The official website of Toei Animation Europe has listed that the upcoming Dragon Ball Super (Dragon Ball Chou) anime will run for a total of 100 episodes.
The anime has been listed for a total of 100 episodes, which indicates that the anime will last across multiple years and ending sometime in late 2017 or early 2018. The anime will also feature a brand new character known as Shanpa, who resembles a slightly larger version of Beerus.
Dragon Ball Super will begin its broadcast from July 5 at 9:00am JST on Fuji TV, which will be replacing the timeslot for Dragon Ball Z Kai, which will be wrapping up this season.
The anime’s official site has revealed the first set of character designs for the main characters the anime. The main cast has also been revealed to return in Dragon Ball Super and includes:
- Masako Nozawa (Tetsuro Hoshino in Ginga Tetsudou 999) returns to voice Goku
- Masako Nozawa will also be voicing Gohan
- Masako Nozawa also voices Goten
- Ryo Horikawa (Heiji Hattori from Detective Conan) as Vegeta
- Takeshi Kusao (Dororo from Keroro Gunsou) is voicing Trunks
- Toshio Furukawa (Ataru Moroboshi in Urusei Yatsura) voices Piccolo
- Mayumi Tanaka (Luffy Monkey D. in One Piece) is back as Krillin
- Masaharu Satou (Woll Dolnard in Maze☆Bakunetsu Jikuu) voices the role of Master Roshi
- Hiromi Tsuru (Dokin-chan in Sore Ike! Anpanman) will voice Bulma
- Naoko Watanabe (Catty in Gall Force) is voicing Chi-Chi
- Yuko Minaguchi (Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn from Sailor Moon S) as Videl
- Unshou Ishizuka (Jet Black in Cowboy Bebop) will voice Mr. Hercule/Mr. Satan
- Kouzou Shioya (Mondo Agake in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ) returns as Majin Buu
- Koichi Yamadera (Togusa in Ghost in the Shell) is back to voice Beerus
- Masakazu Morita (Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach) voices Whis
Here is the first teaser trailer for the anime:
Dragon Ball Super will be the first new original anime series based on Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball manga in over 18 years, with the last series being Dragon Ball GT. Masako Nozawa, the voice actress of Goku, Gohan, and Goten, has commented that
We’ve always used the word “chou” (Super) with Dragon Ball in commercials, games and the like, but the fact that the series titled Dragon Ball Super is beginning is the best thing ever.
The anime will be set years after the end of the Dragon Ball Z anime where the notorious Majin Buu has been defeated and peace has returned to Earth. Toriyama will be the developing the original story and concept for Dragon Ball Super, having a larger involvement in the new series than GT. In addition, the first staff members were also revealed:
- Director: Kimitoshi Chioka (Hakaba Kitarou, Kamisama Kazoku)
- Producers: Naoko Sagawa (Toei Animation) and Atsushi Kido (Toei Animation)
- Animation Studio: Toei Animation (Dragon Ball Z, One Piece)
The Opening and Ending themes of the upcoming anime were also revealed. The OP will be the song Chouzetsu☆Dynamic performed by Kazuya Yoshii, and the ED is Hello Hello Hello by Morning America.
Dragon Ball is an acclaimed manga created by Akira Toriyama that was first published in 1984. The first anime adaptation of the manga, Dragon Ball, first aired in 1986 and was produced by Toei Animation. The series ended in 1989, in which the second half of the manga was then adapted with a new name: Dragon Ball Z. The anime and manga series were insanely popular in Japan, with the manga itself selling over 156 million copies to date, being the second highest selling manga of all time. The anime was soon picked up by Funimation Entertainment in 1995 to distribute in North America, where they made their own dub for the anime. Since then, a slew of merchandise, films, manga, games and card games, began releasing worldwide to capitalise on the franchise’s popularity till this day, over 30 years since the manga was first published.
Here is the synopsis of the original series from MAL:
Bulma is a girl in search of the mystical Dragonballs that when brought together grant any wish. In her search she bumps into the owner of one of these balls, a strange boy named Goku. The two then set off together, Bulma in search of the Dragonballs and Goku on a quest to become stronger.
Dragon Ball Super (Dragon Ball Chou) will be airing on Fuji TV every Sunday at 9:00am JST from July 5, during the Summer 2015 anime season. Further information about the new series will be revealed very soon.
You can visit the anime’s website here: http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/dragon_s/
And follow their Twitter: @DB_super2015
“Dragon Ball Super”, “Dragon Ball Chou”, “Dragon Ball Z”, “Dragon Ball”, images and all associating brands and titles © 2015 Akira Toriyama and Toei Animation