Dragon Ball Super Artist Teases “Shocking Developments”

Dragon Ball Super‘s next manga chapter is almost here, and artist Toyotaro is teasing that it will include some “shocking developments.” Dragon Ball Super Chapter 87 arrives on Friday, August 19th. The new chapter will serve as an epilogue to the long-running “Granolah the Survivor” story arc, which has been nothing less than a major game-changer for the entire Dragon Ball series. However, as promo interviews and preview pages are now teasing, the Granolah Arc may not be as finished as we thought! 

Dragon Ball Super mangaka Toyotaro was on the official Dragon Ball show over in Japan and had the following to tease about Dragon Ball Super Chapter 87: 

“The August issue will too have some shocking developments that might even surpass las issue’s excitement level.” 

The climatic chapter of the Granolah Saga saw Goku and Vegeta tapped out of their new powers (Ultra Instinct and Ultra Ego, respectively), and relying on the power of the “strongest warrior in the universe” Granolah to finish the threat of Gas, the wickedly power younger brother of the Heeters crime family. However, previews of Dragon Ball Super Chapter 87 show that not all will be a happy ending after Gas’s defeat: Granloah still has a price to pay (his life) for using the Dragon Balls to become the most powerful being in the universe – and then expending so much of that power to defeat Gas. In addition, Granolah’s longtime friend and mentor, the Namekian Monaito, looks to get blasted by an unknown assailant who arrives on the scene, just as The Heeters’ leader Elec is fleeing:

The Granolah Arc was all about Granolah being tricked by The Heeters into fighting Goku and Vegeta – but the real villain hanging over this entire story arc was no doubt Freeza. This arc reframed some significant pieces of Dragon Ball mythology – such as how the extensive history between The Heeters and Freeza, and how Goku’s father Bardock fell into conflict with Freeza in part because of his battle with The Heeters. 

That’s all to say: Freeza arriving to stir new conflict at the end of Graonlah arc would be both shocking, but totally fitting. Or, maybe Gas isn’t quite as dead as everyone thought, and doesn’t take too kindly to Monaito’s healing power tipping the scale – or his brother Elec leaving him behind. 

For a minute there, Dragon Ball Super seemed to do something novel by letting Granolah be the conquering hero of this arc – but clearly, there’s still time and room for Goku and Vegeta to have to once again dig deep, bust through limits, and evolve their powers in some way. Or, maybe a whole new character is about to debut. 

We’ll see when Dragon Ball Super Chapter 87 arrives.