Dragon Ball Super: Should Galactic Patrol Prisoner Be the Next Movie?

It’s been confirmed Dragon Ball Super is getting a second movie, following the success of the series’ first film, Dragon Ball Super: Broly. There’s been little information revealed about what Toei Animation has planned for the next Dragon Ball Super movie, other than that “the next one will probably be totally different,” than Broly, according to Dragon Ball Unit director Akio Iyoku. Well, with the Dragon Ball Super anime is now on hiatus, while the manga has rolled into an epic new arc called “Galactic Patrol Prisoner.” That arc has introduced a fearsome new villain, and reset the Dragon Ball status quo – which may make it a perfect for Dragon Ball Super‘s next movie!

So should Dragon Ball Super’s “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” be adapted into a tmovie? Let’s break it down:

“Galactic Patrol Prisoner” sees an ancient sorcerer named Planet-Eater Moro get sprung from Galactic Patrol prison by an old Freeza Force deserter. That former Freeza soldier entices Moro with he promise of a fantastic prize: the Dragon Balls of New Namek! Moro and his cohort terrorize New Namek and not even the combined might of Goku, Vegeta, and the Majin Buu / Daikaioh fusion can stop the villain. Moro eventually collects all of the Namekian Dragon Balls, and through them, he restores his full magical ability to suck the life force out of planets and living beings, and magically empowers his fellow Galactic Patrol prisoners to serve as his gang.

After the fall of New Namek, Goku and Vegeta are forced to retreat from the fight with Moro, when they find out that Moro’s energy-siphoning powers completely counter their Super Saiyan energies. As the story stands, Moro has now set his sights on Earth, while Goku and Vegeta have split up and traveled to far-off places, to seek new training that will help them defeat Moro. The villain has given a time frame of one month to get their powers up, so that he can make a better meal of them both.

The Galactic Patrol prisoner arc would be good pick for Dragon Ball Super‘s next movie for several key reasons:

1. The story has a clear structure of 3 – 4 acts that could form a strong movie narrative. The flashback to the ancient fight between Moro and Daikaioh; race to collect the Namekian Dragon Balls; Moro’s victory and campaign of universal terror while Goku and Vegeta train; the Z-Fighters defending Earth until Goku and Vegeta return for the final battle. It’s one big fight split into perfect sections to fill a 90 – 120 minute movie.
2. “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” is changing some key elements of Dragon Ball’s past, while setting the stage for the future. While the anime is currently on hiatus, but if Toei wants to truly take a fresh start approach to the next anime, a movie based on “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” would definitely set the stage fort that.
3. Moro has been a fan-fav villain, and his powers / fight skills would arguably work best in a movie-sized format.

So just to reiterate: A Dragon Ball Super: Galactic Patrol Prisoner movie would give Dragon Ball fans a fearsome new villain to meet; battles that Goku and Vegeta fundamentally lose; game-changing circumstances like the death of New Namek; and a final battle that brings together the Z-Fighter characters as well (Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, etc.); and some significant new power-ups for Goku and Vegeta. That’s pretty much everything you could ask for in a Dragon Ball Super movie, and given the popularity of the manga’s version of “Galactic Patrol Prisoner,” it seems like a film version of the story would have chance of being as successful as Dragon Ball Super: Broly.

Would you be interested in seeing that?

The Japanese-language and English dub releases of Dragon Ball Super are now complete and available to stream with FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. Viz Media is releasing new chapters of the manga at a monthly rate that can be read entirely for free through the Shonen Jump digital library, and Dragon Ball Super’s big movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. Fans in Japan are also able to enjoy fresh non-canon adventures from the franchises with new episodes of Super Dragon Ball Heroes‘ promotional anime series.