Dragon Ball Recruits One-Punch Man Artist for New Anniversary Art

Dragon Ball is gearing up for a massive celebration of the manga’s 40th Anniversary, and the series is recruiting the artist behind One-Punch Man and more for some special new art to help celebrate! It was nearly 40 years ago when Akira Toriyama’s original Dragon Ball manga first hit the pages of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and Shueisha is going all out for the series’ new milestone anniversary. This not only includes a brand new anime series not adapting any of the manga’s previous materials, Dragon Ball Daima, but some special new art for a planned gallery next year as well. 

With Dragon Ball officially kicking off its 40th Anniversary in October 2024, Shueisha has been steadily getting ready for a special art exhibition featuring other Weekly Shonen Jump artists taking on Dragon Ball’s many manga covers in their own styles. Previous releases included the likes of makeovers from Jujutsu Kaisen creator Gege Akutami, Black Clover creator Yuki Tabata, and more, and the next in these special covers has been announced to be from the artist behind Eyeshield21, One-Punch Man and more, Yusuke Murata, coming next month. 

What’s Next for Dragon Ball? 

Dragon Ball Daima is a brand new Dragon Ball anime series currently in the works for a release some time in Fall 2024. Series creator Akira Toriyama is involved with the new original story and designs for the upcoming anime with Yoshitaka Yashima and Aya Komaki serving as series directors, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru will be providing the character designs for the anime, and Yuuko Kakihara will be supervising and writing the scripts for the new anime. As for what to expect from the new anime’s story, Akira Toriyama teases Dragon Ball Daima as such: 

“Due to a conspiracy, Goku and his friends are turned small,” Toriyama began. “In order to fix things, they’ll head off to a new world! It’s a grand adventure with intense action in an unknown and mysterious world. Since Goku has to make up for his petite size, he uses his Power Pole to fight, something not seen in a long time.” Goku voice star Masako Nozawa also shared her surprise about seeing Kid Goku in action too, “Goku was so adorable and wonderful! I wonder about the conspiracy behind Goku’s new appearance. I’m very curious, but I’m told the details are still a secret! I’ll be waiting for the new anime along with all of you! I hope you look forward to it too!”

What are you hoping to see from Yusuke Murata’s take on Dragon Ball? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!