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

[Lord Beerus]

Hate to make this a separate post but I didn't want my previous message to become too cluttered.

As far as the whole "I will not let you destroy my world!" line from Goku in the dub, I thought it executed better than the "Don't enjoy destruction!" from the original Japanese version. Both lines are a bit cheesy but I thought Sean delivered that scene overall much better than Nozawa. Sean also put a lot on emotion into that scene as supposed to Nozawa which sounds a little monotone. And the line "I will not let you destory my world!" actually fits better within the context of the fight as prior to Goku arriving at the party, the world was about to be destroyed.

Deny me pudding motherfuckers!? I'll teach you!

For the sake of comparison:
- Here is the scene in Japanese
- Here is the scene in English

[El Diabeetus]

Sean's delivery was well done, but that line sounds off for Goku (will not rather than then contraction) and is a case of trying to fit to many words into a mouth flap too fast.

[MarcFBR]

Dragon Ball Z Battle Of Gods does sensational numbers on DVD and Blu-Ray.

For the Week Ending October 12, 2014:
- Battle Of Gods debuted 15th on the US DVD chart and sold 24,589 units
- Battle Of Gods debuted 5th on the US Blu-Ray chart and sold 62,146 units.
- Battle Of Gods sold a combined total of 86,735 units on both Blu-Ray and DVD. Outperforming Godzilla, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Frozen in terms of units sold in that week and generating a profit so far of $2,366,960.

And they say anime is niche.

It is, you just happen to ignore a few things. Cap was already in it's 5th week, Godzilla in it's 4th, Frozen and Hunger Games were past 30, and Amazing Spider-Man 2 was in it's 8th. (You also fail to mention that Edge of Tomorrow was number 1, it outsold BoG on Blu-ray almost 6 to 1, a film that was marketed so poorly, they actually pseudo-changed it's name on Blu-ray in an attempt to distance itself from it's rather poor theatrical showing.)

But in all seriousness, this is fantastic news for Funimation, 20th Century Fox and Toei. Even by the immense status that Dragon Ball Z has in the US, these are sensational numbers. Hopefully, this lead will to the the 2015 Dragon Ball Z movie being released in English in shortly after its released in Japan. I mean Battle Of Gods did some damn good numbers despite its limited release in the US. C'mon 20th Century Fox, the numbers are there. Dragon Ball Z is still a big draw in the theaters, give the 2015 movie the widescreen release it deserves.

It's good (qualifier coming up) for (there we go) anime. We saw the theatrical numbers DBZ had, which was good for a limited anime release, but they couldn't even fill up the theaters they had past the initial day (and more than a few people reported theaters that weren't full the first day.)

For the sake of comparison:
- Dragon Ball Z Wrath Of The Dragon sold 50,418 units in its first week
- Dragon Ball Z Remastered Season 1 sold 48,393 units in its first week
- Dragon Ball Z Remastered Season 6 sold 37,263 units in its first week

And these numbers were all during the "Anime Boom" of North America and when Dragon Ball was arguably at the peak of its popularity in the US.

That partially ignores the fact that the season sets actually sold ludicrous numbers through stores that don't report numbers (and the season sets were actually after the contraction had started, right before the bottom fell out, which largely did not affect franchises like DBZ, as they always sold to non anime fans in the first place.) Wrath of the Dragon performed about as well as you'd expect considering just how much DBZ stuff was available. Battle of Gods actually has an interesting advantage in that while there are still plenty of disks coming out, there isn't just a mass glut of products.

I do also find it very interesting that Attack on Titan, which has become white hot in terms of popularity in the US only did a fraction of the numbers Battle Of Gods did on Blu-Ray:
- Part 1 sold 11,750 units in its first week
- Part 2 sold 10,290 units in its first week

I expected AOT to do a lot better than that.

Did you really? AoT is a big seller among anime, and as we've established, DBZ does psychotically well for anime (And those numbers still likely put AoT in the top 10 of anime for the year.)

But I digress, way to go Battle Of Gods!

Battle of Gods did very well, for anime (exceptionally well even,) and no doubt deserves that thumbs up, but the numbers you've put together are basically cherry picked and given to make it sound like it did even better than it did.

It did roughly as well as you'd expect a second tier DTV to do. Amazing numbers for anime, but no one is going to sit up and take notice (as an example, the worst performing DC DTV that I'm aware of is Superman Unbound, which was advertised poorly, people weren't 100% sure when it was coming out, etc. and it still outsold Battle of Gods.)

Anime is a niche thing, there is nothing wrong with that.

Of course, if you really wanna look at numbers... just remember... Evolution sold better than Battle of Gods on week 1 (over 100k copies.)

[NintendoBlaze53]

Oh my God! Is that how they translated "Don't enjoy destruction!" as "I will not let you destroy my world!". I havent seen the movie yet cause Australia and all that, but... I have no words. Of all the ways Funi could go about it they make Son like Superman again cause this is MERICA'. Kai was this close to getting Son Goku back to being Son Goku and then this. They can fix Freeza but refuse to fix Son. Funimation are great at dubs and script writing most of the time nowadays, so why are we holding on to a decade old idea of DB. They can make One Piece a perfect adaption yet not Dragon Ball? The thing is it's just Goku, everyone else is an adaption of the Japanese version to english keeping the original character traits. Yet Funi refuse to fix Goku and make his character like the original. They are too afraid of alienating the US fans that they are alienating the fans of actual Dragon Ball.

That was probably the worst line in the whole movie for me, it was just so embarassingly superman-esc "ally-to-good" moment when I heard it. I intantly thought it sounded weird. "My" world? When does Goku ever claim the Earth as "his"? Didnt Goku just only stand for fair sportsmanship when he fights? Being against killing bystanders isn't the same as destroying a percieved symbolized ideology. I wish Funimation would realize this. Goku doesn't protect people in obligation, he just doesn't believe in instigating casualties.
Though the bigger issue I had for it was that it played out as so much of a mouthful for Goku within the shot, it sounded way too rushed out in result. I honestly thought it was because it was like some sort of exact sub-line he said in the japanese versionthat they didnt change to keep fans happy but if Goku never actually that; then... terrible rewrite. I also got the feeling they were really trying to exaggerate the meaning of "God" from it. The entire advertisement for the movie made it bigger than it was intented to be for Goku.

While the line seems a little off considering how humbled it was said, I think it's much better than "Don't enjoy destruction!" That sounds more Superman-like than anything else in the dub of BoG

Its more of a general statement though. He could just say "You cant destroy this Planet!" or "You cant blow up the Earth!" as in repulsion to the action itself rather than the presumed symbolic meaning of what Funimation tried to imply with their line.

Sean's delivery was well done, but that line sounds off for Goku (will not rather than then contraction) and is a case of trying to fit to many words into a mouth flap too fast.

These are pretty much what I was trying to say. It got me thinking, why is Beerus so threataning? He never killed anyone, we never see him destroy a planet the size of earth on screen. Why is Goku so "I will protect my earth"? Just food for thought. Beerus was only looking for the SSG so he got what he wanted, what reason did he have to destroy earth after Goku achieved God form and gave him a good match?

[Gonstead]

These are pretty much what I was trying to say. It got me thinking, why is Beerus so threataning? He never killed anyone, we never see him destroy a planet the size of earth on screen. Why is Goku so "I will protect my earth"? Just food for thought. Beerus was only looking for the SSG so he got what he wanted, what reason did he have to destroy earth after Goku achieved God form and gave him a good match?

Unless Goku had stepped in, Beerus was pretty much literally going to destroy the planet. Hell, he was already charging up the finishing move by the time the pudding incident happened. Even then, he was getting into the mood when Gohan deflected the bullet that hit him in the forehead earlier.

So yes, Beerus did intend to destroy the Earth for no other good reason than to be hissy over his prophetic dream not coming to fruition and Goku knew that this was a fight he couldn't just play around with the villain. If he loses, kiss the Earth goodbye.

[NintendoBlaze53]

So the Destruction line had holes but this change is stupid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h48Ru0-RJII
Goku says at 4:14 "I can't let that blast hit the earth". He said nothing like that in the Japanese version. In the Japanese he says "I can take that!". THIS is the biggest Ally to Good kinda change. He shows no concern for the Earth in the original, he think HE can deflect the blast as a part of the fight. While in the Dub he clearly is caring about the Earth more than Beerus. Out of character for the fight he is in right now. Sure he will want to protect the earth but i bet Goku had no idea the Earth was right behind him. But is gets worse. At 5:25 the conversation progresses as "This energy blast, it's gonna do major damage and I can't stop it" "Then give up and accept your planet's fate" not much wrong except in the Japanese version it goes like "The biggest problem is there's still a huge gap in strength between us!" "Then give up and accept you defeat" COMPLETELY different meaning in the dialogue. Dub is all about the destruction of Earth while the original is all about the fight and their power. Sure Goku's defeat would lead to the destruction of Earth but the dub paints it in black and white as it is the only thing that matters. The original has the same thing after that with Goku absorbing the blast to protect his friends, not Earth itself. This wins Beerus over and Earth is saved.

[Vegard Aune]

So the Destruction line had holes but this change is stupid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h48Ru0-RJII
Goku says at 4:14 "I can't let that blast hit the earth". He said nothing like that in the Japanese version. In the Japanese he says "I can take that!". THIS is the biggest Ally to Good kinda change. He shows no concern for the Earth in the original, he think HE can deflect the blast as a part of the fight. While in the Dub he clearly is caring about the Earth more than Beerus. Out of character for the fight he is in right now. Sure he will want to protect the earth but i bet Goku had no idea the Earth was right behind him. But is gets worse. At 5:25 the conversation progresses as "This energy blast, it's gonna do major damage and I can't stop it" "Then give up and accept your planet's fate" not much wrong except in the Japanese version it goes like "The biggest problem is there's still a huge gap in strength between us!" "Then give up and accept you defeat" COMPLETELY different meaning in the dialogue. Dub is all about the destruction of Earth while the original is all about the fight and their power. Sure Goku's defeat would lead to the destruction of Earth but the dub paints it in black and white as it is the only thing that matters. The original has the same thing after that with Goku absorbing the blast to protect his friends, not Earth itself. This wins Beerus over and Earth is saved.

Yeah, while I'm generally fine with the writing in the English dub, that scene right there is the one part I really do not like. Still though, as I said earlier, those lines and "I will not let you destroy my world!" are the only moments in the movie where "Super-Man Goku" snuck into the script. So while I don't like that specific rewrite, I can forgive it because it's like one minute in a 95-minute movie that's affected, and really, it's not that out of character in the first place.

[Saiga]

I don't see how that's any different than him jumping to avoid Cell directing his attack at the Earth, and putting him in a position where he nearly couldn't avoid it. From the manga.

Manga Goku: ally to good.

[White Oni]

The dub is such bs.

Everyone that reads the managa knows for damn sure that Goku was a cold hearted, pure evil bastard who laughed at the death of the innocent.

This "superman goku" is pure bs, the 2 have nothing in common, superman is a powerful alien raised on earth who adopts humans into his family and earth as his home. He's a hero who risks his life for loved ones and the innocent and has a confident, yet awkward and sometimes silly attitude about things.

Not only that, their stories are totally different, superman's first encounter with his own race was Zod, an elite warrior who wanted him to join him in blood shed. Everyone knows Goku's first encounter with saiyan's was over a Vegeta and raditz hosted tea party.

What else has superman done? Iono, gone into distant space and stopped universal tyrants and stuff?

They are nothing alike!

I know something you don't!

Pay attention to me!

[Vegard Aune]

The dub is such bs.

Everyone that reads the managa knows for damn sure that Goku was a cold hearted, pure evil bastard who laughed at the death of the innocent.

This "superman goku" is pure bs, the 2 have nothing in common, superman is a powerful alien raised on earth who adopts humans into his family and earth as his home. He's a hero who risks his life for loved ones and the innocent and has a confident, yet awkward and sometimes silly attitude about things.

Not only that, their stories are totally different, superman's first encounter with his own race was Zod, an elite warrior who wanted him to join him in blood shed. Everyone knows Goku's first encounter with saiyan's was over a Vegeta and raditz hosted tea party.

What else has superman done? Iono, gone into distant space and stopped universal tyrants and stuff?

They are nothing alike!

I know something you don't!

Pay attention to me!

Goku isn't evil. Goku isn't 100% selfish. Goku is not indifferent to the general state of the world/universe.
However, Goku's priorities often tend to be skewed more towards having a fun fight and winning said fun fight than protecting the universe. Though it is certainly true that he has expressed concern for the state of the world or the universe at several points, this is rarely his first priority. Even in the fight against Vegeta, where he was clearly fighting first and foremost to protect the world from him, he ultimately insisted on letting him go. Not for "mercy" like the dub claimed, but because he wanted to fight Vegeta again and win on his own.

[Mewzard]

Goku isn't evil. Goku isn't 100% selfish. Goku is not indifferent to the general state of the world/universe.
However, Goku's priorities often tend to be skewed more towards having a fun fight and winning said fun fight than protecting the universe. Though it is certainly true that he has expressed concern for the state of the world or the universe at several points, this is rarely his first priority. Even in the fight against Vegeta, where he was clearly fighting first and foremost to protect the world from him, he ultimately insisted on letting him go. Not for "mercy" like the dub claimed, but because he wanted to fight Vegeta again and win on his own.

Uh...I'm 99.9% sure White Oni's post was dripping with sarcasm, because Goku and Superman are similar in many ways (origins and protecting people from evil people/beings being chief among them).

The complaints over minor line changes are probably why. It's completely within Goku's personality and behavior to want to protect the planet he lives on. It has his food, places to fight, friends and family on it, of course he wants to protect it (in that order, lol).

People are so quick to jump on critiquing Funi for making Goku more like Superman, when I would argue Toriyama did more to that effect from the time Raditz arrived than Funi ever did (right down to a really close origin).

Those little lines certainly aren't that big of a deal unless you think Goku's even more selfish and uncaring than he really is.

[DrBriefsCat]

People are so quick to jump on critiquing Funi for making Goku more like Superman, when I would argue Toriyama did more to that effect from the time Raditz arrived than Funi ever did (right down to a really close origin).

And it's not like Toriyama hasn't referenced Superman before (Dr. Slump). I've read he's quite a fanboy.

[Eire]

And don't forget Dragon Ball Minus- fortunately he stopped just before making Bardock "a brilliant scientist".

[Fulicer]

I think the writing in the Battle of Gods dub was pretty good. Goku didn't give any ham-handed, goody two shoes "killing people are bad" speeches that plagued the original DBZ dub. The lines some people mention might be a bit awkward or rushed (IWillNotLetYouDestroyMyWorld) at certain points, but overall they did a good job. There was a good balance between Goku testing his limits and wanting to protect his friends. And they didn't leave out his goofy side.

While in some ways this movie was more Z than Kai, the overall direction seemed closer to Kai.

[Vegard Aune]

Goku isn't evil. Goku isn't 100% selfish. Goku is not indifferent to the general state of the world/universe.
However, Goku's priorities often tend to be skewed more towards having a fun fight and winning said fun fight than protecting the universe. Though it is certainly true that he has expressed concern for the state of the world or the universe at several points, this is rarely his first priority. Even in the fight against Vegeta, where he was clearly fighting first and foremost to protect the world from him, he ultimately insisted on letting him go. Not for "mercy" like the dub claimed, but because he wanted to fight Vegeta again and win on his own.

Uh...I'm 99.9% sure White Oni's post was dripping with sarcasm, because Goku and Superman are similar in many ways (origins and protecting people from evil people/beings being chief among them).

Well of course it was sarcastic. But through the sarcasm, the argument I saw was "Goku and Superman aren't that different so stop acting like they are," so I pointed out how they are different.

[Bullza]

It did roughly as well as you'd expect a second tier DTV to do. Amazing numbers for anime, but no one is going to sit up and take notice (as an example, the worst performing DC DTV that I'm aware of is Superman Unbound, which was advertised poorly, people weren't 100% sure when it was coming out, etc. and it still outsold Battle of Gods.)

Superman vs The Elite is the worst selling DC DTV movie and that sold worse than Battle of Gods. Superman Unbound may have sold more copies but it didn't make nearly as much money which is more important, it's only made $2.8 million total a figure Battle of Gods has probably already surpassed. Even Batman Assault on Arkham didnt make that much week 1, most of them haven't.

Physical home video sales aren't anything like they used to be even a couple years ago. So you can't really compare them. Plus Battle of Gods was shown in theatres and has been online for a year which would cut sales. The DC DTV films don't have this problem.

[MarcFBR]

Superman vs The Elite is the worst selling DC DTV movie and that sold worse than Battle of Gods.

You're absolutely right, it's week one sales were in fact worse. I always forget about that one. I think it's his chin, it hypnotizes you into thinking it did better than it did.

Superman Unbound may have sold more copies but it didn't make nearly as much money which is more important, it's only made $2.8 million total a figure Battle of Gods has probably already surpassed.

Not quite, The DC DTVs actually do a decent majority of their money in stores that don't report numbers. While DBZ also does this, it's far higher on the DC videos, which is part of why for example, Best Buy has paid to have an exclusive version with a toy for nearly every DTV they've done (Battle of Gods did have a Wal-Mart exclusive version to be fair, but that just involved a Vudu voucher being slapped on the packaging.)

Even Batman Assault on Arkham didnt make that much week 1, most of them haven't.

Actually, the numbers The Numbers gives are partially based on reality, and partially based on extrapolation (this is how it used to be at least, as Videoscan numbers are considered proprietary in many cases and I can't imagine those are the literal numbers.) As an example, the number for BoG, if you extrapolate, assumes most people paid roughly 30 dollars per Blu-ray copy, while Assault on Arkham assumes a bit under $17.

Assault on Arkham was definitely discounted by retailers and I want to say it went as low as $18ish on Amazon before release date, but I doubt there is much argument to be made that the average price spent was $17 (as far as Blu-ray goes.)

Physical home video sales aren't anything like they used to be even a couple years ago. So you can't really compare them. Plus Battle of Gods was shown in theatres and has been online for a year which would cut sales. The DC DTV films don't have this problem.

Being shown in theaters has never equated to cut sales. It has almost always equaled a decent sales spike for even a very limited theatrical showing (I think there is an arguable null factor with anime though, so I don't completely disagree with you on this point.) But then a good chunk of DBZ sales are non-anime fans and wouldn't have been watching it online in the first place..

But let's assume I am in fact wrong on all of this and BoG has in general outgrossed on home video, VOD, digital, etc. every single DC animated DTV since Superman Doomsday, the initial animated DTV in the line (I know you aren't actually saying this, I'm just pointing it out as an example), combining with my original point (based on the post I originally responded to.)

A once in a lifetime, hasn't been a new film in 20 years, Dragonball Z movie marginally outgrossed straight to video movies that Warner has never even bothered to try a theatrical release for and at times treats nearly like popcorn (makes them, pops them out, moves on.)

Doesn't exactly sound to me like something that should get a full wide theatrical release for the next one.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I'm surprised to see the "I will not let you destroy my world" line getting as much scrutiny as it has. There were some lines in the dub that I thought could have been adapted a tad better, but that one never jumped out at me. If anything, the original line, "Stop enjoying destroying things," struck me as sounding much more awkward, out of place, and more like a "lecture on virtue" that you'd expect from Superman (a rarity for me when watching the subtitled version).

I will say this, I think it sounds worse on paper than it does on screen. On paper, yes, it sounds a little like a Superman quote, but in the actual movie, with the delivery Schemmel gave it, it came off as an enraged "bring it on" kind of comment that was a perfectly logical thing for Goku to say given the context. It fit with both Goku's addiction to battle and his desire to protect his family and friends, and didn't strike me as having that "I'm a paragon of virtue"-flavor that some of his more Superman-esque dub dialogue from the TV series did.

[El Diabeetus]

I'm surprised to see the "I will not let you destroy my world" line getting as much scrutiny as it has. There were some lines in the dub that I thought could have been adapted a tad better, but that one never jumped out at me. If anything, the original line, "Stop enjoying destroying things," struck me as sounding much more awkward, out of place, and more like a "lecture on virtue" that you'd expect from Superman (a rarity for me when watching the subtitled version).

I will say this, I think it sounds worse on paper than it does on screen. On paper, yes, it sounds a little like a Superman quote, but in the actual movie, with the delivery Schemmel gave it, it came off as an enraged "bring it on" kind of comment that was a perfectly logical thing for Goku to say given the context. It fit with both Goku's addiction to battle and his desire to protect his family and friends, and didn't strike me as having that "I'm a paragon of virtue"-flavor that some of his more Superman-esque dub dialogue from the TV series did.

I think it could've been contracted, Goku usually doesn't say will not (would say 'won't). Plus, they tried fitting too many words in at once. Nothing wrong with the delivery, it's just awkwardly fast.

[Bullza]

Not quite, The DC DTVs actually do a decent majority of their money in stores that don't report numbers.

There's a popular DC site that has the three DC DTV movies in 2011 at selling an estimated 1.2 million copies and the three in 2012 at selling 1.1 million copies. That's an average of 383,000 copies and that's probably a fair amount less by 2014.

There's no way of knowing to what extent their sales are left out for both but Battle of Gods could sell considerably less and still end up making more money.

As an example, the number for BoG, if you extrapolate, assumes most people paid roughly 30 dollars per Blu-ray copy, while Assault on Arkham assumes a bit under $17.

Well the retail price for Batman was $25 while DBZ was $35. On amazon Batman is $18 and DBZ is $30. The numbers might be a bit off but probably not significantly and the average price spent on DBZ wouldn't have been as low as $30 either.

But then a good chunk of DBZ sales are non-anime fans and wouldn't have been watching it online in the first place.

I'm sure most DBZ fans who had heard about the movie had watched it online. The movie has been on youtube in full and it'll get hundreds of thousands of views each time. I just typed in Battle of Gods on youtube now and the first and fourth videos are the entire movie, a dub and a sub and those two have almost 290,000 views between them in just 3 weeks.

This just doesn't happen with the DC movies so easily.

A once in a lifetime, hasn't been a new film in 20 years, Dragonball Z movie marginally outgrossed straight to video movies that Warner has never even bothered to try a theatrical release for and at times treats nearly like popcorn (makes them, pops them out, moves on.)

But it hasn't been 20 years for those in US. It's only been 8 years since Wrath of the Dragon came out. These are still Batman and Superman movies and there popularity far surpasses the likes of DBZ. These DC DTV movies will sell after piggybacking off the success of the theatrical movies that make hundreds of millions of dollars in just US alone.

That some anime that ended years ago can even be comparable to Batman and Superman movies and even possibly exceed them in sales is a feat in itself.

Doesn't exactly sound to me like something that should get a full wide theatrical release for the next one.

Battle of Gods was a theatrical success. What was originally supposed to be a 4 day limited run at 350 locations ended up being a 10 day run at 800 locations. It's run was extended after the movie came out because it was doing well. Same thing happened in Australia.

They clearly underestimated how well it was going to do. The next one may not get a huge release but it'll probably get a bigger and longer release with more advertising.