Here we are in the final month of 2022. It almost felt like yesterday when we were back in the summer in my opinion. A lot has happened in this year especially in the anime world. In my anime experience, I got to enjoy some anime movies in the theaters. With the best of my memory, I only seen two movies this year and let me tell you, it has been a rollercoaster. The two movies I seen that left a huge impact on me was Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and One Piece Film: Red. I seen the previous movies, but never seen any of the movies when it was still in theaters. It’s one thing to see something grand and be one of the many who can witness it, but it’s a different experience when you are in the moment with others with the same interest. I won’t spoil the movies, but I want to share my thoughts and opinions on the movies. I did review these movies in my spoiler-free review articles and I’ll leave the links to the reviews on the bottom of this post.
Minor Spoilers Ahead!
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero
When it comes to Dragon Ball, I practically seen all of them, but I never got the chance to see it in theaters. Dragon Ball Super: Super Heroes would be the first Dragon Ball movie I ever got to experience in the theaters. The last Dragon Ball movie we had was in 2018 and it was Dragon Ball Super: Broly. Taking place after the events of the Broly Film, Earth is at peace and our heroes Goku and Vegeta are out training with their new Saiyan ally Broly on Beerus’ planet. Meanwhile, the remaining survivors of the evil military organization the Red Ribbon Army would rise up from the ashes and seek vengeance on the Z warriors. With Goku and Vegeta not on Earth, it’s up to Piccolo and Gohan to defend Earth from world domination.
In the mind of Akira Toriyama, expect the unexpected and know that there are strong warriors besides Goku. One of the things fans should know in this movie that the main heroes in this movie was Piccolo and Gohan. These two characters play as side characters in the main Dragon Ball story, but they played major roles when helping Goku and Vegeta. This movie gave these two the moment to shine by taking center stage in the fights and each got a power up to get on the ranks as Goku and Vegeta. Piccolo acquired the form Orange Piccolo and Gohan tapped into a “Beast” mode and called himself Gohan Beast. These two showed off some monster like strength and despite their appearances they were the heroes needed to protect Earth. I also liked like the two android superheroes Gamma 1 and 2. Despite being made from the Red Ribbon Army, they have a strong sense of heroism. They will fight for what they see as evil, but they would never go far and hurt innocent people. The movie’s final enemy Cell Max was a surprising twist. Seeing Cell Max and the Z-Warriors clash brought back the Cell Games memories from Dragon Ball Z. This movie also had some funny fanservice moments that reminded me of the classic Dragon Ball series such as Bulma using the Dragon Balls to look young and attractive.
One Piece Film: Red
Over 20 years and One Piece is still kicking throughout the years in manga and anime. Serving as the 15th movie and the 4th Film, Luffy and his crew embarks in an unexpected adventure when they arrive to the island of Elegia to watch the pop star singer, Uta. They quickly find out that Uta is a childhood friend of Luffy and she is the daughter of “Red-Haired” Shanks, one of the Emperor of the Seas and Captain of the Red Hair Pirates. All the fun becomes a nightmare when Uta plans to have her audience including Luffy and his friends be part of her dream world. With the power of Devil Fruit, the Sing-Sing Fruit, she can sing and put people to sleep. While asleep, she is in control in the dream world where everyone is trapped. Her powers and motivates attracts the attention of the marines and they plan to stop her from purging what she sees is evil and corrupt.
This was the first One Piece movie I saw in theaters and I was blown away. I really enjoyed the new character, Uta and her powers. The movie mixed with action and music which reminded me of Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale. One of the biggest fan service I enjoyed from this movie was Shanks. If you are a One Piece fan, you would know that Shanks is known as a powerful pirate in the seas, but we don’t see much action from him in the series. When the movie was first announced that he was going to play a role in this movie, I was hyped. The only times I got experience his power was just the minor screen time in the main story and in the video games. The Japanese singer for Uta was done by Ado and her voice was incredible. Her music in the movie was so good, I had to buy the soundtrack on iTunes.
2022 wrap-up
Would you believe me that I took my girlfriend to see this movie? My girlfriend, who is not a fan of both Dragon Ball and One Piece, really enjoyed both movies. Anyone, this year, I got to experience two Shonen Jump movies this year. As a fan of both, I am so proud to be a fan of Dragon Ball and One Piece. Dragon Ball gave fans the experience to see characters like Gohan and Piccolo in action instead of Goku and Vegeta. One Piece Film: Red gave us a new insight of Shanks and a movie that made us feel like we were at a concert. I don’t know what 2023 holds for us, but I am hoping to see some anime movies in theaters. I will take my girlfriend with me and I’ll buy us popcorn and candy. It’s my treat! If you guys seen these movies, what did you think about them?
Spoiler-Free Reviews:
Matt-in-the-Hat 
Not sure about these movies, but hey! Great news! It’s about Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli! New masterpiece coming soon on July 14th, 2023. It’ll be released in Japan first, and it’ll take a couple of months to have it English dubbed. Just as long as the English dubbing from GKIDS doesn’t go out of sync like what happened with “Earwig and the Witch” from his son Goro Miyazaki. For as far as I’m predicting, it’ll be released in North America before next Christmas in late 2023. Just before the nominees for the Golden Globe Awards & Oscar awards are announced.