Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero

With Goku and Vegeta off training on another planet, trouble showing up on Earth is not their problem to deal with. That's the setup here, and honestly it's the best part — because the spotlight shifts to Gohan and Piccolo, and their dynamic is something the franchise hasn't properly explored in years. The Red Ribbon Army, that organization Goku dismantled as a kid, gets resurrected by the son of its former leader. He recruits Dr. Hedo, grandson of the infamous Dr. Gero, who builds two android "superheroes" called Gamma 1 and Gamma 2. The twist is Hedo genuinely thinks he's building the good guys — he's been manipulated into believing Earth's defenders are alien threats. Piccolo catches wind of the scheme and realizes he needs to drag Gohan out of his scholarly comfort zone to face what's coming. The whole movie is CGI-animated, which is a first for Dragon Ball, and it actually works — the fight choreography feels different in a way that keeps things fresh rather than jarring. The Gohan-Piccolo mentor-student relationship carries real emotional weight here, more than you'd expect from a Dragon Ball movie. If you enjoyed the character-driven stakes in My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising or the way One Piece Film: Z gave side characters room to breathe, this hits a similar note. It's a Toei Animation production from 2022 that remembers Dragon Ball has heart underneath all the power scaling.