Back in March — alongside the release of the May 2024 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine and chapter 103 of the Dragon Ball Super manga within it — the “Dragon Ball Official Site” posted a brief interview with Toyotarō regarding his illustration for Dragon Ball Legends, as well as the Dragon Ball Super manga. It was in this interview that we concretely learned that the three-chapter prologue for the “Super Hero arc” was headed by Toyotarō (with the usual Toriyama revisions), while the three-chapter epilogue was based on a scenario that Toyotarō asked Toriyama himself directly to write.

Please share with us your feelings on the chapter included in the super-sized May issue of V-Jump, which is both the climax and ending to the Super Hero arc.
Chapters 88-90 were a sort of prologue that I wanted to do, which I then drew after Toriyama-sensei revised it. Afterwards, in chapters 91-100, you obviously get the main material already present in the movie, and then the epilogue in chapters 101-103 was based on a scenario that I asked Toriyama-sensei to write. I revised a few bits of dialogue and some story beats here and there, but for the most part, the content is as Toriyama-sensei envisioned it. I’m incredibly thankful that I got to draw this story arc to its conclusion. Please enjoy the manga version of the “Super Hero Arc,” which has a bit of a different feel from the movie version!

Though the “Dragon Ball Official Site” includes English “translations,” these are actually based on machine/automated translations. With the impact of Toriyama’s recent passing and the notable tidbits within, we felt that this interview deserved better care — so we produced our own actual translation.

The Dragon Ball Super manga is on hiatus following the conclusion of the “Super Hero arc” in chapter 103, and — as of the most recent issue (the June 2024 issue released late last month) — V-Jump has reverted to publishing its “Interval Special” column series in the meantime until the next arc begins.