For a good decade, there hasn’t been a year that hasn’t been marked by a Dragon Ball announcement. Likewise, there isn’t a year that goes by that we haven’t been spared false rumors from the fan community, like Xenoverse 3 in 2024. But this time, it’s Akio Iyokuthe executive producer of the latest Dragon Ball films and series, who discreetly discusses the future of Dragon Ball in 2025among other topics.
What is Dragon Ball planning in 2025?
Fans of Dragon Ball had a difficult year last year, marked by the loss of Akira Toriyama and the manga being put on hold Dragon Ball Super Since. However, 2025 is shaping up to be a year of rebirth for the franchise, if the clues left by the producer Akio Iyoku are confirmed.
The executive producer of the franchise Dragon Ball participated in a Japanese radio show, All Night Nipponon the occasion of the broadcast Dragon Ball 40th Anniversary Special. During this intervention, the replay of which is available on the radio channel, he answered several questions, mainly on Always and other projects in progress. Asked about future projects, Iyoku was obviously more discreet, but he still delivered an intriguing answer, suggesting thatone or more Dragon Ball projects could be announced in 2025. The interview was summarized by Andy (@Peraperayume) on X (formerly Twitter), offering several interesting tidbits for fans:
Summary of Akio Iyoku’s declarations for 2025
- His role as executive producer primarily concerns the animated series as a whole, but he is also involved in other projects, including games. He also thinks about ideas, like how to evolve the story.
- His two favorite characters: Piccolo et Karin (it’s just a little sad that Karin hasn’t had much screen time recently since everyone is mostly going to God’s Palace).
- With everyone getting stronger and stronger, Iyoku thought about what he could do with it. Piccolo. So he consulted Toriyama, and this is how Super Hero was born.
- Although he is confident in his knowledge of the Dragon Ball universe, he admits he would probably fail if given a quiz (Editor’s note: On the fans’ side, it’s insulting when we forget the name of the father of Tenshinhan’s cousin’s uncle).
- When asked if the Penguin Village in Dr. Slump was inspired by Kira-chou (a town neighboring Toriyama’s home), Iyoku responded that there were actually no real models. It’s more about possible influences or inspirations, but when someone brought up the example of Arale singing a Nishio festival song, Iyoku laughed and admitted that he might be wrong about that! (Editor’s note: Proof that we should not necessarily take officials’ statements literally!)
- Iyoku is aware of the passion of Dragon Ball fans overseas, as he has attended Dragon Ball events outside of Japan. When asked which cosplay he noticed the most, he obviously cited Goku (or at least the people wearing his dougi), but he also found it interesting to see Master Roshi (or Awesome Turtle).
- When talking about the difficulty of creating new games, he explained that it’s not fair “we’re doing it, and it will be ready next year”. In reality, this can take 3-5 years, so sometimes it makes more sense to offer DLC as well, like with dbz kakarotto keep players interested.
- He claims that Dragon Ball Daima is a good point of return for old fans, but also a gateway for new fans thanks to a different setting compared to recent works of Dragon Ball Super.
- The red characters in the episode titles of Always have some kind of meaning or something to think about, but Iyoku can’t reveal anything about it yet.
- Rather than just shrinking the size of a single character, they thought it would be more fun to shrink everyone at once, like when they reunite after the events of Buu.
- When Nozawa did the Kamehameha pose at Jump Festa, Iyoku had the impression that the entire room was going to explode, which reassured him about the good health of the actress who lends her voice to Goku.
- He cannot speak of the date on which the last episode will be broadcast of Dragon Ball Daima (or how long the series will last).
- When asked about other films, games, etc., he said that there “could” be announcements this year.
- He mentioned the back cover of the Saikyo Jump drawn by Oda, which comes out this month. In general, most of the mangakas in this project were influenced by Toriyama.
- Final Thoughts: Since it’s New Year’s, he recommends rewatching all 12 episodes of Always available so far, enjoy the games and looking forward to 2025. The host of the show said something like “There will be something, right? »and Iyoku responded with a ” something… “again hinting that an announcement could be coming.
Now that you’ve had Andy (@Peraperayume)’s transcript of Akio Iyoku’s interview, what can we expect that’s so special for 2025 in terms of gaming or anime? The announcement of a new movie ? The return (logical) of the anime Dragon Ball Super ?
One thing is sure, the Dragon Ball Super manga returns in February 2025 at least for a one-shot chapter, but we already know that. In addition, Akio Iyoku does not take care of the manga branch, and therefore does not have direct interaction with Toyotaro and the Shueisha teams.
A Dragon Ball film for 2025?
The announcement of a new film would not be surprising. During the interview, Iyoku strongly implied that an announcement related to Dragon Ball will take place in 2025, a statement reiterated before the show ended. Combining this with other information, such as the latest financial report of Toei Animationone might expect a film.
Indeed, the recent Toei Animation financial report reveals that two new animated films are planned for the 2026 fiscal year, i.e. an exit between April 2025 and March 2026. However, we don’t know what franchise it isbut this would coincide with the usual deadline of 3 to 4 years between the films of Dragon Ball et One Piece.
But beware, it’s possible that these films are based on other flagship Toei series like Digimon or PreCure. However, with the 40th anniversary of the Dragon Ball anime in 2026 and the overwhelming popularity of One Piece, we are safe from anything.
Other Dragon Ball projects in 2025
Although Iyoku’s exact words are not available, their translation suggests that other projects Dragon Ball could be announced in 2025. Given that Dragon Ball Daima is expected to end this year, it is also possible that an announcement will be made regarding the future of the anime, whether it is a second season of Daima or, why not, the highly anticipated return of the series Dragon Ball Superto adapt the remaining arcs of the manga.
Regardless, Dragon Ball fans can rejoice: this year promises to bring its share of surprises, despite the absence of Akira Toriyama.
