Where will the franchise go after Super?

[mecha3000]

So, right now, Super is obviously the poster child of the Dragon Ball franchise (between the remake/remaster and beyond). And understandably so, considering there's still two arcs (Moro and Granolah) including beyond (Black Freeza or whatever) to be adapted into the anime. And then, there's the question of the Dragon Ball Super manga coming back. But I'm wondering, what will become of Dragon Ball after Super ends? Of course, if Super ends, that is. Super could very well be what the franchise is for the foreseeable future. But all things end eventually and what will rise from Super's ashes?

Honestly, I mainly just want Dragon Ball to finally move into EoZ territory (like many other fans). We need stakes back and fresh new characters. The idea of Goku being a teacher to Uub as well as Uub being a new main character, maybe alongside Pan and Bulla (who because of Caulifla and Kale, can become Super Saiyans) - is just so interesting to me. Then, there's older versions of Goten and Trunks and maybe even Marron and you have Dragon Ball: Next Generation or whatever. Of course, Goku and Vegeta will always be around, but I would like it to be in a more reduced capacity, like maybe at the end of Super, they sacrifice most of their power to beat the big bad and have to start over in a sense, allowing the other characters to catch up to them and maybe even surpass them. And Super Hero kind of teased the possibility of the younger characters getting older before Daima literally de-aged the characters and now Super is starting over.

With Toyotaro, Akio, and Toei now in charge of the DB franchise, the future seems unclear, but we do know Super is going to be the priority for a while. But when Super ends, I'm ready for Dragon Ball Beyond or whatever it'd be called. And honestly, I don't think Toriyama would've ever moved us beyond EoZ since he said himself he liked to keep the characters in the prime, which is why we've been stuck in the 10 year limbo period before EoZ since 2013. But Toyotaro seems like he'd be more open and willing to do EoZ (especially since he worked on the Dragon Ball AF manga as Toyble, which was set in the GT time period). Thoughts?

[SSJ4Goku]

Honestly, after they adapt the remaining arcs into the anime, it should just be left alone. The Goku vs Gohan was a great fight, and I think the ending of the chapter was a great finish. Yes, the plot point of Frieza still being around will leave a very bad taste on fans.

Personally, maybe a final arc (Black Frieza) would be great, then I could imagine the series just be left alone, before the next revival. Or maybe just do a time skip into the end of Z, and just redo the ending of Z.

After those, the franchise should just be left alone. But I can't imagine that, as Dragon Ball is a huge cash cow for Toei. But only time will tell.

[The Dark Knight]

I've been very vocal about my belief that Dragon Ball should have ended after the Buu arc (or GT if we're pushing it). However, I don't want things to end abruptly, as Super has been going on for nearly a decade and a half, so I do hope they resolve whatever was planned with Black Freeza.

Once Super concludes, here's the least to most likely scenarios I can see happening:

1- Dragon Ball as a story ends: I think there's a 0% chance of this happening, as Dragon Ball is now a merchandise machine first and foremost, so the idea of all these companies just walking away from it and finding something else to capitalize on are basically non-existent.

2- Dragon Ball moves into the far future: There is a goldmine of Toriyama material from DB Online that can be adapted if they want his name attached to future projects. However, I don't believe there's more than a 25% chance of this happening, as despite the story potential being there, it will not be the easiest to market.

3- Dragon Ball moves past End of Z: I put this at roughly 50%, as Super has been building towards the end of Z since Superhero, and all the lore they've developed up to this point can be carried over. With that said, the 5 years between Z and GT have never been addressed by anyone before, so will they want to go into that territory without Toriyama ?

4- Dragon Ball Daima takes over: Between Goku and Vegeta being the co-leads and the series taking place before the end of Z, this seems like the safest bet for companies known for playing things safe, so I think there's a high 75% chance that they pick up where Daima left off.

5- Dragon Ball takes a break: Regardless of which of the 3 options listed above that they pick, I think it's safe to say with as much certain as someone from the outside looking in can say, that there's a 100% chance that they will take a break to figure things out once Super as a whole is concluded. Once they run out of Toriyama ideas and plots, they will be very careful with how they proceed, as if they mess up, they won't be able to rely on him to come out of retirement and set things right.

[JulieYBM]

Wherever that parental money is. With luck, the projects will at least be artistically good.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

It will probably be something unexpected as Dragon Ball always surprises me. I didn't expect to see another series where Goku and his friends turned into kids, nor a Kai-ified Super for example. So I guess if Age 1000 is well received maybe they will finally explore Dragon Ball with brand new characters.

I wouldn't be surprised if Toriyama left behind some more vague notes about ideas that could be turned into fully fleshed plots, guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[Yellow Flower King]

So, right now, Super is obviously the poster child of the Dragon Ball franchise (between the remake/remaster and beyond). And understandably so, considering there's still two arcs (Moro and Granolah) including beyond (Black Freeza or whatever) to be adapted into the anime. And then, there's the question of the Dragon Ball Super manga coming back. But I'm wondering, what will become of Dragon Ball after Super ends? Of course, if Super ends, that is. Super could very well be what the franchise is for the foreseeable future. But all things end eventually and what will rise from Super's ashes?

Honestly, I mainly just want Dragon Ball to finally move into EoZ territory (like many other fans). We need stakes back and fresh new characters. The idea of Goku being a teacher to Uub as well as Uub being a new main character, maybe alongside Pan and Bulla (who because of Caulifla and Kale, can become Super Saiyans) - is just so interesting to me. Then, there's older versions of Goten and Trunks and maybe even Marron and you have Dragon Ball: Next Generation or whatever. Of course, Goku and Vegeta will always be around, but I would like it to be in a more reduced capacity, like maybe at the end of Super, they sacrifice most of their power to beat the big bad and have to start over in a sense, allowing the other characters to catch up to them and maybe even surpass them. And Super Hero kind of teased the possibility of the younger characters getting older before Daima literally de-aged the characters and now Super is starting over.

With Toyotaro, Akio, and Toei now in charge of the DB franchise, the future seems unclear, but we do know Super is going to be the priority for a while. But when Super ends, I'm ready for Dragon Ball Beyond or whatever it'd be called. And honestly, I don't think Toriyama would've ever moved us beyond EoZ since he said himself he liked to keep the characters in the prime, which is why we've been stuck in the 10 year limbo period before EoZ since 2013. But Toyotaro seems like he'd be more open and willing to do EoZ (especially since he worked on the Dragon Ball AF manga as Toyble, which was set in the GT time period). Thoughts?

Readapt the manga in animation. OG DB would easily be a top series for everyone if it was reanimated to get rid of the filler and with better animation.

[Chuquita]

I could see Iyoku having them do a remake of the original DB for the 50th anniversary with a completely new voice cast-- something like the remade Yaiba that came out last year (the remake was prettier, but the original is a better listen--it has Ryo Horikawa hamming it up as the main villain and Kotono Mitsuishi as the lead girl).

What I'd like to see is something fun that doesn't recycle what we've already seen. The main reason I stopped buying DB games was I've played Raditz to Buu enough times for it to have grown stale (and for whatever reason there still hasn't been a dedicated DBS game).

[funrush]

Of course we have to see the Black Freeza arc resolve. They cannot just end it where the manga ends.

I would be interested in seeing some post-EoZ arcs. They can take place immediately after EoZ, with Uub being 10/11 and Pan being 4/5. I'd like more stories in the EoZ timeframe. GT skipping 5 years ahead was not inherently bad, I like GT Pan, but I think it would be more fun to stick in that EoZ time period for a second and watch Goku be a mentor to Uub and see what fun adventures they go on. Little EoZ Pan could kind of serve as a fill-in for Kid Goku so we never have to turn actual Goku into a kid again. If they wanted to focus on more than just Goku and Uub there's a large (for DB standards) ensemble cast to do stories with in this era. Goku, Uub, Pan, Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks, Piccolo, Broly, and they could even add to that if they wanted more.

To a lesser extent I think it could be interesting to see more Daima, but I think a big part of what made Daima good is Toriyama's designs and how he kind of combined Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest, and I think if they did more without him it would basically be "more Dragon Ball but in a different timeline" without the sauce that made Daima Daima, which could be interesting but I'd rather get some actual young Uub and Pan stories instead. I'd be curious to see if characters like Beerus would still exist in that universe. I guess they could revamp the other 3 arcs of GT except Goku is an adult the whole time.

I'm also interested in seeing Cooler reintroduced, but only while Freeza is still involved in the story. I'd like to see how those two interact with each other.

[kiarasuraru]

Doubt even Iyoku knows at this point.

[PowerPhantom245]

It will be called Dragon Ball SuperS.

lol XD

[mecha3000]

I could see Iyoku having them do a remake of the original DB for the 50th anniversary with a completely new voice cast-- something like the remade Yaiba that came out last year (the remake was prettier, but the original is a better listen--it has Ryo Horikawa hamming it up as the main villain and Kotono Mitsuishi as the lead girl).

What I'd like to see is something fun that doesn't recycle what we've already seen. The main reason I stopped buying DB games was I've played Raditz to Buu enough times for it to have grown stale (and for whatever reason there still hasn't been a dedicated DBS game).

Honestly, I wanted this more than the Super remake, but forgot about it after the announcements in January. But yeah, this is honestly where I see the franchise going when Super ends for one main reason - ALL 42 VOLUMES OF DRAGON BALL WERE WRITTEN BY AKIRA TORIYAMA. So, instead of moving forward into new territory, they might feel comfortable just working with Toriyama's existing material, since he's no longer here to make more material. I feel bad bringing that up a lot, but it's just a fact we can't ignore.

And if that means we get a kickass modern anime remake of all 42 volumes of Dragon Ball with a series just called DRAGON BALL with no Z in the title this time, then that'd be perfect. But yeah, I think after Super 2.0 wraps up its run with Black Freeza or whatever, we'll either get Toyotaro writing a new Dragon Ball manga that's a sequel to Super (or just remains Super) OR a full-on anime remake of the original manga from Pilaf to Kid Buu.

And the 50th anniversary of the Dragon Ball anime in 2036 (God help me, I'll be 39 years old) seems like the perfect time to release a Dragon Ball remake. Especially because everyone said the 40th anniversary was too early.

[SSGpotota]

A new adaption of the OG manga: The Dragon Ball ( ), while they figure out what to do with the franchise.

[Vegard Aune]

I was saying before the Super pseudo-remake was confirmed that a readaptation of the original manga makes a lot more sense than redoing Super... I still think that when they run out of material for Super, a reboot seems like an obvious thing they would try. It... would likely not be the most interesting thing, and would probably suffer from certain elements being played up for fanservice, (like, I would be shocked if they didn't throw in some sort of Super Saiyan hints long, long before Namek) but nonetheless, surely some oldtimers would appreciate it and it would certainly make the series an easier sell for younger viewers for whom the slow pace and lower video/audio quality of the old series might be a turnoff.

...I mean no matter where the series goes from here I feel like nostalgia pandering is 100% inevitable. Even before Toriyama died we were getting swamped in pandering.

[JulieYBM]

I was saying before the Super pseudo-remake was confirmed that a readaptation of the original manga makes a lot more sense than redoing Super... I still think that when they run out of material for Super, a reboot seems like an obvious thing they would try. It... would likely not be the most interesting thing, and would probably suffer from certain elements being played up for fanservice, (like, I would be shocked if they didn't throw in some sort of Super Saiyan hints long, long before Namek) but nonetheless, surely some oldtimers would appreciate it and it would certainly make the series an easier sell for younger viewers for whom the slow pace and lower video/audio quality of the old series might be a turnoff.

...I mean no matter where the series goes from here I feel like nostalgia pandering is 100% inevitable. Even before Toriyama died we were getting swamped in pandering.

They're probably saving it for the fiftieth anniversary in either 2034 or 2036. This way, they won't have to confront the idea of 'recasting' a still living Nozawa Masako.

[Kid Buu]

It will be called Dragon Ball SuperS.

lol XD

Will Goten summon a pegasus to battle the Amazon Trio in every episode?

[Skar]

Revivals are usually temporary and I feel the franchise has been winding down since the Super anime ended. In the eight years since then, we've only had two movies, two manga arcs and Heroes ending. I think all we'll see is the occasional anniversary project like Path to Power and Daima. I could be wrong but the franchise ended up releasing less content than what fans have predicted every year.

[BernardoCairo]

If they ever think of remaking OG Dragon Ball, they should adapt the entire manga instead. They should create something as beautiful as Daima and Super Hero's flashbacks and maintain the excellent pacing of the original work. That would be my dream project.

Regarding Super, I'd like to see Toyotaro finish the story he started. Black Freeza has the potential to be fun, considering Freezq has been one of the best aspects of Super after Fukkatso No F. After that, Super can end and leave room for a future sequel. Honestly, I don't care much about EoZ stuff in Super.

[The Dark Knight]

Revivals are usually temporary and I feel the franchise has been winding down since the Super anime ended.

Things slowed down due to behind the scenes disputes between the various parties involved with the franchise. As of now, this revival has given us:

3 OVAs
4 movies
Kai (167 episodes)
Super (131 episodes)
Super manga (104 chapters)
Heroes (56 episodes)
Daima (20 episodes)

And now we're getting a Super remake that will lead into at least three completely new arcs, likely more when the manga returns. This revival started in 2008 with the Tarble special, which was almost 20 years ago; that's longer than the original's 13 year run (1984-1997). It's only a matter of time before this revival has more content than the original run of the series.

[Skar]

Things slowed down due to behind the scenes disputes between the various parties involved with the franchise. As of now, this revival has given us:

I'm not sure the dispute started by the time the anime ended. I think all we know is that it might've caused the manga to go on hiatus but not that it delayed any other plans like the anime returning or a new movie. The dispute seems to be resolved and still no indication when the manga will continue. Toyotaro might not be sure how to continue it without Toriyama or trying to make a story out of his remaining notes if he left anything.

Toriyama made it clear in the beginning that he had no interest going past EoZ which is why everything from the Tarble special to Daima took place before. A few arcs happened in the same short timeframe earlier in Super then finally a big enough timeskip to get closer to EoZ. I think it's more than just a coincidence that it slowed down as they got closer to the original ending. I know fans argued since 2013 that eventually the franchise go past EoZ but at this point I think we'll get to the 20th anniversary of BoG before that ever happened.

[The Dark Knight]

Toyotaro might not be sure how to continue it without Toriyama or trying to make a story out of his remaining notes if he left anything.

Here's an interesting tidbit for you: Toyotaro said last year that he could continue without Toriyama, although he admitted it wouldn't be the easiest task, but he said whether or not he does isn't up to him.