The cycle ‘The Gods of Anime’ will pay tribute to Akira Toriyama, creator of the ‘Dragon Ball’ saga, at Cinema Jove. This section of Cinema Jove includes two titles this year based on characters and plots created by the influential Japanese artist Akira Toriyama, who passed away in March at the age of 68.
‘Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’’, the nineteenth film of one of the most influential sagas in the genre, and ‘Sand Land’, directed by Toshihisa Yokoshima and Hiroshi Koujina, also based on stories by Toriyama, will be screened.
Carlos Madrid, director of Cinema Jove, highlights that Toriyama “was responsible for countless afternoons of entertainment for those of us who were children in the nineties; his characters from Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump captivated us with their adventures and transgressive humor.” That is why Cinema Jove is dedicating this small tribute to him by screening his characters on the big screen, initially conceived in manga and later for television.
The series begins on June 22 at La Filmoteca de Valencia with the debut of Yoshimi Itazu, ‘The Concierge’, based on a manga by Tsuchika Nishimura. The film, starring a young concierge in a luxurious department store at the North Pole, addresses themes of acceptance and connection between individuals from different backgrounds through their interactions with animal clients.
On June 24, ‘Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’’, directed by Tadayoshi Yamamuro and released in 2015, will be shown, supervised by Toriyama himself. The combination of fantasy, fast-paced action, and martial arts continues to captivate youth, and the box office success of this film helped revitalize interest in the saga, paving the way for “Dragon Ball Super”.
The series will conclude on June 29 with ‘Sand Land’, a film set in a post-apocalyptic future where water is scarce and controlled by a greedy king. The protagonist is Beelzebub, prince of the demons, who, along with a human sheriff and his demon assistant, seeks a hidden water source. The plot combines action, adventure, and fantasy with Toriyama’s characteristic humor.
