Anime / Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan

aka: Broly The Legendary Super Saiyan

Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan (known in Japan as Doragon Bōru Zetto: Moetsukiro!! Nessen Ressen Chō-Gekisen; lit. "Dragon Ball Z: Burn Up!! A Close, Intense, Super-Fierce Battle") is the eighth Dragon Ball Z movie. The original release date in Japan was on March 6, 1993, between episodes 176 and 177. Due to the popularity of the movie, it spawned two sequels: Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming and Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly.

Vegeta is lured to the planet New Vegeta by a group of Saiyan survivors in hopes that he will be the king of their new planet. But when he finds that they have ulterior motives of universal domination, he and the Z Warriors must fight Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan.

The movie is the debut of Tadayoshi Yamamuro as character designer for the anime of Dragon Ball.

25 years later, it would be revealed that Akira Toriyama himself would be overseeing a Continuity Reboot of the character as the main antagonist of the first movie based on Dragon Ball Super. The movie ignores the events of this film and any of the follow-ups in order to make Broly a proper Canon Immigrant. While elements of the character's past are borrowed from this movie, the film takes Broly in a completely different direction as an antagonist.

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Tropes:

• Alcohol-Induced Stupidity: Roshi throughout the film, to the point of trying to make Broly laugh with some funny faces.
• Adaptational Jerkass: The Funimation dub changes one of Broly's lines where he shows respect towards Goku, Gohan, and Trunks, considering them worthy of being called Saiyans, to him finding them unworthy and a waste of Saiyan blood because they can't beat him.
• Artistic License – Space: The characters repeatedly talk of how "Comet Kumori" will destroy the planet. When we finally see the thing toward the end of the movie, it's several times as big across as the Earth-like planet the heroes are fighting on! That's no "comet"; that's a rogue planet.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Broly kills his father, threw it at Comet Camori. You would feel bad for Paragus if you overlook the fact that he enslaved an entire race of people to do his bidding and brainwashed his own son for god-knows-how long.
  • Strangely enough, the aforementioned brainwashing also counts as one. Indeed, as a teenager, Broly was already an Ax-Crazy maniac who killed for fun and who wrecked his father's eye when he was trying to restrain him from blowing up a planet. Therefore, Paragus' reason to put a slave crown on him seems a little more understandable.
• Ax-Crazy: Made more frightening by Broly's overwhelming power, and Trope Codifier for Ax-Crazy Blood Knight characters. His insanity makes Frieza and Cell seem normal.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: Broly and Paragus are shown having conversations in a flashback scene without spacesuits.
• Berserk Button: For Broly, thinking of Goku's crying when they were both 1-day old incensed him out of Paragus' mind control, but this was important for his true Blood Knight self to awaken.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Chi-Chi urges Goku to lie at Gohan's school interview that his hobbies are reading and sports. Goku isn't really pleased that Chi-Chi is encouraging him to lie.
  • In a desperate attempt to save himself from Broly, Paragus tells his son that he's preparing a rocket so that they can both escape Comet Camori, despite clearly being in an escape pod meant for one passenger. Broly isn't convinced for one second.
• Blood Knight: Other than the obvious fact that Broly is a Saiyan, he is positively delighted when the Z-warriors refused to yield and are prepared to fight him to the bitter end.
  Broly: Knowing you have no chance of victory, and yet you still fight on? You have my respect; you are truly worthy of your Saiyan blood!!
• Bling of War: One piece counts as Broly's Power Limiter (and possibly a Hypno Trinket) and is indistinguishable from his other gem-encrusted pieces of gold.
• Bootstrapped Leitmotif: 10's by Pantera, which starts up after Broly transforms into the Legendary Super Saiyan in the Funimation dub's score.
• Bowdlerize: The Funimation dub changes the reason for Master Roshi's antics from him being constantly drunk to having weird food poisoning from eating tuna sandwiches...at least in the TV airings, as the DVD actually have one of the more accurate English dubs pre-Kai in Dragon Ball, and has Roshi say he feels hungover.
• Break the Badass: Vegeta falls into despair the second he experiences Broly's full power. According to Paragus, being a pure-blooded Saiyan allows Vegeta to understand how overwhelmingly powerful Broly is (though it doesn't stop Goku). It takes quite some time (and chastising from Piccolo) for him to even try.
• Breakout Villain: If his numerous appearances in video games is not enough, he has the most of all movie characters by a long shot and even more than some main characters as well, the fact one of these games (Supersonic Warriors 2) actually redeems him should settle it. 25 years later, he was flat-out given Canon Immigrant status.
• Brick Joke: At the end of the movie, when Chi-Chi chews out Goku and Gohan for wasting their Spring Break, Goku repeats the words Chi-Chi told him to say for the school interview, causing Chi-Chi to Face Fault.
• By the Hair: Piccolo invokes this when trying to force the unusually cowardly Vegeta into joining the fight.
  Vegeta: It's no use... This is the end...
  Piccolo: What do you think you're doing!? Why don't you stop whining like a baby and fight like a man!?
  Vegeta: Why? What for? Broly's unbeatable...
  Piccolo: You call yourself the prince of Saiyans?
• Captain Ersatz: Paragus' scientist, Krang is clearly based on Krang from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987).
• Continuity Snarl: Being a Non-Serial Movie it was never really considered "canon" to start with. Here are the elements that make it an unlikely event in the main series.
  • The movie presumably takes place during the ten days days before the Cell games, yet Goku and Gohan are shown using their base form, despite them having Super Saiyan permanently as part of their training for their fight against Cell. Even if one were to Hand Wave it and say they depowered just for Goku and Chichi to put Gohan in a great school, then there is no reason for why they kept being depowered outside of that one scene.
  • Not to mention that Gohan, at no point during the story, wears the clothes Piccolo gave him after he got out of the Room of Spirit and Time. He instead appears in his outfit before entering the Time Chamber (albeit, having his shorter hair from the Cell Games Saga).
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience:
  • Both Broly's hair and his Battle Aura have a slight green tint when he enters his Legendary Super Saiyan form.
  • When Broly turns into a regular, non-Legendary Super Saiyan, his Restraining Bolt makes his hair turn blue instead of golden.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Goku gets smacked around by Broly a lot in the movie, as does the rest of the team, but quite a few scenes feature Goku with a downright euphoric smile on his face with each of Broly's punches. These particular scenes are done in slow motion while Rock music plays in the Background (For the English dub anyway). To be fair, he could just be punch-drunk.
• Combined Energy Attack: It takes all of the Z warriors channeling their power into Goku for them to beat Broly.
• Conditioned to Be Weak: The title character and main villain, Broly, is the most powerful Saiyan in the galaxy. The only thing keeping him docile for most of the film is the brainwashing/control device his father placed on him. As soon as he breaks out of his condition upon transforming into the Legendary Super Saiyan, which overwhelms and destroys the device, he proceeds to go on a rampage, mopping the floor with the heroes and eventually killing his father before finally being defeated by Goku.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The 2nd half of the film is mostly just Broly beating the Z-fighters into the ground.
• Dark Messiah: Broly is the Saiyan race's legendary warrior. The Prophesied Legendary Super Saiyan, a born paragon of everything their race stands for; fighting, killing, and destruction. As if to hammer this one home, Funimation decided to name the sequel Second Coming.
• Deadpan Snarker: Suprisingly enough, Broly, as opposed to his future portrayals (until Dragon Ball Super: Broly, that is) who barely, if at all, talks. Here he is very witty.
  Goku: Hey, how about you give us a handicap?
  Broly: Is that another word for coffin?
• Despair Event Horizon: Vegeta lapses into great despair after Broly transforms into the Legendary Super Saiyan. He snaps out of it once his pride gets the better of him.
• Devil Complex: When Broly is called a monster, Broly replies back "No, I'm the devil!" in a Badass Boast.
• Did You Actually Believe...?: Broly says this regarding Paragus' belief that he'd die from Comet Camori colliding with New Planet Vegeta shortly after exacting revenge on his father, implying that he's strong enough to survive the destruction of the planet in his LSSJ form.
• Dissonant Serenity: Paragus describing the complete ruination of his plans and the inevitability of the universe's destruction now that Broly's broken free from his control, as if he's imagined the possibility for years but the actual terror of its arrival has long-since passed.
• The Dreaded: Even Vegeta is terrified of Broly the moment he transforms, losing his pride and not bothering to fight.
• Deus ex Machina: Goku defeats Broly from one punch to the gut (nicknamed the Toei Punch by fans) and in a process that seems to literally tear him apart.
• Devil Complex:
  • Broly, in the Japanese version has him describing himself as the devil in response to Piccolo's statement about him being a monster.
    Piccolo: Hmph! Damned monster, do your worst!
    Broly: Monster? No, I am the devil!
  • Amazingly enough even the Italian dub retains that line thanks to a quirk of Italian language.^note Broly's declaration uses the word "demonio", meaning literally "fiend", but when one specifies "il demonio" (the fiend) they mean Satan himself
• Dub-Induced Plot Hole: The already tenuous logic of Broly being triggered by Goku's voice is an even harder sell in the dub. In the Japanese version Goku of all ages, including his cries as a baby, is voiced by Masako Nozawa so Broly recognizing his voice at least possible. But in the English version Goku is voiced by several actors, so his cries as a baby sound nothing like his voice as an adult making Broly's grudge even more ridiculous.
• Dub Personality Change:
  • When Paragus abandons Broly after losing control of him, the original Japanese Language soliloquy delivered by Iemasa Kayumi was one of reluctant sadness and regret ("Soon the meteor will arrive to destroy New Vegeta; I'm sorry that you have to die like this, my boy; but now that you are out of control, it is the only way the universe won't be destroyed.") The English language version, however, changes it so that he says something far harsher ("now that I can't control you, you are of no use to me and an obstacle in my path"), changing Paragus into a jerk who never truly loved Broly in the first place and saw him as merely a tool. This change of dialogue runs in direct contradiction to earlier scenes of Paragus being a loving father who risked his life defying King Vegeta to protect his baby boy, and was forced to confine him to a life of constant torture to prevent the universe from being destroyed.
  • The dialogue between Paragus and the minion he executes for knowing about his real plans is different in the Funimation dub. Instead of swearing to say nothing and move to Earth to carry out the next step of Paragus's plan, the minion begs for his life and shows fear of being destroyed by Comet Kumori.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Before the Buu Saga, Paragus actually looks his age than Goku and Vegeta did, who both are in their early 30's. Vegeta actually explains Saiyans retain their youth in their prime so they can fight longer (the maximum age a Saiyan will age is 80 years old). But hey, being non-canon has its quirks.
• Emerald Power: Contrary to any other Super Saiyan, Broly's aura is greenish. The inclusion of Kale and his reboot incarnation implies that the greenish hair and aura is exclusive of the Legendary Supersaiyan form.
• Evil Is Bigger: Broly in his Legendary Super Saiyan form. Normally he's a bit taller than Goku, but as the Legendary Super Saiyan he's a giant.
• Eye Scream: Paragus lost his left eye to his son while trying to stop one of his rampages. In addition, when Broly is finally on the threshold of reaching his Legendary Super Saiyan form, the flesh around his eyes can visibly be seen tearing itself apart just before he transforms.
• Festival Episode: The movie takes place during Hanami, and involves one of the most brutal battles in the franchise's history. The final shot has cherry blossoms flowing past the screen.
• Filling the Silence: Surprisingly the dub actually inverts this. Twice over, when Vegeta falls when Piccolo drops him and when Goku confronts Broly for the final time, the dub is completely silent where the original japanese track had internal dialogue. A role reversal of how it usually happens.
• Freudian Excuse: The movie heavily implies that, besides Kakarot's crying, one of the biggest reasons for the way he is is because of life-threatening events related to Broly's birth. King Vegeta was so terrified of his legendary power that he ordered his men to murder him by driving a dagger through his heart on the day he was born. Later on in life, his father placed him under the control of a slave crown, initially out of fear of his power, but afterward, he was used to destroying even more planets than before against his own will, which further distorted what little tenuous sanity he has left into repressed rage and madness, ready to explode with just the right trigger...
• Heroic BSoD: Broly is one of the few villains to legitimately invoke fear in Vegeta, leaving him shell-shocked on the spot after displaying his power.
  Vegeta: We must escape! This is a fight we can't win...
  Piccolo: It doesn't matter of we escape. If we don't kill him now, he'll destroy the whole universe.
  Vegeta: But there's the no point fighting him! He's the Legendary Super Saiyan!
  Piccolo: I can't believe how cowardly you're being Vegeta! Just stand clear of the true warriors!
  Vegeta: Why? Why do they continue to fight in vain?
• Hidden in Plain Sight: A good portion of the movie is Vegeta looking for the Legendary Super Saiyan that supposedly landed on New Planet Vegeta. He brings Broly along with him during the search, not knowing that he is the Legendary Super Saiyan until Goku tells him.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Krillin's singing at the picnic, though only Vegeta seems to find it annoying.
• Hypno Trinket: For the first half of the movie, Broly was wearing a crown that was heavily implied to have brainwashed Broly and sapped his will and emotions. It was placed on him by his father, Paragus, originally because he was scared of his power level, but after actually placing it onto Broly (who, going by the flashback, was unwilling to even allow Paragus to put it on him), he decided to use Broly as a little toy, namely destroy a lot more planets than Broly himself destroyed when he was a kid (again, against Broly's will).
• I Can't Do This by Myself: Vegeta stubbornly refuses to help Goku during the final fight due to his inferiority complex but eventually gives in after Goku continuously demands his help. But Vegeta asserts firmly that it changes nothing between them.
• Inconsistent Dub: Funimation, by mistake, made Broly say "Goku" instead of "Kakarot" for a scene. That said, Broly had a more sarcastic personality here, so he is probably just mockingly using his Earth name.
• It's All About Me: Vegeta refuses to give his energy to Goku so he can defeat Broly until the last second, finding the act of doing so for a low-class Saiyan to be beneath him.
• Jerkass Has a Point: As revealed in a flashback, King Vegeta decided to execute the newborn Broly, viewing him as a threat to his power due to his Power Level of 10,000. Considering how Ax-Crazy Broly became as an adult, coupled with his incredible power, his fears had merit.
• The Juggernaut: To call Broly a "nigh-unstoppable mass of pain and destruction" is putting it VERY mildly. He spends pretty much every second that he's in his Legendary Super Saiyan form steamrolling whatever unlucky souls happen to be in his line of sight. At one point, he even implies that he's powerful enough to survive an immense comet plowing through the planet ("Did he [Paragus] really think I would die just because this planet was about to explode?!"), and given that he survived the destruction of Planet Vegeta by Frieza by creating a force field, while less than a week old, this is likely true.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Paragus initially had no villainous intentions when putting the mind-control device on Broly, as he was trying to save everyone from Broly's destructive insanity, including Broly himself. But when he realized that now his son could be used as a potential weapon to satisfy his own thirst for vengeance, Paragus threw all morals out the window.
• Just Between You and Me: Paragus starts monologuing and gives away his Evil Plan to Vegeta.
• Kick the Dog: Broly blew up a planet just to see the looks on the former inhabitants' faces.
• Knight of Cerebus: Yes, Broly's pretty dark. While Frieza and Buu still have some comedic traits, and Cell was repeatedly ridiculed in hell (later), Broly is an example disturbingly straight, without comedic or cartoonish traits. Makes him more frightening when combined with his Ax Crazy behavior.
• Lack of Empathy: Once the full volcanic fury of his rage is unleashed, Broly is more a force of nature existing only to smash all in its path to ruin than a sentient being capable of reason much less empathy.
• Large Ham: What little dialogue Broly has, he makes sure everyone hears him.
• Light Is Not Good: Broly's dressed like some sort of regal/holy being. In his purest form, he's a self-described devil.
• Lightning Bruiser: When fully transformed, Broly has the notable tactic of dodging an attack easily, then taking the next attack in the face just to show that it wouldn't have worked anyway.
• Made a Slave: Paragus forces the Shamoians to half-build a city just so New Vegeta will look convincingly habitable for Vegeta.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: Surprisingly averted, considering how most villains react to injury in the series. When Goku manages to kick Broly in the jaw hard enough to make him bleed, not only does he barely even react, just giving a smirk, he actually treats it as though it weren't a big deal and licks off the wound. In fact, the only one to overreact over the minor injury was Goku when he witnessed Broly licking off the wound.
  [Broly turns to Goku with his mouth bleeding, then smirks and licks off the wound]
  Goku: Eew! That was completely unnecessary! Disgusting!
• Nigh-Invulnerability: None of the Z Warriors' attacks manage to deal any real damage to Broly, Goku is only able to defeat him through a combined power attack to the area where he was stabbed as a child.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Half of the movie is basically Broly beating the snot out of the heroes. And he even implies that he's not even using his full strength to do so.
• No Infantile Amnesia: Taking a cue from the Saiyan saga that establishes Saiyan babies have excellent memories, Broly clearly remembers the cries of a baby Goku. This is not his Freudian Excuse in this movie, but an element that turned flanderized in the sequel.
• Oh, Crap!: After the first few exchanges with Broly, Goku remains relatively lighthearted despite the huge power gap. However, after Broly threateningly asks Goku how much he loves his son, the normally fight-happy Goku immediately gets deathly serious and tells Gohan to run. Keep in mind, this would have been around the same time in the mainline continuity that Goku was fully wiling to let Gohan fight Cell.
• Offing the Offspring: Paragus tries to do this to Broly when the Restraining Bolt he put on him stops working. Alas, it doesn't work and Broly becomes a Self-Made Orphan after getting revenge on his old man.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: You know things are bad when the prideful Vegeta is completely frozen in fear for most of the movie after Broly becomes Super Saiyan.
• Orphaned Etymology: In the Japanese version, a drunk Master Roshi exclaims in response to Krillin's terrible singing that Krillin is "Nippon ichi!" meaning "best in all Japan!" even though Japan doesn't exist in the Dragon World.
• Out-of-Genre Experience: While starting as a superpowered brawl standard to Dragon Ball media, the "battle" with Broly soon devolves into a desperate struggle not unlike a Slasher Movie, with the heroes eventually fleeing and hiding in terror among the industrial-ruins from the pursuit of what is essentially a Super Saiyan Jason Voorhees.
• Painful Transformation: A closer look at Broly's Legendary Super Saiyan transformation in the movie shows signs of this, one can see Broly's mouth and eye sockets being ripped wide open, this lead many to believe that his muscles don't just grow with the transformation, but literally burst from within his body in a painful manner.
• Papa Wolf: After Broly maniacally asks how much does Goku love his son, implying Gohan is his next target, Goku orders Gohan to run before trying to hold the psychopath off.
• Patricide: Broly ends up killing Paragus by crushing his space pod while he's still inside it. However, considering he'd been mind controlling and exploiting his son for years, and later tried to leave him to die, it's easy to say Paragus deserved it and hard to begrudge Broly for killing him.
• Person of Mass Destruction: More so than the majority of DBZ villains. In the intro of the movie alone he wipes out an entire galaxy in one go, making it vanish entirely in seconds, (even though that would be physically impossible).
• Pet the Dog: The one nice thing Broly does in his whole life is save his father from the destruction of Planet Vegeta when he had no real reason to. But then it's all downhill from there.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Master Roshi hopped on the ride to New Planet Vegeta pretty much because he was that drunk. Oolong and Krillin fail to get him off the ship and have to tag along as well.
• Power Limiter: A hypno-crown made by his dad in his debut movie.
• Prophet Eyes: Broly gains this in his Legendary form.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Broly has shades of this, probably because he's been under constant mind control since he was a kid. While he's transforming into the Legendary Super Saiyan, his screams sound like a crying child.
• Reused Character Design: The school interviewer is just Jimmy Firecracker with brown hair.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The tiny aliens enslaved by Paragus. Cute, small, and put through grueling work and punishment.
• Sanity Slippage: Broly goes through this big time.
• Sacrificial Planet: Broly destroys Shamo to annoy its natives before rampaging New Vegeta.
• Screaming Warrior: Broly, to the extent that Vic Mignogna dreads getting called to voice him.
• Self-Made Orphan: Broly did this by crushing his father's space-pod with him inside after he tried to leave him to die by a comet hitting the planet. Then again, considering what his father subjected him to after putting that power limiter/hypno trinket on him and later attempting to abandon Broly shortly before his demise, Paragus did deserve it.
• Shame If Something Happened: Early on in the fight, Broly asks Goku how important his son is to him. At that point Goku tells Gohan to leave immediately.
• Sink the Lifeboats: Paragus tries to use his Escape Pod to flee from his rampaging son, Broly, and from the comet about to collide with the planet he had previously lured the Z-Fighters to. Unfortunately for him, Broly catches up to him, crushes the pod with his bare hands, and throws the remains into the comet.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Paragus tries to exact revenge on Vegeta for his father's actions.
• Small Universe After All: New Vegeta is in the South Galaxy, the other side of the universe.
• Sickly Green Glow: Broly's Legendary aura, a green emerald-colored energy that, with time, became firmly associated with the character that his expy Kale and his reboot incarnation adopted it.
• Sucking-In Lines: Broly's energy more often condenses from the atmosphere into his shield and Energy Balls than directly from his body. The entire area goes green before the sphere shrinks down to useful density.
• Take Over the World: Paragus plans to conquer Earth because he deems it the most beautiful planet in the galaxy.
  • Earth also has the only species that is known to be genetically compatible with Saiyans, and as such, the best known chance of repopulating the species. If Paragus wanted to establish Saiyan dominance, this might have been a factor, but it isn't actually mentioned at all....
• Theme Naming: Broly is pun base off of broccoli and Paragus is obviously a pun on asparagus crown. Roshi (while drunk) even calls Broly broccoli at one point.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Vegeta is struck by one after witnessing Broly's transformation.
• Travelling at the Speed of Plot: Due to Roshi being hungover after drinking on Earth, it's implied that it didn't take them more than a few hours to reach the other side of the universe. Piccolo arrives in the Capsule Corp spaceship a few days later, which in the show takes six days to reach Namek which is in our own galaxy.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Subverted. Broly looks like this, and fights like this, but he's actually a capable martial artist. He's just so strong he can tank his way through anything.
• Unstoppable Rage: Apparently, Broly doesn't like Goku very much.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Broly's attire during the whole movie is him being shirtless, with the only exception being ripped shirt he wore for a flashback.
• Whatever Happened to the Mouse?:
  • At the beginning of the film, Paragus had an army of soldiers who were also responsible for slaving the Shamoyians. After Gohan stops the soldier head Angol from brutalizing some Shamoyians further, some of them disperse, and they disappear altogether in the second act, never to be seen again. Same goes for Krang, the alien scientist responsible for checking Paragus's control device. They either escaped from the planet off-screen, were eviscerated by Broly's random energy blasts, or were killed when the planet was destroyed after colliding with the Comet Camori.
  • The Shamoyians fate after escaping from New Vegeta along Goku and his friends is completely unknown.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Both played straight and subverted. Although his power may have something to do with his Ax-Crazy nature, it is also heavily implied that the life-threatening experiences that he had to endure the day of his birth had a LOT to do with his insanity, perhaps even more than his actual power level itself (which was stated to be 10,000 as a newborn). Ironically, Broly is at his most eloquent after his power is fully unleashed.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Broly. See Freudian Excuse for more details.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Broly's fighting style is more like wrestling moves than the lightning fast movements of the characters in the main series.
• You Monster!: Indirectly addressed to Broly by Piccolo when he intervenes and is talking to Goku about the mad saiyan, as Broly is cackling in the distance.
  Piccolo: "I could feel his power all the way from the Look Out, the kind of feeling that gives you chills because you've never felt anything like it before... You're not just fighting a Saiyan, you're fighting a monster."
  • Also directly addressed by Piccolo to Broly, to which he responds:
    Broly: A monster? Wrong. I am the Devil!

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