Author: Andrew Nguyen Official Site: dbmovie-20th.com (Japan), dragonballsuperofficial.com (US) Special Thanks to Scott Barretto On December 13th, 2018, Funimation Films and Toei Animation hosted the North American premiere of DRAGON BALL SUPER: BROLY (???????? ????, Doragon B?ru-Ch? Buror?, 2018) at Grauman`s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, CA as a prelude to its release in US theaters on January 16th, 2019. The English cast and crew from Funimation attended this premiere along with other guests from the industry and press. As members of the audience arrived, they passed through a red-carpet area where reporters could greet and interview the VIPs as they arrived. Inside the main lobby, refreshments of popcorn, sodas, and liquor were available, and the audience could observe displays the hosts set up to show the merchandise from the movie. Once the last of the guests arrived, Chris Sabat, the voice actor for Vegeta and Piccolo as well as the voice director for the movie and Gen Fukunaga, the CEO of Funimation Pictures introduced the movie with comments on what it took to get the movie to North America. Both voiced their hopes that the audience would enjoy the movie. Once the movie ended, the audience received gift bags from the hosts as they exited the theater. The movie begins in the past before switching to the present, just after the end of the DRAGON BALL SUPER series. The opening of the movie deal with the destruction of the home planet of the Saiyans, a race of fierce warriors that include the main characters Goku and Vegeta, by their arch nemesis Frieza. In addition to Goku and Vegeta, another member of their race by the name of Broly also survived as he and his father Paragus were exiled some time earlier by Vegeta’s father out of fear of Broly’s innate power. In the present, Goku and Vegeta train to attain new heights of strength and power while Frieza rebuilds his empire. While scouting for new recruits, Frieza’s henchmen stumble across Broly and Paragus. Exploiting Paragus’ hatred of Vegeta’s father, Frieza recruits the two into his service and heads to Earth to renew his war against Goku and Vegeta. As for the movie itself, it was a fun and impressive watch with the movie moving at a brisk pace, particularly once Frieza arrives on Earth. As for the English voices actors involved, all were at the top of their game and their enjoyment at voicing their respective characters shines through. The audience’s reaction was overall positive. Of course, there are moments in the movie that may make people cringe, which is par the course of Dragon Ball.