'Dragon Ball Super: Broly' Crew Doubles Down on Film's International Fan-Service

Dragon Ball Super fans have been getting a lot of new details about the upcoming movie Dragon Ball Super: Broly, thanks in large part ot a recent interview the Dragon Ball official site conducted with the creative team behind Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

One part of that interview that has certainly jumped out at fans, is the mention that Dragon Ball Super: Broly is being crafted as a Dragon Ball event on an international scale, for the massive worldwide audience:

Director Nagamine wants this film to be appealing to audiences overseas too, so they're making it with that in mind (if the whole Broly thing weren't enough of a tip-off). Many in the anime industry grew up watching DB, so there's no shortage of people eager to work on it.

— Todd Frankenship (@Herms98) September 30, 2018

"Director Nagamine wants this film to be appealing to audiences overseas too, so they're making it with that in mind (if the whole Broly thing weren't enough of a tip-off). Many in the anime industry grew up watching DB, so there's no shortage of people eager to work on it."

This vision of how to approach Dragon Ball Super: Broly is something that's been bubbling in the background of the Dragon Ball franchise for over a year now. Ever since the Dragon Ball Super anime series moved into its Tournament of Power arc, there's been a somewhat clear prioritization of fan-service content in the series, rather than storyline or mythos. The anime ToP was basically a showcase of "fight of the week" gimmickry, which worked to generate headlines and draw in viewers, all culminating with the milestone debut of Goku's new Ultra Instinct form. On the back of Dragon Ball Super, we got a Dragon Ball Heroes promo anime that is built on nothing but fan-service content, using every fight fans have ever talked about wishfully or hypothetically to gain attention for the Super Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game.

When the details and title of Dragon Ball Super: Broly were revealed, the immediate reaction was fans pointing out that the film is very much in the vein of being a fan-service project, using a fan-service character (Broly) and many elements of the mythos fans have long debated (Goku's canon vs. non-canon origin), to create a film that both streamlines the canon, while also giving fans a slew of developments they've been calling for in chat threads, for years. The fact that the film's producers seem to corroborate that fact, should be all the indication needed that Toei Animation is definitely using this window of time to pull the franchise together into something tighter and more focused, in order to open it up to a more lucrative future.

Hopefully Dragon Ball Super: Broly will actually deliver a quality film and story, as well, is it is looking more an more like a keystone piece of Dragon Ball's future.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly will be featured at NYCC this week - be sure to check back for updates!

Dragon Ball Super: Broly will hit Japanese theaters in December, and is expected to arrive in the U.S. around mid-January 2019. Dragon Ball Super is currently airing its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. ET. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete and available to stream on Funimation, VRV and Crunchyroll.