After 17 years we have a brand new Dragon Ball Z film in “Battle of the Gods”. The nostalgic ride provided by the latest entry into the anime provides some hilarity, fantastic action, and extremely fond memories. It’s definitely worth having in any Dragon Ball fan’s collection.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods is an 2014 shounen  anime film and is the overall 18th film in the Dragon Ball Z series. It is produced by Toei Animation and distributed by Toei and 20th Century FOX. It is currently available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and Digital formats.

For the first time in 17 years Dragon Ball Z has returned to film, with Battle of the Gods comes Beerus; the God of Destruction who comes to Earth looking for the Super Saiyan God he met in a premonitory dream. This Saiyan God of course turns out to be Dragon Ball hero Goku, after a series of events takes place Beerus proves his worth as the God of Destruction, putting Goku and his family and friends in danger.

Beerus kicking some serious ass.

THE GOOD: Battle of the Gods is an beautifully animated film, the 2D & 3D animation mix made for perfect blend during the action scenes, and never felt too cheesy. Hearing the original score again was also pretty fun, it was rather interesting to see Goku look weak after going into Super Saiyan 3, while a Super Saiyan 2 Vegeta made Beerus look like a chump for a few moments in comparison. All of the classic action and sound effects appearing in the new film was also pretty neat.

SSJ3 Goku getting surprised by Beerus’ speed.

It was nice seeing Goku not overcome the odds for once, it made Battle of the Gods feel fresh after DBZ’s 17 year absence (as far as new content in the anime franchise goes). The story never felt out of place for the series and Beerus was an believable character. The humor also had the classic Dragon Ball feel, such as Beerus and Whis discovering common Earth food for the first time.

SSJ God Goku charges.

THE BAD: Some may get annoyed by the consistent focus on Goku, but Vegeta’s 15 seconds of fame against Beerus (as small as it may have been), was still worth while to see.

Sheron appears before the Z Warriors.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Battle of the Gods is perhaps the best Dragon Ball Z film to date. The classic humor, OST, and action brought back a lot of nostalgic memories. Seeing Goku get one upped on not one, but multiple occasions gave the film a much needed feeling of freshness for the series. And Beerus & Whis were great additions into the universe. Otaku Dome gives Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods an 87 out of 100.