Basically, this is a companion piece to my older films I watched this year list. That means I am going for films that appeared in 2022 and up on this list. Also, one film per franchise because otherwise this would be a lot of One Piece in this list. It does make me compete between Red, Gold, and Stampede when making this list and that’s ok. I’m probably just going to pick one of those at random and just stick with it because I probably could go back and forth.
Anyway, let’s cut to the chase here.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Heroes
You can read about it with the link above me, but this film was such a delight. I’ve been following Dragon Ball for such a long time and this being a look at all of it was great. Plus, this is a film where the slightly smaller then average heroes trully shined. Piccolo was the main character in this action comedy film an the ending was a redone Super Saiyan 2 and Piccolo and Goku moment from the Saiyan Saga, but it was really good. Highly recommend to Dragon Ball fans and I can’t wait or the next film.
I was thinking about this one or other One Piece films for a while, but this is the one I saw in movie theaters and that boosted the experience of this film a bit. A more modern One Piece film and its take on social media through Uta, our idol who was isolated for such a long time, was really good. It’s also great to see some part of Red Haired Shanks come together again because they are going to be very important to the finale of this series in the next five years or so? It is just a solid film and if you are One Pice fan that hasn’t seen it yet, why?
I’ve written about this one a lot more recently, so I don’t think I have much to say about it other then it just being a good film with our Laid-Back Campers some amount of time period in the future as adults trying to find that working balance and fun balance with each other. Very solid and relatable film.
Miyazaki’s “last” film you know, besides the one that he announced recently. A story set from the Taisho Era to WW2 discussing war vs the dream of building airplanes. A very different film from his usual fair and I think that is what makes it such an interesting watch.
Love Live! The School Idol Movie
This year has been so long that I forgot I finished my foray into the original Love Live series this year instead of last year. But yeah, this was a great film celebrating the end of the Mu’s story line and how long the legacy of Love Live will forever live on. Plus, the ending with all the idols ever dancing and/or performing together was really good.
Fate/Grand Order Final Singularity – Grand Temple of Time: Solomon
Another post and/or film that I forgot was this year. I am not attached to F/GO like a lot of other people through the game, despite me trying and failing at it, but I really liked the adaptations that I’ve seen of it and just the wholesomeness of the entire journey of F/GO through them even if they aren’t as good as just enjoying the gacha game. It was fine in that way and it sells all of those well enough. This final encounter was such a great visual spectacle and such an honest sort of approach for all of it.
Gundam Reconguista in G Movie III: Heritage From Space
Where are movies 4 and 5 yet? What else can I say? I really like this one that focused on the traditions of the Reconguista universe that everyone is bounded by, have such great bits of comedy, and unveiled something a bit more about Bellri’s and Aida’s lives. It’s such a good time.
Conclusion
A good year for watching franchise films for me. Especially creative franchise films that used their source material and did something interesting with all the material and ideas that we have. In this next year, I should watch a lot more stand alone films then I did in 2022. Really need to support that industry a bit more. Though, I’m still pretty happy about the films I watched.
Mechanical Anime Reviews 