With no clue as to when newDragon Ballcontent will resume releasing, it’s a rough time to be a fan of Goku and friends. However, the franchise left off on this hiatus at a peak, as recent content has been of exceptionally high quality.
Dragon Ballhas been in a weird placesince Akira Toriyama’s death in 2024, which sent theDragon Ball Supermanga onto indefinite hiatus and cast a dark cloud over the then-upcoming release ofDragon Ball Daima, the last project Toriyama worked on for the series. The series has since aired, though, and fans have finally gotten to see Toriyama’s final contribution. As it turns out, the project was of exceptionally high quality in terms of animation and tone, and while it had some continuity issues due to its placement within the series, most fans seem to have enjoyed it greatly.
Dragon Ball’s Recent Content Has Been Among Its Best
The New Material Released in the 2020s Has Been Overall Great
One can even extend things a bit further back, to the release ofDragon Ball Super: Super Heroin 2022, as that film was met with great reviews and was generally enjoyed by fans. The film’s decision to focus on characters who have been out of the spotlight recently, such as Gohan and Piccolo, was a great move, and it allowed the film to create a plot and story that was very different from many of the previousDragon Ballfilms. Even complaints about the film’s CGI style were fairly muted, as the style worked exceptionally well in motion.
Meanwhile, theDragon Ball Supermanga was also running throughout the 2020s, which includes the end of the Moro Saga, the Granolah the Survivor Saga, and the adaptation ofSuper Hero, with additional content.Both Moro and Granolah Sagas are considered among the best thatSuperhas to offer, introducing new forms and powers for Goku, Vegeta, and even Frieza, but alsoa sympathetic and interesting new anti-villain in Granolahand an unquestionably evil force in the form of Moro. While some fans were disappointed withSuper Hero’s adaptation, it genuinely improved on the film in some surprising ways.
Then, of course, there’sDaima. While some fans had reservations due to Goku returning to being a kid again, it ended up being the perfect move, as a child’s sense of wonder helped to sell the Demon Realm’s exotic elements.Daimadid things fans had been asking for for years, such as showing Vegeta’s Super Saiyan 3 form, and canonizing Super Saiyan 4. The story was a throwback to the originalDragon Ballin many ways, focusing on adventure and searching for the titular artifacts over major enemies and combat, although it squeezed both in as well.
Dragon Ball’s Renaissance Can Continue Without Toriyama
Even Now That Toriyama Has Passed, Dragon Ball Will Still Thrive
It might seem, though, that the success of recent projects has been down to Toriyama’s involvement, but that isn’t strictly true. There were a lot of experiencedDragon Ballexperts and artists working onDaima, bringing what they knew to the table to help its development as well. Toriyama was also increasingly hands-off withDragon Ball Super, giving his artist Toyotaro only general outlines and allowing him to develop scenes and dialog on his own. Toyotaro has been deliberately trained as Toriyama’s protege, and it’s only natural that he step up and take Toriyama’s place at the head ofDragon Ball.
So far, only one chapter ofDragon Ball Superhas been released since Toriyama’s death, and it was still based on material that Toyotaro had from before his death. However, Toyotaro has proven that he has the skills and knowledge necessary to take the story where it needs to go. It’s not known how much planning Toriyama may have done for the next arc prior to his death, but if anyone can put together Toriyama’s plans from what little notes exist, it’s Toyotaro.With exciting developments,like the return of Black Frieza, on the horizon,Dragon Ball Supercan’t return to serialization soon enough.
Unfortunately, there’s little known about the future right now. There are rumors that a new movie, following up fromSuper Hero, may be in the works, but they’re little more than rumors at this point.Daimaseems to have been specially designed as a single-season story from the beginning, so there’s no reason to expect aDaimaseason 2. And whileDragon Ball Super’s hiatus will end eventually, there’s no way to know exactly when that time will be. TheDragon Ball Superanime, on the other hand, reportedly has some legal issues to deal with, and may or may not ever come back.
How Modern Dragon Ball Measures Up to Dragon Ball Z
The Series is at a Peak It Hasn’t Seen in Decades
Dragon Ball Daimafelt very much like classicDragon Ball, throwing back to even beforeZ, yet it still managed to capture many of the most exciting elements of theZera. The battles with the Tamagami were beautifully animated and choreographed, for example, and saw the development of forms that hadn’t been seen before,like Vegeta’s Super Saiyan 3. The final battle with Gomah was pureZ, in the vein of showdowns with villains like Buu and Frieza.Daimaarguably surpassed much ofSuperin terms of living up to the original.
While the future ofDragon Ballmay be uncertain at the moment, the material that has been created in the last few years has been a major step up from a lot of what came before, likeResurrection F. There’s also every indication thatDragon Ball Superis in good hands, whenever it returns. Despite Toriyama’s passing,Dragon Ballreally has been thriving, and there’s plenty of reason to expect that this content hiatus will eventually lead to more quality content in the future.Dragon Ballis simply too popular to be gone for long, and fans can be thankful for that.
