#especially interesting in the context of Vegeta as a villain vs Vegeta as a friend

[asmidge]

love this shot because like yes it’s a reference to their first fight but also!! the height difference is gone showing that they’re equals now

[aotopmha]

In the end, I couldn't resist watching Broly again until the Blu-Ray and DVD were out.

Yeah, I definitely really like the character and theme stuff in there.

It makes me happy that it didn't end up just being pretty-looking fights with a good soundtrack. I had faith it would be good because I thought the ToP was a pretty big improvement for Super in many aspects already.

I'll make this post more about the themes of the story, also, I will be going into spoilers here.

So, it's a movie about how important the connections we have with others are to us as human beings and how they shape us and how the enivornment we live in shapes us. It explores that notion through Broly the most.

The Power of Friendship/Family rocks!

I think this is what the original Super Saiyan transformation was about, but this gives it a different kind of spin because the one Broly cares about isn't really a good guy and uses him.

That's what makes Broly's character work so well and holds the movie together in my eyes - his care for his horrible father and attempt at making a friend and losing that friend specifically make him human to me.

The Saiyans are still just another race despite their inclination for battle and I really like how the movie made the image of them much more diverse. There isn't such a thing as an "evil race".

Broly's father is awful, but you also get why he does what he does, same goes for King Vegeta and I really dig villains/antagonists that you get, but are still 100% bad guys, something Dragon Ball doesn't do much.

I think it all works in the context of what we know about the Saiyans, how much they value strength and how important class is for them.

Despite being kind of quick, Broly's Super Saiyan transformation was really effective for me the second time around and it's all because I felt the context for it was set up superbly. The subtle almost-crying scream just really made it work.

If this whole throughline wasn't there, the movie probably would be another sort of bland action-fest like Resurrection F was for me.

I think the funniest bit about this is that Bulma's and Freeza's wishes kind of tie into this theme. They are motivated by the perception others have of them.

It helps that, again, I really liked the interactions between Chirai, Lemo and Broly and I really liked basically everything Goku did in it.

Goku's father also matters to this theme because if it weren't for him, Goku wouldn't be alive.

Goku's importance is more thematic here than anything - to the point he basically says it out loud. "Don't follow bad people."

The movie's about how the people around us influence and shape us and looking at those we know with an critical eye. After all, in the end nobody has the right to choose our fate for us.

Broly is sympathetic because he clings on to the one connection in his whole life he has had and tried to look for others, but the other one he found wasn't allowed to last.

I still think the beginning drags and the fighting takes too long, but the movie just has a very consistent and strong emotional center to me.

By the time Gogeta was serious and beating up Broly, I wanted him to be saved. The framing around that fight was really good to me because both had good reasons for fighting and the story knew this and gave that emotionally satisfying ending with Chirai saving Broly by the end.

I have a different interpretation of the end scene wIth Goku this time around. I didn't really see the parallels I thought there seemed to be between him and Broly on my first viewing.

I think he went to help Broly because he thought he was a great opponent and learned before the fight that he lived in pretty bad conditions. That is simple.

It's him introducing himself as Kakarot that made me think a little, but as I said above, I think he did so because the Saiyans in U7 are gone outside of basically himself and Vegeta and their children. He simply found a new connection through his race, as well as finding a new opponent and we get another confirmation that Goku has accepted his Saiyan heritage (which wasn't as big of a deal in the manga, but I think it still works), which is neat.

The U6 Saiyans have their own separate thing going and they didn't meet Goku again after their fight, so it's a little different with them, but I do think Goku might introduce himself as Kakarot to them at some point, too.

I still think it's not a great movie, but I liked it.

Out of all the DB movies I've seen, I think on my second viewing, I'd say in terms of plain sheer fun Fusion Reborn and Battle of Gods still top it, but it has some real strong character work and a solid throughline backing it that most of the DB movies don't.

Most of them aren't really about anything and if they are, they tend to be contradicted, so how good they are mostly depends on how fun the characters and how pretty the fights are.

Fusion Reborn isn't really about anything, but the characters are really fun and it looks great. The settings and fights are really inventive and cool.

Bojack rehashes Gohan's character arc, but bails out of showing him stand on his own when Goku saves him, so it's just a literal rehash that does nothing new. But I like it for giving the other characters besides Goku and Vegeta some time to shine.

Resurrection F is about taking responsibility, but it doesn't really work because Whis fixes everything, not Goku.

I think Dead Zone is kind of about not being vengeful so it kind of has a theme and I like Kami and Piccolo getting in on the action, but nothing in it really actually makes me care beyond "oh, this action scene looks cool".

The first Broly movie is a big pile of pretty good looking bland stupidity. Broly's motivations make no sense, him and Paragus surviving makes no sense and Goku suddenly defeating him makes no sense and everything inbetween is just mindless fight scenes.

Battle of Gods was about putting your personal wishes aside for those you care about, but mostly held up by the really strong characterization. 100% still my favorite DB movie.

I haven't really seen any of the others again (and some of them only partially or bot at all), but I have no desire to see the other two Broly movies, Android 13 was dull from what I saw. I was also bored by what I saw of The World's Strongest.

I remember bits of Cooler and Cooler's Revenge, but both were just a Namek rehash with no bits that actually made me care. I remember the Turles movie being a similar rehash of the Saiyan saga.

Huh, I think I actually have seen more of the movies as a kid as I thought I had.

I think Tapion's the only DB movie I have any desire to still check out at some point and one of the few I don't remember ever seeing.

So yeah, I think DBS Broly is definitely up there just because of how likeable/complex the characters are, if nothing else. A lot of the movies are just really bland.

I'm probably going to revisit it again just for that Goku vs. Broly scene, especially the SSG part. Great and interesting character/theme moment, great action scene in terms of using technique and martial arts.

There's a lot of screaming, but the big screaming moments have power because of the context behind them.

So yeah, still think it's a good movie second time around.