Dragon Ball Super: Broly is directed by Tatsuya Nagamine and it’s the first feature film that is spawned by the anime Dragon Ball Super. It is written by series and manga creator Akira Toriyama. In this movie Broly, an Saiyan who has insane amounts of power with little to no control over it is pitted against Goku and Vegeta by Frieza. This results in an insane and epic battle which tests all three saiyans and put them to their limits. The movie stars the voice talents of Masako Nozawa, Ryō Horikawa, Bin Shimada and Ryūsei Nakao.

I am not the biggest Dragon Ball fan, I wouldn’t even call myself a fan but my brother wanted to see it desperately and since he’s still a bit young to go by himself, I had to tag along. Although I didn’t go in reluctantly, I was actually pretty excited. I had never seen an anime movie in cinemas before especially in Japanese with English subtitles.

My history with Dragon Ball doesn’t go that far, I remember starting the first anime and only lasting 12 episodes before deciding to call it quits. I just got impatient of the slow nature of the story. Now I had to catch up briefly on what happened during Dragon Ball Z, Battle of Gods, Resurrection F and Dragon Ball Super to understand this movie. I did my research and it was really fun, I actually loved everything I saw. I didn’t see any of those in their entirety but I did get the grasp of their purpose in this saga. After seeing Dragon Ball Super: Broly I can gladly say that I’m going to try and get back into this franchise.

This movie is just amazing. It’s straight to the point, it has amazing style and gorgeous animation. The first half gets the characters in motion for the second half which consists of insane, epic fight scenes. I mean insane, it’s over the top and it’s exciting and what makes it all the more exciting is the fact that the audience has seen the first half which as a result makes us care for the characters. I cared for Broly. It’s sad how mistreated he was. There’s more behind the big overpowered guy with green hair.

While the movie was a huge part of actually getting me to like this franchise, I’d say that the best thing about this experience was watching this movie with a packed cinema full of Dragon Ball fans, there were only two seats left, I am not kidding. The showing after the one I went to was sold out. People were excited for this movie. It’s so refreshing to see people showing this amount of hype and excitement to something that isn’t from Marvel. People laughed, gasped and cheered, this rarely happens, usually the most emotion my local cinema shows is a chuckle here and there.

Before going in, since I’ve never seen a Dragon Ball movie before this, I expected the movie to be serious and action-packed with little to no moments where the characters can catch a breath. I am so relieved to see that Dragon Ball isn’t just mindless action. It has a lot of heart thanks to Goku, his dynamic with Vegeta and Frieza also delivers the humorous moments as well. This movie is just really balanced when it comes to tone. The humor, heart, intense action and tragic moments are spread throughout the entire movie.

Although the one sort of flaw, it’s more of a nitpick for me but the movie is split into two halves. The first half is all story with some action and the second half is non-stop action, great action but it still is a lot to keep focusing on. I lost track multiple times, there was just so much shit going on, that my mind just wandered somewhere else. Apart from that I absolutely loved the movie, I can’t wait to just learn all of the lore and mythology of this franchise, I will definitely give this franchise a second chance!

Overall Dragon Ball Super: Broly is a great action movie for fans and non-fans of Dragon Ball. The epic fights and tragic story is truly brought to life by the gorgeous animation and the voice actors. This movie also has a lot of heart and humor and is not bagged down by the serious moments. There is a perfect balance of both. As I mentioned I wasn’t a Dragon Ball fan and I still followed the movie. It is the movie to introduce you and convince you to start watching.

RATING: A-