Dragon Ball has been a giant in the anime industry for years, attracting collaboration from many studios. However, few people know that even the legendary Studio Ghibli contributed to Dragon Ball through one of its lesser-known films: Dragon Ball: The Path to Power.
Dragon Ball: The Path to Power is an animated film released in 1996 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Dragon Ball anime. Essentially, it’s a retelling of the original Dragon Ball story condensed into a single movie. It was also the last Dragon Ball film made until Battle of Gods premiered in 2013.
Studio Ghibli Provided Animation Support for Dragon Ball: The Path to Power
Although Dragon Ball: The Path to Power was produced by Toei Animation, like many other parts of the franchise, they didn’t work alone. It’s common for animation studios to outsource parts of large projects to other studios for support, and in this case, Ghibli was one of those contributors.
Ghibli’s name appears in the film’s credits and is listed in the anime encyclopedia on Anime News Network. Their role mainly involved supporting production tasks such as in-between animation and background work, officially credited as “production support.”
Ghibli wasn’t the only studio to assist on this film, but they are certainly one of the most notable. They have supported many other anime projects, including background work for Bleach: Hell Verse, in-between animation for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and even contributed to episode 11 of Evangelion.
Ghibli’s Support Helped Bring Dragon Ball: The Path to Power to Life
While supporting studios often go unmentioned in anime discussions, their help is crucial for projects to meet deadlines and stay within budget. Even renowned studios like Ghibli frequently provide production support for other studios’ anime, keeping their staff busy.
In fact, Toei has returned the favor by assisting on some of Ghibli’s projects, such as Earwig and the Witch, where they are also credited with “production support.” It’s fascinating to think about which projects overlapped, Princess Mononoke might have been in development at the same time as The Path to Power.
Although this is a small fun fact, it’s interesting to realize how much Japan’s biggest animation studios rely on each other. Despite clear competition in the final products, studios sometimes collaborate more than they compete.
This film isn’t exactly a Dragon Ball movie made by Ghibli, but fans can appreciate that these two animation giants once worked together. Perhaps one day, they will collaborate again.