The controversial animation style is the best thing that could have happened to the series

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero finally hits theaters today. That the Anime blockbuster dominated the cinema charts in the USA, not everyone would have seen it coming. In the run-up, criticism of the 21st feature film in the legendary franchise rained down.

After the predecessor, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, ignited visual fireworks on the big screen, many fans initially couldn’t get used to the new, very CG-heavy animation style. But don’t let that worry you unnecessarily, because this one is the one greatest strength of the cinema hit!

Super Hero went through an enormously complex animation process

Before you possibly pull out your torches and pitchforks, please let me explain. Beforehand, I was also critical of these major changes. Battle of the Gods, Resurrection F and also the Broly film already experimented with CG elements, but they actually looked pretty bad.

After previewing the first 20 minutes of Super Hero at Crunchyroll Expo 2022 in San Jose, California, my opinion started to change. In the meantime I was allowed to second Dragon Ball Super feature film Watch it several times and I was completely won over by the new animation style.

Check out the trailer for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero on

This is due to one thing in particular: it doesn’t look like 3DCG in most of the scenes. We have a lot to thank for this complex animation process, in which each scene goes through several phases. You can see what that looks like in detail here.

In short: Super Hero is not a pure 3DCG anime, it is cleverly combines this modern style with 2D elements. The details are noteworthy here, such as minimal inconsistencies in the borders of the figures or a frame rate that sometimes seems unclean. This gives the impression that we are dealing with a classic, hand-drawn anime.

The result is a very homogeneous look that is significantly more coherent than was the case with the three previous Dragon Ball movies. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero brings to life the world created by Akira Toriyama around Goku, Gohan and their friends tremendously detailed to live. The energy of the creator emanates from every scene and every fan will be happy about that.

Super Hero uses its technical possibilities

Speaking of Toriyama: He said in a short message when announcing the anime blockbuster that the work would be improved in terms of its aesthetics “through undiscovered territory” hike. At first glance, these may seem like high-level words, but they are true. While Super Hero looks very familiar with his iconic designs, he also feels fresh.

The style reminiscent of manga drawings in combination with the warm colors used for the skin of the characters and, for example, Son Gohan’s transformation into Super Saiyan, strongly reminiscent of the old Dragon Ball Z movies from the 90s and make fan hearts beat faster. At the same time, the film makes wonderful use of its new technical possibilities.

In classic 2D animations, it is well known that an enormous amount of effort is required to create smooth camera movements, for example a 360° recording. 3D animations, on the other hand, give the animation team more freedom. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero uses this with his creative and dynamic tracking shots skillfully.

When Son Gohan and cyborg warrior Gamma 1 collide in the pouring rain and engage in a fierce battle, the camera sets the beautifully crafted 3D character models fantastic in scene.

Their fists collide in a bloodcurdling manner, the ground shattering under their powerful attacks. Explosions and smoke fill the air while small raindrops roll off them. Thanks to a dynamic camera, some wonderfully exaggerated poses and great fight choreographies, a visual feast. This is Dragon Ball at its purest!

Toei Animation wants to take risks with Dragon Ball

The latest big-screen spin-off from the iconic anime brand makes one thing very clear: Toei Animation remains willing to take risks with this series. After the mighty international success of Broly The studio could have just played it safe, but it didn’t.

With the major comeback of the iconic franchise in the form of Dragon Ball Z: Clash of the Gods, it became clear that Toei Animation would use modern techniques in the implementation of the upcoming projects. Instead of drawing everything by hand like in the old films and series, more and more CG elements were mixed into the works. A trend that is now reaching its peak.

Of course, that doesn’t have to mean that all upcoming Dragon Ball anime projects will mostly rely on 3DCG animations. However, Super Hero gives hope that these computer-generated elements will fit into the overall picture much more smoothly than before. Of the Super Hero’s new animation style is the film’s greatest strengthalso because it paves the way for the future of the series.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero starts in German cinemas on August 30, 2022.

How do you like the new animation style of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero?