A new Dragon Ball Z movie is on its way! Set to debut in Japanese theaters during “Golden Week” in 2015, the film is already generating massive excitement amongst fans. As with any news, but particularly with it being so early on in the promotional cycle, there is already a good amount of unintentional-misinformation and telephone-game-exaggeration happening. Below is a detailed look at what we know for sure, what might be taken out of context, and what we already know is wrong.
When will the movie be released?
The new movie will hit Japanese theaters during “Golden Week” (generally early May) in 2015. If we assume things will be similar to the Battle of Gods release cycle, a home release will likely come roughly six months after that, with international rollouts happening over the course of 12-18 months.
When was the movie announced?
The first announcements of the movie came in the September 2014 issue of V-Jump and issue #34 of Weekly Shōnen Jump, both released 19 July 2014. Subsequent announcements were seen on various Japanese media outlets and entertainment websites.
What is the title of the movie?
So far no title has been announced and the movie is simply referred to as “Dragon Ball Z”, as was the case with Battle of Gods before its official title was announced. The tagline given for the movie is:
全宇宙待望。神次元バトル、開戦。
The Whole Universe Has Been Waiting. A Godly Dimension of Battle Begins.
The 神 (shin; in this case read as “godly”) is a pun on something “new” and 次元 (jigen; read as “dimension”) can also be interpreted as a synonym for “scale”, giving us an indication that the battle, and possibly even the movie itself, will be on a “new level” (not necessarily that it is taking place in a “new/godly dimension”). It is very similar in character to the original taglines used for Battle of Gods, which was 最強、始動。(“The mightiest make their move.” — or perhaps in light of the plot revealed later on, “The Strongest Stirs.”), followed by 全人類待望。かつてない興奮へー。 (“All Humanity Has Been Waiting. Toward an Unprecedented Excitement–.”).
Who is working on this movie?
In the movie’s initial announcement, original Dragon Ball manga author Akira Toriyama noted that he was working on the scenario, dialog, and character designs. Tadayoshi Yamamuro, who worked for many years as character designer and animation supervisor on the Dragon Ball franchise, will serve as its director.
Is this a sequel to the 2013 movie, Battle of Gods?
As a part of the movie’s initial reveal, original manga author Akira Toriyama began a thought by stating:
This time will of course be a continuation of the previous Battle of Gods…
This seems to indicate that it will continue onward in some fashion, whether that be in tone or chronology, or perhaps both. Toriyama did explicitly note, however, that he had, “…deliberately increased the amount of action scenes by a good deal.”
What is the plot of the new movie?
The movie’s official website debuted with an image of Shenlong that stated:
史上最悪の願い。それは、絶望の始まり。
The worst wish in history. That is the beginning of despair.
A subsequent update to the website provided a complete version of the movie’s first teaser, which contained the following new bit of text:
生き返らせてほしい者がいます
There’s someone I want you to revive
The text is provided on-screen without narration, so it is unclear who may be making this wish.
Fans have already begun speculating about who this might be, and so it in particular may be worth mentioning that Broli was not created by Akira Toriyama, but rather by Takao Koyama, scenario writer for the theatrical films prior to Battle of Gods. While Toriyama added embellishments to Broli’s base form after his design, the character’s creation and his expansion into additional films is credited exclusively to Koyama (who was not involved with Battle of Gods, and had several interesting things to say about it). Likewise, the design of the character’s pumped-up “Legendary” form belongs to Tadayoshi Yamamuro (who will be directing, but has no say in the script), and actually goes against Toriyama’s aesthetic preference for making strong beings not look strong at first glance, which was his reasoning behind the designs of “Super Saiyan God” and Beerus in Battle of Gods. While nothing is entirely out of the question at this time, Broli would be an extremely unlikely candidate for the one being “revived”.
Can someone who has been dead for a long time even be revived?
A common misconception is that there is a hardline rule stating that someone dead for longer than a year cannot be revived. However, this seems to only apply to a large group of people, as described by the God of Earth directly in the series:
Why do you ask? Are you intending to bring back to life all the aliens killed in the past by Vegeta and co.? That should be possible too of course, but it would only be effective for those who died within one year.
Many fans have tossed out the idea of possibly resurrecting Goku’s father, Bardock (a character not originally designed by Toriyama, but re-incorporated back into the manga and then revisited again just recently with the “Dragon Ball Minus” bonus chapter of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman). Interestingly, when asked about any additional stories involving Bardock that might be told, Toriyama recently noted:
But unfortunately, Bardock has been dead for quite some time, so you probably won’t be able to see him in action except in stories of the past. There is the trick of having Shenlong bring him back to life, but by this point, his battle power isn’t high enough, so methinks it’d be a bit difficult.
Furthermore, Toriyama’s version of Bardock in “Dragon Ball Minus” does not appear to be as “evil” as the version from the original TV special, and if this new movie’s wish brings about such despair, in all likelihood we can safely strike Bardock from the list.
As it stands, a wish of that type has not ever actually been tested in-series. Finally, we do not know who it is exactly that someone is looking to revive, or if it is even a character we have actually heard of before.
Is this a new story or an old story?
An early mistranslation by Anime News Network noted that Akira Toriyama was writing a story that he had planned back during the series’ original serialization. However, what Toriyama actually notes is:
[As with the last movie], I thought up the new story for the next Dragon Ball theatrical movie as though it were a continuation of the manga when it was in serialization.
As Toriyama describes, this is similar to what he did with Battle of Gods, where it was not literally a story he had thought about writing twenty years ago, but rather a new one that he was writing in the same style and mindset.
Will Vegeta be the main character in this new movie?
To wrap up a “Super Q&A” fronted by Dragon Ball SD’s Naho Ooishi, when asked about possible stories in the future involving Bardock (as noted above) and/or Vegeta, Akira Toriyama explained:
As for Vegeta, in the event that there’s talk of another animated film, then next time, I’d like him to play the main role. (Of course, this is nothing more than intentions, and I haven’t decided anything at all.)
The Q&A was published in the March 2014 issue of Saikyō Jump, meaning that it actually took place sometime in February 2014 or earlier. We do not know how far along pre-production on the 2015 movie may have been at that point, if it had even begun at all. Until there is more information revealed about the upcoming film, there is not much we can take away from Toriyama’s statement, other than knowing that this was what he was thinking at the time.
Where can I view the new movie’s teaser?
The teaser initially debuted in segments on Mezamshi TV before it was added in whole to the movie’s official website.
As with the initial teaser for Battle of Gods, there is no indication that any animation or recorded dialog from the teaser will actually make its way to the final product.
Where can I learn more?
As always, you can stay tuned right here at Kanzenshuu for all the latest news, documentation, and analysis!
