Summary
- Toyotaro, chosen by Toriyama, is regarded as his successor to continue the Dragon Ball Super story.
- Potential legal battles may complicate Toyotaro’s involvement with Dragon Ball Super after Toriyama’s death.
- The manga remains on hiatus, with fans awaiting news in April upon Volume 24’s release for a possible return.
Dragon Ball Super had some good news this year, but they are still expecting a proper date for the manga to resume serialization. Now that Dragon Ball Daima is over, the fans are once again turning to Super, the official sequel to the story (or, at least, one of them).
Daima caused an uproar in the franchise because it contradicts (or retcons, depending on your point of view) some of the events shown in Super. Dragon Ball fans are now discussing which stories are canon to the manga chronology. So, from this perspective, how “canon” are things written by Toyotaro?
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Toyotaro Was Chosen By Toriyama
Toyotaro is a longtime fan of Dragon Ball who has written DB doujinshi (fanzines) under the name Toyble. One of his most famous fanzines is the Dragon Ball AF manga (he was not the one who started the rumor, though).
His first official work in the Dragon Ball franchise was the manga Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission (and he has written other Dragon Ball Heroes manga since then). He was later offered to draw Dragon Ball Super, in which, until March 2024, Toriyama wrote plot outlines, and Toyotaro drew the story. Although Toyotaro was free to change things as he saw fit, Toriyama checked his storyboards and fixed anything he thought that was wrong.
In an interview with the French Journal de Mickey, Toyotaro explicitly said that Toriyama saw him as his successor:
My manga was popular and, then, in 2015, Shueisha offered me to draw Dragon Ball Super. I was impressed when I met Akira Toriyama-sensei. He cheered me up, saying that my work was delicate, and that I was full of ideas. He has chosen me as his successor. It is a great honor.
Possible Issues Emerging After Toriyama’s Death
While it seems that Toriyama was preparing Toyotaro to eventually succeed him, his death may have complicated things a bit. Reportedly, Shueisha and Capsule Corporation Tokyo are in a legal battle over the rights to the franchise.
According to rumors, most of this litigation is about Dragon Ball Super, which is said to be (at least partially) owned by Shueisha. For this reason, Capsule Corporation may decide to stay away from Toyotaro, at least until things are settled, to avoid further problems with Shueisha (and Toyotaro might also want some distance from CC Tokyo for the same reason).
Toyotaro was apparently not involved in Dragon Ball Daima, but Akio Iyuko has stated that Toriyama wrote almost all of it when he was still alive, so there might have been no need to involve Toyotaro in this series.
Even if Toriyama saw him as his successor, fans who eventually dislike the way he handles the story in the future will probably use the “not canon anymore” card to validate their opinions.
Does Super Being Canon Mean Daima Is Not?
Akira Toriyama was involved in both Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Daima, and they are both sequels to the original story. While there may be minor contradictions, they could fit into the same timeline.
If ‘canon’ is determined by which stories the author considers “official” to their own story, then both stories should be considered canon. However, it may be time to abandon the idea of a “canon Dragon Ball timeline”.
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When Will Dragon Ball Super Return?
After Toriyama’s death, Dragon Ball Super went into a long hiatus. A new chapter, which, despite being announced as a special one-shot, was later confirmed to be the continuation of the story (at least it is labeled as Chapter 104, and not as a bonus chapter), and fans expected that the following chapter would be scheduled for anytime soon, but that didn’t happen. This means that DBS is once again on an indefinite hiatus.
Even though, fans still hope to get some good news in April, when Volume 24 ships in Japan. If Toyotaro eventually nods to Daima in upcoming chapters, it may be a final hint that he will indeed continue the story as Toriyama’s successor. Most fans already consider him as such, anyway.
Dragon Ball Super is streaming on Crunchyroll, subbed in many languages. The manga is licensed in the US by VIZ Media.
Dragon Ball Super
- Release Date
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2015 – 2018
- Showrunner
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Tatsuya Nagamine
- Directors
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Tatsuya Nagamine
- Writers
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Tatsuya Nagamine, Akira Toriyama
