"Dragon Ball Super" Series Official Announcement & Discussion Thread

[AM Reflection]

Depends. If it's set between the last movie and the end of Z like we expect, I really only want one major arc.

[sintzu]

How many main villains do you think Super will have?

It depends on how many arcs we get and how they're structured.

What I know for sure is that this is going to be a long show and Toriyama obviously wants to expand the dragon world so we're going to get a good amount of every type of character but hopefully they're as well written and designed as the current known characters.

[JulieYBM]

The 1986 Dragon Ball animated series didn't have a シリーズ構成 (series kousei; series composition) for Episodes #1-131. I wonder if Dragon Ball Super will be the same with Series Director Chioka Kimitoshi assigning the plot out to freelance writers based on notes from Toriyama? Without a head writer it means more responsibility will fall on the series director, which means less time for Chioka to be hands-on with the storyboarding.

[FortuneSSJ]

I doubt this will be a long series. GT size is my guess.
Maybe 100 episodes at max.

[sintzu]

I doubt this will be a long series. GT size is my guess.
Maybe 100 episodes at max.

I don't think Toie&Toriyama would've bothered with a new series if they didn't have a long term plan for it and with a franchise as big as DB you know they're going to do everything they can to keep it going.

[Mewzard]

I doubt this will be a long series. GT size is my guess.
Maybe 100 episodes at max.

I'm pretty sure Dragon Ball Super will run as long as Toei feels it's making them enough money/bringing in the ratings. Maybe a little too easy of a guess of length, but like Super Sentai, I'm sure they'd like to run it for as long as it's profitable (those toy sales really are ridiculous some years).

The real question is, now that Toriyama had his 15+ year break from Dragon Ball, how long can he keep his newly regained interest? I have to imagine it'll be less stressful than pumping out 15 pages of manga a week for around ten years.

[sintzu]

The real question is, now that Toriyama had his 15+ year break from Dragon Ball, how long can he keep his newly regained interest ?

I have to imagine it'll be less stressful than pumping out 15 pages of manga a week for around ten years.

If he isn't under any pressure then probably for a long time especially since he doesn't have to do much with it compared to the manga.

The only thing he'll be doing is giving Toie the main plot points and character designs while they take care of the rest so the only thing he'll have to worry about is thinking up new stories which is probably easy for someone like him.

[JulieYBM]

Toriyama couldn't even be bothered to write a real script for Fukkatsu no F, there is no way he'll be overtly involved with Super, let alone writing scripts.

[Lord Beerus]

I doubt this will be a long series. GT size is my guess.
Maybe 100 episodes at max.

I think 100 episodes would be the perfect length for the show. But as already stated, the show will realistically last for as long as it continues to make Toei a lot of money.

[JulieYBM]

One hundred episodes would make for a really, really bad series. Not only in terms of storytelling but story, too. We're not going to get freely written and character-based material from this series.

[TheGmGoken]

Makes wonder if Super will get a movie. Like a Z style movie or a Special

[Retan]

One hundred episodes would make for a really, really bad series. Not only in terms of storytelling but story, too. We're not going to get freely written and character-based material from this series.

And you know this how?

[AM Reflection]

100 episodes for an original (not based on existing manga) series? Yeah...I don't see that happening. And it probably wouldn't be very good either. There's always the possibility for a continuation after a season off, but I expect they only have a 26 episode initial run planned.

[JulieYBM]

One hundred episodes would make for a really, really bad series. Not only in terms of storytelling but story, too. We're not going to get freely written and character-based material from this series.

And you know this how?

Years of experience of paying attention to Dragon Ball and cartoons not called Dragon Ball.

[Retan]

But How often has the original author of a manga come back to help start a new anime series, and plot it out, and have a new manga start (Albeit by someone else) 18-20 years after said series ended. I honestly don't know the answer to that, but I'm sure you do JulieYBM, so could you give me an example so I can see where your coming from?


Cause I am with Sintzu at least at this point, I think this series will run until it's run into the ground, or they find something better to make into an anime, or Toriyama gets tired of it again.

[Basaku]

I doubt this will be a long series. GT size is my guess.
Maybe 100 episodes at max.

I don't think Toie&Toriyama would've bothered with a new series if they didn't have a long term plan for it and with a franchise as big as DB you know they're going to do everything they can to keep it going.

Even if the show flops, DB has already entered pop culture history and Toei would attempt another revival in a few years/decades anyway. Competition in entertainment is bigger than ever and pretty much every company that creates mass entertainment is relying more and more on brands that have already been proven at least once. Nostalgia, recognition, it's just way safer than investing the same effort and resources into new properties.

One hundred episodes would make for a really, really bad series. Not only in terms of storytelling but story, too. We're not going to get freely written and character-based material from this series.

That's rougly how long Saiyan/Namek/Android/Cell arcs take in Kai version and for all Kai mistakes, it definitely didn't lose strong character-based arcs or good plot advancement. Besides, quantity doesn't automatically mean quality. Buu arc is longer than any other Z arc and yet it's the worst in terms of writing, in manga, original anime or Kai format.

[JulieYBM]

But How often has the original author of a manga come back to help start a new anime series, and plot it out, and have a new manga start (Albeit by someone else) 18-20 years after said series ended. I honestly don't know the answer to that, but I'm sure you do JulieYBM, so could you give me an example so I can see where your coming from?


Cause I am with Sintzu at least at this point, I think this series will run until it's run into the ground, or they find something better to make into an anime, or Toriyama gets tired of it again.

Toriyama continually says he does not want to make works that elicit thought or move the audience. Creatively-speaking, the production staff has already tied their hands. Combine that with the fact that Toei Animation is producing six or seven episodes work of content a week, plus commercials, films, TV specials and OVAs. Factor in the timeslot is for families, the lowest common denominator who will watch something no matter how poorly strung together it is Factor in a small budget for the project now being drained even more by the necessity to hire more sub-contracting studios to finish an episode on time. Don't forget that when staff have less time they have less opportunity to refine their work. Now combine that with two constant years of break-neck pace production to create one hundred episodes.

If a billionaire fan was funding this project and enforcing a prolonger production schedule, sure, a hundred episodes might just be really good. Unfortunately we live in the real world where poor Jacob doesn't have the money to make his dreams come true, so we must face the facts.

...the facts being that there is an extraordinarily slim chance of this series being one hundred consistently good episodes long, featuring violent fights and tons of sexy girls being sexy. Damn, life is depressing...

[ssjjanemba]

100 episodes would be cool, but when it comes to tv shows quality>>>>quantity. I'd rather have 20 amazing episodes then 100 awful episodes.

[Demon of Light]

From what I've seen, shows like Super often have an initial run lasting one year or 52 episodes, give or take. That should be enough for one long arc or two or three smaller ones. Whether we get more than that would largely depend on the audience's reception of the new storyline.

[Low Tone G]

I don't really know what a story can be invented to run for 100 episodes.... Now as Goku and Vegeta being on the top of power as Gods, I don't really want to see any other stories than this Multiverse issue to tell about it. I'd rather see 20-30 episodes with high quality of animation, comparable to R[F] movie.

The other 11 Hakaishins and possibly some other incredible beings(like Goku and Vegeta), and their attendants(if they exist) are enough to uncover them. And those can be presented in 20-50 episodes very easily.