Pitched as the first "canon" elaboration on the finale of the manga, Battle of Gods marks the transition of the franchise from the long completed "Z" era, to the (at the time of release unnamed) "Super" era. With that in mind, a lot of the future of the franchise hinges on this film, and i'm happy to say Battle of Gods "gets" Dragon Ball. Time has been good to Akira Toriyama. Gone is the rushed, seat of your pants energy that permeated the last arc and a half, and instead we arrive at a unique good natured tone that feels at home with the early parts of the manga, without distracting from the story or devaluing the characters like some of the comedic choices in the Buu saga. This reverance for the source material in its totality strikes a welcome balance of slice of life comedy and action and it left a great first impression for me experiencing Super content for the first time. In a lot of ways, it felt like Toriyama and company were specifically addressing common issues with Dragon Ball in this film. We got to see less relevant characters be themselves and do things, we got to see Goku and Vegeta care for their family (specifically their wives) instead of being complete sociopaths, the film even makes a point in the end that it's not just Goku and his main character powers that matter, but the Dragon World as a whole. I liked seeing the Pilaf gang make a return and I enjoyed Beerus as the antagonist. I can imagine a world where someone who values the most serious aspects of "Z" era Dragon Ball above all else would think of this film as too light hearted and breezy, but anyone who enjoys any more than that specific narrow viewpoint of Dragon Ball should have fun with this. My biggest criticism of the film would be the visual presentation. It's digital era Toei so I braced for impact but it still shocks me that some of this CGI and post effects are considered theatrically presentable. It's not the worst i've seen from them and there's nothing that is outright offensive, but don't come to this film for the production value, there are plenty of television shows that put it to shame, average cut to cut and peak Sakuga to peak Sakuga. The Japanese cast delivers as usual and the insert song used during the fight did it's job to hype me up.
Recommended for fans of the Manga or the Toei anime adaptation, not recommended as the entry point into the franchise (Start at chapter 1!)
