The third canonical and 20th overall installment into the Dragon Ball film franchise is coming to theaters across America and Canada soon and it features the immensely popular Legendary Super Saiyan Broly. Taking place after the Universal Survival arc, Goku and Vegeta continue to train to reach Godly levels of power in order to one day defeat Beerus and possibly even Whis. Meanwhile, Frieza has slowly began to rebuild his army and empire throughout Universe 7. This leads the evil ruler to a handful of Planet Vegeta survivors, namely the titular Broly who is bringing a wave of destruction in the paths of Goku and Vegeta whom he shares a connection with from the past.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly is a 2018 shounen anime film and it is the 20th film in the Dragon Ball series, it is produced by Toei Animation and licensed by Funimation Films. It hits Japanese theaters on December 14, 2018 and US and Canada on January 16, 2019. Select screenings are available now.

Editor’s Note: Near complete to complete spoilers for Dragon Ball Super: Broly may be present within this review. A review screener for the English dub of Dragon Ball Super: Broly was provided by Funimation Films in support of this review. An Amazon Affiliates link for this title is present within this review.

Taking place sometime following the Tournament of Power, Goku and Vegeta have been continuing their training and are nearing the status of a God in power. Meanwhile, Frieza; who has been revived after the Tournament of Power concluded has successfully rebuilt his army and has begun conquering planets once more. While a crew of Frieza’s are out searching for warriors with high power levels, they come across Planet Vegeta survivors Broly and Paragus setting off a chain of events that will forever change their worlds.

THE GOOD: ‘Broly’ begins with about a 20 or so minute trip to the past featuring a retelling of Bardock and the destruction of Planet Vegeta. This time though we’re introduced to Bardock’s wife Gine alongside Paragus, King Cold, a young Frieza, and infant Goku, Vegeta, and Broly. One of the major changes here include Bardock’s visions being replaced with a feeling of distrust for Frieza and being able to assess the impending destruction of the planet. Vegeta, Raditz, and Nappa are off world and get word of Planet Vegeta’s destruction showing zero remorse at least as far as Vegeta & Raditz are concerned (oh and we get an unexpected Tarble mention).

Back in the present day Goku and Vegeta continue their training on a new island purchased by Capsule Corp. to keep destruction from the public. After discussing their reasons for getting stronger Goku and Vegeta sense a powerful energy, this turns out to be Frieza along with two new guests; Broly and Paragus. It’s also discovered that Frieza (and Bulma for that matter) has been in search for Earth’s Dragon Balls in order to grant his wish of being taller by five inches, yeah really. Paragus has Broly attack Vegeta and Goku on Frieza’s orders and his first opponent is the Saiyan Prince. Vegeta is amazed by Broly’s potential and his ability to learn as he fights. Vegeta goes Super Saiyan God (for the first time in the anime) and the fight takes a complete 180 with Vegeta nearly dominating Broly with little effort. That is until Broly unleashes a new transformation taking power from the Saiyan Oozaru form which instantly places him on even grounds with Super Saiyan God Vegeta.

After unleashing his Full Power transformation Broly takes on Vegeta and easily gets the upper-hand, at this point Goku decides to tag in and transforms into a Super Saiyan God himself. Here we see Goku showing off new techniques including the God Bind which he used to freeze Broly in place (only to have it reversed on him by Broly) and a brand new ki blast attack, both of which ultimately fail. Forcing Goku to no longer hold back he transforms into the Super Saiyan Blue form with a lengthy transformation sequence which may have featured a glimpse of Goku’s Ultra Instinct form. Despite using his full power Broly continues to be a threat with his power growing by the second, Vegeta comes to terms with letting go of his pride and aides Goku in a two on one brawl, but they fail to defeat Broly. Frieza kills Paragus in an effort to further increase his strength and the stress causes Broly to become a Super Saiyan, amplifying his power even more. After tricking the brute into a battle with Frieza who even transforms into Golden and still fails to stand up to the monster Saiyan, Goku & Vegeta use Instant Transmission to learn the fusion dance from Piccolo. Some comedy ensues with a couple of failed attempts before we get the canonical debut of Gogeta who takes on Broly for the final battle.

Despite fusing Gogeta is still having a tough time facing Super Saiyan Broly, that is until Gogeta himself transforms. Broly’s power continues to rise during the battle, but Gogeta once again turns the tide by transforming into Super Saiyan Blue. Broly’s consistent power increase is unable to match Gogeta’s level and Gogeta Blue is able to easily overpower him. Gogeta hits a Soul Punisher doing immense damage to Broly and severely injuring him. Before he can finish him off with a Kamehameha, Cheelai who along with Lemo had befriended Broly uses the Dragon Balls to wish him back to Planet Vampa for safety. The trio reunite on the planet opting to leave the Frieza Force and live together. Goku arrives after finding Broly’s energy and gives them supplies hoping that they can become allies. Before leaving, Cheelai asks for Goku’s name as he provides his Earth name, he informs Broly to refer to him as Kakarot; his Saiyan name. Frieza makes plans for further use of Broly’s abilities once he becomes more in control of them.

One of the best things about experiencing Dragon Ball Super: Broly is the eye-popping manga like animation. From the looks of things this could be the animation style being used moving forward with the next series and if that’s the case I’m more than ok with it. Second the soundtrack is incredible with tracks once again being provided by Norihito Sumitomo who also provided the OST for the anime. Coming off like a pro wrestling crowd making chants such as “Go Broly Go Go!” and “Goooooogeta!” added a rather unexpected element to the action scenes and one I hope Sumitomo uses more often with his sound. Speaking of the action scenes, while this time around ‘Broly’ is more focused on the story, but that isn’t to say that the film’s action was laxed. It’s still very much classic Dragon Ball with fast paced brawls and tons of destructive forces taking up the screen. And Goku’s big character moment where he finally takes pride in his Saiyan heritage is a pretty moving development for a character who only previously cared about seeing where his limits could go.

THE BAD: There’s some retcons of the past such as the previously mentioned Bardock story that not everyone will enjoy. Certain characters such as Gohan, Trunks, Goten, Krillin, etc are also missing from the film. Some of the 3D scenes didn’t mesh too well with the 2D, but this was both to be expected and rather rare. Editor’s Note: Trunks and Goten do appear in the film for a few minutes.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Dragon Ball Super: Broly will be remembered as one of the biggest pieces of Dragon Ball media in franchise history. With an evolution in art direction, story, it’s characters, and action sequences the follow-up to the 2015 return of the anime can’t come soon enough. Otaku Dome gives Dragon Ball Super: Broly a 90 out of 100.