Broly and Paragus
I need socially-awkward Broly in my life. His portrayal as someone pure and untainted comes as a stark contrast to the "I'M A DEMON DURNERNERNERNER" Broly from the original film. I still don't quite have a hold on what exactly he acts like, but it sounds like he does in fact have some semblance of personality outside the battle, which is about as much as I could ask for. Paragus seems to be about the same however, but I like that him dying is the trigger for Broly's rage and that Freeza does it on purpose. Speaking of which...
Freeza
I like that Freeza starts off with immediately murdering dudes when he shows up on planet Vegeta. The fact that he goes on to
also kill Paragus just to fuck with Broly, and basically just
leaves is equally amazing. He's a massive dick. I know people are trying really hard to get angry about that wish, but the idea that Freeza just wants to fuck with people now and isn't even all that concerned about immortality (or rather: he may actually believe himself so strong at this point that he doesn't think he
needs it) just because it might be more
fun that way is exactly the kind of whimsy Dragon Ball's villains have lacked for so long. Obviously he could have chosen something better than repeating Colonel Red's wish, but I honestly think having actual gags and subversion to the character is something we've lacked for a long time. I can't bring myself to be angry at it, and even if I could it's not like he actually
gets that wish, and you all know that the dialogue of hypotheticals or even ambitions in this series is subject to change at the drop of a hat.
Bardock
Well...so he gets his stupid useless rebellion. It doesn't surprise me for certain, but the fact that I've already seen people going "finally, Minus Bardock is a good character!" is just proof of how weak the understanding of good character writing is. He's not a better character. Minus Bardock is still bland and sucky. The only reason his rebellion stood out in the OG special is because the actual PERSON doing it was developed interestingly and believably for the preceeding 40 minutes. So now I'm going to watch a person I don't care about die in a way that doesn't matter in January when we could be getting...I dunno, something interesting. Obviously I don't
know that he's still drab and boring, but I have little confidence in them building him up as well as the original did when he still has that sappy dumb goodbye to the son he shouldn't care about. The fact that he somehow manages to
HOLD BACK THE FUCKING ATTACK BECAUSE OH MY GOD YOU GUYS IT'S BARDOCK HE'S SO GREAT RITE is just the nail in this character's headstone (not the coffin of course, that was lowered decades ago).
Gogeta
It sounds like I was right about that being Shida's scene. I guess I really don't have anything to say other than "I wish fusions weren't completely shallow", but that's not something I can blame on this film in particular. Also, I was right about fusions
still not actually finishing any fights, which at this point seems like a running gag more than anything. Maybe Gogeta can get a personality...I dunno, I doubt it. He's basically all the potential of a new character for the series with all the usefulness and depth of another marketing beam from Goku. I guess it'll look cool. Hope he uses God since the red is nice.
Bulma, Lemo, Piccolo, Cheelai, Whis, Beerus, Goten and Trunks
So Bulma sticks around, and so do Lemo and Cheelai. They're the sideliners to the fight, they have the expository dialogue and fuck around with the Dragon Balls. I like that Bulma and Freeza's wishes parallel each other, adding to both Freeza being effeminate and Bulma being an evil monster (that bit with Krillin in the hallucination forest still makes me laugh). But it seems like some of the other characters either needed more presence or none at all? Goten and Trunks, best I can tell, don't actually do anything other than notify Bulma of the stolen balls. Piccolo just seems to be around for the fusion stuff (additionally, I read about a bit where he says "nobody cares what your fused name is go fight" which is perfect for Piccolo and just about sums up every feeling I have for fusions. Hope that's true.), but none of these other characters who should be able to fight actually seem to, and that's a little disappointing. I mean, not that seeing Goten and Trunks pretend they'll fight when really it's just the far less-interesting Gotenks is something anyone needs more of, but I wish Piccolo was more involved. It looks like I was right about Whis simply dodging Broly and refusing to actually get involved, though. I guess Beerus doesn't even come along though?
possibility of Cooler
On the one hand, brotherly jealously makes the Freeza wish funnier, but on the other hand, oh god. No.
Ew. Why? Ugh. Miss me with allllll of that shit. Cooler is terrible. He sucks. He's just Freeza 2: less unique edition. I'm already not okay with bringing old movie villains into the main series, it's even
worse when said villain is just a ripoff of a better villain who's still alive. Stay away from that Mr. Toriyama, please and thank you.
Power scaling
So for one, Broly shouldn't be as strong as-- nah I'm kidding. It's never mattered. In fact, I resent that this movie even mentions Broly's power level as a child. It perpetuates what will forever be the worst, least-charming aspect of the series and I thought they were doing well to shy away from it with Super's tiers and weirder power-sets. Oh well, I guess.
Goku calls himself kakarotto
While I'm somewhat underwhelmed by this (it's not like he changed his name or doesn't answer to it from Vegeta constantly, plus what should that even
mean to this version of Broly?), it's a hell of a lot better than some of the things we expected from "Goku finally...!". I'm much happier with this than "GOKU WISHES BACK HIS PARENTS" or "GOKU REMEMBERS HIS PAST" like ew no, I don't care, that adds nothing to the character and contradicts what was already there. Also no UI control, which is also good. Pace that shit out, don't try to dump all the candy on your kids before they've even had dinner.
Overall, it seems like everything Resurrection F
should have been, sans the big group battle (which I still have a soft spot for). It's basically confirmed to be the most gorgeous Dragon Ball animation to ever exist and I hope for that it becomes a massive success and inspires the future TV return to take it's same efficient and pleasing aesthetic approach. The story is definitely better than any of the original 13 Z films in terms of having sympathetic villain characters (Paragus isn't even selfishly controlling his son for the most part) and interesting in that it seems to be a jumping-off point for something greater. I'm seriously glad Freeza is still alive by the end and that he's got more sense than he did in F, and the idea of having someone as strong as Broly running around the universe (uh...does Goku give them a ship?) is both entertaining and terrifying. I'm definitely excited to see it for myself, but impressions strike a clear middle ground between "exactly what I expected" and "kind of okay".