Dragon Ball Super

***Dragon Ball Super*** (ドラゴンボール超（スーパー）, *Doragon Bōru Sūpā*) is an anime and manga series, produced by Toei Animation and written by Akira Toriyama, and a sequel to the original *Dragon Ball* franchise. It was announced on April 28, 2015. The anime ran from June 15, 2015 until March 25, 2018. The manga began its run on June 20, 2015 and is currently ongoing. The anime can be watched on hulu and Prime Video.

Uniquely, the *Dragon Ball Super* manga is considered to be a "canon sequel" (正統続編, *seitō zokuhen*; Literally meaning "legitimate sequel") to Akira Toriyama's *Dragon Ball* manga. Though the series initially adapted the eighteenth and nineteenth *Dragon Ball* movies, which were still under the *Dragon Ball Z* title, *Super* received its first feature film in December 2018.

## Plot

The story of *Dragon Ball Super* is set six months following aftermath of the Majin Boo Arc. The series adapts *Dragon Ball Z: God and God*, which introduces the Dragon Team to the Hakaishin Beerus and his attendant Whis. More importantly, it introduces Son Gokū to Super Saiyan God and begins his exploration of the realm of the gods. Subsequent arcs see the resurrection of Freeza, the reintroduction of the future's Trunks and his battle against the evil entity known as Gokū Black, and culminates when the twelve universes compete for survival in the Tournament of Power.

With the introduction of a *Dragon Ball Super* film, which continues the story beyond the Tournament of Power, a new story arc was announced.

## Anime

*See also: Dragon Ball Super Animation Credits and List of Dragon Ball Super episodes*

The anime series aired on Japan's Fuji TV and began running on July 5, 2015 and ended its run on March 25, 2018. Only June 15, 2015, the announcement was made that the main Japanese cast was reprising their roles for the new anime series. Additionally, two new characters—Champa and Vados—were introduced. *Chōzetsu ☆ Dynamic!!* and *Hello Hello Hello* were chosen to act as the anime's opening and ending themes respectively. Additionally, Norihito Sumitomo, the composer for both *Dragon Ball Z: God and God* and *Dragon Ball Z: Revival of "F"* will reprised his role as composer for the series' musical score.

The anime took place shortly after the defeat of Majin Boo and featured plot elements that led into the movie *Dragon Ball Z: Revival of "F"*. Additionally, Beerus and Whis, who debuted in *Dragon Ball Z: God and God*, became regular cast members in the new series.

## Manga

*See also: List of Volumes*

In addition to the anime, a manga adaptation of *Super* was announced and began running in the August 2015 issue of *V Jump* (released on June 20, 2015). The manga adaptation is done by Toyotarō and is canon to Akira Toriyama's original *Dragon Ball* manga. Toriyama is credited with the manga's "original story" (原作, *gensaku*), while Toyotarō is credited with the "manga" (漫画) itself, on the cover for the first chapter. The manga depicts some material not seen in, or has included minor events that play out differently from the anime series with the mixed materials, likely due to being run by Toyotarō. Eventually, it's announced on *Weekly Shōnen Jump* #45 issues that the manga will skip the entire Revival of "F" Arc and charge on ahead of the anime with the new Hakaishin Champa Arc.

The manga later received the English translation by Viz in June 2016 with the first chapters published on their website for free. Eventually, Viz announced their plan to release a print edition of the manga in spring 2017.

## Production

Toei is angling for a 150-episode minimum for the new anime series, but they're pushing for anywhere between 100-150 episodes, a stark contrast to current anime of the time. This was later confirmed when Toei listed the anime at 150 episodes.

During the run of the God and God Arc, North Kaiō and Opening narrator's voice actor Jōji Yanami leaved his role to Naoki Tatsuta (Oolong's voice actor). Yanami has been on indefinite leave since episode 12.

On february 2016, a unknown scriptwriter under the pen name of *King Ryū* was charged by Toei with the responsibility of series composition for the Hakaishin Champa Arc for the Dragon Ball Super TV series. During this time the series undergoes another significant change, Morio Hatano is appointed the role of series director alongside Kimitoshi Chioka, starting from episodes 33 onward.

As of the "Future Trunks Arc", Akira Toriyama himself detailed how the process of writing the new anime goes:

During the begining of the "Future Trunks Arc" series director Kimitoshi Chioka steps down his postion, leaving his co-director Morio Hatano and the series sole director.

On October 22 2016 anime streaming service Crunchyroll, Daisuki and AnimeLab began an English-subtitled simulcast for Dragon Ball Super on their respective platforms starting with episode 63 as well as offering the full "Future Trunks arc" (beginning with episode 47). Starting on October 30, the platforms would offer 10 of the earlier episodes per week.
The streaming became available on Crunchyroll in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand for both free users and subscription members and Crunchyroll subscription members only in Latin America and South Africa. Daisuki would stream the series in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe (except for some countries) for free users and members. AnimeLab will stream the series in Australia and New Zealand for free users and members.

On November 4th 2016, FUNimation announces their acquisition of the TV series to simiulcast new subtitled episodes on their “FunimationNow” service each Saturday, as well as to produce an English dub.

From episode 68 onward Hatano Kouhei joins the series as Co-Director alongside Hatano Morio.. After episode 76 both Kouhei and Morio would leave as series director, with Ryōta Nakamura and Tatsuya Nagamine taking over as series director up until the last episode of the anime.

On December 7th 2016, Toei Animation Inc., Funimation© Entertainment and Adult Swim announced their partnership to bring “Dragon Ball Super” to TV audiences in January of 2018. Adult Swim would begin airing the U.S. English dub of “Dragon Ball Super” Season 1 during the Toonami block starting on January 7, 2017 at 8 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. ET. Season 1, which totals 26 episodes, encompassing the God and God and Resurrection F story arcs with new episodes of “Dragon Ball Super” airing each Saturday.
On the third week of December 15th 2016, the official *Dragon Ball Super* website revealed the key visual and brief synopsis for the Universe Survival Arc.

On November 16, 2017, Hiromi Tsuru, mostly known as voice actress of Bulma passed away at age 57, the cause of dead being attributed to aortic dissection.

## Dubbed

On November 10, 2015, it was announced that *Dragon Ball Super* will receive the English-language world premiere by Toonami Asia in mid-2016. On October 19, 2016, Toei Animation announced that an official English sub of the series will air on Crunchyroll, Daisuki website, and Anime Lab beginning from episode 63.

## Arcs

The arcs were first named after the movies they cover, specifically, *Dragon Ball Z: God and God* and *Dragon Ball Z: Revival of "F"*, before introducing the completely new materials. The arcs are as follows:

* God and God Arc
* Revival of "F" Arc
* Hakaishin Champa Arc
* "Future" Trunks Arc
* Universe Survival Arc

## Reception

The initial reception for *Dragon Ball Super* has been relatively mixed, but episode five was notably despised due to the low-quality animation. The original series author, Akira Toriyama, likely had his complaints about the quality of the new series himself. The average audience TV rating in Japan was 5.6% (Kanto region), peaking at 8.4% (Episode 47) and with the lowest rating being 3.5% (Episodes 109-110). By the end of its run the series reached a weighted score of 7.77 on myanimelist.com. The series holds an 8.3 on IMDb, based on over 34,000 votes.

## Trivia

* Rather notably, character heights have been portrayed as inconsistent in between the *Dragon Ball* manga, the *Dragon Ball Z* anime, and *Dragon Ball Super*. Vegeta and Kulilin having come up to No. 18's jawline in the original manga and anime, but now barely reaching his wife's shoulder in *Dragon Ball Super*.

## References

1. ↑ New “Dragon Ball Super” TV Series Announced For 2015 by Kanzenshuu
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 History of Dragon Ball at the Tokyo Skytree + Viz North America Tour
3. ↑  @Herms98 (Todd Frankenship) on Twitter "This is the same wall display Viz translated, right? In which case it seems the Japanese phrasing for "canon sequel" is 正統続編, if that hadn't been established already. You could also translate it as "proper sequel" or "legitimate sequel". I think translating it as "canon sequel" is reasonable, if only because that's how those concepts are typically phrased in English these days. That is, it's not like Shueisha and/or Toei suddenly started using the word "canon". Rather, they said "this is a legit sequel" (in slightly fancy marketing copy language) and that got translated into English using the word "canon" because that's how English fandom talks. While GT is typically called a 続編, to my knowledge it's never been referred to as a 正統続編 the way Super is here."
4. ↑ “Dragon Ball Super” Complete Showcase Event Reveals Series Plot
5. ↑ Tokyo Skytree + Viz North America Tour (2018-19)
6. ↑ Dragon Ball Z Toei Press Release
7. ↑ “Dragon Ball Super” Logo Revealed?
8. ↑ Dragon Ball Super Main Visual Reveals 2 New Characters
9. ↑ Kazuya Yoshii and Good Morning America to Perform "Dragon Ball Super" Themes
10. ↑ Composer Returns To Score Dragon Ball Super TV Series
11. ↑ Dragon Ball Super: Additional Plot Details, 1st Episode Summary Revealed
12. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* manga launches next month
13. ↑ 鳥山明ストーリー原案の「ドラゴンボール」新アニメ、Vジャンでコミカライズ
14. ↑ Dragon Ball Super manga announced
15. ↑ “Dragon Ball Super” Manga Moves Ahead with Champa Material
16. ↑ Viz Announces “Dragon Ball Super” Manga Print Edition For 2017 Release
17. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* To Have 100-200 Episodes, Latest Movie Breaks Japanese Box Office Records
18. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* Toei Animation Europe
19. ↑ “Dragon Ball Super” Voice Update: Naoki Tatsuta as Kaiō & Narrator
20. ↑ Scriptwriter King Ryū Named Series Composer For Champa Arc
21. ↑ Morio Hatano Appointed New "Dragon Ball Super" Series Director
22. ↑ “Future Trunks Arc” Announced For “Dragon Ball Super”
23. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* episode 47 opening credits
24. ↑ Dragon Ball Super to Simulcast on Crunchyroll, Daisuki, AnimeLab
25. ↑ Funimation to Produce English Dub of New Series
26. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* episode 68 opening credits
27. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* episode 77 - 131 opening credits
28. ↑ http://www.funimation.com/blog/2016/12/07/english-dub-of-dragon-ball-super-hit-anime-series-to-premiere-on-adult-swims-toonami-january-7-2017-at-8-p-m-and-1130-p-m-et/ ENGLISH DUB OF “DRAGON BALL SUPER” HIT ANIME SERIES TO PREMIERE ON ADULT SWIM’S TOONAMI JANUARY 7, 2017 at 8 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. ET
29. ↑ “Dragon Ball Super” Upcoming “Universe Survival Arc” Key Visual & Synopsis Released
30. ↑ Voice Actress Hiromi Tsuru Passes Away
31. ↑ PRESS RELEASE: Toonami Asia Picks Up Dragon Ball Super
32. ↑ Dragon Ball Super English Sub Announced
33. ↑ Japanese Fans Are Not Happy With The Animation In 'Dragon Ball Super'
34. ↑ Dragon Ball “Super History Book” – Akira Toriyama Introduction
35. ↑ Episode Guide|Dragon Ball Super TV Series
36. ↑ https://myanimelist.net/anime/30694/Dragon\_Ball\_Super
37. ↑ [1]

## External Links

* Dragon Ball Super Official Website
* Dragon Ball Super Official Twitter