Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods Information

is the upcoming eighteenth Japanese animated feature film based on the Dragon Ball series, set to premiere in Japanese theaters on March 30, 2013. It is the first Dragon Ball movie in 17 years to have a theatrical release, the last being the the tenth anniversary movie in 1996, which followed the first three Dragon Ball films and the thirteen Dragon Ball Z films. Battle of Gods is the first-ever Japanese film to be screened at IMAX Digital Theaters.

It is the first film in the series to be considered an official part of the Dragon Ball storyline, being set between chapters 517 and 518 of the original manga during the ten year time skip, with original creator Akira Toriyama deeply involved. The plot involves Bills, the God of Destruction, learning of the defeat of the galactic overlord Freeza by the hands of Son Goku. Seeking an opponent worthy of his power, Bills, along with his companion Whis, travels to the North Quadrant of the universe to challenge Goku to a battle.

Plot

wakes , from his long slumber and tells him that Freeza was defeated by a Saiyan. Whis continues showing Bills scenes of Goku's past, until Bills interrupts him and tells him he has seen enough. 39 years prior, the Oracle Fish foretold that a mighty opponent would appear before Bills, the Super Saiyan God. Bills, with Whis, then tracks down the warrior who defeated Freeza, Goku. On Kai?-sama's planet, Bills proceeds to challenge Goku, who is ecstatic over the new challenge but he is overwhelmed and defeated. Disappointed by the subsequent lack of challenge, Bills departs in order to seek out more powerful adversaries on Earth. 

The God of Destruction's arrival erupts Bulma's birthday party and it appears that Vegeta already knows Bills as he casts his pride aside in order to put Bills in a good mood. Pilaf, Mai and Shu sneak into the party in order to steal the Dragon Balls, but are not recognized as they have been turned into children; before the events of the film, they gathered all the Dragon Balls themselves and wished for youth, but Shenlong made them a little too young. A drunk Gohan asks Mai to shoot him; he snaps all the bullets with one finger, but one of them hits Videl's leg and another one hits Bills' forehead. While healing her, Dende notices that Videl is pregnant. Videl has been hiding the fact to surprise Gohan later and they do not reveal it to the others yet. When Bills asks Mr. Boo for one or two of the custard puddings he has, Boo eats all of them, angering the God of Destruction who decides to destroy the Earth. Mr. Boo, Android 18, Tenshinhan and Piccolo attempt to fight Bills, but are easily defeated. Gohan powers up and attacks Bills only to be taken down by a heavy kick. Goten and Trunks fuse into Gotenks and attempt to fight Bills but he is quickly defeated as well.

When the God of Destruction slaps Bulma, it angers Vegeta and he attacks. Goku appears having been watching Vegeta's fight, even saying that Vegeta's power has surpassed him. Goku summons Shelong to ask how to reach the Super Saiyan God. A Super Saiyan God once appeared on planet Vegeta to stop evil Saiyans, but he failed because of the form's time limit. The dragon also reveals that they need the power of six pure-hearted Saiyans for one of them to reach the Super Saiyan God form. Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan God, a form beyond even Super Saiyan 3, thanks to the power of himself, Vegeta, Gohan, Trunks, Goten, and Pan (from inside her mother Videl), fulfilling the prophecy once stated by the Oracle Fish. Goku confronts Bills again and they wage an intense battle in space, right above planet Earth. The form gives Goku the power to resist Bills, but he reverts back to his regular Super Saiyan form due to the form's time limit. However, he learns the form's godlike feeling, which allows him to use Super Saiyan God's power against Bills. The two seem to be equally strong, but Bills eventually wins when he uses his strongest attack. Goku stops the energy sphere, barely holding it back, and the screen suddenly blacks out. Chi-Chi and Goku's friends appear in Goku's mind, then he absorbs the energy ball. Goku gets exhausted, and Bills wants Goku to say "I give up" and he says so. Bills stops the fight and they talk for a while before going back to the ground. Bills says that the Super Saiyan God was not that strong and the Oracle Fish's prediction was a little exaggerated. Bills reveals that Whis is his martial arts master and stronger than him. He also says that there are twelve universes and the one Goku and his friends know is just one of them, the Seventh Universe. Bills is the God of Destruction of the Seventh Universe, with each universe having its own God of Destruction. After returning to the temple, Whis knocks Bills out and remarks that Bills will wake up again in three years.

Development and production

Early in July 2012, Weekly Sh?nen Jump's official website had already opened a teaser page with a countdown to a "surprise" on Saturday, July 14, the release date of its 33rd issue of the year. On July 14, the magazine and website, now changed to show Shenlong appearing and then disappearing, revealed some minor information of the upcoming film; including the premiere date, staff information, and companies involved in the production (Fox International Productions Japan, Shueisha, Fuji TV, Toei Animation, Bandai, Bandai Namco Games, and Bird Studio). The film's director is Masahiro Hosoda, who directed several Dragon Ball Z episodes back in 1992, the screenplay was written by Y?suke Watanabe, who has directed manga adaptations before (namely the 20th Century Boys and Gantz live-action films), and the lead animation director is Tadayoshi Yamamuro, who has worked on the series since the Dragon Ball anime.

The magazine and official website also published a comment by Akira Toriyama about the movie. The Dragon Ball series creator notes that the adaptation will mark the first time he has been so deeply involved in the production of an anime, in this case as early as the screenwriting stages. Toriyama also said that the film will retain the atmosphere of the original while adding small amounts of modern flavor. Toei Animation released a press statement days later on July 17, 2012:

In September, it was announced that the film was one of four that year, and the only animated one, to receive money from the Japanese government as part of the non-profit organization UNIJAPAN's "Co-production Certification Program". Toei received 50 million yen (roughly US$636,000) from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, whose aim is to promote Japanese arts and culture, with the United States named as the film's partner country.

The December issue of Ultra Jump elaborated on Toriyama's involvement in the movie, stating he came up with the movie's story and character designs. On December 2, the official website was updated with the movies' cast and entire staff. The following day, a brief introduction to the film's story was leaked from accessing an unlinked section of the website.

In January 2013, it was announced that Olympic gold medalist in judo Kaori Matsumoto and singer/tarento Shoko Nakagawa will have roles in the film. Nakagawa is a well-known otaku and Matsumoto is a fan of the series as well. Matsumoto will voice a policewoman modeled after herself, while Nakagawa will play the who first leads Bills to Goku. The Fuji TV announcer Shin-ichi Karube also has a small part in the movie.

Battle of Gods is also the first-ever Japanese film to be screened at IMAX Digital Theaters, screening at all 16 IMAX Digital Theater locations across Japan.

The April issue of V Jump teased about a new Super Saiyan transformation being in the film, titled , saying: 39 years ago, the Oracle Fish told Bills that the Super Saiyan God would appear before him. And that this is the beginning of the movie's story. In Weekly Sh?nen Jump issue #14 of 2013, Toriyama said that the plot for Battle of Gods began two years ago with ideas for the God of Destruction and Super Saiyan God, and that he got deeply involved in the story in order to keep it in-line with the series' original tone so kids could enjoy it. In the following week's issue, he revealed that Bills' design is based on a cat and his clothes based on Egyptian garments.

A live greeting by cast members and Toriyama, followed by a preview screening of the film took place across Japan on Tuesday, March 12, 2013, with a limited number of attendees determined from a Jump lottery. The lottery tickets were included in 22 different Shueisha magazines (including Weekly Sh?nen Jump, V Jump, Jump SQ, and Ultra Jump) and 884 pairs (1768 people) were invited. There were five screenings, all the same day and at 6:30 p.m: Shinjuku Wald 9 cinema in Tokyo (428 people), Umeda Burg 7 theater in Osaka (440 people), 109 Cinemas in Nagoya (256 people), T-Joy Hakata in Fukuoka (322 people), and Sapporo Cinema Frontier in Sapporo (322 people). The special cast greeting at the Tokyo venue was beamed live to the other locations before the screening. A second preview screening with an on-stage greeting and a special guest took place at Differ Ariake Arena on March 16, 2013, with 250 pairs (500 people) invited (determined with lottery tickets included in V Jump, Weekly Sh?nen Jump, and Saiky? Jump).

Promotion

The July 14, 2012 issue of Weekly Sh?nen Jump published the first promotional images for the film; featuring Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Kuririn, Goten, Trunks, Vegeta, and Shenlong, with the tagline , followed by . On July 21, 2012, a short teaser trailer announcing the film was shown at the Saiky? V Jump Festa, and later that month shown on television. The teaser trailer was added to the movie's official website in August 2012. In less than a week the video was viewed over 3.5 million times.

During the 30th Prize Fair, which took place in Tokyo on November 7, 2012, Bandai showcased some of their new Dragon Ball figures for winter 2012, as well their World Collectable Figure line produced in conjunction with the 2013 movie. The latter is a set of eight figures around 7 cm tall that covers characters that appear in the movie; along with Vegeta and Super Saiyan 3 Goku, the three members of the Pilaf gang were among the figures revealed. With the movie title revealed in November 2012, a special pre-sale collaboration ticket with the One Piece Film: Z movie was made to commemorate the release of the two films. The dual-ticket good for both films has a special new illustration by both Eiichir? Oda (author of One Piece) and Akira Toriyama. Limited to 8,989 across Japan, the tickets went on sale on November 23, 2012, for ¥2,600 ($31.51 USD) apiece.

The film's poster and two new characters' names and voice actors were officially revealed in December 2012 in Weekly Sh?nen Jump's first issue of 2013; Bills, the God of Destruction voiced by K?ichi Yamadera and the mysterious Whis voiced by Masakazu Morita. The film poster displays Super Saiyan Goku combating the God of Destruction Bills, with Whis floating showered in light in the background. Various other characters from the series are also featured on the poster (Mr. Satan, Mr. Boo, Videl, the shrunken Pilaf gang, Super Saiyan Goten, Super Saiyan Gohan, Super Saiyan Vegeta, Super Saiyan Trunks, Bulma, Piccolo, Tenshinhan, Kuririn, Yamcha and Puar).

The first full trailer for the film was aired on Fuji TV on December 7, 2012, during the morning show Mezamashi TV. A 30 minute Battle of Gods discussion panel was held at Jump Festa 2013; on the Jump Super Stage, on December 22, 2012. Along with the voice actors Masako Nozawa, Mayumi Tanaka, Toshio Furukawa, the film director Masahiro Hosoda, V Jump editor-in-chief Akio Iyoku, and Toei Animation producer Gyarmath Bogdan took part at the discussion which was overseen by former YBS TV announcer Mariko Nakagomi.

In February 2013, several collaborative projects between Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and KFC in Japan began. On the seventh, the restaurants began selling "Smile Sets with Strongest Battle Goods "? Parents and Kids Play Together!", which came with Dragon Ball Z games such as reversi and playing cards. On the fifteenth, the KFC restaurants in Sapporo, Sendai, Ebisu, Sakae, Osaka, Hakata and Okinawa dressed their Colonel Sanders statues as Goku, with each one holding a different starred Dragon Ball. They began selling "Strongest Sets" that come with "Light Up! Dragon Bottles" or "Dream Dragon Radar detectors" on February 28, and a TV ad featuring Goku began airing.

As part of a collaboration with the Japanese J. League Division 1 football team Albirex Niigata, a special poster unveiled on the official Battle of Gods website on February 20, 2013, was displayed across Niigata Prefecture in promotion of their match with the defending league Division 1 champions Sanfrecce Hiroshima on March 3, 2013. The poster is based on the Battle of Gods poster, with the movie characters replaced by the football team's players: the figure in the background replacing Whis is the team's manager Masaaki Yanagishita, Bills has been replaced by the Sanfrecce Hiroshima goalkeeper Sh?saku Nishikawa, and Goku is replaced by the team's forward Bruno Lopes. All supporters at the match wore orange, Goku made an "appearance" at the stadium, and the Dragon Ball Z theme song was used.

The second full trailer for the film began being streamed on Cinema Today's website on February 27, and on March From March 5 to April 8, the Lawson convenience stores will sell special Battle of Gods inspired food items, such as Dragon Ball pizza balls, Super Saiyan fries, Demon King Piccolo's Green Tea Cream Puffs, Majin Boo Milk Pudding and Vegeta's Green Salad.

The March 2013 issue of V Jump revealed that Bills would appear in the Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game as a boss battle, and subsequently in its Nintendo 3DS version titled Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission. It also announced the Dragon Ball Z Festival at Toei Kyoto Studio Park from March 16 to September 8 in celebration of Battle of the Gods. Starting on March 30, Bills will appear in the Dragon Ball arcade game Zenkai Battle Royale.

A manga adaptation of Battle of Gods ran in the April 2013 issue of Saiky? Jump, which went on sale on March 4, 2013. Drawn by Naho ?ishi, who currently draws the Dragon Ball SD series in the magazine and previously Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock in V Jump, it depicts the beginning of the film. In late March, Cinema Today's website began streaming a TV ad for the movie that features Freeza (Ry?sei Nakao) and Cell (Norio Wakamoto); Cell questions why he isn't in the film and Freeza brags that he is, Cell then adds that Freeza only has a non-speaking appearance.

Cast

Character Name	Voice actor
Goku	Masako Nozawa
Vegeta	Ry? Horikawa
Gohan	Masako Nozawa
Piccolo	Toshio Furukawa
Kuririn	Mayumi Tanaka
Yamcha	T?ru Furuya
Tenshinhan	Hikaru Midorikawa
Chaozu	Hiroko Emori
Trunks	Takeshi Kusao
Goten	Masako Nozawa
Puar	Naoko Watanabe
Oolong	Naoki Tatsuta
Kame-Sen'nin	Masaharu Sat?
Bulma	Hiromi Tsuru
Chi-Chi	Naoko Watanabe
Android 18	Miki It?
Mr. Satan	Unsh? Ishizuka
Mr. Boo	K?z? Shioya
Videl	Yuko Minaguchi
Dende	Aya Hirano
Pilaf	Shigeru Chiba
Shenlong	Kenji Utsumi
Kai?-sama/Narrator	J?ji Yanami
Gotenks	Masako Nozawa Takeshi Kusao
Gy?-Ma?	Ry?zabur? ?tomo
Marron	Tomiko Suzuki
Mai	Eiko Yamada
Shu	Tessh? Genda
Mr. Briefs	J?ji Yanami
Mrs. Briefs	Yoko Kawanami
Bills	K?ichi Yamadera
Whis	Masakazu Morita
Oracle Fish	Shoko Nakagawa
Motorcycle policewoman	Kaori Matsumoto

Staff

• Original Author, story, character designs: Akira Toriyama
• Scenario: Y?suke Watanabe
• Music: Norihito Sumitomo
• Production Supervisor: Kazumi Fujioka
• Animation director: Tadayoshi Yamamuro
• Color design: Teppei Horita
• CG Director: Naoki Miyahara
• Special Effects: Nao ?ta
• Art Director: Hiroshi Kat?
• Director: Masahiro Hosoda
• Production: Toei Animation
• Distribution: 20th Century Fox

Music

The music for the official trailers is composed by Immediate Music that is notable for providing a specialized library of high-end trailer music for commercial motion pictures such as Avatar, the Matrix films, the Spider-Man films and the Harry Potter films.


Trailer Music:

• "Conquest of Kingdoms (Epic Choral Action #1)" - composed by Yoav Goren
• "Emergence of Empires" - composed by Yoav Goren (Trailerhead: Saga (based on "Rising Empires" from Themes for Orchestra & Choir 2: Abbey Road)

The film's theme song is a cover of Hironobu Kageyama's "Cha-La Head-Cha-La", the original opening theme of Dragon Ball Z, by the rock band Flow. The band members commented that they are excited about the opportunity as they have been fans of the series since they were in elementary school. The cover and the movie's insert song, "Hero ~Song of Hope~", were released as a double A-side single on March 20, 2013.

See also

• List of Dragon Ball films