Spotlight: Battle of Gods

Surprisingly old-fashioned

So, I owe you guys two irregular posts. I’ll try to make up for those in time.

For now, we take a look at Battle of Gods!

What is Battle of Gods?

Now as some of you probably noticed, I am a Dragon Ball fan. Hell, I love Dragon Ball. It’s one of my favorite things ever.

Simple is good sometimes, and with Dragon Ball simple is great.

Now as any dedicated fan, when I heard there was going to be a movie written by Akira Toriyama, well, you guys can imagine the reaction. I religiously followed any new on the movie, watched every trailer as soon as it came out and even tracked down whatever low quality footage I could find.

After a few months of obsessive waiting, I got my hands on the movie and it was good.

The Setting

In Which Trunks Dates an Older Woman

Battle of the Gods takes place after Buu’s defeat, but before the Uub epilogue.

This means GT doesn’t enter into the equation at all and thank God for that.

The Story

I have no words

So turns out there is a God of Destruction.

Whose job is to wreck stuff.

Like planets.

Why did you think King Kai’s planet was so tiny? Who do you think blew it up?

That’s right. There was a reason for that all along!!!

Bills, the God of Destruction, was sleeping during the events of the series but now he has woken up and he is very curious about what he calls the “Super Saiyan God”.

A battle between Gods is about to begin.

Oh, and Bulma is having her birthday party.

You know this can only end in awesome.

Vegeta

Again, no words...

I like Goku better, but I have to admit it, this guy was the star of the movie. Not in the “I beat up the bad guy” way of course, but the guy is the one with the most character development here. The movie picks up where we left off in the Buu Saga in term of Vegeta’s character.

Which means this is the guy who has admitted that he likes living on Earth; he likes his wife and his son, and he has recognized Goku is stronger than him. Vegeta has, somehow, become a good at some point he didn’t even notice. In Battle of Gods, he gets to walk the walk. Goku is out of commission and it is up to Vegeta to protect Earth.

Which he does.

By dancing.

In front of a guy he has no way of beating; Vegeta swallows his pride to protect his family. This was a pretty damn good moment for him. This is Vegeta we are talking about. Mister “My inflated sense of pride and ego have put the Earth in danger”. Seeing him swallow his own pride to the extent he does in the movie is nothing if not noteworthy.

Then when he actually gets angry after Bills hits Bulma? Badass. Pure Badass.

Bills

Final Boss

Our “villain”.

But come on, the minute Bills appeared wearing a bathrobe you knew what type of character he was. He’s fun. He is probably the most entertaining antagonists in the franchise.

Bills is… Bills is adorable. There is no other way to say it. The cat is adorable. Wearing a bathrobe. Breakdancing. Whistling as he walks away from a beaten down Goku. Pudding! And the ending. God, the ending!

Which is not to say Bills can’t be scary and menacing. The guy is strong. Insanely so. More than that, the way he so casually takes out other character is damn impressive. The guy can Karate Chop Goku and pressure point Piccolo. When Bills fights there is a sense of control. He is only using as much strength as he needs.

As the movie teaches us, it’s a good thing he does.

How Awesome was this Movie?

Goku is not fulled by your Tsun

Very.

Battle of Gods has everything. Humor. Action Scenes. Humor. A new Super Form.  Humor. Quirky yet threatening villains.

As you may not from that list, the movie is not trying to be too serious. The story is lighthearted this time, and despite the looming threat of the God of Destruction, Bills, a good part of the movie is spent in slice-of-life-ish moment.

We even got Pilaf back for this.

Which is not to say the battles weren't fun. Seeing Goku fight with high quality animation is sweet!

Battle of the Gods is a lighthearted adventure that succeed in almost every way in what it tries to be.

It also opens up the path for new movies, which would be totally awesome!