Dragon Ball Z offers new iteration of fan-favorite Broly hits all the marks

Dragon Ball Z Super Broly reveals another side to newly redesigned villain

Explaining the origins of Broly, Goku and Vegeta: Dragon Ball Z Super Broly takes its time to illustrate their dramatic backgrounds. Establishing Broly as the main character, this movie places him in the spotlight, providing insight into the villain’s past and allowing the audience to justify his actions.

The original iteration of Broly was a straight up villain. He wanted revenge on the protagonist of the Dragon Ball Z series, Goku, for crying too much as a child, which made it impossible for him to sleep and led to his mental instability. Broly made it his sole goal to destroy Goku.

The new iteration of Broly is more of a tragic character, newly redesigned by the creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama. Already revealed earlier in the series, as a baby, Broly was exiled to a barren planet, where he was held captive and brainwashed by his father. His power was controlled, as it was greater than Vegeta’s father’s, the king of the planet where Broly was kept. The king feared a mutiny, which led to Broly’s father failing to rescue his son and ending up stranded there as well. Broly’s father then manipulates his son in order to exact his revenge on Goku and Vegeta. When saved, Broly is revealed to be much more than a big, heartless brute.

Toei Company, a Japan-based studio, did an amazing job bringing the television series to the big screen. Their techniques allow the film to shift between flat 2D and dynamic 3D animation, allowing for very detailed graphics in the background and in the main scenes. The fight between Gogeta—a fusion between allies Goku and Vegeta—and Broly was the highlight of this film, as it featured some of the best animated fight choreography. The energy attacks were well-represented with immense shimmering orbs to show just how powerful the fighters are.

In the movie theatre, the audience cheered when Gogeta unleashed the Stardust Breaker, which is a little easter egg throwback to Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (1995). It was in this movie that Gogeta first used the technique to destroy his enemy. Goku exposed his shining silver hair and aura, better known as his Ultra Instinct Form, which not only increases his power tremendously, but does not require thought, giving them more time to attack. The Dragon Ball fan base was hoping Goku had finally mastered the form’s transformation to use it against Broly. This was the first time the creators have given the audience detailed transformations throughout the entire Dragon Ball series.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly is now playing at the Pepsi Forum and other select theaters. You can catch a new episode of Dragon Ball Super dubbed in English every week on Adult Swim, or buy episodes 1 through 78 on Blu-Ray and DVD at Sunrise Records.

 

Graphics by @spooky_soda

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