Dragon Ball Will Continue Pumping Out Anime Series, Movies And Games Over The Next 10 Years, Says Executive Producer

In an interview with Nikkei.com on Jan 5, 2024, the President of Capsule Corporation Tokyo and Executive Producer of the ‘Dragon Ball’ series Akio Iyoku describes his mission to take Dragon Ball’s popularity to the wider world and expand it even further.

The biggest takeaway from this interview is where he states that he, along with his company, plans to pump out non-manga-related content like new Dragon Ball anime series. movies and games enough to engage the fans over the next 10 years and beyond!

“As the Executive Producer of a work with unprecedented longevity, my mission is to expand and convey what the original creator, Akira Toriyama, has created. I will continue to produce works, such as anime series, movies, and games, over the next 10 years…”

(Akio Iyoku, President of Capsule Corporation Tokyo and Executive Producer of the ‘Dragon Ball’ series)

However, that doesn’t mean that the manga is going anywhere. DBS manga author Toyotaro and editor Victory Uchida have both stated that the manga will continue indefinitely.

This is BIG NEWS for Dragon Ball fans, as many have been wondering what the future of Dragon Ball looks like or whether they’d have a shortage of content. Akio Iyoku basically confirmed that the upcoming Dragon Ball Daima is just one amongst many anime-related projects that are yet to come.

Iyoku has also answered another important question fans have asked: “Did he bring in Broly, Cell Max, and make Gohan the MC in the last two Dragon Ball Super movies, respectively, just for nostalgia and popularity?”

To which he says:

Adopting what is popular at the moment does not increase the probability of success. I will not be swayed by the current trends, but will create works that I feel will be “good enough.”

And so far, he hasn’t mentioned his benchmark of what is “good enough” but his ideas for the story aren’t something all fans would agree with.

But that doesn’t mean Iyoku is simply catering to a certain section of fans. In fact, he has directly stated that overseas expansion is not seen as an option but a necessity. That is why he thought it’d be better to announce Dragon Ball Daima at the New York Comic Con rather than at a convention in Japan.

He’s one of the few company heads in anime who really cares about the overseas fans and strives hard to not remain in the status quo. This is evidenced by the fact that he felt concerned that Dragon Ball has not been expanded worldwide after observing the diminishing hype for Dragon Ball Super: Broly in South America. So another one of his missions is to release popular works simultaneously around the world to reach the next stage of popularity.

Speaking of the Dragon Ball anime, Iyoku has also hinted at the notion that new Dragon Ball storylines wouldn’t be limited to just manga. He aims to create more spin-offs and side-stories along with the main canon material in order to address a very important issue that fans have been complaining about: They’re starving for new Dragon Ball Super content.

Since the Tournament of Power’s conclusion in 2018, fans have been waiting for so long for DBS to return, but alas, it hasn’t even been announced yet, and it’s already 2024!

Iyoku agrees with this and aims that more Dragon Ball animated/gaming content will reach fans over the next 10 years with the help of his new company, Capsule Corporation Tokyo!

“We are in a cycle of consumption, and in some aspects, the cycle is becoming short-lived. I don’t think it’s good at all to have a boom that builds up and then burns down, which can be a factor in the content not lasting long.”

In August 2023, Iyoku began his mission of spreading Dragon Ball content worldwide by quitting his job at Shuiesha, forming his own company to try to acquire the rights to the Dragon Ball anime, games, and movies. And the fact that he’s promoting Dragon Ball Daima so vigorously shows he has succeeded in doing so.

That means Shueisha cannot limit him anymore on when to release the next season of Dragon Ball Super, which Iyoku is suspected of eagerly trying to push. Now, he has all the room to satisfy hungry fans of new Dragon Ball animated material. And one musn’t diss Iyoku blindly because he’s basically Toriyama’s right-hand man and has now control of the most important assets of the IP. He’s the visionary Dragon Ball needs to go even further beyond.

Akio Iyoku graduated from Waseda University in 1993 and joined Shueisha. After working as Editor-in-Chief of “V Jump,” he became head of the “Dragon Ball Room” in 2016. In 2023, he became President of Capsule Corporation Tokyo. Executive producer of “Dragon Ball.”

About Dragon Ball:

Dragon Ball is a manga series by Akira Toriyama. It first began its serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1984.

The manga was later adapted into a multitude of animated series, movies, and games.

The franchise consists of five different anime series, about 21 animated movies, and around 10 games spanning various platforms, from Famicon to Playstation and Xbox.

Synopsis of the Dragon Ball anime:

Son Goku is a young boy who lives in the woods all alone—that is, until a girl named Bulma runs into him in her search for a set of magical objects called the “Dragon Balls.”

Since the artifacts are said to grant one wish to whoever collects all seven, Bulma hopes to gather them and wish for a perfect boyfriend.

Goku happens to be in possession of a dragon ball, but unfortunately for Bulma, he refuses to part ways with it, so she makes him a deal: he can tag along on her journey if he lets her borrow the dragon ball’s power.

With that, the two set off on the journey of a lifetime.

Source: Twitter