New ‘Dragon Ball Super: Broly’ Promo Reveals a Big Retcon

Dragon Ball is no stranger to changes, and those big shifts can come at any time. Just about anything from character backstories to timeline events have been changed, and it looks like another is upon fans. So, you can thank Dragon Ball Super: Broly for the new shake-up.

Recently, the website for Dragon Ball Super updated its character bios, and it didn’t take long for fans to comb through them. As expected, some new details dropped in the blurbs, and one of them relates back to Dragon Ball lore.

According to the biography for Kikono, the brand-new character is taking the place of one introduced a few years back. The newbie is said to be a scientist who has been faithful to Freeza’s mission for quite some time, and he is the one responsible for making the tyrant’s tech.

“Kikono [is] a brilliant scientist who has served since King Cold’s time. The scouters, armor, spaceship, etc are all his inventions,” translator Herms98 explains.

After doing a bit of digging, the well-known translator confirmed Kikono seems to retcon a different character who creator Akira Toriyama introduced back in 2014. Way back when, Saikyo Jump spoke with the artist in question, and it was there Toriyama revealed a person known as Gichamu brought scouter technology into Freeza’s army, but that is no longer the case.

“Incidentally, its inventors were the Tsufruians, the original inhabitants of Planet Vegeta who were wiped out by the Saiyans. Originally, it was a device for the purpose of guarding against enemies and beasts, but Gichamu, a highly skilled engineer in Freeza’s army, laid eyes on it and made modifications for concrete battle power numbers and telecommunications abilities, and soldiers began making use of it to carry out offensives,” Toriyama explained.

Now, it looks like Kikono is assuming the role once assigned to Gichamu. For fans, the issue isn’t a big one, as the anime never touched upon the original engineer mentioned, so the change doesn’t break any big canon moments. However, if this movie is willing to change one thing, it may be willing to change another. So, fans better keep their eyes out for any other retcons as the film’s premiere draws nearer.

Fans will be able to learn more about this new character when Dragon Ball Super: Broly hits theaters. Funimation will be bringing the film to theaters in the United States in January once it goes live in Japan in December. The film is described as such:

“This is the story of a new Saiyan. Earth is peaceful following the Tournament of Power. Realizing that the universes still hold many more strong people yet to see, Goku spends all his days training to reach even greater heights. Then one day, Goku and Vegeta are faced by a Saiyan called ‘Broly’ who they’ve never seen before. The Saiyans were supposed to have been almost completely wiped out in the destruction of Planet Vegeta, so what’s this one doing on Earth? This encounter between the three Saiyans who have followed completely different destinies turns into a stupendous battle, with even Freeza (back from Hell) getting caught up in the mix.”

Do you have a problem with this switch-up? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!