Over the past few weeks, the Dragon Ball fanbase has been inundated with reports and articles of a new Dragon Ball Z movie being produced to complete the “trilogy” of recent films, as was supposedly confirmed by veteran Dragon Ball animator, character designer, and director Tadayoshi Yamamuro in Spain. We at Kanzenshuu have not reported this story as we had determined the information provided to support it was being misrepresented, or more likely, misinterpreted. Despite how many Spanish sites translated the interview, Yamamuro makes absolutely no mention of a “trilogy” and offers no concrete confirmation of a new theatrical film in the near future.
The story was first reported on 30 October 2015 by Ramen Para Dos, a Spanish anime and manga news site, based on a convention panel featuring Yamamuro at the XXI Salón del manga de Barcelona (“21st Barcelona Manga Fair”). Ramen Para Dos initially reported that during the panel, also featuring producer Norihiro Hayashida, that Yamamuro let slip that the events following Battle of Gods and Resurrection “F” will be depicted in a “new movie” to create a “trilogy series of films”.
While the panel was underway, an article was posted with a rough transcription of the panel’s events, and was eventually updated with video footage of the panel itself. It was determined that Yamamuro had made no such mention of a “new movie” during the panel itself, let alone a “trilogy” of films. Then earlier today, Ramen Para Dos posted a one-on-one interview with Yamamuro conducted earlier in the morning before his panel, citing it as the actual source for their original article. In addition to the interview’s video footage (posted below), which has been subtitled in Spanish, the article includes a transcription of the interview.
The portion of the interview in question begins at roughly 6:55 into the video where the question posed to Yamamuro by the interviewer in Japanese is:
あのう、今までは映画と、その、アニメーション… （テレビ）アニメは、全然と話が違ったんですが、…あのう、例えば『超（スーパー）』と、あのう、例えば、あのう、えー、『バトル・オブ・ゴッド（神と神）』と、とか、今回のヤツを今日観ると、なんか、ストーリー的に、平行性がある…と思うんですけど、…で、その、同じ、えー、そのストーリーを、違うバージョンで完全してるんでっですよね？今後、そういった、あのう、方向に、『ドラゴンボール』は、あのう、なっていくんでしょうか、という質問…
Before now, the movies and TV anime have had totally different stories, but… Well for instance, “Super” and “Battle of Gods”, or this current one we saw today, I think story-wise they are parallel. So they’re making different versions of the same story, aren’t they? My question is, will Dragon Ball continue in this trend going forward…?
Here is Yamamuro’s response as to whether Dragon Ball Super will continue to be nearly identical to the stories established in the recent films:
山室：今テレビで放送されてるのは『復活の「F」』をもうちょっと詳しく描いたバージョンで、で…あー…『神と神』があって、その後『復活の「F」』が来て、で、ここに、あの…オリジナルの…先生のオリジナルのやつが、別のやつが入ります。
会見者：あ、もう一本？
山室：うん。
Yamamuro: Currently a slightly more detailed version of “Revival of ‘F'” is being broadcast on TV, and… er… there was “Battle of Gods”, then after that came “Revival of F”, so here [in the TV series] we’re adding in that… original… [Toriyama]-sensei‘s original thing, something different.
Interviewer: Oh, one more?
Yamamuro: Yeah.
Near the end of his response, Yamamuro mentions that Toriyama’s “original thing” will follow. This is in reference to Toriyama’s original “Universe 6” story arc featuring Champa and Vados that is set to follow the the recent film’s stories which are currently being adapted in Dragon Ball Super. All of this information was first revealed by original author Akira Toriyama at the “Dragon Ball Super Complete Showcase Event” hosted by the V-Jump Channel on 01 July 2015. That aside, everything Yamamuro is talking about is in terms of Dragon Ball Super, and he again makes absolutely no mention of a “trilogy” nor offers any sort of confirmation concerning a new theatrical film in the near future.
Now, for all intents and purposes, the Spanish subtitles pose the same question as asked by the interviewer in Japanese. However, here is Yamamuro’s translated response as depicted in the Spanish subtitles:
Hay tres películas. …Battle of Gods, La Resurrección de F, …y otra. Esta trilogía se desarrolla mas en la serie Dragon Ball Súper, donde se explica mejor la trama de las películas.
There are three films. …Battle of Gods, Resurrection “F”,… and another. This trilogy is more developed in the Dragon Ball Super series, which further explain the plot of the movies.
These subtitles make it seem that Yamamuro is hinting at there being another movie, which as shown above is clearly not the case. However, the transcription also provided by Ramen Para Dos paints an entirely different picture, making it seem that instead of hinting at a new movie, Yamamuro just flat out says it is in production:
Hay tres películas: Battle of Gods, La Resurrección de F y otra más en producción. Esta trilogía se desarrollará mucho más en Dragon Ball Super, explicando en la serie los acontecimientos de las películas de manera más detallada.
There are three films: Battle of Gods, Resurrection “F”, and another in production. This trilogy will develop much more in Dragon Ball Super, explaining events from the series of films in more detail.
At this point it is obvious that something was clearly lost in translation, or misinterpreted, and with statements being further embellished, it is easy to see how such misinformation could spread. Of course there very well could be a new movie one day, but Tadayoshi Yamamuro certainly did not confirm a new one here, plain and simple. So for now, the movies will have to live on in Dragon Ball Super.