Super Dragon Ball Heroes

Just for everyone to know:
1. It's NON-CANON
2. It's a PROMOTIONAL anime for Dragon Ball Heroes, so don't expect every week 20 minute episodes that are perfect
3. Be happy that they will bring us thing Akira would probably never give us (such as ssj3 trunks and such)
4. Just look at it as if it's a fan-service-only anime... so don't expect perfect quality

It's not that I accept this all, of course I would want 20 minute episodes, but we can't change it from a promotional anime to a full-running anime like Dragon Ball used to be by writing hate reviews or being hateful to the makers ... of this anime.
And to the people saying this anime is a waste of time, they also always complain about them being too short, or that it takes too long to publish another episode. If you don't want to wait for the next episode, then do things that are more important like an actual job, instead of writing reviews about hating the series.
Besides that I do agree that the story isn't 'interesting' yet, and it lacks logics of the power between characters, but it was already messed up in DBS anyways.
At least they don't rush things the first 6 episodes like DBS did with awful animation...

This is not to be hating on the haters, but I'm just pointing out some obvious things. This is nothing to anybody personal, but I just see way too many over the top hate reviews on the series.

You know, I gave this anime a chance at first, but after 6 episodes, I've come to realize something: this show is a complete waste of time.

Fan-service comes at light-speed and there's no focus on any of it. Characters and power forms fans have been asking for are thrown in for less than 8 minutes and thrown to the way-side the very next episode, and there's no effort put into how any of them would stand up to each other.

The baddie saiyan is Jiren all over again. If you've seen Super, you've seen this, only in Super they actually use the 22 minute run-time to ... generally ease you into the power-scaling.

Battles are boring to look at, non of what the show pleases its fans with gets any attention anyways, this is just an anime to promote a shallow Dragon Ball video game, why did I ever even take this anime seriously to begin with?

For what the anime is made for, it works. I did get a bit of excitement to play dbz Budokai Tenkaichi. As it is not a stand alone, it doesn't need to build on the franchise or act like a true anime but it really should have tried though. Hitting fans with too much fan service (fusions) and transformations does irritate though rather than draw a viewer in.

I was disappointed with it as it misses a few things that would have made it really great.
1) The speed is off...If you want a fight to have meaning and weight you need more than ... 40 seconds of a fight. The 15 min episode should have viewer wanting more. This was just too much content with too little development.
2)If the goal is get the viewer amped to play, the battles should be new and epic. eg when I had Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (think it was 3) I enjoyed the epic battles with stacked odds against enemies that had some weight on the story. Although i also enjoyed playing as nova Shenron too that novelty quickly wore off.
3) The story has potential but it needs a slower build up and more explanation(I feel super makes this mistake too) when you build too quickly it leaves fans hating the power scaling and getting bored of transformations. The new villians could have been so much more interesting and mysterious

Right, looking at the previous reviews of this I decided someone needed to finally make this review. I hope I will be able to communicate why I believe this more positive review of this series needed to made.

Not only is every other review super preliminary (most having only seen the first handful of eps) after reading some it's quite clear many of these reviewers don't understand what this series is at all.

Dragon Ball Heroes is a long standing Japanese exclusive arcade game, and this series is essentially an animated PV series for that game. Not only do they mention this and show the arcade machines ... and cards before and after every episode, but every character and plot line we follow often matches up entirely with the games latest cards, updates and expansions.

I think some confusion around this series arose as it came off the back of the immensely popular (yet also divisive) revitalisation of DB; Dragon Ball Super. With Super also in the name of this series, I'm certain peoples views and experiences of DBS certainly shaped how a lot of people viewed this series. Super Dragon Ball Heroes and Dragon Ball Super are entirely different beasts, and cannot be judged to the same standard.

Dragon Ball Heroes is a great game for all hardcore DB fans, that's how it's lasted all these years, they know exactly what the fans want and consistently give them official works of long desired things. SSJ3 Trunks, SSJ4 Vegito, Great Ape Broly these are things we would NEVER see in a official capacity without Heroes. It is and always has been a fanservice heavy DB fanfictors wet dream. And this anime SDBH is just that too.

What you are watching is essentially an advert, SDBH is great for what it is, but ofc what it is, is nothing special. Promotional material for a game for the most hardcore of DB fans, if you have no interest in Dragon Ball Heroes (the game) or diving heavy into the DB fandom this is ofc not for you.

If you understand what you're getting into there's a lot to like here. The original VAs, getting excited for the games new content & seeing heroes specific content animated that has previously been only in trading cards and (sometimes region locked) video games.

The excitement of wondering what will they include/show next? This is Heroes, anything could happen. SSJ3 Veku? Janembuu? Ultra Ego Trunks? (none of these likely ofc, just spit-balling, the whole point you have no idea what's coming, but it's gonna be some cool DB shit that you likely wanna see!). If not then why are you watching? That's who this series is for, the people who this does excite and who wanna see this stuff. This is my entire point in this review.

I believe if there was a clearer understanding of what this series is and who it is for, there would be less of a negative reception. This does not and never will have the mass appeal of a show like Dragon Ball Super. But if you are bordering on DB superfan you will look forward to these episodes as and when they are available.

Well, I know this is only a promotional anime and it doesn´t look for a consistent writing but despite of that it´s still disapointing, specially the powerscalling, being something crucial in a series like this. The original material is grossly underused and it´s a shame, because it has potential (I would like some ideas from here to be added to Super).

Story: 4

As I said, is inconsistent as hell. There are good ideas and I would like to see them well developed, but the fact that this is a promotional anime prevents it.

Art:6

Poor animation, consistent and good art. It´s ok.

... Characters: 7

The same characters as Super has, but with some new incorporations. I like Fu and the new league of villains, they have interesting proposes.

Enjoyement 6:

I enjoy watching this. I don´t know if this is because I love Dragon Ball, but despite knowing this anime isn´t good (or as good as it could be) I want to see more episodes of this shit.

Overall: 4

This anime is entertaining and if you like Dragon Ball you don´t lose anything watching it, but don´t expect too much. Is always interesting to know what´s going on in the franchise.

If you're a fan of Dragon Ball, please refrain from watching this

As the whole purpose of this "anime's" existence is to promote the new Dragon Ball Heroes game, I came in expecting it to be mediocre at best, and ooooh boy was I disappointed.

So what made it so awful?

- The power scaling is abysmal. Somehow every single villain (if they even dserve to be called villains), just happens to be more powerful than Jiren. Also, after episode 5 you find out that SSJ4 Vegito is more powerful than SSJB Kaio-Ken Vegito, apparently.

- Vegeta's pride is completely tarnished; he never hesitates or complains when fusing ... with Goku. They basically retconned his trademark feature.

There's so much more I could complain about, but I don't believe this abomination even deserves that time that would take.

To be fair, it is a promotional anime so I didn't really expect a story to begin with. Please don't waste your time watching this.

Why didn't I drop this sooner

Status: Episode 5

Super Dragon Ball Heroes - SO IF ANYONE WHO DOESN’T BELIEVE DRAGON BALL HEROES ISN’T A THING, GUESS AGAIN, HERE WE ARE WITH AN ANIME INSTEAD OF 1 MINUTE PROMOTION.

For real though, I have nothing against the game nor the premise per say. What I am asking is this: Really? You think your fanbase is so addictive to your IP that they just can’t wait less than a year to get new content? You really want to milk Dragonball so bad that we need filler content just so that your audience doesn’t forget about it?

This anime is one of those original net animation ... from Toei, which is basically Toei way of releasing their content very cheaply.

What I am saying is that this anime is cheap as it comes with very underwhelming character interaction. You know how the people outside the fandom think Dragon Ball is? Just fight after fight with no thought outside of presenting the fight themselves? Well this anime is simply that. You get some fights and that's it. But of course we have a story to tell.

Dragon Ball Heroes or Super Dragon Ball Heroes takes place some time after Super Dragon Ball has ended with Goku and Vegeta training with Whis once more. But uh oh! A new evil looking glasses character shows up and tells that his ‘friend’ Future Trunks has been captured in prison planet! I personally would call it planet less a dank place and more a planet with giant ass chains, but I digress.

And from here on out we meet some characters which our heroes are thrown to and we get to see more fanservice. How come they are here? Well there are many reasons for each characters to be here, but to summarize it, it's because of Money and Fuck You. I believe that there are some people who want to see Golden Not-Freeza in all his might, but I doubt that it was Toei top priorities to make your wish come true.

So about what I said earlier regarding how this show is just fights after another. I wouldn’t call this a bad thing per say. Considering how this is Dragon ball, you could make this the best feature by having the characters adapt the situation of their unique enemy. This is what most of the Dragon ball movies and special tried to do. The keyword was tried. Here the fights are just boring to watch. There is no weight behind each battle, nor any flashy animations that would make this at least look nice.

To give you an example, watching these fights are like going to a fast food restaurant and only ordering fries from the menu after another. It's gives you a kick at first, it then start to tastes the same, and then you wish you had added something more.

You might say this is just to be a promotional anime for the game, but we already have the commercials for it, and ton of them, so… what?

I also most congratulate Toei animation. You somehow made it boring to watch Goku Goku action. I-I-I just can’t believe you actually rushed that fight. You even made fusion, freaking fusion something that lacks all of it excitement. Hmmm, maybe if you actually had some stakes or at least had some fun it might would had been enduring. Since serious Dragon ball nowadays is something that would not work due to how the series never gonna permanently remove any important characters, I was hoping that this would rather be comedic Dragon Ball. Alas, this wasn't a comedic entry.

Okay but what about the NEW characters? We have evil glasses guy, Fuu, he's… eh. We have not-Broly/Raditz, he’s a saiyan, he's… eh. I can’t remember his name. I'm not joking, I know he's named after a vegetable, has the power to control people and turn into a giant ape, but he's freaking name wasn't even important to remember. Hell I remember his voice actors name more than his. You know, the more of these saiyans appear on screen, the more I appreciate Freezas genocide. I mean Jesus Fucking Space Christ, how many non trained saiyans were there to be over a thousands times stronger than Goku in this multiverse?

There is one thing that makes this anime belong so far low on the list. Even if this anime is average at best, there's this attitude Toei has. Toei made this when we were going to have a arguably better Dragon Ball product very soon. Like guys, don't you think that you should spend these resources on the movie and not on an animated advertisement?

This isn't strange for Toei to go all out on their current main IPs. Yet I also haft to ask this; why the fuck couldn't you spent this amount of resources on doing mini series for your other older IPs? You know, those others who are or had anniversaries? How about Sally the Witch? Fist of The North Star? Cutie Honey? Hell Teacher Nūbē? Or even Kinnikuman? You could do every episode on Kinnikuman day. Or even better, MAKE A GODDAMN CARTOON ABOUT YOUR MASCOT! IT'S BEEN OVER 40 YEARS! But I will talk about that another time. Oooh do I have plans for it.

As for this, eh. I got not much else to say about this show. It's a online video series made by Toei, what kind of quality did you expect? You get some good voice acting from the series standards and the newcomers seems to be doing a good job, but else seems to bland.

If you want to watch Dragon Ball Heroes, just watch the commercials or play the game. You could skip this one okay. You ain't missing much from this. Honestly.

This is the worst adaptation of Dragon Ball I ever seen, I would rather watch Dragon Ball Evolution than this again. It is bad because it tries to hit people's nostalgia and they fail miserably, also Dragon Ball wasn't known for being filled with wits, but they dumbed down this show too much.

The story and how it starts with "Fu" is dumb, the way they are still using Trunks as they used Gohan in DBZ part 2 trying to make him the protagonist but it didn't work, nobody cares about Mai...

Enemies: We all know Frieza is Goku's number one enemy, after Namekkusei, the show got ... OP, but they couldn't use him, so what is the closest second? That's right C.... ooler, what? Oh right they need to exploit the golden transformation. That's alright, we have the strongest saiyan and he will take care of Goku, his base form is OP, he is ridiculously strong and was created so people imagine him as the ultimate enemy, it is... Cunber? "Yup, Brolly is going in the new film we can use him here too."

Friends: Dragon Ball GT was amazing right guys? So who do people miss? The fourth transformation, and I am alright with that, but Vegetto SSJ4? Also why do they keep using that fake Trunks's god transformation?

And the show isn't even over, we don't know how low it will get from here, DB Super to me killed the anime, it is a zombie that lives to provide profit and people are too nostalgic about Dragon Ball to even criticise it. Do yourself a favour and don't watch this bad show.

This isn't supposed to be an amazing anime, so don't go into it expecting something like that. This is a non-canon promotional anime for Dragon Ball Heroes, and you can see that these episodes are produced to show off the ridiculous characters in order to make money.

This is honestly just something chill to watch if you're bored, there's no need to take seriously.

It's best to watch this show with your brain switched off so you don't worry about the nonsensical story and appalling power scaling.

Ultimately, Super Dragon Ball Heroes is just an excuse to watch our favorite Dragon Ball characters fighting, and the show is ... great at doing that, but it's nothing more than that.

If you can't tell, I am not writing it exactly seriously, you have been warned.

Possible spoilers

So far it's both awesome and weird

Let's go from the best to worst.

Fights: 150/100
You'll get literally fighting fanservice, there's more fights than boobs in ecchi. Lot of OP characters going at it, heaven for fight maniac.
...
Transformations: 100/100
Oh boy, there are tons of transformations: Ultra Instinct, SSJ4, Fusions and etc.

Art: 90/100
I really like Super art style, and because Heroes have Super coat, I like this as well.

Characters: 80/100
Canon, non-canon OP characters just to battle. I personally dislike Fu, I find him pretty annoying, so that's why I am giving 80/100

Golden Cooler: 1/100
Laaaaazy. I hate that Cooler turns golden as well. Yes, he's Frieza's brother, but still I would appreciate something different.

Does it make any sense 1/100
Nope, but what would you expect from non-canon. Villains goal is to defeat Omni king, which is basically impossible, because Omni king can erase anything he dislikes.

Future Trunks again in our timeline: 1/100
It makes zero sense, why would Trunks come back to our timeline for training, this aspect could have been though out much smarter than this.

So the rating of Dragonball Heroes is 60/100 so 6/10. Give it a fair try, but I hope we'll get a sequel to Super soon.

NOTE: This anime is a promotion for an arcade game in Japan, whereas the beginning of the first arc in the anime is in the national port SDBH: World Mission.

Maybe things would probably be better if they didn't try to condense so much into a 9-minute episode.

As someone who somehow unwittingly came to love this as a guilty pleasure, I always have 3 words for those new to its existence: READ THE MANGA.
While the manga is shallow in its own right and Yoshitaka Nagayama's art in the first two manga sagas is not very appealing to others, it does cover more of the ... lore and plot without just making things without explanation. You'll find there are some pretty extreme differences in the fates of certain characters. If you're feeling cheeky, try even looking up translations of the in-game story. Surprise! They all adapt the same story differently.

Also I know a lot of Xenoverse players have seen this anime so yet another disclaimer: Xenoverse and Heroes aren't in the same universe, hence why some characters act wildly different from their counterparts. Like
Fu is much more of antagonistic in Heroes and probably idolizes Joker
Mira didn't go out for milk after voring his wife and is actually a good dad and husband.
Demigra is more of a gray character.
It's wild. But gives a lot of good lore on the demons, being the Supreme Kai of Time, and very minuscule bits of ancient Saiyan lore. There's ***rumored*** kais that are born evil in this shit

Heroes may not always remember they established Cumber as being the guy who fought Yamoshi, but ***I*** always remember.

Other than that, the animation and delivery of certain lines can be very hit or miss, as well as how well the anime adapts the story. Very good bits of OST though.

Probably a very good selection for meatheads who just like seeing dudes beat the fuck out of each other or sparkly new forms. If you're a lore nerd like me, you'll probably want to read the manga as I said.

It's amazing how this show can have such cool fights, that i'm completely and utterly not interested in in the slightest.

This show is basically just a fanfiction given anime form, and it really suffers for it. It feels like there are no real stakes, because everything is strictly non-canon and it's just throwing whatever characters in and out of the mix without establishing who is there or why beyond maybe one line of dialogue, and then it's right back into the fighting. There's no sense of "Are they really on their last legs, or will there suddenly be Jiren here for some reason unexplained now ... and he's taking over the fight?" It's weird and really disjointed. It would likely be much higher rated if it wasn't an official Toei production and was just like, a fan thing on youtube, but I know Toei can do better.

It's Dragon Ball, lots of action and awesome characters returning in a strange event.

A lot of it doesn't make sense to me but the action is always interesting, just much more rushed here. Without the back tracking or lots of story to understand the full world its just really a show to show of fan favorite characters in their many different forms.

I enjoyed it. Would not mind if they expanded on the idea better though. If you like the Dragon Ball characters from all the series then this may interest you. If you want story, it will be tough to follow unless you ... read the manga or played their games.