Dragon Ball Super Artist Explains How the Manga's Super Hero Arc Came to Be
Dragon Ball Super will be coming back later this month with a new chapter taking on its newest Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero inspired arc, and the artist behind the manga opened up about why a super hero story was chosen for this newest arc! Fans had been waiting eagerly through the last few months following its massive cliffhanger that revealed a much stronger Frieza than we had ever seen before, but it turns out that the next major arc would be taking a step back from that and focus on a teenage Trunks and Goten who had decided to become local superheroes instead.
Opening up about the Super Hero arc of Dragon Ball Super's manga in a special interview with the series' official website, artist Toyotaro revealed that the impetus for this newest arc was both his desire to focus a new story on Trunks, the team's desire for a super hero story, and a desire to make the next arc "smaller and simpler" than what had come for Goku and Vegeta before. It all just worked out to where this new Super Hero arc seemed to hit at the perfect time for all involved.
Why Dragon Ball Super's Manga Went With A Super Hero Arc
"There were a lot of ideas floating around about the new story...," Toyotaro began, "And when we met with [series creator Akira Toriyama] and other staff, we discussed how Goku and Vegeta had been the main characters for so long, and the stories were also large scale and intergalactic, so it might be interesting to do something smaller and simpler this time." But as it turned out, he also wanted to do a story about Trunks.
"I had been wanting to do a story with Trunks as the main lead before the [Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero] movie was even being discussed," Toyotaro continued. "That's something that interested me. But I didn't know if it would actually fit with the main story...I mentioned I wanted to do it as a spin-off. I think I mentioned that several years ago. Then, when we were thinking about focusing on someone besides Goku and doing something different, the first thing that came to my mind was my idea of a story about Trunks. I thought that maybe this was finally my chance to do it."
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Elaborating further, Toyotaro explained how all of the pieces fell in place soon after, "Then we discussed how it might be good to write a story about superheroes, and we discussed combining that with a story about Trunks. It was my chance to write the story I'd always wanted, and it was relevant to the main narrative, so I worked hard and submitted several proposals, then we settled on the story we're telling now."
How do you feel about Dragon Ball Super's Super Hero arc so far? What are you hoping to see come out from this newest phase of the manga? 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!