There's Reportedly A Fight Concerning The Rights To DRAGON BALL Following Akira Toriyama's Untimely Death

There's Reportedly A Fight Concerning The Rights To DRAGON BALL Following Akira Toriyama's Untimely Death

A close contemporary of Akira Toriyama is reportedly in a struggle with Shuiesha over who has the ability to negotiate deals regarding the Dragon Ball IP.

By MarkJulian - Jul 24, 2024 10:07 AM EST
Filed Under: Dragon Ball Z
Source: AnimeMojo.com

According to Tokyo-based Weekly Toyo Keizai, a Japanese finance and business magazine, the rights to who owns Dragon Ball are somewhat murky at the moment, following the untimely demise of franchise creator Akira Toriyama.

The conflict is centered around Akio Iyoki, the former head of Shuiesha (Dragon Ball's publisher) Dragon Ball Room- which was a group Shuiesha formed in 2016 to make decisions regarding all-things Dragon Ball.

However, Iyoki recently decided to go independent and established a new company, called Capsule Corporation, obviously taking inspiration from the company owned by Bulma and Dr. Brief in the Dragon Ball franchise.

According to the report, Shuiesha was unhappy with some of the actions that Iyoki made during his tenure as head of the Dragon Ball Room- specifically, that Iyoki frequently made decisions based on Toriyama's wishes, not necessarily what the top executives at Shuiesha wanted.

This ultimately led to Iyoki being reassigned to another department, which prompted him to go independent. 

Iyoki and Toriyama's relationship goes back many decades, back to when Toriyama designed characters for Dragon Quest in the late '80s. 

Their close relationship reportedly led to Toriyama being unhappy with Shuiesha's treatment of Iyoki. The notoriously recluse Toriyama (who seldom left his house) decided to make Iyoki his spokesperson for all business matters related to  Dragon Ball.

This resulted in tense meetings with video game publisher Bandai Namco, according to an insider. Meetings related to upcoming Dragon Ball games would involve both Iyoki and representatives from Shuiesha, with Namco unsure of who was actually the deciding voice.

With Toriyama's passing the dispute over whether Shuiesha or the Capsule Corporation has final say over business matters related to the Dragon Ball franchise remains unresolved.

Geekdom101, the biggest Dragon Ball YouTuber breaks the situation down further in the video below.

According to Weekly Toyo Keiza, Toriyama's family will have to get involved to decide which company has final say when it comes to negotiating buisness deals for things such as video games, films, anime and other spin-offs of the manga. 

Per Kanzenshuu, they're reporting that Shuiesha owns the rights to the manga, while Capsule Corporation holds the IP's video game and anime license.

While this conflict will likely play out behind-the-scenes, it's thought that this might be the reason why there's a new Dragon Ball Daima anime set to air in October, instead of a continuation of the adaptation of the Dragon Ball Super manga. 

The manga, which is drawn and written by Toriyama's handpicked successor Toyotarou,  is currently on hiatus following Toriyama's death. Still, there's plenty of material with Moro, Granola, Gas, Black Frieza and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero story arcs waiting to be adapted. 

In the Daima anime, it seems there's a new Demon King, following the Z-Fighters' defeat of Dabura during the Maijin Buu arc.

And it seems the rise of the new Demon King has inexplicably resulted in several of the Z-Fighters being reduced to children by the Dragon Balls (a story beat the should remind fans of Dragon Ball GT).

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TheShellyMan
TheShellyMan - 7/24/2024, 10:19 AM
I had a fear this would happen, and here we are... Sad!
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 7/24/2024, 10:19 AM
What a mess. At this point, I’d just be happy with a proper remake of the anime, without the filler that stays truer to the Manga.
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 7/24/2024, 10:25 AM
@FireandBlood - kai
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 7/24/2024, 10:34 AM
@harryba11zack - Kai wasn’t a remake.
Evansly
Evansly - 7/24/2024, 10:37 AM
@FireandBlood - Nah continue the story and adapt the arcs in the Super manga that were not animated.

Black Frieza will likely be the next big bad and with where we left off in Super Hero it could be fun seeing him go against Gohan and Broly in addition to Goku and Vegeta who he one shot at the end of the Granola arc
harryba11zack
harryba11zack - 7/24/2024, 10:38 AM
@FireandBlood - it cut out most of the filter bs, the show doesn't need a remake.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 7/24/2024, 11:13 AM
@FireandBlood - i share this sentiment. But i need the ost to be there with just the animation changed. Hated kai because it had different music.

I hope this will be the case with the new one piece
The1st
The1st - 7/24/2024, 12:31 PM
@vectorsigma - I'd take it a step further and say the original dub, which went half way through the freeza saga (voices, translations) were better than what came later...for a while. I miss sending someone to the next dimension.
Spoken
Spoken - 7/24/2024, 10:21 AM
Damn man, what a shame. I hope we're not looking at another Friday the 13th situation.
RitoRevolto
RitoRevolto - 7/24/2024, 11:49 AM
@Spoken - Now that sucked.
Spoken
Spoken - 7/24/2024, 12:14 PM
@RitoRevolto - RIP to the F13 game and its cancelled DLC lol. Along with all the development hell productions.

I hope it doesn't go to that, because it will for sure impact the new DBZ game coming out if this gets sour...or practically anything DBZ related.
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 7/24/2024, 10:22 AM
I don’t know if I didn’t know he was dead or didn’t remember wtf. Time is merging altogether, man. Rest easy. I hope this mess is sorted out
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 7/24/2024, 10:56 AM
@MyCoolYoung - happened in March if I remember
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 7/24/2024, 11:02 AM
@ShimmyShimmyYA - yea I just looked. I genuinely have no recollection of it
DocSpock
DocSpock - 7/24/2024, 10:22 AM

Yech. Anime & Manga: Japan's revenge for losing WWII.
dracula
dracula - 7/24/2024, 11:07 AM
Dont know who has the legal right

but the honorable thing would be for it to go to the guy he trusted
Reeds2Much
Reeds2Much - 7/24/2024, 11:22 AM
User Comment Image
Give it to Team Four Star. Abridged was top tier.
SheepishOne
SheepishOne - 7/24/2024, 12:03 PM
Give it to whomever will finish Super
Order66
Order66 - 7/24/2024, 12:33 PM
All I care is about when we’re getting a new season of Super!!!
MotherGooseUPus
MotherGooseUPus - 7/24/2024, 12:53 PM
Big fan of both DBZ, Kai and Super... hoping whoever gets the rights will finish Super... I never watch anything else and havent seen any of the movies so im only going by those... which i love
dragon316
dragon316 - 7/24/2024, 1:01 PM
Fisnish manga and anime of dragonball super
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 7/24/2024, 1:37 PM
Sad, really seems like we won't get another season of Super any time soon.

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