The mangaka of Dragon Ball Super, Akira Toriyama, passed away a few weeks ago. Shortly thereafter, it became known that his illustrator, Toyotarou, takes the scepter in hand. He will continue the story after an unspecified break. However, it may not be long before the story finds its official end.
Why might the manga end soon? In 2022, the feature film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was released. It is a film where Son-Gohan and Piccolo play the main roles. The eponymous saga was concluded with the current manga chapter.
Toriyama released a message at the start of the film to celebrate the release. He revealed that the film takes place just before the original ending of Dragon Ball Z. Based on Pan’s age, it can be inferred that there is only about a year left until Dragon Ball Super reaches the grand finale of Dragon Ball Z.
This means Dragon Ball Super must be around 90% story progress. The finale of Dragon Ball Z takes place ten years after the victory over Boo. Therefore, Dragon Ball Super covers a time span of ten years.
The original message and the corresponding English translation can be read in the following tweet:
Because Dragon Ball Super serves as the bridge from the Boo saga to the end of Dragon Ball Z, it could be that not many more sagas will follow in the manga. Since it is “not long” until the finale, we can imagine that there could still be one or two sagas.
Toyotarou was in close contact with Toriyama during his lifetime. We assume that he will stick to Toriyama’s original plan and will not prolong the Dragon Ball Super manga unnecessarily.
Instead, it is possible that Toyotarou completely concludes the Dragon Ball Super manga and instead focuses on a new time period that falls in line with Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super. Alternatively, there could be series like Dragon Ball GT that are not officially counted as part of the original story.
Dragon Ball Z is supposed to be the end of the official story, which is explained in the following trailer:
This is how the end of Dragon Ball Z unfolds
What happens at the end of Dragon Ball Z? The ending takes place ten years after the victory over Boo. Many of the Z fighters had a radical change in lifestyle as peace reigns on Earth.
The “Peaceful World” saga ends with Bulma and Vegeta having another child after Trunks. They name their daughter Bulla. Trunks and his buddy Son-Goten have now grown into teenagers.
Son-Gohan is no longer a fighter but dedicates his life to being a scientist. Together with his wife Videl, he has a daughter named Pan, who follows in her grandfather Son-Goku’s footsteps.
A special character we encounter here is Oob. He is the good-hearted reincarnation of Kid Boo. Goku is impressed by the young fighter and decides to train him for a while. We see him saying goodbye to his family and friends. Then he flies with Oob to his home village.
It could be that Dragon Ball Super takes a different path and tells more stories that we currently do not expect. This is how Dragon Ball Daima, for example, came to be. In the series, Son-Goku and his friends shrink back to child size: Dragon Ball is one of my absolute favorites, and a detail in the trailer for the new anime immediately excited me
