Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Comic-Con 2022 Panel Recap
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is already a hit movie over in Japan – but American audiences are still waiting eagerly to see it debut in theaters in the US market. With Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero having yet to make its official US theatrical debut, there was plenty of room for the Dragon Ball Super franchise to make a big splash at San Diego Comic-Con 2022! And, since fans already know the the film is out in Japan (and probably more than a few of the exciting SPOILERS from it), there was also an opportunity to make sure the Comic-Con crowd in Hall H got some exciting footage to check out!
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Panel
Lauren Moore, content producer at CrunchyRoll was the moderator for the panel. She gave the FAQ sheet reading about Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, including its August 19th release date. The panel will include cast of the film from both the Japanese version and English Dub – The first twenty minutes of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero will also be screened at Comic-Con 2022.
Norhiro Hayashida (Producer) was welcomed onstage first. He expressed his gratitude to be back around so many fans at Comic-Con (like Dragon Ball Super: Broly had the opportunity to do). He talked about the challenge of creating a new vision of Dragon Ball through the mix of traditional animation and CGI animation – the latter being a first for the Dragon Ball Franchise. Hayashida admitted the blend often doesn't look great – but he's confident Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero had done it justice.
There was reiteration of the premise of the film, which will see two new android superhero characters (Gamma 1 and Gamma 2) appear on the scene, while Gohan and Piccolo and their unique bond will be the core of the film. Hayashida teases the Red Ribbon Army's return, the epic action in the battle sequences, and adds that the balance between story and action is very refined.
A video message from Dragon Ball icon and Goku/Gohan voice actress attempted to play... but glitched. Masako Nozawa keep through after a brief intro, thanking fans for their continued support, while lamenting that she coudn't be at SDCC. Nozawa got the esteemed honor of introducing American audiences to the first premiere footage of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. She concluded her video message with a classic Goku Kamehameha!
English Dub 'Voice of Vegeta' and Piccolo voice actor Chris Sabat was brought out with Japanese Piccolo voice actor Toshio Furukawa. Furukawa introduced himself in no small fashion, boasting about his impressive resume of voice acting credits. It was a pretty masterful delivery in English.
The highlight of having both Piccolo voices on stage together was mentioned. Furukawa said it was more awe-inspiring for him to see the love and the crowds at SDCC. Chris Sabat remarked on having heard Furukawa's voice in his ear for decades while doing his dubbing work, and what a milestone it is to be on stage with him.
Furukawa talks (jokes) about his concern when Dragon Ball Super's anime ended – until he got the call for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and found out he'd have a major role. Sabat felt the same – although he freaked out a LOT before calming down and embracing the opportunity. He mentions how Dragon Ball has long had a sector of the fandom that's "Team Gohan" or "Team Piccolo" and how this film with service them.
In terms of preparation, clearly there was just a lot more of it to do this time for Sabat and Furukawa. Sabat said the challenge was for him to hang with Furukawa's impassioned work. Furukawa was bashful, saying he didn't know he was so admired for the work, but he's going to continue to try and live up to the praise.
Furukawa ended the panel confirming he has over 3,000 pieces of Piccolo merch.
20 minutes of the film were screened.
FOOTAGE
The first 20 minutes of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero follow the history of the Red Ribbon Army and its surviving faction, led by Magenta. Magenta makes contact with the grandson of Dr. Gero, Dr. Hedo, who is just getting out of jail for using his super genius to make Frankenstein-style corpse androids.
