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On March 1st and 2nd, Dragon Ball Z- Battle of Gods (Extended Cut) was rereleased in the UK (by Piece of Magic Entertainment) alongside countries in the European Union and the Baltics.
While I was very enthusiastic to rewatch this movie on the Big Screen, it’s safe to say that I was left with mixed feelings at the end.
The movie while entertaining had not aged well unlike the older ones. Most of the effects in Dragonball Z: Battle of Gods feel either sloppy or outdated compared to how far they’ve been worked over in the Super Hero Movie and the Daima anime.
Tadayoshi Yamamuro, the lead Animation Director, kept a consistent style throughout the entire movie and his experience brought out a lot of the charm we all love about Dragonball.
Promotional poster by Piece of Magic Entertainment- Anime (POM Anime)
In terms of a script, it’s a good one because it is the first time we have direct involvement from Toriyama but you can see how despite his experience there are points where not all of his words can be translated to animation as Toei would have their interpretation.
For example, Shin and Kibito are shown to be defused in the Key Visual poster drawn by Toriyama while in the movie they are fused.
In the Manga, it is explained how they used the Namekian Dragon Balls to defuse and prevent Beerus from using them. And I wish that they had followed this original idea to keep consistency with Toriyama’s vision.
Akira Toriyama’s poster for Battle of Gods, 2013
I also like the inclusion of the side characters involved to show them being an active part of the story rather than just standing around and letting Goku and or Vegeta do everything.
Did it hurt the story? No not really, as again to me makes sense why they would as they can’t sense Beerus or Whis’s power so they don’t have to hesitate to engage him and I see why they were defeated so swiftly.
So yes, they served their purpose better here because without them Goku literally couldn’t become a God and I like that Toriyama made that point hit home.
It shows a level of growth to the Saiyans through the half-Saiyans and their development through Goku and Vegeta mostly via Goku’s influence on each of them.
This in some shape or form made it possible for Goku to be in a way karmically rewarded without even realizing it. It also showed how Roshi’s teachings played a strong factor on his judgement as his entire life was based on the lesson to practice and improve his martial arts without seeking validation.
In terms of action and fights it was entertaining and I loved the level of creativity put into it. Battle of Gods was probably the first movie implementing the use of 3D and 2D though for its time while serviceable it couldn’t stand the test of time as being something that looks great even after years of being made.
This is after considering that five years before BOGs, an OVA by the name of “Yo! Son Goku and Friends Return” had released a much better-looking 2D stylized work.
While it was made as a part of the 40th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump I don’t see why the movie couldn’t get a similar treatment.
Comparing both side by side, the OVA felt as a more natural progression of style with a much better color palette and overall feel to its animation. And as stated previously, Yamamuro despite the shortcomings is still an important figure in both of those productions when it comes to maintaining a consistent style given his years worth of experience.
With this movie, the problem isn’t necessarily with the experimentation of ideas but the execution of them. Most of the time you can figure out when the style changes and reverts to 2D.
However, it’s still well done for what is and it was a start to what we kept getting later as the Broly movie, Super Hero and Daima are far better-produced products and show how with better schedules and much experimentation we were able to get past the prior drop in quality and see a more polished product.
In terms of characterization, Beerus is an interesting villain with an actual personality and weight to what he is, which in this case is being a necessary force of nature responsible for maintaining an equilibrium by destroying what Shin creates but failing to nurture in the universe.
He is just as comedic as he is a God and I like that Toriyama moved away from the conventional tropes of the Dragonball one-and-done villains and decided to make one who is both important to the universe and opened up future possibilities, which in this case was the reveal that there were 12 other universes.
Whis is a perfect blend of being the very opposite of Beerus as he compliments the character both in energy. Not just that, Whis is crucial as he further expands upon the lore and while he is a comic relief you still look at him as a serious character who brings value to the story.
He elevates Beerus’ already imposing reputation by being the mysterious attendant who is more than meets the eye in every aspect especially after being revealed to be his teacher.
Whis is what I like about Toriyama’s way of subverting expectations by giving Whis a more porch appeal than Beerus which opened gags throughout the series.
When comparing this to the Super Anime, the movie is an objectively better adaptation as it was purely written by Toriyama.
And as stated previously, not everything he wrote made it through, in my opinion is a better tightly paced story and if animation is your go-to this should be your first choice because you can then watch this and the Ressurection F movie and still go on to watch the anime or read the manga thereafter and it will not limit your experience either way.
The movie in itself doesn’t waste your time and actually tells you everything you need to know and if you are curious just as I you can read through archived and translated production interviews to get an idea of what went behind the script and its concepts.
