General Information

Movie Premiere & Promotion

In the film’s original release announcement, no mention of the film being connected with the Dragon Ball Super brand name was made; rather, it was announced as being the twentieth theatrical film for the franchise. In March 2018, several months following the original announcement, additional details regarding refreshed character designs and key staff were announced, as well as the movie’s official premiere date. It was here that Naohiro Shintani was revealed as the film’s animation supervisor and character designer, alongside his new design for Son Goku, which served as the movie’s key visual for various pieces of promotional material. The announcement also included a new comment from original author Akira Toriyama teasing the movie’s story and unveiled the movie’s teaser poster. Shortly following this, a promotional flyer featuring the movie’s key visual and Akira Toriyama’s comment soon began appearing in movie theaters across Japan.

Shortly after the movie’s teaser poster was unveiled, Toei released a teaser trailer for the yet unnamed Dragon Ball Super movie, which was first shown on 20 March 2018 during a live stream event hosted by Bandai Namco to promote the upcoming Dragon Ball Legends mobile video game.

The movie’s official sub-title, “Broly”, was eventually announced on 09 July 2018 alongside the release of movie’s official poster, which was accompanied by another new comment from Akira Toriyama introducing the movie’s main antagonist, Broli. Just 10 days later, on 19 July 2018, the movie’s first official trailer debuted at Funimation’s hour-long Dragon Ball Super panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego. The panel featured voice actors Sean Schemmel (Goku) and Christopher Sabat (Vegeta), as well as Toei Animation producers Akio Iyoku and Norihiro Hayashida.

Advance tickets for the movie went on sale 20 July 2018, with 23,866 tickets sold within the first three days. This marked a 270% increase compared to the first two day advance ticket sales for the franchise’s previous movie, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’.

In the months leading up to the movie’s premiere, joint promotional campaigns and product tie-ins were launched with several major companies in Japan, such as Bandai Namco, 100 Year Housing, and Mister Donut. To further increase hype for the movie, a “Dragon Ball North America Tour” was hosted at seven conventions across the continent between July and October 2018 by various Dragon Ball copyright holders, including Toei Animation and Shueisha, as well as Funimation, the franchise’s North American license holder. Each tour location was setup to imitate the “World Martial Arts Tournament”, with a check-in table at the center and numerous products and promotional items on display throughout, as well as large character statues.

Original Concept

• Producer Akio Iyoku, the head of Shueisha’s “Dragon Ball Room”, revealed in an interview that in the spring of 2017 the movie’s producers approached original author Akira Toriyama with the idea of producing a new movie. Several different story suggestions were provided during this initial meeting, with Toriyama ultimately deciding on revising Broli’s story.
  

  First, around the spring of 2017, we presented Toriyama-sensei with several different story suggestions for the new movie. I believe there were also suggestions that weren’t in his strike zone at all, but using what we threw his way as a reference, we got him to come up with the story.

  This was later elaborated upon by Toei Animation producer Norihiro Hayashida, as he noted at Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball Legends live stream event that the movie’s production, and more specifically the refreshed character designs, had begun in February 2017 just as the TV series’ “Universe Survival” story arc was beginning.

• Akira Toriyama noted in his second official movie comment that the idea of including Broli as the main antagonist was pitched to him by the movie’s producers.
  

  So, about Broli. I hear these days he’s still very popular not only in Japan, but also overseas. Based on that, those in charge asked, “Won’t you have Broli appear in this next movie?”

Refreshed Artistic Style

From the onset, the movie’s promotional campaign centered around the shift in artistic style of the series’ character designs. Akio Iyoku, the head of Shueisha’s “Dragon Ball Room”, noted in an interview leading up to the movie that the producers felt that the timing was right with the Dragon Ball Super TV series ending to refresh the franchise’s character designs to fall more inline with Akira Toriyama’s current art style. With this in mind, the producers held auditions in which numerous animators submitted artwork to be reviewed and critiqued by Akira Toriyama, who ultimately selected Naohiro Shintani as the movie’s animation supervisor and character designer.

Son Goku was the first of Shintani’s new character designs to be unveiled, which was prominently featured on the movie’s teaser poster, official website launch, and numerous other promotional items. This design, as well as later character designs, showcased a drastic departure from what had become the franchise’s standard stiff, muscular, and overly-emphatic designs from character designer Tadayoshi Yamamuro. In contrast, Shintani’s new character designs feature a slimmed down look with lean muscles and flowing, wavy hair. An emphasis has also been placed on how the character’s clothes fit, allowing for a more natural and comfortable look.

In addition to falling more inline with Akira Toriyama’s current art style, Akio Iyoku also noted that the movie’s color palette has been adjusted to be closer to the colors of the original comic. The following are a select number of character design sheets released thus far as part of the promotional campaign:

As a part of the movie’s official trailer debut at Comic-Con International in San Diego, several new character designs were showcased to the audience. These included Super Saiyan God Vegeta and Super Saiyan Broli.

Son Goku Character Designs — Normal, Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan God, SSGSS, Arctic Clothes
Vegeta Character Designs — Normal, Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan God, SSGSS, Arctic Clothes
Broli Character Designs — Rugged, Normal, Powered, Super Saiyan, Full Power

Movie Characters

• Cheelye (チライ; Chirai)
  After getting caught stealing a Galactic Patrol ship, she joined the Freeza Army to escape their pursuit. She only knows rumors of Freeza, but has never seen him.

• Lemo (レモ; Remo)
  A veteran member of the Freeza Army, he previously served in a combat support unit during the era when Freeza’s father, King Cold, led the army. Because he is not a combatant, he is not personally acquainted with Freeza and has only ever seen him at the space station.

• Kikono (キコノ; Kikono)
  A brilliant scientist who has served since the King Cold era. Scouters, armor, spaceships, and the like are all his inventions.

• Beriblu (ベリブル; Beriburu)
  An old woman who serves Freeza, Beriblu isn’t afraid to say anything to even a tyrant such as him.

Movie Notes

• This movie marks the 20th produced for the franchise, with the first movie premiering 32 years prior in December 1986. It is also the first movie under the Dragon Ball Super brand name.

Characters

• Kikono first appeared in the “Dragon Ball Minus” bonus chapter of the Jaco the Galactic Patrolman collected edition, which was confirmed on the franchise’s official website.

Name Puns

• Paragus and Broli’s name puns remain the same as originally intended when developed for Dragon Ball Z Movie 8 and come from “asparagus” and “broccoli”, respectively, with some of the syllables removed.
  アスパラガス (a·su·pa·ra·gu·su)  ›  パラガス (pa·ra·gu·su)
  ブロッコリー (bu·ro·k·ko·ri·i)  ›  ブロリー (bu·ro·ri·i)
• Other Saiyan names in the movie continue to maintain the Saiyan vegetable theme. Beets and Taro’s names come directly from the words “beets” and “taro”, respectively, which are both root vegetables. Leek’s name is taken directly from the alternate Japanese spelling for the “leek” vegetable (リーク), which is traditionally spelled リーキ. Being close comrades, Moroko and Shito’s names are likely both taken from splitting up toumorokoshi, the Japanese word for corn or maize.
  トウモロコシ (to·u·mo·ro·ko·shi)  ›  モロコ (mo·ro·ko) +  シトウ (shi·to·u)
• Cheelye’s name is likely an anagram of “lychee”. This underlying name pun source was previously used for Dr. Lychee in the 1993 Nintendo Famicom game Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (and its various remakes), as well as the alien Lychee, seen during the brief “Fake Planet Namek” filler sequence in the Dragon Ball Z television series.
  ライチ (ra·i·chi)  ›  チライ (chi·ra·i)
• Lemo’s name is likely taken directly from the word “lemon”, with its final syllable removed.
  レモン (re·mo·n)  ›  レモ (re·mo)
• Kikono’s name is likely an anagram of kinoko, the Japanese word for “mushroom”.
  きのこ (ki·no·ko)  ›  キコノ (ki·ko·no)
• Beriblu’s name is likely a rearrangement of the Japanese spelling of the English word “blueberry”, with the vowel elongations removed.
  ブルーベリー (bu·ru·u·be·ri·i)  ›  ベリブル (be·ri·bu·ru)

Movie Credits

The movie credits are listed below as originally presented in the feature. For more detailed information about the series cast, visit the Cast Guide.

Cast Credits

Opening Credits

Ending Credits