This year's Dragon Ball Genkidamatsuri event brought with it two major reveals. Not only is the confirmed Dragon Ball Super remake real, so is Dragon Ball Super 2. Presumably, once the Dragon Ball Super remake catches up with Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol will officially adapt Toyotarou's beloved Moro Arc from the Dragon Ball Super manga. Surprisingly, however, absolutely no news was given about the Dragon Ball Super manga's comeback.
New Dragon Ball Super 2 Anime Officially Revealed, Moro Arc in Production
Dragon Ball Super is officially back with a brand new anime eight years later.
Aside from a lone chapter based on notes that were written before Akira Toriyama's death, the Dragon Ball Super manga has been on hiatus following the end of Toyotarou's Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero remake. The last fans saw the heroes timeline-wise, Gohan Beast had become the strongest Z-Fighter and Black Frieza was still unaccounted for. With the Dragon Ball Super anime officially returning, and adapting manga material, many fans expected news on when Toyotarou's manga would return – but Genkidamatsuri brought nothing to the table.
Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol Anime Credits Akira Toriyama, Not Toyotarou, For The Story & Character Design
Interestingly, Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol credits Akira Toriyama for the original work, story, and character design. While Dragon Ball Super attributing the manga's story to Akira Toriyama isn't unusual, the art has always been credited to Toyotarou. In fact, Toyotarou revealed in previous interviews that he primarily wrote the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga more or less on his own, while also designing most of the new characters himself.
Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol crediting Toriyama exclusively for the story and character designs goes beyond mere contradiction – it feels like a snub towards Toyotarou, and a way to minimize his role in keeping Dragon Ball Super alive after the anime's Tournament of Power ended in 2018. Akira Toriyama's former editor Kazuhiko Torishima has been quite vocal when it comes to criticizing Toyotarou's work, and considering the influence Torishima has had on Dragon Ball in the past, the possibility of Toei listening to him and wanting to disconnect from Toyotarou is an unfortunate possibility. Either way, the fact Toyotarou isn't credited at all for the new Dragon Ball Super anime bodes poorly for his standing with the franchise.
News on the Dragon Ball Super Manga Was Completely Ignored At Genkidamatsuri
Not helping matters is the fact the Dragon Ball Super manga was only mentioned in passing at Genkidamatsuri, merely in reference to the fact that Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol would be adapting material from a manga. No news whatsoever was given on the Dragon Ball Super manga's return, nor was the story's hiatus since Chapters 103 and 104 so much as acknowledged. Of course, no news might be good news in this case – it's not like the Dragon Ball Super manga has been officially canceled – but the silence is deafening and precedent bodes poorly for Toyotarou's future.
Dragon Ball Super Anime Remake Officially Revealed For Fall 2026
A new Dragon Ball Super remake starting with a fresh adaptation of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods will release Fall 2026.
The Dragon Ball Super anime and manga famously ran alongside each other from 2015 to 2018, with the anime very quickly surpassing the manga in terms of storyline. Assuming Akira Toriyama left outlines for the Black Frieza Saga and the rest of Dragon Ball Super's future before he passed away, the Dragon Ball Super anime could very well finish the manga's storyline without the need for Toyotarou to write or draw a single new chapter. Toyotarou was Akira Toriyama's hand-picked successor, but Torishima's vocal outcries against him make it clear that not everyone associated with Dragon Ball internally believes in Toyotarou's ability to finish the franchise without Toriyama's guidance.
Toyotarou Has Never Written a Dragon Ball Super Chapter Without Akira Toriyama's Help
Even as of Dragon Ball Super Chapter 104 – the first and only chapter of the manga published following Akira Toriyama's death – Toyotarou has never worked on the Dragon Ball Super manga without Toriyama's assistance in some capacity. While Toyotarou claims to have written the story for the Moro Saga entirely by himself, he would regularly touch base with Toriyama for help and approval. In fact, Toriyama would often touch up and re-draw panels for the Dragon Ball Super manga if he felt that Toyotarou didn't capture the characters correctly. Likewise, Toriyama would even occasionally rewrite dialogue.
Dragon Ball Super Chapter 104 was based on prologue notes that Akira Toriyama drafted for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, but never made it into either the movie or Toyotarou's take on the movie. Even Dragon Ball Super Chapter 103 features a major edit by Toriyama. The final page of Piccolo waving at the reader, breaking the fourth wall, was drawn by Toriyama, not Toyotarou, in order to make the ending of the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Saga feel more personal and impactful. While Toyotarou's talent speaks for itself, the fact of the matter is that he's always had Toriyama helping him, which might be a major factor in Toei, Shueisha, and Capsule Corporation Tokyo intentionally distancing themselves from Toyotarou by invoking Akira Toriyama's name in the marketing for Dragon Ball Super 2.
- Release Date
- 2015 - 2018
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Showrunner
- Tatsuya Nagamine
Cast
-
Masakazu MoritaWhis (voice) -
Masako NozawaSon Goku/Goku Black/Son Gohan/Son Goten (voices)
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Ryota Nakamura, Masanori Sato, Kenichi Takeshita, Takao Iwai, Hideki Hiroshima, Masato Mitsuka, Kazuya Karasawa, Ayumu Ono, Takahiro Imamura, Tatsuya Nagamine, Kôjiro Kawasaki, Kouji Ogawa
- Writers
- Ryu King, Hiroshi Yamaguchi
- Franchise(s)
- Dragon Ball
