Leeds International Film Festival - Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods

Compared to traditional cel animation to the new digital animation, the animation is shiny, clean and neat however it doesn't hold the original stylization that fans love as much. The animation itself was smooth and the anticipation worked well with the actions that the main characters used, for instance the super saiyan god technique. The movements of each character were quite exaggerated, over the top expressions for humor, which works well with the fantasy and anime theme.

The CG that was used in the animation, was covered up quite well in places, as a texture in the style of the 2D animation was placed on top to stop it from standing out from the rest of the frame. The only scene which the CG stood out too much was when the main protagonist Goku got into a car and drove around the small planet that he was on. I think this was due to the repeated animation that was with the CG car that really made it standout compared to the other animation.

I was particularly inspired by the character design for the two new characters that were introduced, Whis and Beerus. The design for these characters were interesting through how they were designed in a Egyptian fashion mixed with a space/futuristic blend - this can be seen in the rings and extra cuts of fabric that are on the clothing.

I was also really inspired by the framing in the action scenes - when Goku and Beerus fight each other the camera shots followed the animation as it sped through scenery. This inspired me with approaching storyboards - considering how drastically changing the angle of the scene could make the action more interesting.

I can see that this film will be the beginning of a new franchise of the already popular series due to the new form that the main character has obtained and the ending of the movie which gives the impression that a few more films will be made to complete the narrative.

Whis

Beerus