Official On-Going DBZ 2013 Movie Thread: "Battle of Gods"

[JulieYBM]

Comparing an OVA to a TV series is a bit silly, especially when that series tends to receive more talented animators and directors then its sister show, One Piece. Some of the layouts in the aforementioned OVA clip were good, but the action cuts weren't particularly exciting.

Say what you will about Toriko, but Toei actually promoting it and trying to give it a chance in light of the horrible lack of attention Dragon Ball Kai received is a Hell of a lot better then not. Ufotable wouldn't have been able to do nearly as good a job at promoting it as Toei has.

[rereboy]

Comparing an OVA to a TV series is a bit silly, especially when that series tends to receive more talented animators and directors then its sister show, One Piece. Some of the layouts in the aforementioned OVA clip were good, but the action cuts weren't particularly exciting.

Say what you will about Toriko, but Toei actually promoting it and trying to give it a chance in light of the horrible lack of attention Dragon Ball Kai received is a Hell of a lot better then not. Ufotable wouldn't have been able to do nearly as good a job at promoting it as Toei has.

I completely disagree with it not being exciting. Watch the clip with the amv for the full fight in the OVA. Its much better than Toei version in my opinion (not to mention that Toei's anime is worse later on than in that episode).

And the flaws I mentioned are EASILY fixable. A better color palette that isn't that unpleasant? Easy to do. Don't censor EVERYTHING? Easy to do. Better art and animation? Not so easy to do as the previous ones, but it would be doable to have at least slightly better art and animation.

Toei is consistently a anime company where the fact they don't even try to go the extra mile for their animes is REALLY noticeable, despite the fact that they make a lot of money with their franchises (Just Dragon Ball and One Piece are huge cash cows). They deserve the criticism.

[JulieYBM]

I watched the OVA clip. Other than an interesting camera angle during the still shots the animation isn't actually interesting. Oonishi Ryou's key animation for the Toei rendition has better timing and smoke effects.

Toriko is a long-running series that is going to run for hundreds of episodes. Nobody is going to want to buy that, so spending the money to make it look consistently great is a silly idea in this economy. The series is being done more of a service then Dragon Ball or One Piece has, with consistent doses of Tate Naoki, Shida Naotoshi, and Oonishi Ryou. It's not the kind of love Pierrot shows Bleach or Naruto, but it's a hell of a lot better then the other talent-deprived long-running titles under Toei's care. Dragon Ball had neither for its most recent TV series and whenever Shida is allowed near One Piece it is always with less resources on hand for his use.

[rereboy]

I watched the OVA clip. Other than an interesting camera angle during the still shots the animation isn't actually interesting. Oonishi Ryou's key animation for the Toei rendition has better timing and smoke effects.

Toriko is a long-running series that is going to run for hundreds of episodes. Nobody is going to want to buy that, so spending the money to make it look consistently great is a silly idea in this economy. The series is being done more of a service then Dragon Ball or One Piece has, with consistent doses of Tate Naoki, Shida Naotoshi, and Oonishi Ryou. It's not the kind of love Pierrot shows Bleach or Naruto, but it's a hell of a lot better then the other talent-deprived long-running titles under Toei's care. Dragon Ball had neither for its most recent TV series and whenever Shida is allowed near One Piece it is always with less resources on hand for his use.

I'm not saying that its animation and art are the holy grail. I'm saying that overall they are better than Toei's version. Add to that the better color pallete and no censorship and some other few details -> way better Toriko anime.

And I don't really buy the money justification. Toei is one of the best known studios with some of the best well known and lucrative anime franchises. And yet other studios seem to do better at creating higher quality animes of long running manga series, even if they have to animate part of the series first and then animate a second part of the series some time later and so on.

It just seems that Toei is much more profit orientated than other studios and does a worse job at giving actual quality to its animes. The fact that you say that the Toriko anime is a lot better than "other talent-deprived long-running titles under Toei's care" just confirms how really bad it is since the Toriko anime utterly fails at being nearly as good as the manga.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

I recently started the Toriko anime (I'm in Ep. 72), and I love it (it's plot sounds uninteresting, but it gets better & better after each arc, and it's far, far, faaa~aaar better than it sounds to be). I haven't seen anything from the manga, but I watched the OVA first and then watched Episode 1, and thank god I did that. I wasn't very excited when I started watching the OVA, but when Toriko destroyed the Galala Gator, I was amazed, but when I watched Episode 1, I was disappointed. Which is why I didn't start with the manga, so that the anime won't disappoint me with the censorship. So, I really like the anime, and I'm looking forward to start the manga to get the full experience.

[dbgtFO]

The whole thing about the 12 universes seems to be building up to another movie, where it will be elaborated upon. Perhaps some powerful guy will appear from one of the other universes trying to destroy everything creating a crisis of some sort?
Maybe they could call it Dragon Ball Multiv... wait.

My notes on the film:

1. Continuity: The events of Battle of Gods takes place roughly 5 years after the battle with Buu in other words 5 years before the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai. This falls well in line with Bulma's statement in chapter 517, that she last saw Goku 5 years ago.

2. Ultimate Gohan and Super Saiyan Gohan: So it's finally revealed that Gohan can still become a Super Saiyan, but he fights in his "ultimate" state, which falls in line with my view, that going Super Saiyan would now be weaker than going to his "ultimate" state.

3. Connection with previous work: I like the fact that the events of the 2008 special "Heya! Son Goku and friends return!" seems to actually have taken place in this new continuity with Tarble getting a mention.

4. Vegeta's rage boost: I don't like the idea of Vegeta surpasssing Goku with his rage boost, without attaining Super Saiyan 3. It just seems to go against the normal progression of their Super Saiyan powers in the series.

5. Godly ki: It's established that the normal characters can't sense the ki of a god(both Beerus and SS God Goku), which is a detail I really like as I think that would fall in line with Kaioshin never actually having his ki detected by anyone, but Kibito(after he was revived). Do correct me if I'm wrong.

6. The new characters: The God of Destruction is underwhelming. He may be super powerful and all, but he isn't exactly an exciting character, because he doesn't really seem like a villain or anything, he's actually friendly and humble until he loses his cool and decides he will destroy the World. The only interesting bit aout Whis is, that he's stronger than Beerus.

7: Fight scenes: The final fight is very good, however I didn't like that Goku and Beerus looking like video game models at some point, which just looked stupid. Also the music was pretty meh. I don't like it, when songs can be heard more than the actual characters.

All in all I wasn't particularly excited, when I saw the movie. I feel it lacks a bit of intensity due to its light-hearted plot. It all seems to be leading into another movie/story arc, where the other 11 universes will be elaborated upon rather than this being the main thing. It seems that there should be more than just this, that's the feeling I'm left with. Since they apparently made a good deal of Money on the movie, I'm expecting them to make more.

NB: Also I do Wonder, what happened in the other timelines. Considering Future Trunks' Earth was still around, Beerus seems to have done nothing of note after finding out there is no Super Saiyan God around. Perhaps he ends up killing Babidi and co. in the other timelines just out of shere boredom?

[Hellspawn28]

I guess in Trunks/Cell timeline that Beerus does not bother to come to Earth since he finds out that Goku is dead and the other Z fighters are gone as well. If you want to throw GT into the mix, Dr. Myu and his mutant machines are still around. I think Beerus could easily defeated Bebi if he's that big of a threat to the Universe.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

1. Continuity: The events of Battle of Gods takes place roughly 5 years after the battle with Buu in other words 5 years before the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai. This falls well in line with Bulma's statement in chapter 517, that she last saw Goku 5 years ago.

AGE 778 is the official year. So, only 4 years after Buu.

6. The new characters: The God of Destruction is underwhelming. He may be super powerful and all, but he isn't exactly an exciting character, because he doesn't really seem like a villain or anything, he's actually friendly and humble until he loses his cool and decides he will destroy the World. The only interesting bit aout Whis is, that he's stronger than Beerus.

That's exactly why he's a great character? He's basically just doing his job. He doesn't need to be a villain, just an antagonist. Otherwise, he's extremely likable, has depth and is fun to have around. Same with Whis.

NB: Also I do Wonder, what happened in the other timelines. Considering Future Trunks' Earth was still around, Beerus seems to have done nothing of note after finding out there is no Super Saiyan God around. Perhaps he ends up killing Babidi and co. in the other timelines just out of shere boredom?

Goku is dead, but he still has a body. He could have still went an interacted with him in the afterlife, but since it's highly unlikely that there were 5 other pure hearted Saiyans with their bodies, he was likely disappointed. Maybe he had a bit of a tantrum and then just went back to bed...?

[KentalSSJ6]

That reminds me, has anything been said how the gods such as King Kai, the Kaioshin, and Beerus function with the alternate timelines? Do they have dominion over all of them or is there a King Kai and Beerus for each timeline?

[JeffJarrett]

That reminds me, has anything been said how the gods such as King Kai, the Kaioshin, and Beerus function with the alternate timelines? Do they have dominion over all of them or is there a King Kai and Beerus for each timeline?

There is one for each timeline in Shin Budokai - Another Road.

About Beerus in Future Trunks' timeline, he might just not have the prophetic dream of a Super Saiyan God and the Oracle Fish didn't predicted anything about a strong opponent either. Or this strong opponent is Future Trunks in this timeline, or Future Gohan if Shin Budokai - Another Road is considered canon.

[Hellspawn28]

Shin Budokai 2 can't be canon since it been stated in the Daizenshuu that Majin Buu never hatch in Trunks timeline due to lack of ki for Babidi to restore him back to life. The events in that game makes everything in impossible to happen. Also you have Broli, Janemba and Coola where those guys can't fit because of the movies. Shin Budokai 2's story is god awful and it felt like it was written by a middle school student for creative written class.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Shin Budokai 2 can't be canon since it been stated in the Daizenshuu that Majin Buu never hatch in Trunks timeline due to lack of ki for Babidi to restore him back to life. The events in that game makes everything in impossible to happen. Also you have Broli, Janemba and Coola where those guys can't fit because of the movies. Shin Budokai 2's story is god awful and it felt like it was written by a middle school student for creative written class.

Shin Budokai 2 came out 10 years after the Daizenshuu, and the bad story (opinion) doesn't affect the canonicity of something.

But the story is officially called a what-if already, so there isn't much room for it to be "canon".

[TheDevilsCorpse]

About Beerus in Future Trunks' timeline, he might just not have the prophetic dream of a Super Saiyan God and the Oracle Fish didn't predicted anything about a strong opponent either.

With all the timelines that are relevant to the Cell Arc being copies of each other till at least Freeza's defeat, he should have had the exact same dream since it would have occurred years before the splits.

[Hellspawn28]

I would take a fact from an outdated data book over a story mode from a video game. The people who made SB2 were not apart of AT's staff.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

I guess when Beerus woke up, he told Whis to check for the remaining Saiyans, and only saw Gohan & little untrained Trunks. Maybe he even went to check Gohan, saw that he wasn't strong, and left the Earth without destroying it because nothing annoyed him.

[NitroEX]

I finally watched Battle of Gods last night and overall I thought it was an enjoyable film and I liked all the references to past events and characters. A couple things I think were a bit of a let down was the way characters got such huge power boosts, it all seemed too contrived and yes, I do know that the series and manga did similar things too but I kinda expected them to learn from their mistakes and pull out something new in a big budget film like this. And by "new" I don't mean new transformations like Super Saiyan God. I felt like there should have been unexpected moments during the fight that blew us away like when Goku used the IT Kamehameha against Cell, that was the type of cool shocking moment that this film needed cause the fight wasn't anything we hadn't seen before.

Also there was a lot of explaining and exposition being done which got annoying after a while. I wish they would have just trusted the audience to know what's going on focus more on and fighting or humour.

[dbgtFO]

AGE 778 is the official year. So, only 4 years after Buu.

Huh, so that means they could get make another movie set in this age or the next without it contradicting what Bulma said.
Good to know.

That's exactly why he's a great character? He's basically just doing his job. He doesn't need to be a villain, just an antagonist. Otherwise, he's extremely likable, has depth and is fun to have around. Same with Whis.

Maybe, but it's that character that ends up giving this movie no proper tension in my opinion, which I felt it needed.

Goku is dead, but he still has a body. He could have still went an interacted with him in the afterlife, but since it's highly unlikely that there were 5 other pure hearted Saiyans with their bodies, he was likely disappointed. Maybe he had a bit of a tantrum and then just went back to bed...?

I'd imagine that. Perhaps Naho Ooishi could make a short story on that just to clear up the loose ends.
I really think the events of the alternate timelines could be explored a bit more. I have my own ideas of what could have happened, but it'll be nice to see something official about it, even if it's just a funny little short comic.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Anyone else think that the actor who voiced Beerus did a phenomenal job? I'll admit I'm pretty ignorant on the whole Japanese side of DBZ, and watching BoG in Japanese was certainly an experience in itself, and it took me some time to get used to the Japanese cast (especially Goku) but I warmed up to Beerus pretty much from the get go. This is pretty much my Kudos to the VA of Beerus .

[Gyt Kaliba]

Well, Yamadera has played quite a few iconic parts over a long period of time (and he's not even really that old either, I don't think), so yeah, he's definitely an all-star guy who can be quite wowing. I'm still sort-of warming up to his Zenigata in Lupin myself though.

He really did do a great job as Beerus though, so I'm hoping the dub can follow suit with a great performance.

And then there's the insanity that he's Japanese Donald Duck. I don't...wha...I...

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Well, Yamadera has played quite a few iconic parts over a long period of time (and he's not even really that old either, I don't think), so yeah, he's definitely an all-star guy who can be quite wowing. I'm still sort-of warming up to his Zenigata in Lupin myself though.

He really did do a great job as Beerus though, so I'm hoping the dub can follow suit with a great performance.

I was just thinking that exact same thing the other day, I honestly don't know what english VA i'd pick to play Beerus, but I'll put my faith in FUNI they always or most of the time pick the right guys, and with Sabat involved I'm sure they will. How about Sabat as Beerus? Or would that be too much Sabat overkill