Quotes

[on the Americanization of anime] I have a mixed opinion on that, I think there's something good about Americanizing Japanese cartoons, because there's something good and bad about it. When people do it poorly it sucks, when people do it well it works and I think that some people are not smart enough to handle anime the way it was originally intended. I think as a gateway into appreciating the art of it, I don't think it's bad necessarily to craft a little bit around parts of the story that American people wouldn't be able to handle, because if you're a fan of the original Japanese translation when the episode is released, you get a translation and you get a subtitle track. And technically when you watch a foreign film you watch the subtitle track, the only time I watch a dub is when I want to make fun of it.

I'm a huge Trunks fan - they could make ten Future Trunks movies and I would have loved them all, there's just so much in that universe to tell stories with, so many paths you could have explored. I want to know more of what it was like for Trunks growing up, the epic struggles and battles he went through.

On Vegeta: That has been the biggest gift of all characters, is to play Vegeta. This guy who you think is gonna be this one-sided, snivelling sort of one-note villain character, who ends up becoming - I think - the most endearing character in the show. There's a reason you always see Vegeta paired up with Goku, because I just don't think Goku is as fun without Vegeta. Vegeta, you see so much about him over the series and the movies, and he's just the best character to play. He's sarcastic and gets to say mean things, which is really fun to do as an actor, because Vegeta is like that friend that you have who says the things that you really wish you could say, but are kind of afraid to, y'know? The friend of yours who kind of embarrasses you, but you're kinda happy to happy to have him around when you really need to get something done? But then he becomes a family man, and proves that he can be a good father and a good husband and a good man, and what a remarkable shift we've had after all this time with him. The Hulk's always gonna be the Hulk, and Captain America's gonna be Captain America, but Vegeta's a really interesting guy, and we get to see all sides of him.

I got a call from Sean Schemmel (Goku's voice actor), and it sounds like he was telling me this right before he went to sleep, and he goes: "Chris... it just dawned on me... there's... people. There's... kids. And they watch Dragon Ball Super (2015), like right now! They're watching it on TV! Which means... twenty years! They're gonna be adults again! We're gonna have to do this all over again!" It's true, though!

So there's a lot of things to writing that you don't initially realize, it's like you're uncovering these layers upon layers. It's kinda like reading a story and doing a sudoku puzzle at the same time, it's a mystery how some of these parts get put together because you'll just see a line and you understand what it means and what its place is in the story, but then the biggest drag is having to script all of the reactions: any time someone turns their head or opens their mouth, or they're scared or screaming or punches or fights you have to script that out and laboriously write out every single detail.

On scriptwriting: You have to do these things, you have to write these things, on your computer. Your computer is connected to the internet. The internet has way more interesting stuff on it than what you're doing, and so it's impossible to stay focused!

Last time I looked online, like eleven or twelve million people had watched the Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018) trailer that we launched at SDCC, and the hype is so incredibly real.

On Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018): I'm most excited to see what Akira Toriyama's vision for Broly is, that this is the true telling of Broly's backstory and purpose, where he's from and why he's here, how he came to be. I'm fascinated. The old movies will still exist and you can enjoy them, but they're a nice way to prepare you for what the real story will be.

On Chris Ayres: We are on a mysterious time clock with him. So, they haven't finished animating Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2018) yet, we haven't finished getting all the materials yet, and I haven't seen the film yet. He's still waiting on transplants. So at any time, we could literally be in the middle of recording for the show and they call and say "there's a donor ready," he'll have to get up and go. He's a freakin' champion.

On Goku: Goku's just - I think - a rather unrealistic character, he's a bizarre "hero" in a lot of ways, especially when you start analyzing how he really was versus the way we were kind of instructed how to rewrite Goku back in the earliest days of Dragon Ball Z. When you dip into what Goku is, what his real character is, he's absolutely not a traditional "hero" type, he's a very selfish and kind of thoughtless character. "Yeah, let's have a tournament!" "Goku, trillions of people could die." "Yeah, but it'll be fun!" I especially love that moment in Dragon Ball Super (2015) where you finally get a picture of how Goku's selfish behavior can really can affect people. Yeah, it always works out, luckily, but he's never afraid to let his friends and family suffer for what he wants.