Dragon Ball’s 40th Anniversary: 2024 Marks a Milestone for the Franchise Despite Akira Toriyama’s Absence

2024 should have been a celebration for Dragon Ball fans, but fate had it otherwise. On March 8, the whole world learned of the disappearance of Akira Toriyama, who died a week earlier. Since then, tributes have multiplied to the man who greatly contributed to the popularity of manga beyond the borders of Japan. However, despite this tragic announcement which makes fans inconsolable, 2024 has everything to be one of the most important years for Dragon Ball in a long timeas if to pay homage to Akira Toriyama and his work in the most beautiful way.

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Dragon Ball Daima, Goku's return to anime!

Announced since October 13, 2023, Dragon Ball Daima is the biggest Dragon Ball project of 2024 for more than one reason. First of all, it marks the return of the franchise as an anime series for the first time since 2015 and the end of Dragon Ball Super which still gave rise to two animated films subsequently (Broly and Super Hero ). But what makes Daima so exciting is becauseThis is a recent Dragon Ball project in which Akira Toriyama was particularly involvedsomething rare enough to be highlighted.

As soon as the project was announced, we discovered in a letter that the master himself expressed his personal and unusual involvement by specifying that he took care of the story, the environments and many designs. In the past, we remember that Akira Toriyama often moved away from Dragon Ball after the end of the manga in 1995 and that he was no longer too interested in his work. So to see him return to such a project with so much investment there is reason to be pleasantly surprised! And even for those who are not convinced by the story of this series, nor by the design of the characters.

As a reminder, after the Boo arc, Goku and his friends become children again following the curse of a mysterious wizard and they have to go on an adventure to lift this evil spell. If this looks like the starting point of the unloved Dragon Ball GT, it mostly feels like a return to the roots of Dragon Ball, when Goku was little with his magic staff and cloud. So, no transformation is expected, no race for power, it is adventure that seems to be the word of this new saga. Dragon Ball Daima is scheduled to premiere this fall on Crunchyroll, but that's far from the only surprise 2024 has in store for us.

Dragon Ball Sparkling! Zero, an outing for 40th birthdays?

Players no longer believed in it, and yet Bandai Namco did it. In 2023, the Japanese publisher formalized the return of the Budokai Tenkaichi series, famous fighting games in the Dragon Ball universe which made the big days of the PS2. Entitled Sparking Zero, this fourth numbered episode which does not say its name seems to take up everything that makes the charm of the series, namely dynamic confrontations with free movements in 3D in vast environments, all with transformations and other impressive attacks.

For now, the title still has no release date, but Bandai Namco plans to unveil trailers throughout 2024 to build up the hype. If it is not certain that Dragon Ball Sparking Zero will be there for the 40th anniversary of Dragon Ball, looking in the past, we can expect that the title will not take too long to be released no more. When we look at the latest Dragon Ball games released like Kakarot or FighterZ, we can note that the first was launched on January 17, 2020 and the second on January 26, 2018. If we extend this reasoning to other animes, we observe that One Piece Odyssey was released on January 13, 2023.

Well, you understand where we want to go, but Bandai Namco seems to favor the release of these anime games at the beginning of the year, between January and March, so why not Sparking Zero? This will only be a month after Dragon Ball's 40th anniversary which takes place on December 4, so it's safe to say it works as part of an extended anniversary. And in any case, to keep fans waiting, there is Dragon Ball Super which should make a notable return.

Finally something new for Dragon Ball Super!

Recently, the Dragon Ball Super manga has been in the news a lot for its last chapter for several reasons. First of all, this is the final chapter of the Super Hero arc which adapts the events of the film of the same name, while going further. Thus, we were treated to an epilogue showing the confrontation between Goku and Gohan to test his son's new power achieved thanks to his Beast transformation. But beyond the conclusion of this arc, it is above all the end of this chapter 103 which touched many fans.

Following the death of Akira Toriyama, we learned that this is the last chapter that the author supervised where he even made a correction which takes on a whole new meaning after his disappearance. On the last page, the mangaka has Piccolo turn to say goodbye to Pan's mistress, and therefore face the reader, before flying away with the granddaughter, her father and her grandfather. For many fans, this farewell takes on a symbolic aspect, as if the author was bidding us farewell through this box and especially through Piccolo who is his favorite character.

After the announcement of Akira Toriyama's disappearance, but also because the arc was coming to an end, it was made official that Dragon Ball Super would be on hiatus, but that the next chapter will begin a new arc. And given how the previous arc, the Granola arc, ended, there's little doubt who will be the focus of this next storyline. Without much surprise, it should be about Frieza who has returned more powerful than ever with his new form Black Frieza. We can therefore imagine Goku, Vegeta, even Gohan with his new power, but also Broly in control of himself facing the galactic tyrant, perhaps even with allies never seen before. In any case, one thing is certain:we should have a new story in Dragon Ball Supersomething we hadn't had for a year.

Enter Dragon Ball Daima, Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero and Dragon Ball Super, 2024 has everything to be a big year for Dragon Ball fans. Further proof that despite the disappearance of Akira Toriyama, his work will always be eternalwith or without new projects.