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Dragon Ball Explores The Saiyans’ Origins in 2018 Movie


So, I guess this means that we’re getting more details on Namek than we’ve ever wanted. That could be a good thing. And because I didn’t forget, all aboard the hype train!

©Bird Studio/Shueisha, Toei Animation Licensed by Funimation® Productions, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Earlier today, Bandai Namco hosted a stage event at the Jump Festa fan event. During the presentation, the company revealed that Dragon Ball will receive a new anime film in December 2018. An official website was opened for the project, which includes an announcement visual.

Akira Toriyama will pen the original story and script, in addition to providing character designs for the project.

Toei describes the feature as:

The theme for this remarkable new film will be “Saiyan”, the strongest race in the universe. Since “Battle of the Gods”, Goku has undergone new forms from Super Saiyan God to Super Saiyan Blue to other evolved forms that have gone up against many invincible warriors from multiple universes. This new story will focus on the origin of the Saiyans’ strength and what it means to be Saiyan.

The project is the 20th Dragon Ball movie.

Dragon Ball is one of the most iconic manga and anime properties in the world. Akira Toriyama’s original manga first appeared in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1984. To date, the series has spawned more than 40 collected manga volumes, as well as numerous spinoffs and anime adaptations.

To date, the Dragon Ball manga has sold more than 240 million volumes worldwide.

Dragon Ball Super is the latest entry into the franchise. The series began airing on July 5, 2015 on Fuji TV. The series is being helmed by Kimitoshi Chioka (episodes 1-32) and Morio Hatano (ep 33 – present) at Toei Animation, with Tadayoshi Yamamuro (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, Beet the Vandel Buster) providing character designs. The show is the first new Dragon Ball TV series to air since Dragon Ball GT in 1996.

Funimation describes the series as:

With Majin Buu defeated, Goku has taken a completely new role as a…radish farmer?! With Earth at peace, our heroes have settled into normal lives. But they can’t get too comfortable. Far away, a powerful God awakens to a prophecy revealing his demise at the hands of a formidable being. When his search for the Saiyan God brings him to Earth, can Goku and his friends take on their strongest foe yet?

Source: Twitter (YonkouProd), Toei Animation USA

About the author

Samantha Ferreira

Samantha Ferreira is Anime Herald’s founder and editor-in-chief. A Rhode Island native, Samantha has been an anime fan since 1992, and an active member of the anime press since 2002, when she began working as a reviewer for Anime Dream. She launched Anime Herald in 2010, and continues to oversee its operations to this day. Outside of journalism, Samantha actively studies the history of the North American anime fandom and industry, with a particular focus on the 2000s anime boom and bust. She’s a huge fan of all things Sakura Wars, and maintains series fansite Combat Revue Review when she has free time available. When not in the Anime Herald Discord, Samantha can typically be found on Bluesky.

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