Dragon Ball Super , the next iteration of the immensely popular Dragon Ball anime, has been confirmed for release in Japan this July , as previously reported in the Inquisitr . According to a new report from Design & Trend , Toei Animation is pushing for a run of 100-200 episodes, as well as its own manga series. This is extremely rare for a new series — normally, anime series in Japan are confirmed for a single short season at a time — but Toei, banking on the series’ fame, is pushing for a minimum 100 episode run to start, with an option on another 100 episodes should the series prove popular with fans.
Fuji TV producer, Osamu Nozaki, was very enthusiastic about the plot he received from series creator Akira Toriyama.
“As I read the plot [of the series] I’ve already received from Akira Toriyama, my dreams for this begin to expand.”
He suggested that even stronger enemies than have already been seen in Dragon Ball Z could be set to appear, and rumor has it that the incredible success of recent Dragon Ball Z feature film Dragon Ball Z: Revival of F could set the stage for the return of another old villain: Broly, star villain of three of the most popular Dragon Ball Z movies to date.
Speaking of movies, Forbes reports that Dragon Ball Z: Revival of F has broken the Dragon Ball series’ previous box office record in only 19 days, earning 3.1 billion yen (roughly $26 million USD) and selling 2.35 million tickets across 658 screens. Its opening weekend, selling 716,000 tickets for 960 million yen (about $8.1 million), was more than any other movie in Japan thus far in 2015.
This is good news for the future of Dragon Ball Super and gives Toei a strong platform for negotiation. While the series was always incredibly popular, these numbers serve as absolute proof that it will still attract viewers. Its box office numbers are better than contemporary popular anime series, such as Naruto , Bleach , and One Piece .
For those who haven’t been able to see it yet, an English release is currently being dubbed by Funimation and is set for a U.S. release sometime this summer. The dub will, for a pleasant change, retain the original musical score, including a new song made for the movie by Japanese idol band Momoiro Clover Z, titled “Pledge of ‘Z’.” For those English fans fortunate enough to be in Australia and New Zealand, Madman Entertainment has planned a subtitled screening of Dragon Ball Z: Revival of F , although an exact date has yet to be confirmed.
[Image courtesy the Dragon Ball wiki]