In 1984, Akira Toriyama began publishing the Dragon Ball manga, and the franchise it ended up launching remains popular nearly four decades later. Dragon Ball Z was especially widely acclaimed as a classic anime across the world, and shows like Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super followed up on its events, albeit in different continuities. Now it’s been announced a new Dragon Ball TV show is on the way that will directly follow the DBZ timeline, and there’s already an awesome trailer to take in, as seen above.
Toei Animation unveiled Dragon Ball Daima at New York Comic-Con today, which will premiere sometime in fall 2024, making it a fitting delivery for the franchise’s 40th anniversary. Following a quick recap of how far the Dragon Ball saga has come over the decades, the new footage rolls in, spotlighting fan-favorite Z fighters like Goku, Vegeta, Krillin and Piccolo. However, it’s soon revealed that Daima will show these characters and more being transformed into children.
Now naturally this will lead fans to think of Dragon Ball GT, as that series also saw Goku being turned back into his adolescent self. Unlike GT though, Daima will follow Dragon Ball Super in being set within the official Dragon Ball canon since it features “original work, story and character design” from Akira Toriyama. While the end of this trailer shows the adult Goku and Vegeta fighting one another, it seems as though much of the story will see these characters stuck as their de-aged selves, which appears to be the result of a wish granted by the mighty dragon Shenron from the seven Dragon Balls.
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It’s been clarified in further reports from NYCC (via Comicbook.com) that Daima will take place between Dragon Ball Z (pre-epilogue) and Dragon Ball Super, and that Kid Goku will travel through the galaxy with the Kaioshin. No other plot details were shared at the event, but at least Dragon Ball fans have this action-packed footage to get them hyped for what’s to come next year. This will be the franchise’s seventh anime; aside from the aforementioned shows, there’s also Super Dragon Ball Heroes (which, like GT, is non-canon) and Dragon Ball Z Kai (a revised and slimmed down retelling of the original DBZ events).
Additionally, the film side of the Dragon Ball franchise resumed in 2013 after a 17-year hiatus with Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, and the most recent entry, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, came out in 2022. While Super Hero cast members gave CinemaBlend their pitch for a villain to be used in a follow-up story, instead the next chapter of the Dragon Ball saga will once again wind the clock back further. Depending on how long Daima runs for, it’s entirely possible that it could spawn its own set of movies.
We’ll keep our eyes and ears out for more details about Dragon Ball Daima, including when it will specifically premiere next year. In the meantime, our 2023 TV schedule lays out what shows are left to come out this year, and if you didn’t already know, both Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Super can be streamed with a Hulu subscription, while Dragon Ball Z can be found at Crunchyroll.