Turning failure into success: how the hatred of the ‘Dragon Ball’ movie led to the anime series’ resurgence
Anime has proven to be a tough nut to crack when Hollywood comes knocking on the door seeking its next live-action adaptation, but few have suffered to quite the same extent as Dragon Ball.
The original manga and subsequent anime series spearheaded by Akira Toriyama saw it become a cultural powerhouse in Japan, with the fantastical adventures enrapturing audiences of multiple generations. It was one of the hottest tickets in the animated space, but the worst thing that ever happened to the franchise was the lure of Stateside cinema.
Simply put, 2009’s Dragonball Evolution is one of the worst adaptations of anything ever. It accomplishes the unwanted double-act of both pissing off fans of the source material to a furious degree while simultaneously managing to win over no new converts because it’s such an awful, awful work of cinema. It’s a rare feat to achieve, but not one that anybody would set out to attain intentionally.
Deservedly viewed as one of the worst movies of the 21st century, screenwriter Ben Ramsey issued a heartfelt apology to everyone when he responded to The Dao of Dragon Ball website. He outlined the feelings of regret that continued to dog him long after the film imploded at the box office and was eviscerated by critics and casual cinemagoers alike.
“To have something with my name on it as the writer be so globally reviled is gut-wrenching,” he said. “To receive hate mail from all over the world is heart-breaking.” Ramsey would also describe Dragonball Evolution as “flat-out garbage,” which is an entirely correct and wholeheartedly endorsed opinion of his own work.
There are still ways to make chicken salad out of chicken shit, though, and in the case of the dismal translation of his work, Toriyama was convinced to return to the fold and make amends. 2013’s Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods was the franchise’s first theatrically released feature in 17 years and the first to have been personally supervised by the person who originated the mythology.
As he explained in a book celebrating Dragon Ball‘s 30th anniversary, the wretched Evolution convinced him that even though he’d tried to leave the property behind, it was so irredeemably shitty that it forced his hand. “Dragon Ball once became a thing of the past to me, but after that, I got angry about the live-action movie, re-wrote an entire movie script, and now I’m complaining about the quality of the new TV anime,” Toriyama wrote. “So it seems that DB has grown on me so much that I can’t leave it alone.”
The lingering after-effects saw Dragonball Evolution star Justin Chatwin pay tribute to the Dragon Ball creator after his death in March 2024 at the age of 68 by making a point of apologising once again for what he’d done to his baby. 15 years later, and some sins still haven’t been forgiven, although there was at least a resurgence to provide light at the end of the tunnel.
Watch the trailer for Dragonball: Evolution below.
