Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero hit U.S. theaters on August 19th, accumulating over $30 million so far, making it the 5th highest-grossing anime film in the U.S. This is phenomenal news, and it shows how well a Dragon Ball film can perform when it’s more accessible unlike Dragon Ball Super: Broly was.
Dragon Ball has long been known for its many films, with many fans claiming the series to overall have the best movies out of any anime series. Dragon Ball so far has a total of twenty-two official theatrical films beginning from the original Dragon Ball series and continuing into the current Dragon Ball Super series.
The Tree Of Might
In truth, Turles isn’t too much different from Vegeta. However, he is meant to be a representation of the idea “what if Goku actually used his head more?” He’s really the first evil Goku fans get to see and with it, a unique dynamic is created between the two.
While much of the film is dark and gloomy, it features wonderful action with an incredible final showdown between Goku and Turles. Both draw from the planet, Turles’s tree stealing its life, and Goku’s Spirit Bomb borrowing its life to save it.
Super Hero
Super Hero is the recent film for Dragon Ball that features one of Dragon Ball‘s most compatible duos, Piccolo and Gohan. These two fight against the once again resurrected Red Ribbon Army.
This movie is fun, full of incredible animation, and tons of callbacks to the original Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z series. The movie also parallels the entirety of the Cell Saga with the androids and Gohan reawakening his power to defeat a new version of Cell.
The Path To Power
The Path to Power was actually made after the Wrath of the Dragon, but much like the other three original Dragon Ball series films, it retells events of the original story. This film covers the first half of Dragon Ball mixing in the original hunt for the Dragon Balls story with the Red Ribbon Army Saga.
This film features beautiful animation and gives incredible character introductions even better than the original like with Yamcha and General Blue. It’s a love letter to Dragon Ball fans and shows how to properly make a Dragon Ball film while reusing the stories that have already been told.
Super Android 13!
Super Android 13 is a film that features three androids that were previously known to be near-completion but were ultimately destroyed. However, the film takes a different approach and has them completed in Dr. Gero’s basement.
This offers a perfect film during the time of the Androids arc and lets Goku, Trunks, and Vegeta all have significant moments to shine. Android 13 bears many similarities to Cell, with him even fusing with his fellow androids to gain more power. The final attack of Goku is also beautifully animated with the Super Saiyan absorbing the powers of his Spirit Bomb to overcome this android threat.
Battle Of Gods
Battle of Gods was the first film for the Dragon Ball franchise in over a decade, and it saw the resurgence of the franchise as a whole as it began what would eventually lead to Dragon Ball Super.
The film features beautiful animation with an incredible fight between Goku and the new character, the god of destruction, Beerus. The movie has had mixed opinions over the years with many loving Super Saiyan god and others hating it. Due to the film being “canon,” it has also received harsher criticism than previous films due to many fans hating its writing and finding it to be inconsistent.
Resurrection ‘F’
Resurrection ‘F’ followed Battle of Gods a few years later and is truly a step-up in many ways. It features better animation and fight choreography that allows many of the more minor characters a chance to shine.
The fight of Goku vs Frieza is beautifully done, and many Vegeta fans had tears of joy as they saw Vegeta finally get his due and deliver brutal blows to Frieza for the first time ever. However, the fight ended with Goku as the victor as he kills Frieza.
Bojack Unbound
Bojack Unbound is a phenomenal Dragon Ball Z film that sees Gohan as the main character. This throws Gohan through a tournament like many that Goku himself had gone through in his youth.
The tournament of course comes to a halt as an evil alien race intrudes led by a man named Bojack. In this film, Gohan has to regain his courage and show the others that he is indeed fit to carry on his father’s legacy. It’s a perfect follow-up film to the Cell Games and Gohan’s battle against Bojack is one of Gohan’s best fights in Dragon Ball.
Broly – Second Coming
With how well-loved the first Broly film was, it didn’t seem likely the second coming of Broly could be better. However, that wasn’t true as the film surpassed the first Broly film by quite a bit and helped make Broly one of Dragon Ball‘s best villains.
Unfortunately, the film didn’t offer Broly many lines, but it did give an incredible battle between Gohan and Broly. It also gave one of the most iconic energy clashes in the series with Gohan and Goten struggling against Broly and Goku being brought back to Earth to help them fight. It was a scene similar to Gohan and Goku’s Father-Son Kamehameha.
Fusion Reborn
Had Dragon Ball gone down a different route and kept Goku and Vegeta dead with Gohan as the hero of Earth, this would have been a very satisfying conclusion to the series. This film offers one of the most exciting in the franchise with one of the best transformation scenes in Dragon Ball with Goku’s Super Saiyan 3 and the incredible fusion of Gogeta.
The significance behind the fusion held more weight in the film than it did in the series, and it gave a satisfying conclusion to Vegeta’s character. This movie provides excellent world-building to the Dragon Ball universe and gives a nice parallel between fighters in Other World and fighters on Earth.
Broly
Dragon Ball Super: Broly really combined the strongest elements of several films into one. It took inspiration from The Legendary Super Saiyan – Broly, Broly – Second Coming, the TV Special Bardock, the Father of Goku, and Fusion Reborn.
With all of these being so well-loved, it was difficult for Broly to fail. The character Broly was also far more complex and interesting and wasn’t savage by nature. The movie was an incredible film for Goku and Vegeta too featuring some of the best animation and fight choreography the franchise has ever seen. It will be difficult for a Dragon Ball film to ever surpass this one.
