"Dragon Ball Super" Series Official Announcement & Discussion Thread

[SSJ God Gogeta]

I'm pretty sure they'll toss Piccolo a bone for this match. However, the round after he's gonna get quickly swept aside to make way for Vegeta.

[JulieYBM]

So this new series director thing on the front page, is that good or what?

Hatano Morio is a good director and storyboard artist. He previously directed Dragon Ball Super Episodes #6 and #14. His dialogue scenes use camera angles, layouts and lighting to draw out the emotion of a scene. He's also good at fight scenes, going by his directing for Saint Seiya Omega Episode #51. Mind you, Hatano's tenure as series director of Saint Seiya Omega Episodes #1-51 had a good character designer and good animators but he really is one of the best directors still left at Toei Animation.

[ekrolo2]

So this new series director thing on the front page, is that good or what?

Hatano Morio is a good director and storyboard artist. He previously directed Dragon Ball Super Episodes #6 and #14. His dialogue scenes use camera angles, layouts and lighting to draw out the emotion of a scene. He's also good at fight scenes, going by his directing for Saint Seiya Omega Episode #51. Mind you, Hatano's tenure as series director of Saint Seiya Omega Episodes #1-51 had a good character designer and good animators but he really is one of the best directors still left at Toei Animation.

He certainly did a fantastic job showing how insignificant Vegeta felt in comparison to Beerus' grandeur in episode six and his work on episode 14s action would certainly help the tournament in that department.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Out of curiosity, who directed episode 7, the one with Vegeta's incredibly over the top reaction to Bulma getting hit?

[Ajay]

Out of curiosity, who directed episode 7, the one with Vegeta's incredibly over the top reaction to Bulma getting hit?

Masato Mikami. He hasn't really done anything noteworthy that I'm aware of. I think Super may be his first real directing role.

[JulieYBM]

Out of curiosity, who directed episode 7, the one with Vegeta's incredibly over the top reaction to Bulma getting hit?

Episode #7 was storyboarded by Shida Naotoshi and directed by Mikami Masato. Shida also storyboarded Episode #2 for Episode Director Mikami Masato. Shida went on to storyboard Episodes #11, #18 and #22 but has yet to return. At Toei Animation the enshutsu (episode director) is typically expected to do their own storyboards or if they are unable to draw someone else will do it for them under the direction of the enshutsu. From what I can tell of the industry standard the hierarchy isn't necessarily the same. Satou Shinji storyboards tend to be consistent even when he doesn't act as the director for them, for example. Kakudou Hiroyuki hasn't directed any of the storyboards he has drawn for Dragon Ball Super yet but I do feel like the episodes of Dragon Ball Super he storyboards for retain some of that touch present in his World Trigger episodes. Nishio Daisuke's storyboard for Dragon Ball Episode #130 has some of his recurrent traits in them but the episode is directed by Hashimoto Mitsuo. It is worth noting that in this case Nishio was a series director for the series so it makes sense for him to have final say over the storyboard. It's just weird how no matter how often Shida Naotoshi storyboards, which is a lot, he never seems to invest the same sort of creativity into his selection of shots that he does for scene he himself will personally layout and key animate.

The Episode Guide has all of the credits for each episode and film.

Out of curiosity, who directed episode 7, the one with Vegeta's incredibly over the top reaction to Bulma getting hit?

Masato Mikami. He hasn't really done anything noteworthy that I'm aware of. I think Super may be his first real directing role.

He is mostly an assistant episode director on Toei Animation cartoons, only briefly stepping up to be an episode director and nothing more, probably due to a lack of available staff.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Hmm...between Shida Natoshi and Mikami Masato, who would most likely be to blame for that particular scene, then? I don't want to harp on it too much, since it's the only scene that badly over the top we've gotten, but I do just hope we don't have to risk it happening again either.

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

Hmm...between Shida Natoshi and Mikami Masato, who would most likely be to blame for that particular scene, then? I don't want to harp on it too much, since it's the only scene that badly over the top we've gotten, but I do just hope we don't have to risk it happening again either.

Mikami Masato would be the one who decided how the scene played out. Shida was just a storyboard artist, but the Episode Director had a final say in how the cut was laid out. An Episode Director works with an Animation Supervisor to make sure the drawn cuts are delivered. In this case Yukihiro Kitano worked with Mikami Masato for Episode #7.

[ZombieVito]

Goku has an unexpected defeat in the first match (they probably mean the second lol)! Piccolo, who steps up after him, concocts a plan to overcome the difference in strength but...

Well, looks like a lot of people jumped and the gun. Piccolo really didn't get any stronger. But we'll still have to wait for the episode to explain everything. Hopefully.

Huh? The translation says nothing about this.

[Lord Beerus]

Huh? The translation says nothing about this.

Piccolo, who steps up after him, concocts a plan to overcome the difference in strength

The implication of a noticeable gap in strength between him and Final Form Frost is certainly there. Which makes me assume that Piccolo didn't yield any sufficient results in training for 8 months with Gohan. But we'll have to wait and see.

[Birusu16]

Piccolo could certainly have gotten stronger (significantly so ). It just wasn't to the point where hes powerful enough to challenge Frost without using some form of special tactic.

[ZombieVito]

Huh? The translation says nothing about this.

Piccolo, who steps up after him, concocts a plan to overcome the difference in strength

The implication of a noticeable gap in strength between him and Final Form Frost is certainly there. Which makes me assume that Piccolo didn't yield any sufficient results in training for 8 months with Gohan. But we'll have to wait and see.

The gap between RoF Piccolo and Frost is massive. The way Piccolo is taking and evading Frost's hits should be enough to prove that he improved a lot but he is still inferior to Frost of course.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Piccolo might not have gotten notably stronger (like in Goku and Vegeta's range), but I'm thinking his sparring with Gohan had to have beneficial. While he's whipping Gohan back into shape, he's getting quite the powerful sparring partner in the process, so he'd improve (even just by a little bit) from that probably.

Also, having watched the episode now too, it's not like Frost didn't get knocked down quite a bit by Goku too - he's not going into the fight with Piccolo in peak condition. That can make a big difference too.

[Kagari]

When can we expect the next few episode titles to leak out from magazines?

[Ssgvegito30]

When can we expect the next few episode titles to leak out from magazines?

I think by March 7th or 8th....

[FortuneSSJ]

-New director-

The insane production behind the scenes of this series makes me cry.
Fans complained. Toriyama, the man himself, complained.

Toei is doing the best they can. I believe in that. I don't believe in the saying "Toei doesn't care and Super is just a cash cow to sell toys."
I doubt they don't want to please the fans. But hardy things will be fixed, because they are still humans.

To Super be fixed, the show needs to take a break. A big break. I'm glad we are getting more staff to work on episodes, I'm glad King Ryu became the series composer and I'm glad we are getting another director. But they won't still be able do miracles, against the insane schedule they have. Things will hopefully get better, but I don't expect a big change.

I wondered how busy Chioka was, but seems like the answer is enough to not have done anything for 33+ episodes.

I just hope the reason why BD 3 was delayed one month, was for them to have time to fix the worst shots.

[kinisking]

Huh? The translation says nothing about this.

Piccolo, who steps up after him, concocts a plan to overcome the difference in strength

The implication of a noticeable gap in strength between him and Final Form Frost is certainly there. Which makes me assume that Piccolo didn't yield any sufficient results in training for 8 months with Gohan. But we'll have to wait and see.

Even if he was at ss3 levels he wouldn't be as strong as frost right now. However, that would still be a huge change for him.

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

-New director-

The insane production behind the scenes of this series makes me cry.
Fans complained. Toriyama, the man himself, complained.

Toei is doing the best they can. I believe in that. I don't believe in the saying "Toei doesn't care and Super is just a cash cow to sell toys."
I doubt they don't want to please the fans. But hardy things will be fixed, because they are still humans.

To Super be fixed, the show needs to take a break. A big break. I'm glad we are getting more staff to work on episodes, I'm glad King Ryu became the series composer and I'm glad we are getting another director. But they won't still be able do miracles, against the insane schedule they have. Things will hopefully get better, but I don't expect a big change.

I wondered how busy Chioka was, but seems like the answer is enough to not have done anything for 33+ episodes.

I just hope the reason why BD 3 was delayed one month, was for them to have time to fix the worst shots.

Taking two months break would be a good scenario for Toei Animation. Three months is preferable, though

[JulieYBM]

The new arc just began. We are way too deep to take an extended break.

[Araki]

A new director isn't very unusual in Toei series as of late - i mean, Saint Seiya Omega replaced Tatsuya Nagamine after only 20 episodes of the 2nd season.

Whatever the reasons are, i've been a fan of Morio Hatano ever since his work in the first season of that same show. He delivered some REALLY great episodes along with Yoshihiko Umakoshi, and seems more experienced and fitting for a battle shonen than Chioka, perhaps. DBS 6 and 14 show that, too.
Still, i'm disappointed that Chioka didn't get to direct any episode. It's not certain whether he left or not, so i guess there's a chance now.