Dragon Ball Super Artist Explains Why They Waited So Long to Bring Back Frieza

Dragon Ball Super has kicked off a major new arc filling in some of the gaps leading into the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero feature film, and while fans wait on seeing more of Black Frieza in action, the artist behind the manga has opened up about while it took two years for the manga to bring the villain back to the series despite all those months of teasing. It was a huge cliffhanger that brought the Granolah the Survivor arc to an end when it was revealed that Frieza had become the new strongest warrior in the universe with a god powered new form. 

Dragon Ball Super artist Toyotaro opened up about the events of the Granolah the Survivor arc in a special interview with the series’ official website, and revealed that it took two years of build up to bring the villain back into the series because they wanted it to have an impact. In fact, they spent time building up all of the anticipation with their teases to make Frieza’s appearance feel like the true end to the arc overall and had been working towards that moment from the jump. 

“So, of course we knew from the get-go that Frieza would appear and worked towards that, which is why everyone in the Granolah arc talks about him so much,” Toyotaro began. “Even though they talk about him so much, he never actually appears, which I think built up a lot of anticipation throughout the story’s two-year run. That’s why when we finally unveiled him, it really felt like the end of the Granolah arc. It felt like that’s where the story should end.” 

Digging into it further, Toyotaro continued, “It’s like he was the hidden main character…That’s how I personally felt. The entire reason this incident occurred is Frieza was behind it the whole time, since it featured the Frieza Force. So that’s what readers should always remember: ‘Everything comes back to Frieza.’ I drew this story while remembering to make sure Frieza was a constant topic of discussion. Since his appearance was pre-determined, I consistently created the story to include Frieza in the dialogue.” 

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“I wanted to make sure [readers] never forgot Frieza and tried to keep them wondering whether he’d appear or not,” Toyotaro continued. “That’s why we wanted to build it up for two years until readers finally saw him appear after all. So to me it finally felt like, ‘Finally, we can bring him out!’ I think some people may feel like his appearance was too sudden and out of the blue…If he didn’t appear, the story would feel unfinished, but if he did appear, then it could seem very sudden, so it was a difficult line to walk.” 

What did you think of the wait for Frieza’s appearance in Dragon Ball Super‘s Granolah arc? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!