Dragon Ball Super
A 131-episode anime television series adaptation produced by Toei Animation aired in Japan from July 2015 to March 2018. A sequel film, "", was released in December 2018 and became the highest-grossing anime film of the franchise. A second film, "", will release in June 2022. Plot. Several months after the defeat of Majin Buu, Goku is seen working as a farmer, and his family and friends live peacefully. However, the God of Destruction Beerus awakens after decades of slumber. Beerus, along with his Angel assistant and teacher, Whis, seeks a warrior known as the Super Saiyan  God, threatening to destroy the Earth if he loses to him. Goku transforms into the Super Saiyan God with the help of his friends, battles Beerus and loses, but his efforts appease Beerus, who spares the planet. Afterwards, while Goku and Vegeta train, with Whis as their teacher, the remnants of Frieza's army collect the Dragon Balls and revive Frieza. After training, Frieza returns to Earth, seeking revenge. Despite achieving the Golden Frieza transformation, he is defeated by Goku and Vegeta, who have mastered the Super Saiyan Blue transformation. In spite, Frieza destroys the Earth, but Whis reverses time , allowing Goku to slay Frieza. Champa, Beerus' brother and the God of Destruction of Universe Six, convinces Beerus to hold a tournament between the best fighters from their universes. The reward for the winner is the Super Dragon Balls, planet-sized Dragon Balls with nearly unlimited wish-granting abilities. Champa intends to swap Universe Six's barren Earth with Universe Seven's for their cuisine. Goku and his friends join the tournament. The tournament reaches its climax in a match between Goku and Hit. Unable to fight Hit at full power, Goku forfeits the match. Hit forfeits the final match , and Universe Seven wins. Beerus secretly wishes for the Super Dragon Balls to restore Universe Six's Earth. Goku meets and befriends Lord Zenō, the Omni-King of all universes, and promises to bring him a friend. Later, Future Trunks reappears, with news of an enemy who resembles Goku, known as Goku Black. They discover that Goku Black is Zamasu, a Supreme Kai apprentice from Universe Ten, who used the Super Dragon Balls to steal Goku's body from a different timeline, as part of his plan to wipe out every mortal. Ultimately, Zamasu and the future timeline are erased  from existence by Future Zenō, who accompanies Goku back to the present, where he becomes Present Zenō's friend. Future Trunks leaves for an alternate timeline. Later, both Zenōs hold the Tournament of Power, where teams of fighters from eight of the twelve universes battle, with defeated universes being erased. Goku, his friends, Android 17, and a temporarily revived Frieza join the tournament. They battle formidable warriors, such as Universe Eleven's Jiren. Goku attains a new form known as Ultra Instinct, allowing him to fight unconsciously. The tournament ends with Goku and Frieza eliminating Jiren along with themselves, leaving  Android 17 as the winner for Universe 7. He is awarded one wish from the Super Dragon Balls, and restores the erased universes. Frieza is permanently revived. Frieza and his rebuilt army seek the Dragon Balls. During his search, Frieza meets two exiled Saiyan survivors, Broly and his father Paragus, the latter of whom wants revenge on Vegeta for his father exiling Broly before the Saiyan homeworld's destruction. Broly overpowers both Goku and Vegeta, until they fuse into "Gogeta". However, before Gogeta can kill Broly, he is saved by Frieza's henchmen Cheelai and Lemo. Frieza flees Earth, vowing  revenge. Goku and Vegeta are asked by the Galactic Patrol to recapture the fugitive Moro. In New Namek, Moro defeats them and uses the Namekians' Dragon Balls to restore his abilities and release all criminals in the Patrol's custody. Moro and the convicts rampage while Goku and Vegeta prepare for a rematch. Goku learns to use Ultra Instinct at will, while Vegeta heads to Planet Yardrat. Moro leads his army to Earth, and Goku's allies make a stand until Goku and Vegeta arrive and overpower him. In desperation, Moro fuses with the Earth, threatening to self-destruct. After  absorbing energy fused by Vegeta's new powers, Goku slays Moro, saving the Earth. Goku and Vegeta return to training. As Whis trains Goku to master Ultra Instinct, Beerus trains Vegeta in Destruction. Meanwhile, a Cerelian mercenary named Granolah learns from his employers, the Heeters, that Frieza is alive, and vows to destroy him and avenge his home planet of Cereal. Granolah uses his planet's Dragon Balls to become the strongest warrior in the universe, at the cost of his lifespan. The Heeters manipulate Goku and Vegeta into fighting Granolah. While Goku and Granolah fight, Vegeta recognizes Granolah, and  realizes the Heeters' deception. Granolah defeats Goku, and Vegeta fights Granolah, gaining the upper hand with a new transformation, Ultra Ego. Granolah develops his own abilities through battle, overwhelming Vegeta. Meanwhile, the Heeters search for the Cerealian Dragon Balls. Granolah defeats and prepares to kill Vegeta, but is stopped by his foster-father, the Namekian Monaito, who reveals that Bardock, Goku's father, had saved them during Frieza's attack on Cereal forty years prior. During the attack, the Heeters, who were behind Cereal's destruction, killed Granolah's mother Muezli. Bardock saved Monaito and Granolah, defeating the youngest Heeter  Gas. In the present, the Heeters Oil, Maki and Gas then arrive to finish off Granolah, Monaito, Goku and Vegeta, with Gas having become the strongest warrior in the universe, through a wish made to the Cerealian Dragon. Gas easily defeats Granolah and Goku as Vegeta goes to retrieve a Senzu bean. Vegeta feeds the bean to Granolah, who confronts Gas, fighting him evenly. After Granolah lands a critical blow to Gas, Elec arrives and removes Gas' pendant that was suppressing his powers. Gas goes berserk and loses control, beating down Granolah and Vegeta and even hits Oil and Maki . Through Elec's instructions, Gas regains control of himself, ready to finish off Granolah and the others. With Granolah and Vegeta incapacitated, Goku faces Gas and uses Instant Teleportation to lure Gas away from Cereal. Goku returns to Cereal and with Granolah, Vegeta and Monaito retreat to Monaito's house to recuperate. Monaito gives Goku and Vegeta Bardock's scouter, which contains an audio recording of his fight with Gas. Through sheer will and determination, Bardock gains new strength and power in the fight against Gas. After landing a critical blow, Bardock unleashes a devastating attack on Gas and defeats  him. Heavily injured, Bardock escapes from Elec after learning about the Saiyans' inevitable doom. Production. In addition to his role as the series creator, Akira Toriyama is also credited for the "original story and character design concepts" of the new anime originally directed by Kimitoshi Chioka. Toriyama elaborated on his involvement with the "Future Trunks arc" saying he created the story based on suggestions from the editorial department, "As with last time, I wrote the overall plot outline, and the scriptwriters have been compiling and expanded the story content into individual episodes, making various changes and additions, and generally doing  their best to make the story more interesting." In addition to new characters designed by Toriyama, other characters for the "Universe Survival arc" were designed by Toyotarou, artist of the manga version, and a few by both. Toei Animation producer Atsushi Kido previously worked on "Dragon Ball Z" for a brief time during the Freeza arc, while Fuji TV producer Osamu Nozaki said he has been a fan of the series since childhood. Morio Hatano, series director of "Saint Seiya Omega" (episodes #1–51), began sharing the series director credit with Chioka beginning with episode #28, before taking it over completely  with #47. From episode #47 to #76, Morio Hatano shared the role of series director with Kōhei Hatano (no relation), another storyboard artist and episode director for the series. Masako Nozawa reprises her roles as Son Goku, Son Gohan, and Son Goten. Most of the original cast reprise their roles as well. However, Jōji Yanami's roles as Kaiō-sama and the narrator were indefinitely taken over by Naoki Tatsuta as of episode 12, so that Yanami could take medical leave. Kōichi Yamadera and Masakazu Morita also return as Beerus and Whis, respectively. The first preview of the series aired  on June 14, 2015, following episode 164 of "Dragon Ball Z Kai". The next day, the main promotional image for "Dragon Ball Super" was added to its official website and unveiled two new characters, who were later revealed to be named Champa and Vados, respectively. A thirty-second trailer including the new characters was uploaded to the series' official website on June 26, 2015. The anime began airing on July 5, 2015 and was broadcast on Sundays at 9:00 a.m. on Fuji TV. On January 19, 2018, it was revealed that "Super"'s timeslot would be replaced with "GeGeGe no  Kitarō" starting on April 1, 2018. According to Amazon Japan, the final Blu-ray set indicated the series' end at episode 131. The series ended on March 25, 2018, with the conclusion of the "Universe Survival Saga". Fuji TV stated that no definite plans were made to either continue the series at a later date or discontinue it entirely. English production and broadcasting. "Dragon Ball Super" received an English-language dub that premiered on the Toonami channel in Southeast Asia and India on January 21, 2017. This dub is produced by Los Angeles based Bang Zoom! Entertainment for the Asian  market. A sneak preview of the English dub's first episode aired on December 17, 2016. Production on the Bang Zoom! dub ended after episode 27 as Toonami Asia and India ceased transmission. On November 4, 2016, Funimation announced the company acquired the rights to "Dragon Ball Super" and would be producing an English dub, with many cast members of their previous English-language releases of "Dragon Ball" media reprising their respective roles. As well as officially announcing the dub, it was also announced they would be simulcasting the series on their streaming platform, "FunimationNow". On December 7, 2016, IGN  reported that the Funimation English dub of "Dragon Ball Super" would air on Adult Swim Saturdays at 8 p.m. with an encore showing in their Toonami block later that night at 11:30 p.m. starting on January 7, 2017 alongside "Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters". This was later confirmed on Toonami's official Facebook page. The United States premiere of "Dragon Ball Super" obtained 1,063,000 viewers for its 8 p.m. showing on Adult Swim. The English-subtitled simulcast of "Dragon Ball Super" was made available in North America and Europe through Crunchyroll and Daisuki. Following the closure of Daisuki , the hosted "Dragon Ball Super" episodes were transferred to the "Dragon Ball Super Card Game" website in February 2018 and was available until March 29, 2019. Cartoon Network Africa began airing the anime in April 2020 in South Africa at 16:45 CAT. In Australia, ABC Me started airing "Dragon Ball Super" on November 3, 2018, with a new episode every Saturday at 2:45 pm. In the United Kingdom, the series aired on Pop from July 1, 2019, with episodes first airing at 7pm on weekdays. Music. Norihito Sumitomo, the composer for "Battle of Gods" and "Resurrection 'F"', is scoring  Dragon Ball Super. An original soundtrack for the anime was released on CD by Nippon Columbia on February 24, 2016. The first opening theme song for episodes 1 to 76 is by Kazuya Yoshii of The Yellow Monkey in both Japanese and English. The lyrics were penned by Yukinojo Mori who has written numerous songs for the "Dragon Ball" series. The second opening theme song for episodes 77 to 131 is by enka singer Kiyoshi Hikawa in Japanese and Nathan Sharp in English. Mori wrote the lyrics for the rock song, while Takafumi Iwasaki composed the music. The first ending  theme song for episodes 1 to 12 is by Japanese rock band Good Morning America in Japanese and Jonathan Young in English. The second ending theme song for episodes 13 to 25 is by the group Key Talk in Japanese and ProfessorShyguy in English. The third ending song for episodes 26 to 36 is by the band Lacco Tower in Japanese and Jeff Smith in English. The fourth ending theme song for episodes 37 to 49 is "Forever Dreaming" by Czecho No Republic in Japanese and Mystery Skulls in English. The fifth ending theme song for episodes 50 to 59  is by idol group Batten Showjo Tai in Japanese and Dani Artaud in English. The sixth ending theme song for episodes 60 to 72 is by Arukara in Japanese and Elliot Coleman in English. The seventh ending theme song for episodes 73 to 83 is by The Collectors in Japanese and William Kubley in English. The eighth ending theme song for episodes 84 to 96 is "Boogie Back" by Miyu Inoue and Lizzy Land in English. The ninth ending theme song for episodes 97 to 108 is by Lacco Tower in Japanese and Zachary J. Willis in English. The tenth  ending theme song for episodes 109 to 121 is by RottenGraffty in Japanese and Lawrence B. Park in English. The eleventh ending theme song for episodes 122 to 131 is "Lagrima" by OnePixcel in Japanese and Amanda Lee in English. Media. Manga. "Dragon Ball Super" is illustrated by artist Toyotarou, who was previously responsible for the official "Resurrection 'F"' manga adaptation, began serialization in the August 2015 issue of "V Jump", which was released on June 20, 2015. Toyotarou explained that he receives the major plot points from Toriyama, before drawing the storyboard and filling in the details in between  himself. He sends the storyboard to Toriyama for review, who edits the initial draft, making dialogue and art changes, before sending it back to Toyotarou, who illustrates the final draft and sends it to Shueisha for publication. Beginning in November 2018, after covering the last story arc from the "Super" anime series, the manga began its own original story arcs. Shueisha began collecting the chapters into "tankōbon" volumes. Viz Media began posting free English translations of the manga chapters to their website on June 24, 2016. A print release of the first volume followed in spring 2017. The first volume  was released on April 4, 2016. Anime. The anime television series was produced by Toei Animation, with individual episodes written by different screenwriters, and aired on Fuji TV from July 2015 to March 2018. The first 27 episodes readapt the events of the "" and "" films. The series ran for 131 episodes, broadcast from July 5, 2015 to March 25, 2018, on FNS (Fuji TV). Films. An animated film, "", was the first film in the "Dragon Ball" franchise to be produced under the "Super" chronology. Released on December 14, 2018, most of the film is set after the "Universe Survival" story  arc (the beginning of the movie takes place in the past). A poster showcasing the film's new art style was released on March 12, 2018. A teaser depicting Goku facing off against Broly was released a week later. The first trailer was released at San Diego Comic-Con International 2018. The second trailer was released on October 4, 2018. The English version of the second trailer was released on October 5, 2018. A second "Dragon Ball Super" film has been confirmed to be in pre-production as of June 4, 2019 by Toei executive Akio Iyoku. Iyoku feels that  the film "will probably be totally different [from "Broly"]." On May 8, 2021, Toei Animation announced that the second film will feature an original story and will be released in 2022. On July 23, 2021, the sequel’s official title was revealed as "". Home video. In Japan, the anime series was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Happinet between December 2015 and July 2018, with each "Box" also containing textless opening and closing credits sequences and packaged with a booklet. In North America, Funimation began releasing the series from July 2017, again on both DVD and Blu-ray, containing  both English-dubbed and English-subtitled Japanese versions; the Blu-ray releases generally also contain interviews with the English cast and textless opening/closing credits sequences. Funimation's localized releases are distributed in the United Kingdom and Australasia by Manga Entertainment and Madman Entertainment respectively. Merchandise. Bandai announced that a line of "Dragon Ball Super" toys would be available in the United States in summer 2017. Bandai has also announced the updated "Dragon Ball Super Card Game" that starts with one starter deck, one special pack containing 4 booster packs and a promotional Vegeta card and a booster box with  24 packs. It was released on July 28, 2017. A line of six "Dragon Ball Super" Happy Meal toys were made available at Japanese McDonald's restaurants in May 2017. Reception. Anime reception. First impressions of the series' debut episode were mostly positive with the quality of animation being praised the most. Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku praised the series' title sequence and said "My middle-school self is so happy right now, you guys." Jamieson Cox of "The Verge" also praised the title sequence and said that ""Dragon Ball Super"'s intro will have you begging for its North American  release". Cox was also surprised that, considering how popular the franchise is, the series did not launch internationally at the same time. He called it "a move that wouldn't be unprecedented" giving "Sailor Moon Crystal" as an example. However, the fifth episode received harsh criticism from Japanese and Western audiences due to its poor animation style compared to the previous four episodes. These problems continued at episode twenty-four, and several more episodes onward. "Dragon Ball Kai" and "Resurrection 'F"' producer Norihiro Hayashida felt that the criticism was overblown. He said that people were criticizing the entire series based  on a few bad sequences that were done by new animators. He went on to explain a quality decline in the anime industry that he believes is the result of studios cutting time given for post-production and not allowing for reviews of the final product. Despite this, the "Champa Arc" was praised for improving its animation. Episode 39 was noted improved animation and praised fighting sequences. Attack of the Fanboy reported that "Dragon Ball Super" episode 39 may be the best installment of the series to date. Goku and Hit's fight "starts off explosively from the get-go ." The "Future Trunks Arc" also garnered positive response from fans and critics alike. IGN's Shawn Saris acclaiming Episode 66, stating that, "Episode 66 of "Dragon Ball Super" has a few missteps but ultimately leads to a great final battle with Zamasu." "Anime News Network" criticized the poor animation and narrative quoted as "shameless soap opera" based on the handling of the cast. The final arc, "Universe Survival Arc," garnered much more positive reception than previous arcs. Several episodes such as 109/110 and 116 have been cited as some of the Super series' best episodes; Despite this praise, Jay Gibbs  of ComicsVerse criticized the series for its inconsistent narrative, having heard "an explanation within an episode, then see that very explanation invalidated seconds later." Episodes 130 and 131 were live streamed in various cities across Latin American countries including Mexico, El Salvador, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua for free in public venues. The public screenings drew large record audiences, which included filling stadiums in Mexico and other Latin American countries, with each screening drawing audiences numbering in the thousands to the tens of thousands. Even though the fan reaction has been positive, "Dragon Ball Super" has been criticized by fans for  lacking the blood and gore that was present in its predecessor "Dragon Ball Z". This is, however, due to the fact that the series is targeted towards a younger demographic than the previous installments, and as such, censorship would not allow such content to be shown on a television program targeted towards children. A "Dragon Ball Super" episode received a major complaint by the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization as the part of the story involved Master Roshi making multiple sexual attacks on the female character Yurin. Accolades. 2017 Crunchyroll Anime Awards: 2018 Crunchyroll Anime Awards: Manga reception. All  four volumes of "Dragon Ball Super"s manga adaptation have charted on Oricon's weekly list of the best-selling manga; volumes one and two sold 29,995 and 56,947 copies in their debut weeks respectively. Volume three was the fourth best-selling for its week with 92,114 copies sold, and volume four was fourth its week with 150,889. According to Nielsen BookScan, the English version of volume one was the second best-selling graphic novel of May 2017, the ninth of June, the fourteenth of July, and the eighteenth of August. "Dragon Ball Super" volume 4 topped NPD BookScan's graphic  novels list for January 2019. In Japan, the manga's tankōbon volumes 1 and 2 sold 594,342 copies , volume 3 sold 236,720 copies , volume 4 sold 267,417 copies , volume 5 sold 400,000 copies , volume 6 sold 216,871 copies , volume 7 sold 208,796 copies , volume 8 sold 314,269 copies , volume 9 sold 188,027 copies , volume 10 sold 196,204 copies , volume 11 sold 119,283 copies , volume 12 sold 146,305 copies , volume 13 sold 155,095 copies , volumen 14 sold 95,101 copies and volumen 15 sold 150,971 copies . According to Oricon's Yearly Sales Ranking 2020 - Top 50, Dragon Ball Super ranked at #38  with Yearly Sales - 1,019,655 Copies Sales. This adds up to at least 3,289,401 tankōbon copies sold in Japan . Tom Speelman of ComicsAlliance noted that Toyotarou's condensed and altered versions of the "Battle of Gods" and "Resurrection 'F"' arcs made it a lot easier to speed through and added suspense. He also said that for the first time he could not decide whether the anime or manga was superior.