When I see Son Goku’s hair passing in my twitter feed, nostalgic, I replay the best moments of the anime and I realize that it is the only manifestation of Akira Toriyama’s work in my daily life for a I don’t have a will to boycott Dragon Ball Super, but this sequel came out in 2015, decades after the original anime version ended. As a teenager at the time of its release, I was too busy catching up on One Piece. Later, seeing the new Saiyan transformations, I decided to skip it. However, the new film, which I went to see a bit by chance, more than seduced me and made me want to immerse myself in this universe again. Like anything, anything is possible. Which made me want to come back to my funny relationship with this saga. Childhood love As I was saying, I kinda avoided Dragon Ball Super. For fear of being disappointed, and of altering my memories as a child, when, each day, on my way home from class, I waited in front of the MCM channel for the daily episode to begin (hoping that they would not resume the airing since the beginning of the anime, as was regularly the case). At the time, this rambling follow-up quickly frustrated me. So I started asking my mom if she could buy me the manga. Bored by children’s novels, in the summer, I redid the volumes of the mythical pastel edition. With a preference for the cyborg arc. Unlike the usual antagonists, Android 17 and Android 18 were normal in appearance. Terrifyingly cold, their combed cut and their sad destiny have made them endearing. In an arc full of adventures, they will end up being absorbed by Cell, which will thus achieve its “perfect form”. The final version of the monster will remain the antagonist that marked me the most, with no disrespect to Boo and Frieza — I still have a small Cell figurine at home. Every summer, my grandmother gives me subscribed to magazines for the coming year. One day, I decided to swap Mickey’s Journal for Dragon Ball, the legendary manga. It was a fairly fine magazine in which one could find information on the manga universe and each publication was accompanied by a figurine. Every month I looked forward to adding a new one to my collection, hoping it would be a powerful figure, as the weaker ones ended up disfigured by my childhood play experiences. An Unexpected Return My favorite figure was that of Piccolo. Over the course of readings and episodes, I developed a deep admiration for this charismatic antihero. This is what partly convinced me to go see Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Piccolo being one of the protagonists of the film. The other reason is the relevance of the film in the chronology of the manga. I’m rather reluctant to go see a film adapted from an anime. They generally have no influence on the development of the original work. I find it rather frustrating to see your favorite character take down enemies brilliantly, but for wind. Read also -> We have classified (objectively) all the Dragon Ball films The author has fun with his characters and allows himself deviations that he could not have made in the original work, for the sake of consistency. It’s like the All-Star Game in the NBA: what’s the use of seeing LeBron James string together impressive dunks without anyone to compete in front of him?. Five minutes is nice, but surely not an hour and a half when the stakes are non-existent. This is not the case with Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. There is something at stake and the film takes up the chronology of the anime. So I suspected that this film would be important in the development of Piccolo and also that of Son Gohan. Because together, they will have to face the army of the Red Ribbon, famous for being at the origin of the cyborgs C-17 and C-18 or Cell. No need to remind you what my favorite arc is. No more doubt. I go to the cinema. The conditions are met for the reunion to be successful. I was immediately amazed by the animation, light years away from that of my memories. I rediscovered the work from another point of view, that of Piccolo and his eternal loyalty to Son Gohan. Seeing this duo obviously did something to me. Nostalgic for the time when Piccolo was in charge of training the young Saiyan, which led to the elimination of Cell, after Gohan’s legendary transformation into Super Saiyan 2. The film is full of nods to this period. masterpiece of the work. How to express what the ultimate confrontation aroused in me? Respecting the traditional codes of shōnen, with a nice touch of fan service, everything is there. Sacrifices, emotion, nostalgia, doubt, badass transformations, and full of iconic characters fighting alongside Son Gohan and Piccolo, both transcended. I took full eyes, and I’m on the verge of finally watching Dragon Ball Super.
