A comment from Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama suggests that the next arc of Dragon Ball Super could be its last, and lead into the famous and anticipated ending of Dragon Ball Z. Super was established from the very start to take place before the original ending of Dragon Ball Z, and with said ending never being retconned, that means that Super has always been on a fixed timeline and could never reasonably go on forever.
Dragon Ball Super’s longevity has always been a big question, and there’s evidence both for and against it reaching its conclusion soon. On the one hand, recent developments in Dragon Ball Super, combined with comments from Akira Toriyama, do suggest that the series could be coming to a close soon.
On the other hand, the fickle nature with which Toriyama handles his writing casts a large shadow of doubt on the legitimacy of any sort of planning from him.
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Dragon Ball Is Now On The Verge Of Returning To Its Original Conclusion
The biggest support behind the idea of Dragon Ball Super ending soon is that the story is now incredibly close to the original ending of Dragon Ball. In 2022, in a message to celebrate the release of the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie, Akira Toriyama confirmed that Super Hero takes place not long before the original ending to Dragon Ball Z, something that could be assumed by Goten and Trunks no longer looking like children and Pan only being about a year younger than she was in her debut in Z. Considering that the Dragon Ball Super manga has just finished its adaptation of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, it’s likely that Super‘s next arc could be its last.
As for what that final arc will be about, there’s already been plenty to hint at its story. Based on how the Super Hero and the Granolah the Survivor sagas both ended, the next chapters of the Dragon Ball Super manga will likely spend some time dealing with Carmine and the remnants of the Red Ribbon Army before moving into a final arc of Goku and Vegeta having to fight Black Frieza. The former would serve as a fitting epilogue to Super Hero, and with how vital a part of the franchise Frieza has been, Goku and Vegeta fighting him one last time would be a fitting end to Super.
Dragon Ball’s Creator Has Never Been Able To Keep To A Plan
While Dragon Ball Super might appear to be coming to a close, Akira Toriyama’s lack of planning casts some serious doubt on that. During the original run of Dragon Ball, for example, Akira Toriyama said that he only ever thought of what would happen one week at a time with no long-term planning. Elements like the Ginyu Force were created at the spur-of-the-moment, and the villains of the Android saga very infamously kept changing because Toriyama’s editors kept criticizing them. Based on all of that, even if Akira Toriyama says that Dragon Ball Super is reaching the end of Dragon Ball Z, that doesn’t mean it will be ending anytime soon.
Granted, Akira Toriyama’s historic lack of planning doesn’t change where the story is currently at with its timeline. Dragon Ball Super is still about a year away from the original ending to Dragon Ball Z, so even if the next arc of the manga isn’t the final one, the finale is bound to happen sometime within the next few years. This, however, does not mean that Dragon Ball Super will actually end once it connects to the ending of Z, and the manga could simply continue past that point. There are easy enough assumptions to make about Dragon Ball Super’s ending, but until an official statement is released, it’s far too early to say when that can be expected to happen.
Sources: Toriyama’s interview translated (Kanzenshuu), Toriyama and editor’s comments on the Android Saga (Kanzenshuu).
Dragon Ball Super is available from Viz Media and MANGA Plus
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