie, but if it was a Toei take (Generic villain comes up, beats up everybody, Goku comes up and save everyone) like the original 13 Z Movies, it would be not much different from what GT is a whole

Branding doesn't mean a thing. It's still the same franchise-revival batch of Toriyama storylines.

BoG and RoF are Z movies.

So? That matters nothing.

For you guys, maybe. But they are still Z products anyway.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

This whole Freeza thing depends on what happens in the ToP finale. It could flow pretty naturally into the movie.

[Grimlock]

For you guys, maybe. But they are still Z products anyway.

No one is saying otherwise. The fact that those movies are "Z products" doesn't mean there aren't different continuities, which is the real subject we're discussing here.

[ZeroNeonix]

Whether something is Z or Super, it's just semantics. BoG and RoF were retconned with the Super series (which increased the time gap between Buu and Beerus). The next movie will continue from where the anime left off, so it's not like there is some separate movie canon that's being built along side the anime and manga continuities.

[PsionicWarrior]

it's not like there is some separate movie canon that's being built along side the anime and manga continuities.

I think this is exactly what is happening.

[Mister_Popo]

it's not like there is some separate movie canon that's being built along side the anime and manga continuities.

I think this is exactly what is happening.

You'd think as well they could switch to a movie-only-franchise? Man, that would he such as shame.

[8bitdee]

[spoiler]All the excitement I experienced from seeing the promotional Goku image and the staff list was very quickly drained when I read Toriyama's comment: "(the movie) will give a little better understanding about Freeza and the Saiyans, which I hadn’t properly depicted up till now".

Come on, seriously!? F*cking Freeza and the Saiyans?! What more is there to tell!? Yeah sure, you never went into great detail about it in the manga Toriyama, but does any of that stuff warrant being dug up to be major plot points in a new narrative with Dragon Ball's level of storytelling?
Freeza killed all of the Saiyans but Goku, Vegeta and those two other guys. Boom. Got it. Goku (and the story) doesn't need to worry about running into any more Saiyans, and Freeza is established as a super strong guy who is connected to Goku and Vegeta so they have a reason to fight him. It doesn't need exploring and we don't need a "better understanding" of the details, the whole backstory thing has already served all purpose it could possibly have.
Even if you're of the mindset that the original manga skipped over something in terms of Freeza and the Saiyans' history, you've already got stuff that explores that! The Bardock specials and Minus exist, there's already a sizeable chunk of spin-offs dedicated to "giving a little better understanding" of this specific part of the series' lore, and that's not counting the animated filler.

Including this shit in the movie's plot is so reductive at this point, it's a continuation of the narrowing of the type of stories that Dragon Ball can tell. Dragon Ball is very close to becoming Star Wars in this sense, a new instalment can't be made without it including all the expected elements. In the case of Star Wars; Lightsabers (goodie has blue one baddie has red one), X-Wings and other familiar ships, Stormtroopers, big ships or bases that need to be destroyed, AT-AT-like walkers, endless meaningless drivel about the Light and Dark sides of the Force etc.

Dragon Ball now has its own share of stuff it can't not include; Goku (he gets a pass because he's the main character), Vegeta (but don't make his role in the story significant!), Freeza, past characters who show up for the sake of being there, past characters who are given "arcs" that either run into the ground or are constantly re-set, Beerus, Whis, the hilarious food gags, new hairstyles or "forms",
new insight about the existence of Saiyans and their limits (often related to the new "form"), endless (and often hilarious) comments about the nature of Saiyans, boring "plots" that either have no stakes or the characters act like there aren't any,
big baddie who is stronger than Goku and Vegeta so Goku and Vegeta do something to attain more strength, big boring tag-team fights against the big baddie, stupid shallow twist endings that only serve to make the story look less basic than it actually is etc.

The fact that the movie is based around Saiyan-Freeza stuff in some capacity is also a massive red flag to me that the creative process is focused on the goal of making the movie the best "product" it can be. If they're drudging up the good ol' Freeza and the Saiyans shtick, which has been proven to be the most marketable thing about Dragon Ball (see Revival F and the Universe 6 bunch), it almost certainly means they're not very committed to telling a good story, or even making an enjoyable movie. This thing's probably going to play it safe, it's going to be simple, it won't do anything Dragon Ball hasn't already done, it's going to be passable slop that everyone who likes Dragon Ball will eat up.
Maybe I have my expectations wayyy too high for a silly Japanese kids franchise that has always been about appealing to the masses, maybe the old Dragon Ball Z stuff just turned out good by chance and not by design. Either way, I'm not really looking forward to being disappointed by this movie.

But hey, I could be wrong, maybe the whole "Freeza and the Saiyans" thing will be completely incidental to a really well-made, decently written and fun Dragon Ball movie.
And it looks like the character designs will be a departure from Yamamuro's, that's something to look forward to. Anything would be better than the terrible look of post-Kai Dragon Ball, I'm getting real sick of continually having to put up with that garbage from Super most weeks. I can't even mindlessly watch Dragon Ball for the good-looking animation anymore, goddammit! Fingers crossed that I can at least enjoy this movie from a "turn your brain off and look at the pretty drawings" perspective.[/spoiler]

To be fair, this could be an opportunity to redeem Frieza as a villain after the disaster of Resurrection F and the ToP.

[sangofe]

[spoiler]All the excitement I experienced from seeing the promotional Goku image and the staff list was very quickly drained when I read Toriyama's comment: "(the movie) will give a little better understanding about Freeza and the Saiyans, which I hadn’t properly depicted up till now".

Come on, seriously!? F*cking Freeza and the Saiyans?! What more is there to tell!? Yeah sure, you never went into great detail about it in the manga Toriyama, but does any of that stuff warrant being dug up to be major plot points in a new narrative with Dragon Ball's level of storytelling?
Freeza killed all of the Saiyans but Goku, Vegeta and those two other guys. Boom. Got it. Goku (and the story) doesn't need to worry about running into any more Saiyans, and Freeza is established as a super strong guy who is connected to Goku and Vegeta so they have a reason to fight him. It doesn't need exploring and we don't need a "better understanding" of the details, the whole backstory thing has already served all purpose it could possibly have.
Even if you're of the mindset that the original manga skipped over something in terms of Freeza and the Saiyans' history, you've already got stuff that explores that! The Bardock specials and Minus exist, there's already a sizeable chunk of spin-offs dedicated to "giving a little better understanding" of this specific part of the series' lore, and that's not counting the animated filler.

Including this shit in the movie's plot is so reductive at this point, it's a continuation of the narrowing of the type of stories that Dragon Ball can tell. Dragon Ball is very close to becoming Star Wars in this sense, a new instalment can't be made without it including all the expected elements. In the case of Star Wars; Lightsabers (goodie has blue one baddie has red one), X-Wings and other familiar ships, Stormtroopers, big ships or bases that need to be destroyed, AT-AT-like walkers, endless meaningless drivel about the Light and Dark sides of the Force etc.

Dragon Ball now has its own share of stuff it can't not include; Goku (he gets a pass because he's the main character), Vegeta (but don't make his role in the story significant!), Freeza, past characters who show up for the sake of being there, past characters who are given "arcs" that either run into the ground or are constantly re-set, Beerus, Whis, the hilarious food gags, new hairstyles or "forms",
new insight about the existence of Saiyans and their limits (often related to the new "form"), endless (and often hilarious) comments about the nature of Saiyans, boring "plots" that either have no stakes or the characters act like there aren't any,
big baddie who is stronger than Goku and Vegeta so Goku and Vegeta do something to attain more strength, big boring tag-team fights against the big baddie, stupid shallow twist endings that only serve to make the story look less basic than it actually is etc.

The fact that the movie is based around Saiyan-Freeza stuff in some capacity is also a massive red flag to me that the creative process is focused on the goal of making the movie the best "product" it can be. If they're drudging up the good ol' Freeza and the Saiyans shtick, which has been proven to be the most marketable thing about Dragon Ball (see Revival F and the Universe 6 bunch), it almost certainly means they're not very committed to telling a good story, or even making an enjoyable movie. This thing's probably going to play it safe, it's going to be simple, it won't do anything Dragon Ball hasn't already done, it's going to be passable slop that everyone who likes Dragon Ball will eat up.
Maybe I have my expectations wayyy too high for a silly Japanese kids franchise that has always been about appealing to the masses, maybe the old Dragon Ball Z stuff just turned out good by chance and not by design. Either way, I'm not really looking forward to being disappointed by this movie.

But hey, I could be wrong, maybe the whole "Freeza and the Saiyans" thing will be completely incidental to a really well-made, decently written and fun Dragon Ball movie.
And it looks like the character designs will be a departure from Yamamuro's, that's something to look forward to. Anything would be better than the terrible look of post-Kai Dragon Ball, I'm getting real sick of continually having to put up with that garbage from Super most weeks. I can't even mindlessly watch Dragon Ball for the good-looking animation anymore, goddammit! Fingers crossed that I can at least enjoy this movie from a "turn your brain off and look at the pretty drawings" perspective.[/spoiler]

To be fair, this could be an opportunity to redeem Frieza as a villain after the disaster of Resurrection F and the ToP.

What? Freeza's been good in the ToP. Yeah, he hasn't been a villain, but a cool character to have around.

[Hellspawn28]

I wonder why they choose to do a movie to follow up Super instead keep on having the show going?

[Gyt Kaliba]

I wonder why they choose to do a movie to follow up Super instead keep on having the show going?

I'm thinking it was at least partially about timing. They needed a place to air the new Gegege no Kitaro that's taking Super's slot, and switching to a movie rather than multiple episodes of a show would (I assume anyway) be somewhat less hectic on the animators/writers/etc. And then they've got a nice break after the movie to start working on preparing it's eventual return (again, I assume), so that they can hit the ground a little more prepared than how they did when Super first started.