YMMV / Dragon Ball Super: Broly

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• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Is Paragus a Well-Intentioned Extremist who genuinely cares about Broly in his own way and lost sight of his principles due to his exile on Vampa, or a heartless sociopath whose grudge against King Vegeta is more for the sake of his own injured pride than his son? When Broly goes berserk fighting Goku, Paragus has a minor breakdown over the prospect of his son potentially dying to the more powerful Saiyan. Was this a sudden realization that his obsession with revenge might cost him his son's life?
  • Speaking of King Vegeta, was he simply jealous of Broly being stronger than his son, or was he honestly scared of Broly's potential power? Both? Paragus starts with thinking it's the former but ends up thinking it might be the later after all.
  • Did Paragus scare off Bah simply because he was playing with his son and therefore distracting Broly from training in order to one day get his revenge, or was it a misguided Papa Wolf moment on Paragus' part because of how dangerous Vampa is, and he was afraid to lose Broly to its monsters?
  • Did Goku take steps to befriend Broly because he's a decent person and a strong sparring opponent, or does he want to keep tabs on Broly so he can have a powerful asset in his back pocket in case he needs to fight Beerus or threats from the other universes he can't handle yet? Early in the film, Goku seems nervous about being considered a rival to Beerus, and Goku compares Broly to Beerus at the end of the film, hinting at a fixation on Beerus in particular, and unknown threats out of his league in general
  • When Gogeta fired his last Kamehameha against Broly. Did he actually try to kill Broly or was the blast only meant to incapacitate him? If we go by the former, why did Gogeta try to kill Broly? Did he only see Broly as a rampaging animal, does he lack restraint in his strength, did he get caught up in the moment just like Gotenks would or are he or his components afraid of Broly's power? The last interpretation seems likely because Super Saiyan Full Power Broly was able to actually harm him in his Super Saiyan form, what also boosts this is that he didn't try to kill Frieza whose power is much lower than his and thus no threat to him.
  • As many viewers have noted, it seems that the actual protagonist of this movie is not Goku or Vegeta, but rather Broly considering the amount of focus he gets in the movie.
  • When Broly starts his Super Saiyan rampage by blasting energy beams everywhere, he also hits his father's corpse, which can either be interpreted as accidental due to Broly being blind from rage or it possibly hints at some hidden forms of resentment towards his father for the Shock Collar or scaring off Bah. Or maybe, it’s possible that Broly wanted to destroy and incinerate Paragus’s corpse because he couldn’t bear to see his father lying dead on the ground like that.
  • Is Bulma wanting to wish herself five years younger just vanity? Or is it also partly motivated by wanting to not die of old age long before Vegeta?
  • Did Raditz not care about his family, or was he just pretending not to to look strong in front of Vegeta?
• And You Thought It Would Fail: Not many analysts even made any predictions about this movie's international release. Those that did predicted the film's limited release would probably do about as well as the two other recent Dragon Ball movies — which is to say, not well at all. Those within the Dragon Ball fandom were skeptical that a film starring a re-imagining of such a Base-Breaking Character like Broly could do well. Dragon Ball Super: Broly ended up being the number one movie in the USA for several days, and stayed in the top five during its opening weekend. It far surpassed any of the previous international releases of Dragon Ball movies, and was the third most successful anime movie ever in the international market. It also was met with fairly positive critical praise, again atypical for anime movies. Experts were baffled that a movie that hadn't even been on their radar was crushing it.^note  It helps that the company treated the marketing of the film more seriously than any of the franchise's other films, treating and marketing it as a "proper" movie rather than some cartoon tie-in.
• Awesome Art:
  • The new, simpler and less angular character designs lend themselves very well to animation. The teaser trailer showcases this gorgeously, showing Goku moving more fluidly than he ever has.
  • Yuya Takahashi's Buu era-inspired artwork doesn't mesh perfectly initially with the film's more Namek saga-inspired character designs, but that doesn't stop it from looking absolutely gorgeous. According to AnimeAjay, Takahashi didn't even have the finalized character sheets when he started to work on the film.
  • It can actually be difficult to distinguish between what's 3D CGI and what's 2D hand-drawn animation during some of the action scenes. This is because, apparently, they even overlayed the 3D CGI animation with 2D hand-drawn models. Even if scenes with CG can still be pretty obvious to anyone paying much attention, its agreed that it's much better than the much-derided CG used in Battle of Gods and Resurrection F.
  • The final battle between Gogeta and Broly is one of the most visually impressive sequences of animation in the franchises' history. Beautiful, fluid choreography, exceptionally dynamic movements and expressions, and an incredible sense of speed and power make for one of the most exhilarating fight scenes in anime history.
• Awesome Music:
  • The movie's ending theme, "Blizzard", performed by Daichi Miura; a high-energy pop track that perfectly fits the film's fast-paced animation.
  • The soundtrack itself is no slouch either:
    • The theme "Bardock Falls", that plays while Bardock and Gine smuggle Kakarot off the planet, and Bardock's doomed counterattack against Frieza as he destroys Planet Vegeta, which also plays in the trailer, is fascinating and melancholically beautiful.
    • The vocalization of the main theme when Broly transforms.
    • The track "Broly's Rage and Sorrow" is an ominous and sorrowful track complete with Ominous Latin Chanting that plays when Broly transforms into a Super Saiyan.
    • "Broly Begins To Battle" is also a standout during Broly's fight with Vegeta, gradually escalating and becoming more frantic as Broly reveals more and more of his power. By the song's end, it is split into two different segments, with a chorus of drums and violins representing Broly, and a more subdued piano and trumpet combo representing Vegeta. As each one gains the upper hand in the fight, the dominating instruments switch back and forth.
    • "Kakarot vs Broly" and "Gogeta vs Broly" are both rather silly with their name chanting, but it's impossible to deny that they are as catchy as Hell.
    • "I'm Kakarot" is a fun and catchy beat that seals the end of the movie.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The moment Gogeta and Broly break reality and enter into a dimension of strange swirling lights, fight for a while there, and then leave the realm and come back to reality comes out of nowhere and it's never once hinted that either fusion or Broly's abilities could escalate to that degree.
• Catharsis Factor: Halfway through the fight with Broly, Goku and Vegeta try to escape in order to catch their breaths and find an opportunity to do the Fusion Dance. They manage to do it by luring Broly into Frieza so the berserk Saiyan switches his attention to the murderous space tyrant. Cue Broly beating the shit out of Frieza for a solid hour while Goku and Vegeta fail the Fusion dance twice before they get it done. What makes it interesting is not so much seeing Frieza getting an otherwise deserved beatdown (although that's a factor too), but rather that the audience has a moment where they can openly root for Broly without any mixed feelings.
• Complete Monster: Frieza, see here.
• Continuity Lock-Out: To know why there is only one wish requires the viewing of Super Episode 29 and 68 which explains what happened to the two other wishes.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Unusual for Dragon Ball, but after Frieza murders Paragus, Frieza immediately indulges in Bad "Bad Acting" to trigger a Super Saiyan rage in Broly. Complete with comical facial expressions. It's no wonder this scene was used for Broly's transformation into Super Saiyan in Dragon Ball: The Breakers.
  Frieza: Broly, look! It's such a tragedy! It's your father! He was killed by a stray energy blast!
• Cry for the Devil: Once Gogeta goes full power against Broly the battle is pretty much over, with not even Broly's trademark green-haired state being able to do any damage. Seeing Broly get smacked around until his opponent decides to end him manages to evade any sense of relief or awesomeness that usually comes with the territory and makes it clear that Broly is simply a victim.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Bah, the snake-dog creature the size of a mountain that became Broly's first friend until Paragus scared it off one day, never to be seen again. He gained a lot of popularity despite only appearing for less than a minute of screentime.
  • Surprisingly, Beets became somewhat popular with fans, with Kaiser Neko even finding him adorable despite his short time on-screen for being quite unique for a Saiyan. A lot of fanworks even keep him alive as Broly's second father figure.
  • The female Saiyan scientist shown in the Minus segments - named Nion in the credits, seems to have found a fanbase of her own, despite being a Living Prop but still showing enough personality as the only scientist not afraid of King Vegeta's wrath.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • Goku's transformation into Super Saiyan Blue happens in a way that's unusually more dramatic than what he and Vegeta normally do, and there is a moment where his hair turns white, which led to a lot of people thinking he was trying to go Ultra Instinct. Was this moment simply a dramatic moment highlighting the intensity of Super Saiyan Blue, and meant nothing besides the animators being creative, or was it possibly an in-story moment? The reality is another: director Nagamine wanted to use a different visual approach to transformations, and Ultra Instinct is not mentioned in the script, storyboard or the two official light novel adaptations. For the same reason, Vegeta's hair turns green before going regular Super Saiyan. This hasn't stopped fans from guessing that Goku might have been trying to force Ultra Instinct, which given the context, wouldn't seem unusual.
  • The fact that there are non-combatant Saiyans who don't fight, including Gine, suggests they are the remnants of the Saiyans that descended from the previous Saiyans who survived the destruction of Salada, as Vegeta did mention U7's Salada was destroyed due to in-fighting.
  • Lanipator from Team Four Star has the theory that Broly's shock collar was commonly used by Saiyans to subdue slaves, given the fact that the Saiyans were selling entire planets to someone.
  • The fact that Saiyans are shown using weapons before Frieza takes over, then are shown a few years later without them has led many to speculate that Frieza taught the Saiyans how to use energy manipulation. Interestingly enough, the film does subtly seem to support this idea, but since it doesn't outright confirm it, most interpret things this way.
  • The wrathful transformation of Broly where he uses the power of the Great Ape in human form, has led people to suggest Kale from Universe 6 (who otherwise has vague reasons for her transformation) is doing the same thing too, although in her case awakening the power that the Saiyans from her universe have long since forgotten.
• Even Better Sequel: In two ways:
  • Although Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' was a massive financial success and had a ton of positive reviews, it was also something of a Contested Sequel both story-wise and animation-wise to Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods among fans. In regards to the latter, some even called it Tadayoshi Yamamuro's fall from grace in the animation industry, with many vocal members of the animation community outright disliking the character designs and Yamamuro's repetitive storyboards for the film. Broly was not only better received story-wise with an endearing and tragic antagonist, but the animation quality is usually lauded as downright beautiful, considered to be one of the most beautiful-looking movies in the franchise (if not the most).
  • The other is the film's status as a Spiritual Successor to Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan; while popular, the original Broly movie had something of a shallow Excuse Plot to get to the part where a big muscled dude beat the souls out of the Z-Fighters. This movie, on the other hand, gives emotional weight to its events and even makes Broly a sympathetic, three-dimensional character.
• Fan Nickname:
  • The Super incarnation of Broly has been called "Neo Broly", "CANON Broly", "Male Kale" and "Super Broly" to differentiate him from his original counterpart. He has also been called "Tarzaly" due to his reinterpretation being quite similar to Tarzan.
  • Broly's final transformation is officially called "Super Saiyan Full Power". It's still referred to by fans as the "Legendary Super Saiyan" for nostalgia purposes and because the Daizenshuu guide books use the name to refer to Goku and Gohan's mastered Super Saiyan forms. Promotional material and videogames lean on this a bit, also calling Broly's "Super Saiyan Full Power" form it's prior name of "Legendary Super Saiyan."
  • Chirai has been called "Green Bulma" and Berriblue "Edna Mode" due to their similar designs.
• Fanon: The idea that Paragus and Broly ate Beets after Paragus killed him became a widespread fan-fact in the community despite nothing in the film suggesting this.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Outside of the part of the fanbase that ignores Super entirely, there are fan edits of Broly that skips the Bardock segments adapting Dragon Ball Minus.
• Fridge Brilliance: Has its own page.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: One of the main reasons why Broly is the movie's villain, as Akira Toriyama's editor suggested him due to his sizable fanbase outside Japan. True to form, the movie did very well in Latin America, despite being slightly less successful than Resurrection 'F' in its native Japan. In America, though, the film managed to take the spot as the third highest-grossing anime film of all time, within two weeks. Furthermore, the total it made in the United States nearly matched the total it made in Japan, which is something that's pretty unheard of considering that anime is considered a niche market outside of Japan.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Goku losing his memory as a kid seemed like a good thing in Z, because this caused him to lose his genocidal tendencies and turned him into the kind Blood Knight we know today, but it also caused him to lose the memories of his parents who cared about him a lot.
  • The scene of Broly defending Cheelai from a sexual predator became harder to watch for the English-speaking public after the movie's release brought attention to the many sexual harassment accusations against Broly's English voice actor Vic Mignogna in early 2019.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Before the movie's title and villain were revealed essentially every theorist and speculator has repeatedly stated that there is no way for Broly to be the main villain especially since they doubt Toriyama would make one of his old characters canon only for Toriyama to actually do it.
  • Takao Koyama, the creator of Broly, was not a fan of Beerus, claiming that he envisioned Broly as being the strongest character in the entire setting and being more worthy of the title of "God of Destruction." Come this film, some sources and Goku think that Broly might be really stronger than Beerus.
  • Speaking of Koyama, it's humorous that one version of his characters (Bardock) is well-liked by the fandom, but the other (Broly) is disliked for being generic. Now Akira Toriyama's take on Broly is well-loved while his version of Bardock is very controversial.
  • Thirdly, it's now amusing how he dislikes this version of Broly because "He's not as fearsome" while the fans absolutely love this version of Akira Toriyama's Broly, since he has a single character arc. While Koyama's original is disliked for being a Generic Doomsday Villain Flat Character on east and west side of the fandom.
  • A few months before he was revealed to be the villain in the movie, Broly was included in Dragon Ball Fighter Z as DLC, with one of Goku's win quotes with him on his team noting that they'll most likely fight again someday and that he's looking forward to it.
  • With the older dubs having been made rather infamous for reinterpreting Goku closer to Superman, the second trailer subtly indicating Goku would serve as his parents' attempt to Fling a Light into the Future is more than slightly amusing.
  • Vegeta's biggest fear regarding Frieza, understandably, is that he'll come back for his path to immortality. Hilariously enough, however, Frieza had given up on said goal due to given a view of the downsides of immortality, and now wants a much simpler wish. Said wish is... a minor growth in height.
  • The climax of the film already happened before, in Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3, Budokai Tenkaichi 3 and—in a way—in the Dragon Ball Z: The Real 4-D Super Tenkaichi Budokai Universal attraction: Broly facing Gogeta.
  • Broly being Spared by the Adaptation, Goku wanting to befriend him, and Broly's general Adaptational Heroism, brings to thought MasakoX's "What If Broly Turned Good?" theory from his Dragon Ball Discussions series. It's also faintly similar to a much older What If? plotline present in Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2.
  • A minor one, but in Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Frieza introduces himself and his men as "a traveling improv group" in his debut. Fast forward eight (or nine, depending on where you live) years and, after Frieza murders Paragus, Frieza proves that he can, in fact, perform improv (to trigger Broly's Super Saiyan rage, mind you).
  • Another Abridged-related one. Team Four Star turns Vegeta's abject fear of Broly in Movie 8 while he's stomping around Goku and the other Z-Fighters as the Legendary Super Saiyan into a fanboy's admiration for how "cool" he is because of his power and madness. Here it's Goku who starts squeeing about how strong Broly is when he's keeping up with Super Saiyan Vegeta in his base form.
  • A third TFS-related note: In the TFS version of Movie 8, Broly is depicted as a meek and passive character who's on friendly terms with Goku. Broly in this movie is depicted the same way, but with a different manner of Ax-Crazy fueling his fighting style and his transformations being depicted differently.
  • In the Ocean Group dub of Dragon Ball Z, Vegeta claims Bardock was an average fighter, but a brilliant "scientist" while Team Four Star's parody of Episode of Bardock has a mook calling him one. In this movie, there are Saiyan scientists but Bardock isn't one.
  • Yoshihiko Umakoshi working on the Gogeta VS Broly scene can be seen as amusing to fans of Pretty Cure, as years earlier, Umakoshi worked on HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, which also ended with the main heroes fusing into one, super powerful being to stop a rampaging villain consumed by rage and grief.
• I Knew It!:
  • Unlike the version of old that was regarded as the "Saiyan of legend", this incarnation of Broly is called a mutant by King Vegeta. This was actually a popular theory about both Broly and Kale in many circles.
  • Bulma's use of the Dragon Balls to de-age herself by five years. Many fans theorized this as a way to explain how she actually looked younger from Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' on forward, and the movie finally confirmed it.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!:
  • Like in the series, people are upset Trunks and Goten still look like small children according to the promo materials, even though timeline wise, they should be looking much older than they appear to be. Trunks, in particular, is rather glaring since he, at age 14, is now at the same age as his Future counterpart when he trained with Future Gohan. ^note Despite being the same person, Present Trunks isn't Future Trunks; it stands to reason his growth rate would be somewhat different. And at the same time, Goku never changed in appearance until he was 15, and even then he only gained an inch until his explosive jump to adult height offscreen.
  • For many in the community, the fact the movie mostly takes place on Earth again instead of another planet was considered wasted potential.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: A consistent complaint with some reviewers is that the first act of the movie is quite a bit rushed, and some time could be put to further develop the events of Dragon Ball Minus, as Bardock dies tragically against Frieza's Supernova but the build-up is too fast and disjointed for it to really have as much of an impact as the original special. Originally, Toriyama wrote a 3-hour script but it had to be shortened to only an almost-2-hour film. This has actually resulted in some fans saying they hope that Dragon Ball Super (if it comes back) will retell the story, but with the cut parts of the script added back in, and considering the first two arcs of Super that retold the two newer movies were the most disliked part of that series, is saying something.
• Jerkass Woobie: Paragus may have not have been an ideal parent to Broly, but his wrath is at the very least understandable. Both Saiyans were stranded on a hostile planet on the run from King Vegeta for decades while the king's heir grew up, got married, had kids of his own, obtained powers beyond the average Saiyan and enjoyed a relatively peaceful life with only the occasional foe to deal with. His harsh attitude towards Broly can also be explained away as in-universe Values Dissonance.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • The animation was one of the main sources of excitement ever since the character sheets were posted. This sentiment increased once the trailer was posted.
  • Some were interested in seeing Toriyama's reinterpretation of Broly.
  • Some were interested in seeing Bardock and Gine, with this movie being the latter's animation debut.
  • Others were interested in watching the movie for the first canon appearance of Gogeta.
  • And a portion of those fans just wanted to see Broly vs. Gogeta.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Bardock is a great deal more cunning and noble than his original counterpart, being in a loving marriage to his wife Gine. Under Frieza's orders, Bardock participated in invading other planets. Upon receiving orders from Frieza for all Saiyans to return to Planet Vegeta, Bardock immediately suspects the tyrant is plotting something. Bardock decides to send his youngest son offworld, stealing a pod during the night, while choosing not to have him and Gine accompany him as to not risk being detected by scouters. After a month, Bardock's suspicions come to pass where Frieza eradicates the Saiyan race by destroying the planet, with Bardock performing a Last Stand by attempting to blast and then stand-in the way of the Frieza's attack.
  • Cheelai is a wanted criminal by the Galactic Patrol for stealing a one of their ships. She ends up joining the Frieza Empire to get the Galactic Patrol off her tail knowing they wouldn't dare oppose Frieza. Given the mission of recruiting strong warriors, Cheelai decides to bring Broly and Paragus back to Frieza and receives a huge monetary reward. Feeling sympathy towards Broly for his mistreatment by Paragus, she steals the remote for Broly's Shock Collar from Paragus and destroys it. Seeing Broly in a losing battle against Gogeta and at risk of being killed, Cheelai steals the Dragon Balls from under Frieza's nose and uses them to wish for Broly to be returned to the planet Vampa, before Cheelai escapes with her comrade Lemo, knowing Frieza would be furious and out to kill them.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Broly's giant bulge in promotional material has been the source of jokes the moment his design was shown.
  • Also, people jokingly mistaking his new design (especially the one artwork seen in the poster) for a buff Yamcha. Became an Ascended Meme in the manga, with Goku and Vegeta first remarking they feel they met Broly before, only to later state that with his scars he looks like Yamcha, with Vegeta then saying he is then not that strong.
  • Comparing Paragus to Buzz Lightyear due to sharing the same color palette. His appearance can also be compared to Commander Zeb Nebula from the same show, with their mustache and elderly appearance.
  • Calling Broly "Male Kale", in reference to how Kale, before she was named in the show, was referred to in the fandom as "Female Broly"; fans have taken to calling Broly this because Kale was canon first.
  • Fans have jokingly expressed more interest in Goku and Vegeta's swanky snow jackets than in the fights themselves. In Mexico, the fact that they resemble jackets commonly associated with street thugs led to jokes on whether they were going to fight Broly or rob him.
  • Cheelai is Bulma and Zamasu's daughter. ^ExplanationMany fans have pointed out how female Frieza Force member Cheelai's character design heavily resembles Bulma, yet has Zamasu's skin and hair colour. Given the scene in the Future Trunks Saga where Bulma unsuccessfully attempted to seduce Zamasu, jokes emerged of how it actually worked and she had a child with him.
  • Expect 90% of any Cheelai fanart to have her making the "ok" pose with her hand or referencing that her suit is stretchy. Possibly both.
  • Broly being a 40-year-old virgin. ^ExplanationUnlike the original Broly that was in his late twenties (due to being born the same day as Goku) by the time of his movie, this incarnation has been trapped on some planet for 40 years without human contact besides his father. Come the jokes of him never scoring. The whole issue with Cheelai being protective of him coming off as Ship Tease does not help matters any.
  • "I like Broly now!" ^ExplanationThose who hated the original Broly tend to say this in relation to the film, citing how much they love the new Broly. Often said half-sarcastically, but generally, people who say it really do mean it.
  • K-Word Pass^{Explanation (spoilers)}Goku's final words to Broly in the film are "Call me Kakarot." Considering Goku's preference to be referred to by his earth name, many people have referred to this as Goku "giving Broly the k-word pass."
• Memetic Psychopath: Due to the way how the English dub conveyed Goku's "I'll find you" line at the end of the movie, fans have taken this opportunity to turn Goku into a creepy stalker. Case in point.
• Narm: When King Vegeta is discussing Broly's power with his scientists, the scientists in the English dub all speak in Russian accents. This is somewhat out of left field since nowhere in the movie besides here are accents really a thing, plus the fact that you have King Vegeta speaking in a normal voice, talking to people who use stereotypical Russian accents. It's never referenced again as well, making it feel out of place.
• Narm Charm: The soundtrack for the final battle is rather unusual, featuring the singer announcing the fighters' names like they're in a pro wrestling match, and a crowd chanting the name of whatever fighter currently has the upper hand. Sounds very silly, but it works. Especially since the whole point of the movie was to watch the most powerful Saiyans in existence pound the crap out of each other, and Broly has always used wrestling-inspired moves, it's really kind of fitting.
• Only the Creator Does It Right: Broly is a contentious character, but a number of people admitted to being willing to give the movie a shot anyway because of being interested in seeing Akira Toriyama's overhaul of the character. The majority ultimately agree that Toriyama's version of Broly is a much better character. An odd mix of this and My Real Daddy, as while Toriyama is indeed the creator of the franchise as a whole, Broly specifically is the brainchild of Takao Koyama, whose original take on the character is largely deemed inferior.
• Older Than They Think: A part of the fanbase hated Naohiro Shintani's redesigns, due to making the characters too young looking, especially Goku looking like a teenager. Goku has always looked like a teenager◊, even when Tadayoshi Yamamuro designed him in his prime, he didn't look that different from Gohan (his son that is 20 years younger), and Saiyans are known for aging at a very low pace even back at the final arc of the original manga. This could only be a consistent complaint about the Earthling characters like Bulma, but most of the characters have in-story justifications for their youthful-looking appearances.
• One-Scene Wonder: The unnamed female Saiyan scientist (named Nion in some sources) got the attention of some fans, mostly due to looking like Bruno Bucellati and her Russian accent in the Funimation dub.
• Pandering to the Base: The film stems from Toriyama's editor suggesting canonizing Broly due to his very large western fanbase. It also canonizes Gogeta, another popular but previously non-canon character, resulting in a fight between two fan favorites, which got a significant push in the marketing as the film got close to release.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: While the original Broly was already an immensely popular Breakout Villain, he was also a very controversial Base-Breaking Character due to his shallow character and many fans considered him overrated. This Broly, on the other hand, is extremely fleshed out and won over many of his previous detractors.
• Rooting for the Empire: It's very easy to root for Broly to defeat the heroes, because of his sympathetic backstory and overall coolness. The movie may even invoke this with their soundtrack which yells out his name and roots for him like in a wrestling match. The climax also can cause viewers to root even more for Broly. Less for having him win the fight, but more for him to survive the gigantic beatdown he gets from Gogeta, as Broly is clearly outmatched by the fused warrior. Broly's subtle and brief moment of fear at the end also helps.
• Salvaged Story: The Super Saiyan transformation has gone through Uniqueness Decay and is treated with less value since the beginning of the Android Saga onwards, something fans have been vocal about for some time. Thus there was some appreciation that it was treated with more weight by both the characters (Paragus is flabbergasted by it, Frieza knows just how powerful the transformation can be), and the movie itself (Paragus' death by Frieza's hand triggers it, which signifies a major turning point in the movie and amps up the stakes at which Broly must be dealt with), acknowledging its often-overlooked significance in Dragon Ball.
• Shocking Moments:
  • The confirmation that Broly would be in the movie, becoming a Canon Immigrant, floored the entire fandom. Even better — the subsequent confirmation Akira Toriyama would be overseeing the character's new backstory.
  • One of the later trailers dropped that Gogeta would appear in the climax to fight Broly, officially making Gogeta canon in the main timeline (excluding GT, whose relation with the main timeline is... wonky, to say the best). While quite a few fans admitted they had their suspicions, comments on the trailer made it quite clear that they were very excited.
• Signature Scene:
  • Broly's transformation into Super Saiyan is one of the most soul-crushing scenes in Dragon Ball history, to the point any fans can easily agree that this is not the same character from 1993. This is how you write a powerful character with weight in his character.
  • The entire final showdown between Gogeta and Broly, particularly the part in the rupture in spacetime created from the fury of their battle.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: The film has been very well received thanks to giving the audience time to get to know Broly, but a consistent criticism of the film is that it takes a while to pick up steam, with most of the backstory taking a good majority of the screen time. One might wonder if this would have been a bigger or a smaller issue had the movie been allotted its intended 3-hour length rather than the 1 and a half runtime.
• Subbing Versus Dubbing: A notable case here in that while the English dub is hugely loved in english speaking countries (as per the case for modern Dragon Ball), many fans bemoaned the decision to not show the Japanese subbed version in North American theaters, unlike with other franchises handled by Funimation. This is widely believed to be for financial viability reasons, and Funimation was quick to reassure that fans of the sub would be able to watch it down the line (and sure enough, the digital and home releases do include the original voice track).
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: While reviewers will debate between Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan and Dragon Ball Super: Broly, most will agree this movie is a better Broly movie than either Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming and Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly.
• Tainted by the Preview: The trailer caused a rejection in the part of the fandom that feels that Broly has been overexposed in the Dragon Ball franchise.
• Tear Jerker: Enough for its own page.
• They Changed It, So It Sucks: Broly adapts Dragon Ball Minus, which is not as liked as Bardock – The Father of Goku was and for a long time was the subject of Fanon Discontinuity, so its integration into the official timeline was divisive to say the least.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Bardock himself gets a mention, as while he follows his Minus interpretation very faithfully, the moment the Supernova is prepared to destroy Planet Vegeta, he appears ready to fight. Reviewers think there is something missing in-between those scenes.
  • Similarly to the above, Gine is similarly viewed as wasted, if not more than Bardock. Her sole scene is with Bardock where she just goes along with what he says and is really only shown as a Satellite Love Interest, leaving much lacking in one of the characters who's Goku's long unnamed mother.
  • A lot of fans regard the general absence of the Z-Fighters in the battle against Broly to be the biggest wasted opportunity. Even if they weren't going to be able to do much, many fans would have preferred to at least know the side characters were aware of the situation, since it contradicts the characters' actions during the first time Frieza came to Earth, and was one of the disliked plot threads of Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' (where Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Goten and Trunks were left out).
  • Beets is introduced as a Saiyan engineer who is forced to go with Paragus, but seemed willing to help him find Broly. His non-combat personality made him unique enough that he seemed like an interesting character. Unfortunately, Paragus kills him to save food for him and Broly, which is a real shame given that Beets could've been an interesting parental figure to Broly, or even a minor antagonist when Frieza found Broly and Paragus.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • The events regarding Dragon Ball Minus felt too short, as it barely added anything to the short manga special. The fact that Bardock and Leek fighting a brutal fight with aliens was cut wasted the opportunity to establish Bardock's "cold hitman" personality to later show his loving personality around Gine and son, making it an Informed Attribute. Bardock is later shown with broken armor mirroring his iconic fall in The Father of Goku, but because we don't see what happened for him to end up like this, it becomes a huge Noodle Incident. Although there are dots in the atmosphere, indicating that he was fighting to save the planet just as Frieza prepares to destroy Vegeta.
  • The idea of Goku finally seemingly coming to embrace his Saiyan heritage and accept the name Kakarot is an interesting concept because for years Goku has hated being called Kakarot, and while he embraced his Saiyan tendencies, he never truly took pride as a Saiyan. However, within the movie itself, this idea comes out at the last minute of the film and feels incredibly abrupt since for years Goku had never shown any signs of wanting to be called Kakarot, only suddenly offering Broly his name as Kakarot for some reason. It feels like there was an idea to make Goku accept his Saiyan name, but the plotline was either scrapped or the idea was a last minute inclusion.
  • A consistent complaint, even by reviewers from IGN, is the lack of mention of Kale from the previous saga, despite Broly and her having the same transformation, which brings to question why there is a lack of continuity regarding the two stories. There is a reason, but according to the TV anime director, Toei didn't receive the script for the movie until June 2017 (when Kale was transforming for the first time), meaning the script was already finished and there wasn't time to add any mention of Kale, and according to director Naohiro Shintani, it appears there weren't plans to adapt Broly's classic transformation in the script, but he insisted on adding it. Other than a small nod to Kefla, Kale and Broly's connection is not touched upon.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Broly. In all the build-up to the movie, fans all but completely excised the chances of Broly ever attaining Canon Immigrant status, yet the internet more or less exploded when Akira Toriyama himself confirmed he would be the forefront antagonist of the film.
  • Just like Broly, the last thing fans expected was Gogeta also making his canon debut and being used to defeat Broly, as opposed to a new technique, transformation, or another appearance of Ultra Instinct. Not only does he show up, but so does the failed fusion Veku, with both the fat and skinny versions shown (the latter's especially notable, since he previously only appeared as concept art).
  • While only a mention, Tarble's existence was surprising by some fans, as he was Adapted Out of Super and hasn't been seen since the 2008 OVA or mentioned since the Battle of Gods film.
• Vanilla Protagonist: Goku, Vegeta and Gogeta. They lack any arcs in the movie compared with the titular antagonist.
• Win Back the Crowd:
  • For animation enthusiasts, the fact Tadayoshi Yamamuro would not be involved was a major turn-on, as Yamamuro took a decline in quality after the end of Dragon Ball GT. The fact most of the crew working on the film worked on One Piece Film: Z raised interest in it.
  • Toriyama's new spin on the character was a relief for those who weren't fans of how Broly was originally written. Even Team Four Star's Lanipator and KaiserNeko, who don't exactly hide their hatred of the original Broly, came back from the theater raving about how much they loved the movie and especially the new version of Broly.^note Previously, Broly was a Base-Breaking Character who was very popular but also hated by a lot of fans for being a one-note character with a poorly-written motivation and being emblematic of the worst parts of the series. Toriyama's take instead gives Broly a brand new characterization and backstory, giving him much-needed depth and sympathetic qualities.
• The Woobie: See here.
• Woolseyism: Goku's famous final line at the end of the movie (when Cheelai asks him his name. Goku replies: "It's Goku. But, Broly, (you) call me Kakarot). This wording only belongs to the English dub, since in the original Japanese script he just replies his name is Goku and Kakarot, without reserving his Saiyan name for Broly at all. The change was likely made primarily because a direct translation of the the Japanese text would have created a lip sync issue^note To be precise, the famous cadence of the Japanese language that, if left unaddressed, leaves unnatural pauses in the middle of a sentence that no non-Japanese speaker would ever do, but Funimation took it as an opportunity for giving a nod to Broly's previous characterization. The result was one of the most iconic moments in the film for English speakers, to the point that even those aware of this change argue it should be considered the canon version of the line.

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