Dragon Ball Reups License with Funimation for New Merch

Funimation helped in bringing the Dragon Ball franchise to North America over twenty five years ago, giving fans in the west their first opportunity to meet Goku and his friends as they searched for the magical wishing spheres and fought a series of enemies along the way, and it seems that relationship is set to continue long into the future! Partnering with a number of companies to produce a variety of new merchandise featuring the characters of Akira Toriyama’s insanely popular Shonen series, it looks like fans of Dragon Ball will have plenty of new merch to choose from!

Currently, Dragon Ball Super’s anime has been on hiatus following the Tournament of Power arc, though it did briefly return with the beloved feature length film that re-introduced the Legendary Super Saiyan of Broly to the franchise. With no news about the anime’s return, the manga for the franchise is continuing to tell new stories for Goku, Vegeta, and the rest of the Z Fighters as they battle against the wizard Moro. Though fans are giving this latest story line a mixed reception, audiences are still waiting for any news about the series returning in animated format!

Twitter Outlet License Global broke down the news that Funimation and Toei Animation would continue to hold the licensing rights for the Dragon Ball franchise, sharing a number of partnerships that the companies will be teaming up with to unleash a number of new pieces of merchandise:

Lisa Yamatoya, the Director of Marketing and Licensing for Toei Animation, had this to say about Funimation’s continued licensing of the franchise:

“‘Dragon Ball‘ has delighted fans and left an indelible mark on pop culture. Parents who grew up watching ‘Dragon Ball’ anime are now introducing it to their children – creating a shared love for the franchise and inspiring a new generation of fans. We see tremendous opportunity to leverage the multi-generational appeal of ‘Dragon Ball’ to not only grow existing categories but also expand into new ones with licensed merchandise.”

What do you think of Funimation and Toei Animation continuing to fly the Dragon Ball banner moving forward? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of Dragon Ball!