Will 'Dragon Ball Super' Become The Franchise's Longest Anime?

As the Tournament of Power continues in Dragon Ball Super, every episode or so seems to only take a minute from the Tournament's proceedings in the series' time. Fans have made jokes about this, but if there's a grander plan at work the series could go on for longer than anyone anticipated.

As Reddit user DoflamingoGT points out, Dragon Ball Super's episode count has already passed Dragon Ball GT's 64 episodes, and if the show continues as it is, will so surpass the original Dragon Ball's 153 episodes. But could the series last long enough to eventually pass up Dragon Ball Z's 291 episodes?

Dragon Ball Super takes the franchise in a new direction by introducing the idea of multiple universes to its canon. Like the addition of the afterlife in Dragon Ball Z, Super's multiple universes present a ton of potential for stories given the almost infinite amount of foes for Goku and co. to contend with.

Now the matter is whether or not fans will want to see it go on for potentially 300 episodes. There is room to explore, such as the "Universal Survival" arc potentially meaning Goku would have to fight his way through the Gods themselves someday, but it's going to take some time to get there.

Dragon Ball Z is a well looked back upon series, but it also had its fair share of filler. With as much as the Super fan community derides Super's filler episodes, who knows what form this could potentially take. But in that same breath, fans have been greatly enjoying Super's level of quality ever since it started producing truly original content not adapted from the films so they most likely would not mind seeing the show continue for as long as it can.

Dragon Ball Super's "Universal Survival" arc is part of the recent simulcast agreement that sites like Crunchyroll and Funimation have scored. Dragon Ball Super airs on Crunchyroll Saturday evenings at 7:15 p.m. CST. Adult Swim airs the English dub during its Toonami block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m, and is now available to stream on FunimationNOW and Amazon Video.

If you want to catch up with the English dub, the first 39 episodes of Dragon Ball Super are now available to stream on FunimationNOW, Crunchyroll's VRV service, and available to purchase on Amazon Video. The 39 episodes span the full range of what has aired in the North America and covers the "Battle of Gods" arc, "Revival of F" arc, and the most recently ended "Universe 6" arc.

There is also currently a new Dragon Ball film in the works for 2018. Not only does it aim to be the best film in the series, original creator Akira Toriyama will be contributing to the film's script and new character designs. There have also been details shared over its possible story. The film will focus on the Saiyans, the "origins of Goku's power," and potentially the story of the very first Super Saiyan God.