Dragon Ball Super SUPER HERO: Many anecdotes about the animation of the film during Anitsuku 2022 – Dragon Ball Super

Dragon Ball Super SUPER HERO: Many anecdotes about the animation of the film during Anitsuku 2022

Last month in Japan was held Anitsuku 2022, an event dedicated to anime creation, targeting anime creators and fans alike. This event presents in particular the operation of 2D animation software and 3D animation technology as a method, the production of a work and its development on the market, the discovery of talents, as well as promotion. This is a comprehensive event on animation production technology for educational purposes.

On site was a panel Dragon Ball Super Super Heroeswith the presence of the CGI producer of the film, Atsushi Nojimaand the CGI director, Jae Hoon Jung. Alas, the panel was not broadcast, but @saku_2926 on Twitter was able to attend, and gave us a little summary. The opportunity to learn more behind the scenes of the film and its conception. Warning, the following contains spoilers for the film.

Dragon Ball Super SUPER HERO: Many anecdotes about the animation of the film during Anitsuku 2022

• Of approximately 700 staff members who participated in the DBS Super Hero movie, 600 worked on the animation.
• The very first teaser was unveiled during San Diego Comic Con in July 2021, when it hadn’t yet been revealed that the film would actually be in CGI, and it was met with quite a mixed reception. But it motivated the team to “do better”.
• After the great success of the 2D film DBS Brolythey were really worried about releasing a new movie that was almost entirely CGI, with Goku and Vegeta barely appearing and Gohan and Piccolo in the lead roles, both in the pictures and also in the script…” Can Gohan and Piccolo beat Broly? »
• Creating combat scenes is relatively simple, but creating everyday life scenes in CGI is really a weak point… And there are a lot of them!

• First, designs of Gohan with his normal clothes were revealed. They were drawn by Chikashi Kubota, the animation director, as well as the drawings on which the character stands, with comical and serious facial expressions. Then, the CGI models based on these drawings were also revealed. Their appearance resembled the usual celluloids, but it was still in the works. They replicated the art style very faithfully, it’s amazing.
  Next comes Piccolo. Drawn by Kubota, we can see standing Piccolo (normal, without the cape) with facial expressions and the CGI model (normal, with the cape), which had been revealed. Then Pan-chan. Likewise, images – facial expressions and a standing position (with his training uniform) – have been revealed, but this one happens to be drawn by Naohiro Shintani, not Kubota. The quality of the CGI model (with her schoolgirl uniform) is as high as ever. Karin’s turn. The images – facial expressions and standing poses – were drawn by Naohiro Shintani, and the CGI model is still very good. Despite his short appearance time, they made many changes, for example, the roundness of his body. Thanks to CGI, they were able to add detailed movements, making it even cuter.
• It’s not a common thing, but muscle drawings have been shown! Muscles seen from 4 different angles, then Goku dressed and without clothes.
• A comparison scale of the sizes of the different characters, with drawings by Kubota and Shintani, was also shown.
• Images showing the NG of the CGI compared to Shintani’s drawings for “Broly” have been revealed. In particular, Tetsuro Kodama, the director, requested that creases and shadows, to facilitate the transition to CG, be avoided at all costs.

• “Appearance Development” – various drawings were shown to determine what the visuals for the film will look like. Some were made by hand, others in CGI and many used the Goku SSGSS, which was not in the film. And by the way, the blue color of her hair is a continuation of “Broly”, probably because the designer of the color is the same person, Rumiko Nagai.
• Test videos were made to determine the look. This video tries to recreate Goku’s scene on Planet Kaio in “Battle of Gods” using 4 different CGI appearances. Two of them had a cel-like look, one was Toriyama’s artbook style, and the other was the combination of the best of each style…surely. The visual art was close to the style of Shintani’s Goku for “Broly”. They had no CG quality and really focused on the “BoG version of Shintani” without being embarrassed.
• It takes about 30 minutes to finalize a single frame! Using CGI does not necessarily improve work efficiency.
• First, a video of the scene of how Magenta activated Cell Max while suffering from Hachimaru’s poison was shown: from the original plan using temporary material, to the first and second stages of correction, and then until the final video after compositing and other processes have been completed.
• CGI modeling of standing models and facial expressions before and after Kubota’s fixes have been revealed. For corrections it was generally a few creases and visual appearances.
• The scene in which Piccolo leads Pan: the original video, the corrections by Kubota, and the second video revealing these corrections. The fixes were on Piccolo’s face and the way his arms bend.

• Next, the scene in which Gohan receives a surprise visit from Piccolo. The correction was on the way Gohan’s eyes were drawn.

• Then the scene in which Piccolo gets hit twice by Gamma 2 after removing his cape. Since the movements were not dynamic enough, Kubota drew animation sketches and corrected them.
• Next is the face fix for Gohan when he transforms into Ultimate. More majestic.
  Comparison between the sketches of the key animations and the second scene in which Gohan continuously fends off Gamma 1’s attacks. They didn’t mention who did this using Blender to make the background move on its own, but said “the animation director” so maybe Hideaki Maniwa…?
• Finally, a comparison between the sketches of the key animations and the second scene in which Piccolo Orange is beaten savagely by Cell Max! These are the sketches of Shintani’s key animations, and he drew them and moved them so fast you could call them basic key animations…! The way he drew characters, effects, and impact images were very much Shida’s style.

Dragon Ball Super Super Heroes is the latest Dragon Ball movie produced by TOEI Animation. The film is directed by Tetsuro Kodama. Akira Toriyama is once again back to the script, as well as to the design of certain characters. The story of dragonball super super hero takes place between the end of the film dragon ball super broly and the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai which closed the original story. The Red Ribbon army once destroyed by Son Goku will make a comeback. The new Gamma 1 and 2 cyborgs, self-proclaimed ” Super hero », will attack Gohan and Piccolo.

For the first time, the film is almost entirely in CGI. A first trailer was shown at New York Comic Con 2021, a second at Jump Festa 2022, a third last March and a fourth at the end of May. The film’s official website has opened, bringing together the latest news, the latest videos, as well as comments from Akira Toriyama. The film was released on June 11, 2022 in Japan, and October 5 in France.