After months of waiting, theories, news dripping and questions about what it would be like and what secrets the plot would hold for us, Dragon Ball Super: Broly has finally arrived in our cinemas and we can say that not only has it met all expectations, but that It has easily become the best Dragon Ball movie to date . We warn that from now on there will be spoilers for the entire movie and other previous Dragon Ball, we do not want anger!
The first thing we must say about the film is that it rewrites an important part of the canon , modifying how Broly appears in the Dragon Ball universe and discarding the films ‘ The duel breaks out ‘, ‘ The return of Broly ‘ and ‘ The definitive combat ‘ ( thanks for removing the latter ), as well as changing how and why Son Goku (or Kakaroto) came to Earth.
In the movie ‘ Duel breaks out ‘ we could see how the ancient Broly, while still a child, demonstrated an immense latent power when saving his father Paragus during Frieza’s attack on the planet Vegeta and we discovered that this irrational hatred towards Goku was due to that he cried constantly during his stay in the cradle capsules. Once Broly is an adult, Paragus tricks Goku and Vegeta to take them from Earth to a planet that is about to be destroyed by a comet and thus get his revenge against the ancient King Vegeta for trying to kill Broly as a baby. What Paragus does not have is that his son will gradually lose control and consciousness of himself when he is in front of Goku , releasing all his hidden power and becoming a warrior superior to all but totally uncontrolled . Finally, and after Broly kills his father, Goku is able to accumulate the remaining energy of all his fallen comrades and defeat him.
In ‘ The Return of Broly ‘ we learn that the legendary super saiyan escaped in a capsule that hit the Earth, being frozen under an icy lake. After several years, Goten, with a cry equal to that of his father Goku, made Broly wake up from his lethargy and after several battles between Goten, Gohan and a resurrected Goku they finally manage to defeat Broly. Finally, in the nothing memorable ‘ Bio-Broly: The Ultimate Combat ‘, a clone is created by the cells that they were able to retrieve from the capsule in which it arrived on Earth during the second movie. After some bland fighting, they manage to defeat him due to a weakness he has with salt water (yes, a horrible ending, it must be said).
Once the brief summary of the previous and non-canonical appearances of Broly is made, we must comment on the other rewritten part of the saga, the arrival of Goku on Earth . At first, Goku (a low-level Saiyan) is sent to Earth, a planet with weak life forms, so that he could conquer it and then sell it, a method with which the Saiyan people made their living. What finally happened was that Goku hit his head on arrival, forgetting all his past and who he was, being found and raised by the elderly Son Gohan . In the new canon, Goku is sent to earth by his father Bardock and his mother Gine to save him from the destruction of the planet Vegeta at the hands of Frieza (a rather obvious nod to Superman and Krypton).
Now that we have fresh the origins of Broly and the change in the origins of Goku, ‘ Dragon Ball Super: Broly ‘ is our next point on the list .
The film begins with the arrival of a young Frieza and his father, King Cold , to announce to King Vegeta’s people that the little tyrant takes control of his father’s empire from that moment on. Annoyed by the pride of his new leader, King Vegeta visits his son in the growth capsule, encountering an unknown baby in another nearby capsule. The king then discovers, puzzled, that he is the son of Colonel Paragus (Broly) and that his latent power is far superior to that of the prince. Jealous of this situation, he decides to send Broly to an uninhabited planet to get rid of him but Paragus, upon hearing the news, escapes following his son and vowing revenge against his king .
The flashback ends with Frieza’s call to all the Saiyans to exterminate them in one fell swoop by destroying the planet Vegeta , thus avoiding any possibility of the legend of the legendary saiyan being fulfilled. Bardock, Goku’s father , suspects the sudden call and decides to send his son in a capsule to Earth as a precaution against anything that may happen on the planet Vegeta.
After another time jump to the present, we find ourselves face to face with an intense training between Goku and Vegeta after the Tournament of Power. Goku kept his word and brought Freeza back to life after helping him make Universe 7 the winner in the tournament. But as the saiyan prince suspected, he is already planning his revenge and his first step is to get the dragon balls for a rather superficial purpose: to grow 5 centimeters and thus get them to stop laughing at him for his height. Cleverly, Freeza sends two of his men to steal six of the dragon balls and the radar needed to locate Bulma’s seventh house. It is then revealed that the last one is in the inhospitable and distant continent of ice, so Goku and Vegeta set out on the journey to recover the stolen spheres and get the missing one .
Once at the destination, they meet Frieza with two mysterious Saiyans, Paragus and Broly ; who survived all these years on the planet Vampa and were rescued by Lemo and Cheelai, two members of Freeza’s army. Paragus immediately recognizes the son of the ancient king and orders Broly to finish him off, beginning the first of the great battles we expected in the film. At first Vegeta has no problem keeping the saiyan’s attacks at bay, but little by little he finds it necessary to abandon his base form and go through several transformations to be able to face the growing power of Broly. The highlight of the combat is Vegeta’s first appearance in Super Saiyan God (we had already seen him as SSGSS , but never in this most basic form).
Goku, who had not yet intervened, takes advantage of a brief pause and challenges Broly to fight him . As expected, the result is similar to the one Vegeta obtained, as Broly is increasing his power little by little and not even the form of SSGSS (or Super Saiyan Blue ) manages to give him enough advantage to win the fight. As if this didn’t look bad enough, Freeza pushes Broly to the limit by killing Paragus; causing him to release all his power and reach the level of legendary warrior .
Faced with this difficult situation, Goku uses the technique of instant translation and escapes with Vegeta to a safe place where Piccolo awaits them. With his help, they use the mythical dance of the fusion technique and unite to give rise to Gogeta (the first time it appears in the official canon). His combined powers in this new form are vastly superior to Broly’s in both technique and strength, managing to cope without problems. It is then that Lemo and Cheelai, seeing Broly’s life in danger, use the dragon balls to return him to the planet Vampa . After the combat, Freeza flees from Earth and Lemo and Cheelai go in search of Broly. The final surprise comes when Goku appears, who brings them supplies and proves to have seen in Broly not an enemy, but a possible ally for the future and a magnificent warrior with whom to train.
This brief summary does not do justice to the sensations that the film manages to convey or how much it is enjoyed. It is worth noting the very high quality of the animation achieved by Naohiro Shitani and his team, very rarely seen in an anime. The combat sequences have an insane visual rhythm and spectacularity, making the viewer enjoy a Dragon Ball combat like never before. Lastly, the sound makes one feel each blow and impact and the music helps to achieve that unique epicity to the whole.
Finally, we want to point out that this new relationship with Broly opens a whole new arc of possibilities for the future of Dragon Ball , since it is not unreasonable to think that Goku and company need help to face future threats (see Moro’s example in DBS ).
If you are a fan of Dragon Ball, you need to see this movie in theaters (preferably in VO, Masako Nozawa deserves it) and if you are not, it is a good opportunity to give it a try. It is never too late to let the ki flow and enjoy the adventures of Goku and company .
