Following its debut at Jump Festa ’17 last weekend in Tokyo, Toei has made the promotional video for Dragon Ball Super‘s upcoming “Universe Survival Arc” available for streaming:

Original story and character drafts: Akira Toriyama

2015.7.5: God of Destruction Beerus arc
2015.11.15: Golden Freeza arc
2016.1.24: Universe 6 arc
2016.6.12: “Future” Trunks arc

Goku and Omni-King’s promise…
(Goku: “Huh? What happened?”)

…shakes…

(Omni-Kings: “Yeah! Let’s do it!”)

… every universe.

All the Gods of Destruction and Kaiōshin assemble, and an inter-universe martial arts competition is announced.

The Tournament of Power

Each universe has 10 representatives. Losing universes are immediately annihilated.

The ultimate martial arts tournament begins, with the survival of their own universes on the line.

The curtain rises on the new chapter “Universe Survival” arc!! Airing on Fuji TV, 9 AM on Sundays beginning February 5th, 2017.

The Dragon Ball Super television series airs Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. on Fuji TV in Japan. The series is available for free and premium viewing on licensed sites such as Crunchyroll, Daisuki, and AnimeLab. New episodes are added — in their original Japanese language with accompanying English subtitles — the same day as their Japanese broadcast.

The sixty-eighth episode of the Dragon Ball Super television series — which aired 27 November 2016 — revealed that episode director Kōhei Hatano (羽多野浩平) has been appointed as the new lead series director, alongside previous lead director Morio Hatano (畑野森生).

Morio Hatano previously took over as the lead series director in episode thirty-three, replacing the series’ original director Kimitoshi Chioka, who assisted him in the role up through episode forty-six before leaving the series. In most cases, the addition of a second series director typically occurs when the lead series director has become too busy with other significant projects or is in need of assistance managing and overseeing the series. However, it appears Dragon Ball Super will not be following this standard industry norm, as is evident by similar past events, and instead will be rolling through new directors as needed.

As of this post, Kōhei Hatano has directed six episodes of Dragon Ball Super (8, 19, 26, 38, 47, and 56) and storyboarded an additional three episodes (64, 68, and 69). Kōhei Hatano has previously worked for Tatsunoko Production and Studio Fantasia, where he directed and storyboarded a few episodes of Dai-Shogun – Great Revolution, Freezing Vibration, and Tenkai Knights, among many other. Since mid-2014, he has largely been involved with Dragon Ball Super, in addition to directing a single episode of One Piece. This is his first series director role to date.

By way of various attendees at Jump Festa this weekend in Tokyo, we have learned that the Dragon Ball Super TV series will debut its second opening theme with the upcoming “Universe Survival Arc” this February: “Limit-Break x Survivor” (突破限界×サバイバー; Genkai Toppa x Sabaibā).

The song — to be performed by Kiyoshi Hikawa — will have lyrics by franchise stalwart Yukinojō Mori with composition by Takafumi Iwasaki.

The series’ first (and current) opening theme — “Chōzetsu ☆ Dynamic!” — is performed by Kazuya Yoshii and was also composed by Yukinojō Mori. The song received a CD single back in October 2015.

Continuing onward from the previous thirteen chapters, Viz has added their English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s fourteenth chapter to their website, kicking off the “Future Trunks arc” of the manga.

The respective page in our “Manga Guide” has been updated with this release information.

The Dragon Ball Super “comicalization” began in June 2015 as a promotional tie-in for the television series. The manga runs monthly in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ nineteenth chapter coming tomorrow in the magazine’s February 2017 issue. Illustrated by “Toyotarō” (in all likelihood, a second pen-name used by Dragon Ball AF fan manga author and illustrator “Toyble”), the Dragon Ball Super manga covered the Battle of Gods re-telling, skipped the Resurrection ‘F’ re-telling, and “charged ahead” to the Champa arc to act as further promotion for the television series. Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and will release their own collected print edition beginning in May 2017.

The Dragon Ball Super television series now receives weekly simulcast streams on services such as Crunchyroll and Daisuki. FUNimation has also announced their American distribution license for the series.

In conjunction with this weekend’s February 2017 issue of V-Jump and forthcoming news out of Jump Festa, the official Dragon Ball Super website has revealed the key visual and brief synopsis for next year’s “Universe Survival Arc”:

悟空に申し出により、全王様主催の宇宙対抗の武道大会「力の大会」が始まる！…だがそれは宇宙消滅の始まりだった。この武道大会の勝者、それに敗者には何が待ち受けののか…？宇宙の精鋭たちによって熾烈なチームバトルは一体どんな戦になるのか…！

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At Goku’s request, the Omni-Kings’ “Tournament of Power” martial arts tournament between universes now begins! …But this also proves to be the beginning of universal destruction. What awaits the victors of this tournament, and the vanquished…?! How will these intense team battles between the elites of each universe turn out…?!

The image showcases both timelines’ Omni-King characters as brought together at the end of the previous story arc, the Great Priest (recently revealed to be an angel and father to Whis and Vados), and the ten-member Universe 7 team consisting of Majin Boo, Kuririn, No. 18, No. 17, Son Goku, Vegeta, Son Gohan, Kame-Sen’nin, Tenshinhan, and Piccolo.

The website also provides a comment from Dragon Ball Super producer Shunki Hashizume (of the Fuji TV editorial office):

新編「宇宙サバイバル編」に突入するドラゴンボール超（スパー）。新ビジュアルの通り悟空をはじめとする第7宇宙の戦士たちが集結し、チーム一丸となって宇宙対抗の大会に挑んでい迫力満のストーリーとなっています！人造人間17号や魔人ブウもいまして、果たしてどんな戦いが始まるのか、僕みたいなワクワクが止まりません！各宇宙の精鋭たちも続く登場する大激戦必至の新章、ご期待ください！

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Dragon Ball Super enters its new chapter, the “Universe Survival Arc”. As you can see from the main visual, it’ll be a full-throttle story where Goku and the rest of the Universe 7 warriors form a team to take on a tournament between universes! Artificial Human No. 17 and Majin Boo are there too, so personally I can’t contain my excitement at the thought of what kind of fights we’ll see! Look forward to this new chapter that’ll be sure to feature super-intense battles with nonstop appearances by the elites of each universe!

The website also notes that original author Akira Toriyama provided the original draft for the story and characters. Additional information and a promotional video will be made available at Jump Festa this weekend during Bandai Namco’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes panel.

The “Universe Survival Arc” (宇宙サバイバル編 Uchū Sabaibaru Hen) is set to begin 05 February 2017. The Dragon Ball Super television series airs Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. on Fuji TV in Japan. The series is available for free and premium viewing on licensed sites such as Crunchyroll, Daisuki, and AnimeLab. New episodes are added — in their original Japanese language with accompanying English subtitles — the same day as their Japanese broadcast.

Online retailers have updated their listings for the fifth Dragon Ball Super home video box set in Japan, covering episodes 49-60 (the first portion of the Future Trunks arc):

The disc label art features Future Trunks and Goku Black. In addition to a special booklet and box with a new illustration, on-disc extras will include a creditless version of the series’ 5th ending theme animation, “Easy-Going Dance”.

Toei and Happinet are releasing the series in DVD and Blu-ray box sets of 12 episodes each. The first set saw its release 02 December 2015 (episodes 1-12) with the second set dropping 02 March 2016 (episodes 13-24). The third set was delayed by one month to 02 July 2016 (episodes 25-36) and the fourth box was released 04 October 2016 (episodes 37-48). The companies have announced a sixth home video set of the show which is tentatively scheduled for release in April 2017.

DVD sets are listed at ¥11,200 (+ tax) with Blu-ray sets at ¥15,200 (+ tax) and will see their release 06 January 2017 in Japan. Both DVD and Blu-ray sets are listed as two discs each. Sets are available to pre-order via CDJapan and Amazon Japan.

As initially leaked on Japanese blogs earlier today and later shown in full by Twitter user @white4517, next week’s February 2017 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine in Japan reveals the next storyline in the Dragon Ball Super television series as the “Universe Survival Arc” (宇宙サバイバル編 Uchū Sabaibaru Hen):

05 February 2017 (Sun.)
The curtain rises on a new chapter, “Universe Survival arc”!!

Now, to battle! Universe 7’s mightiest team!!!

The new arc will begin (following a series of one-off episodes) 05 February 2017. The fold-out splash image showcases Majin Boo, Kuririn, No. 18, No. 17, Son Goku, Vegeta, Son Gohan, Kame-Sen’nin, Tenshinhan, and Piccolo.

Perhaps the most notable inclusion is No. 17 (complete with a “RANGER” armband), who was last seen — following his revival after the battle with Cell — donating energy to Goku’s Genki-Dama during the battle with Boo. As originally described in Daizenshuu #7 (and later repeated in the Dragon Ball Full Color: Majin Boo Arc Volume #06 Q&A), in the manga, Akira Toriyama had initially placed Lunch in the panel, but later switched her out for No. 17, explaining why the existing dialog does not make perfect sense.

In the Q&A from 2014’s Dragon Ball Full Color: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume #06, Toriyama reveals No. 17’s new life as a park ranger:

He works in the wildlife preserve area of a gigantic royal nature park, as an outstanding guard who doesn’t hold back against poachers.

It’s an ideal job for No. 17, who loves to be on his own and isn’t big on cooperating with others; since he’s so good at his job, he takes in a high salary. He’s married to a zoologist; they have one child and two adopted children, and live happily in an isolated house inside the nature park.

He went and met No. 18 and Kuririn one time, but didn’t talk about what he’d been up to, maybe because he considers such a wholesome lifestyle embarrassing.

The Dragon Ball Super television series airs Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. on Fuji TV in Japan. The series is available for free and premium viewing on licensed sites such as Crunchyroll, Daisuki, and AnimeLab. New episodes are added — in their original Japanese language with accompanying English subtitles — the same day as their Japanese broadcast.