Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero film gets a worldwide release

In 2018, the anime film Dragon Ball Super: Broly made $115 million worldwide. However, Sony’s Crunchyroll has greater ambitions for the upcoming sequel, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Crunchyroll and Toei Animation have announced that they are teaming up to give the latest installment in the long-running franchise a global theatrical release later this summer.

Dragon Ball has been one of the most popular manga and anime series for decades, and it played a large role in popularizing both in this country. The new movie revisits some of the old adversaries of Son Goku and his friends: The Red Ribbon Army. To defeat Goku and overcome his power, the Red Ribbon Army has created two incredibly advanced androids. The androids have even co-opted the words “Super Hero” to mask their evil agenda. But the real heroes of the franchise won’t let that stand.

Dragon Ball Super: SUPER HERO | OFFICIAL TRAILER

Here’s the official synopsis for the film:

“The Red Ribbon Army was once destroyed by Son Goku. Individuals, who carry on its spirit, have created the ultimate Androids, Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. These two Androids call themselves “Super Heroes.” They start attacking Piccolo and Gohan … What is the New Red Ribbon Army’s objective? In the face of approaching danger, it is time to awaken, Super Hero!” 

The official poster for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

The original Japanese voice cast features Masako Nozawa, Toshio Furukawa, Yūko Minaguchi, Ryō Horikawa, Mayumi Tanaka, Aya Hisakawa, Takeshi Kusao, Miki Itō, Bin Shimada, Kōichi Yamadera, Masakazu Morita, Hiroshi Kamiya, Mamoru Miyano, Miyu Irino, Volcano Ota, and Ryota Takeuchi.

Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, wrote the screenplay and provided the character designs for the film, which was directed by Tetsuro Kodama.

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero will be released in Japan on June 11. However, the international release dates, including the date for the United States, haven’t been announced yet.

Editors' Recommendations

Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers review: A wild, welcome return
Dale and Chip walk toward the camera in a scene from Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers.

For kids of the 1990s, DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and TaleSpin were the holy trinity of afternoon animation. The series aired as part of the Disney Afternoon lineup and helped cement the then-recently launched Fox channel's status with a generation of young audiences.

It's been nearly three decades since the series was removed from syndication, but with the wildly successful launch of a DuckTales reboot just a few years ago, it was only a matter of time before Disney turned its attention to Rescue Rangers. And what a return it is for the series' chipmunk pals, who return to the screen in the feature-length Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers film that blends various forms of animation with a brilliant creative team and voice cast, along with a collection of cameos that's one of the most wide-ranging you'll find in a film. (That's saying a lot, too, given the last few years of movies.)

Read more
Young Justice: The series we deserve (even if we can’t see it)
Rocket, Miss Martian, Nightwing, Superboy, and Zatanna on a poster for Young Justice Phantoms.

It wouldn't be an overstatement to declare Young Justice the best comic book-based show on television. Now in its fourth season, Young Justice is a rarity in the current streaming world, a show that keeps getting better with every new season, pushing boundaries and breaking down walls instead of hastily trying to keep up with the times. Above all, Young Justice has something no other comic book show has had so far: Ambition. Give or take a WandaVision or a Loki, most of the much-hyped Disney+ shows have felt surprisingly small in scale and safe in intentions. But Young Justice has ambition to spare, perhaps too much for its own good, and isn't afraid to use it. Indeed, the show views DC Comics for what it is: A massive playground with a large variety of toys to play with and exploit to the fullest.

So why, if the show is such a gem, does it seem to be struggling so much to reach a massive audience? The notoriously secretive HBO Max doesn't reveal its numbers or participate in the Nielsen rankings, so we have no way of knowing how Young Justice is doing. Still, we have an idea based on the show's performance on social media and the noise its new episodes make. And while Young Justice doesn't trend on Twitter, it has a loyal army of devoted followers who use several hashtags supporting the show. Indeed, #SaveEarth16 and #KeepBingingYJ have become rallying cries for fans who want the series to continue.

Read more
Why 2022 could be a big year for seinen anime series
Jolyne and the rest of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean's main cast.

Anime has never had such a big mainstream spotlight on the international stage as it does now. When you once had to be an in-the-know fan to watch the latest anime TV series subtitled in English, all fans need to do today is have a subscription to at least one streaming service to watch the latest episodes within 24 hours of when they air in Japan. Likewise, anime movies are seeing more expansive localization, with recent blockbuster hits like 2021's Western release of Demon Slayer: Mugen Train and this year's Jujutsu Kaisen 0 showing the growing international success of theatrical releases.

Most of what makes up each season of 2022's high-profile TV anime premieres are, unsurprisingly, the shonen genre. They're the type of wide-appeal franchises that get audiences tuning into their streaming service of choice and seated in theaters on a level comparable to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the two aforementioned IPs are prime examples. However, with series like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean and Vinland Saga premiering this year, the older-skewing seinen anime genre is primed to have an excellent 2022.
Following Joestar's colorful odyssey

Read more