The latest addition to our ever-growing “Translations” archive is a brief interview with Chikashi Kubota, animation supervisor for the new theatrical film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, from the film’s own theatrical pamphlet in Japan.

What kinds of things posed difficulties during production?
When the description came in that this would be a 3D CG film, of course I had some trepidation. But beyond that, whether in 2D or 3D, was the sense that I just wanted to keep working with Dragon Ball. When I read the script, I was incredibly excited — it reminded me of my days buying Weekly Jump and reading the latest chapter of Dragon Ball as a kid. I was like, “Wow, this is new Dragon Ball!” (laughs) With a 3D project in particular, I felt like I might be able contribute my fixation with replicating Toriyama-sensei‘s style, on top of simply rendering the characters in three dimensions. Everyone has a sense of that distinct “Toriyama quality,” and I pored over the work of previous animators and their own approaches to representing Toriyama-sensei‘s artwork to convey that in the film.