It’s time for the next Dragon Ball Super anime. Fans have been saying as much for well over a year since the Dragon Ball Super Japanese / English Sub series came to its conclusion, and Toei Animation put the series on hiatus. Since that time, there’s been no official announcements of what’s coming next on the Dragon Ball anime front – just a hit movie release in the form of Dragon Ball Super: Broly, as well as the promise that another Dragon Ball Super movie is on the way. Meanwhile, the Dragon Ball Super manga and English Dub series have kept the fandom occupied – but now that clock has officially run out.
At the time of writing this, Dragon Ball Super‘s English Dub series on Toonami has just aired its finale episode in the “Tournament of Power” arc; meanwhile Dragon Ball Super‘s acclaimed new manga arc, “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” is quickly coming to its climatic act, with the tease of Goku and Vegeta about to enter a whole new era of power-ups. In short: things have been stalled as long as they can be: It’s officially time for the next Dragon Ball Super anime.
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It’s been somewhat understandable why Toei hasn’t yet announced the next phase of Dragon Ball, as time for planning and production was needed to figure out what comes next – not to mention the intense undertaking to make Dragon Ball Super: Broly happen. That stretch of time allowed for new Dragon Ball Super content to be established through the manga, while spinoff projects like the Dragon Ball Heroes promo anime has allowed for the waters to be tested through fan-service content that’s unrestrained by continuity. But now we are there:
Fans are heavily invested in the mythos that’s been created (or retconned) through the manga’s “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” arc – with some big developments still on the horizon. Even Dragon Ball Heroes has managed to create an arc called “Universal Conflict: Dawn of War” that has introduced exciting new characters (villain team the Core Area Warriors) and mythos (a primal “Evil Saiyan” and god-killer weapon) into the franchise. “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” is a great callback to some major Dragon Ball Z storylines and characters, while “Universal Conflict” manages to link the expanding mythos of Dragon Ball Super with some of the fan-favored elements of the Dragon Ball game universe.
Any of that material – whether directly adapted or remixed – is enough to create an exciting first arc for the next Dragon Ball anime; or if Toei wants to go in a different direction, there’s any number of Dragon Ball spinoff ideas that fans want to see, that could hold us over until Goku and Vegeta’s storyline continues. It’s not like fans even need new content right now: a simple road map to what’s next would be sufficient.
Do you agree it’s time for the next Dragon Ball Super anime? Let us know in the comments!
Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block on Saturday evenings, and is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese-language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. The manga has chapters that can currently be read for free thanks to Viz Media, and Dragon Ball Super’s big movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
