This week comes to our theaters ‘Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero’, a new installment of the well-known Japanese saga. The film has been an overwhelming success in Japan, where it was released in June, and is also being very well received in other countries such as the United States and Canada, where it has been the highest grossing production during the week of its release. And starting this Thursday, the film will be screened in Catalan in 49 theaters in Catalonia, five in the Valencian Country, two in Mallorca and one in Andorra.
32 years ago dragon ball began to be broadcast in Catalonia. It was a bet by TV3 and the entire team of the Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation (CCMA) that turned out to be a great success. So great that, in many ways, the saga has become a symbol, mainly for three reasons. In the first place, because of the strength it has as an audiovisual product. The success of this saga, which has seduced entire generations, exemplifies the extent to which we can feel involved with audiovisual productions. It shows how their stories and their characters can become part of our lives, crossing communication barriers in a spectacular and, at the same time, natural way.
In second place, dragon ball it is also a symbol for the Catalan language. These cartoons have fascinated a massive and multilingual audience, captivating them in Catalan. Demonstrating that all languages serve to create great trends, and that Catalan is as apt as any other language when it comes to pleasing viewers. For several generations, names like Tortoise Leaflet, Nuvol Kinton, Cor Petit, actions such as the “canvi de lloc instantani” or the “fused!” or expressions like “myco sharps”, “tank” either “baliga-balaga” are endearing to us, and in fact, when we see dragon ball in another language we cannot avoid that vague feeling that it is not the same. Because we have grown up with dragon ball in Catalan. And in a Catalan, by the way, very rich, with a magnificent translation that serves as an example to understand that our language is a normal language, with the same expressive capacities as any other and that it deserves the same opportunities as all the others.
Finally, this series is important because it highlights the importance of dubbing. The voices of the dubbers of dragon ball they are familiar to a large part of Catalan society. There are many who have grown up with them. Dubbing professionals are essential in the audiovisual value chain and essential for many segments of the public. That is why from the Department of Culture we want to take advantage of this premiere to vindicate them. I want to thank all the dubbing professionals for their work, mentioning them with names and surnames. Thanks to David Jenner (Son Gohan), María Moscardó (Child Son Goku), Meritxell Ané (Pan), Xavi Fernández (Cor Petit), Carme Calvell (Trunks), Joan Sanz (Vegeta), Marcel Navarro (Whis) and Jordi Boixaderas (Magenta), among many others. Thanks for your good work.
Speaking of dragon ball, someone will say that we cannot live looking at the past and they will not be wrong. Catalonia’s audiovisual industry has to offer, and in fact offers, modern, attractive content in Catalan. We have to show a lot dragon ball for the different generations, because the public, as this production demonstrates, exists. In this sense, as the Department of Culture, since the beginning of the legislature we have been in dialogue with all the platforms of streaming to include dubbing and subtitles in Catalan in their catalogues, and we can say that we are getting a positive response from them. We want the results of these conversations to manifest themselves as normal, that is, by increasing the content in Catalan in their catalogues. And we also maintain, it goes without saying, constant contact with the CCMA, with whom we work together.
In any case, as its international success this summer demonstrates, dragon ball It is not only an audiovisual product of the 80s, but it is also a content that continues to be liked in 2022. It was a true mass phenomenon and it still is today. So let’s hope that the public will see this film, also filling our cinemas. We hope that the film is liked and that it makes it easier for more and more people to decide to go see productions in Catalan. Because it is also like this, without realizing it, with the joy and passion for this and for so many other series, how the Catalan language is helped to normalize, which is our language and which we want to be the language of all.
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