Super possibly losing its timeslot or going on hiatus in March?

[majinwarman]

I shouldn't have posted anything, really... at least, not on a site like Twitter where you can't really push out all the details as you'd like. It's caused so much craziness. Definitely a big lesson as far as being responsible with my 'reach'.

Here's a rundown of what actually lead to that speculation (and yes, it's total speculation based on a few facts and trends):

- The Dragon Ball Super '100 Episodes' rumour wasn't just based on that placeholder on Toei's EU website. It was the number given out to the potential licensees long before Super came out. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, since Super is a runaway success and we're well beyond what was initially pitched, but it's also not worth totally throwing out the window.

- The current arc is scheduled to end in March. Anime is all cour-based, and April is the start of a new cour. That's the normal time that new series begin for that time of year. If Super were going anywhere, that's a perfectly reasonable time for it to vanish, especially with regards to the movie's production, too. Keep in mind that the last Blu-ray contains fewer episodes than normal. That's a pretty big red flag that something's up.

- While Kitaro has had many different series over the years, this particular anniversary project is celebrating the original run, which has always aired in one time slot. Initially, Wednesday late-afternoons, the exact spot Dragon Ball used to air in. When it came back in 2007, it aired in the same slot that had now moved to Sunday mornings, just as Dragon Ball does now. Although we have no idea if this is actually a TV series, that is Kitaro's slot, and it really doesn't have anywhere else to air. Monster Hunter at 8:30am isn't going anywhere, and of course neither is One Piece. Even if Monster Hunter were going off the air, Toei Animation aren't going to let it compete with a titan like PreCure that airs at the same time. Toei Company might have been silly with regards to their Sentai block clashing with their anime block, but Toei Animation won't let anything like that happen with two of their own shows. While Kitaro did recently have a crossover with Yokai Watch, a show that airs on TV Tokyo, it's highly unlikely that Fuji TV would be willing to let it go, and I don't see them opening up a new time slot.

- Super's schedule does appear to still be very messy. While I'm not allowed to share the full details for the sake of animators' protection from Toei's spooky eyes, it's still very far from the norm. Producing a movie while trying to keep a series like that afloat would be especially difficult. It'd be a smart move to put the series on hiatus until January 2019. You get to repeat 2015 again where you blow up interest with a new movie, and then ride that success into a brand new TV series. Realistically, you'd more than compensate for any loss of revenue - and keep in mind it's a different situation now that the series is currently making bank internationally. The revenue flow isn't going to hault the second Super ends.

- With adequate planning, they could begin planning Super 2.0 several months in advance of its theoretical debut in January 2019. This movie has begun production far earlier than the previous two movies, so it's perfectly possible for that to happen, particularly if they rely on a lot of freelancers and non-series-specific animators as they did with Battle of Gods. Bringing the series back with an improved (or ideally fixed) production would do wonders for not only the series reputation, but also their costs - remember that they're often paying double the staff (and external studios) just to get episodes finished on time.

- If you wanna head into total tinfoil hat territory, Toyotaro did say the manga would be ahead of anime again at some point. With the current pace, it doesn't seem like it's happening. If there's a break, then it becomes possible~! ...Okay, that's totally confirmation bias, but whatever. Worth keeping in mind, I guess?

So yeah, that's what lead to the speculation. As has been pointed out though, this all falls apart if the Kitaro thing isn't an anime. The situation's just a very weird mix of "this makes so much sense, but at the same time, it totally doesn't". Sure sounds like Toei Animation! ^.^

Thank you for sharing all that information for us to see. Now people can now see where this is coming from. Yeah, Toei is one weird company when it comes to handling their properties.

[SilverPlaqueVII]

Just to join the party here. If DBS were to continue beyond March, they should have at least get another villain in the next arc (saga) just for the sake of it.

I do not know if Kitaro remake should find another TV network other than Fuji TV. The Dragon Ball franchise as an whole has been a money maker since Japan became more Americanized and Westernized in 1947 after the end of World War II. Who knows if the series may surpass Dragon Ball Z's 291 episodes to over 500 episodes. Could they also retcon Dragon Ball GT as well?

[UpFromTheSkies]

This is pure unfounded speculation. Toei has said nothing that even remotely hints at the series ending or going on hiatus anytime soon.

[majinwarman]

This is pure unfounded speculation. Toei has said nothing that even remotely hints at the series ending or going on hiatus anytime soon.

Yep! But, people do love to speculate about it anyway.

[precita]

This is pure unfounded speculation. Toei has said nothing that even remotely hints at the series ending or going on hiatus anytime soon.

Ajay's post is pretty reasonable. Super has nothing announced after the TOP ends either.

[AnimeNation101]

I doubt they kept them for some upcoming arc.

That's exactly why they kept them. Have 4 universes on the side and when 7 wins the current tournament it hypes things up for a 3rd tournament with even stronger universes.

Stop with the tournaments. At that point i would find it as lazy writing that instead of coming up with a mystery arc or an invasion arc, or an adventure arc or a villain arc, we have another tournament.

Thats just plain boring. We need another Black Arc in the sense that there is a main threat that they must defeat. Or maybe an arc where they explore other universes. Or an arc where a new big bad is coming to attack the earth, universe, or multiverse.

We have so many more interesting topics to choose from. The Demon Realm, Zarama, the Dragon God, Universes 13 to 18, U6 Sadala, etc

[Ilikepictures-meh]

This is pure unfounded speculation. Toei has said nothing that even remotely hints at the series ending or going on hiatus anytime soon.

Ajay's post is pretty reasonable. Super has nothing announced after the TOP ends either.

Despite how reasonable it may appear. As of now, it is still nothing more then pure speculation with little legitimate credibility or proof to the claim that Super is ending

[sintzu]

I doubt they kept them for some upcoming arc.

That's exactly why they kept them. Have 4 universes on the side and when 7 wins the current tournament it hypes things up for a 3rd tournament with even stronger universes.

Stop with the tournaments. At that point i would find it as lazy writing that instead of coming up with a mystery arc or an invasion arc, or an adventure arc or a villain arc, we have another tournament.

Thats just plain boring. We need another Black Arc in the sense that there is a main threat that they must defeat. Or maybe an arc where they explore other universes. Or an arc where a new big bad is coming to attack the earth, universe, or multiverse.

We have so many more interesting topics to choose from. The Demon Realm, Zarama, the Dragon God, Universes 13 to 18, U6 Sadala, etc

I don't want a tournament in the next arc or the 3 after it but sooner or later we'll get a 3rd one with those universes. Based on this one being so long I think we should get 3 villain arcs before the next one.

Who knows if the series may surpass Dragon Ball Z's 291 episodes to over 500 episodes.

Could they also retcon Dragon Ball GT as well?

I think Modern DB (Super alone or it and another show) will easily surpass 500 episodes, especially with Toriyama on board.

They already have.

[precita]

I doubt Super will reach DBZ's episode count. It'll probably hit the 200th episode if we're lucky.

[AvatarReiko]

I'd actually like a hiatus, it would allow the manga and xenoverse franchise some time to catch up, at least partially.

Speaking of manga, this would be a good chance to move Toyotarou into weekly Shonen Jump and get DB back there again.

Why isn't it already in WSJ?

[sintzu]

I'd actually like a hiatus, it would allow the manga and xenoverse franchise some time to catch up, at least partially.

Speaking of manga, this would be a good chance to move Toyotarou into weekly Shonen Jump and get DB back there again.

Why isn't it already in WSJ?

As far as I know it started out as a 23 pages per chapter promotion for the anime but for some reason once it got into the late champa arc it became its own thing with Toriyama pushing it to be different from the anime. Maybe they didn't think Super would take off like this so they didn't want to risk a weekly manga doing bad as well but now that it's a huge success I think it might move if Super ends and a new show begins.

[emperior]

Super going on a hiatus would also explain why this arc has been dragged on for so long. While it may have been to guarantee a better scheduling all throughout the arc and a better finale in terms of art and animation, it could also be that they are dragging this arc to make it end specifically before the start of the next cour.
As Ajay said, the production is still in a bad state and with the movie around it would possibly completely break Super's production and we would be back to RoF arc levels. Nobody wants to see that happen, right? Especially not Toei, nor Toriyama who was about to quit Super because of how messy it was. There's also the whole Blu-Ray thing, which lists 1 episode less than usual: sure, this could be because 131 is the last episode of the arc before a new arc/fillers start, but that's still a valid point which adds more to this whole speculation.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I wonder why no one has suggested that it could always move to its old timeslot. You know, the one DB, DBZ and DBGT had?

I know its impossible from the get go but I dont know why no one suggested it.

[Xeogran]

New scan shows episode 126 airing on Feb 7th which is a Wednesday. Can be just a mistake.. or not

[Cure Dragon 255]

Wow. I was just kidding but if that indeed came to pass I'd giggle like crazy lol.

[emperior]

New scan shows episode 126 airing on Feb 7th which is a Wednesday. Can be just a mistake.. or not

If Super airs on Wednesday I hope they will bring back some more blood.

[Onibaku]

New scan shows episode 126 airing on Feb 7th which is a Wednesday. Can be just a mistake.. or not

That'd be hella interesting. A change from the Sunday airs would be fresh and dope

[sangofe]

New scan shows episode 126 airing on Feb 7th which is a Wednesday. Can be just a mistake.. or not

That'd be hella interesting. A change from the Sunday airs would be fresh and dope

What could it change apart from the evident? Less censoring and bigger audience?

[AnimeNation101]

New scan shows episode 126 airing on Feb 7th which is a Wednesday. Can be just a mistake.. or not

That'd be hella interesting. A change from the Sunday airs would be fresh and dope

What could it change apart from the evident? Less censoring and bigger audience?

Less censoring? Yes. We still need shirtless Goku anyway. Bigger audience?

We cant be so sure. If it really is moving to Wednesday Toei better advertise the heck out of the time slot change. More advertising than they did for the one hour special. Put commercials about the time slot change leading up to the first episode that comes on Wednesday so that the fans know when to watch it or what happened.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Huh. We know Goku goes shirtless and the reason he hasn't so far is they're preparing for a slot shift.... That's interesting to think about. But given how summaries have typo's in the past best assume this is one.