The Dragon Ball franchise is still reeling following the tragic passing of series creator Akira Toriyama, as fans wait for both the original manga series and its anime adaptation to return. With the franchise periodically releasing new movies, such as Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero to continue Goku and company’s story, there is one “non-canon” series that is dying for a comeback. Super Dragon Ball Heroes brought its anime to an end last year, and as fans wait to see when the franchise will return in general, it feels as though now is the right time for the spin-off to return.
To start, let’s talk about the origins of Dragon Ball Heroes. The bizarre property first arrived as an arcade game in 2010, spending many years highlighting a card-based game that let players control some of their favorite heroes and villains of the series. Where Heroes was able to excel was in its ability to focus on newly introduced characters while simultaneously bringing back heroes and villains that had not appeared in the main continuity. The anime spin-off, which arrived in 2018 and ran for fifty-six episodes, was able to bring in characters like Turles, Bojack, Super 17, and the original Broly, while giving many old and new characters wild new transformations.
One of the biggest selling points of the original anime debut was the prospect of the main Goku fighting against the “Time Patrol Goku,” an alternate version of the character from another reality. Alongside sporting a different outfit, the Son of the Time Patrol didn’t have the power of a Super Saiyan God, but rather, could access Super Saiyan 4. Years before this transformation was made canon by Dragon Ball Daima, Super Dragon Ball Heroes gave anime fans what they had been dying to see for years. There are still plenty of avenues for the spin-off to explore should it make a comeback.
The Horrors of Meteor Mission
Should Super Dragon Ball Heroes return, there is one major section of its story it will need to avoid. The anime adaptation came to an end with the storyline known as “Meteor Mission,” Arriving in 2023 and bringing the series to an end last year, this storyline featured the Z-Fighters taking on new villain, Demon Majin Ozotto. While the story itself was middle-of-the-road, the true detriment to this arc was its animation, as Toei decided to take a more CG approach to the battles.
One of the big appeals of the first Super Dragon Ball Heroes anime episodes was how Toei Animation was able to deliver a product that could often stand toe-to-toe with the original Dragon Ball Super anime. Specifically, there were some fights, such as Goku vs Hearts, that became legendary in the shonen series, non-canon or otherwise. If Heroes is looking to make a comeback, it needs to play on its strengths and have some stellar animation at the same time.
Heroes is The Perfect Dragon Ball Fix
One of the biggest things that Super Dragon Ball Heroes had going for it was that it filled the need for many anime fans while the main series was on hiatus. Dragon Ball Super’s television series ended in 2017 following the conclusion of the Tournament of Power, and only two movies have been released since with Dragon Ball Super: Broly and Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Dragon Ball Daima gave many die-hard shonen fans what they had been looking for, but we are now in a state of limbo as fans wait for the manga and anime’s return.
For Heroes, the sky really is the limit, and the bite-sized episodes worked well in terms of giving viewers plenty of action with a bare-bones story. It wasn’t the end-all, be-all for the shonen franchise, but it got the job done, and most importantly, kept fans mostly satisfied in the absence of the Z-Fighters overall. There are also plenty of old villains and heroes that never made their way to the main series that are dying to get a comeback, and we wouldn’t mind seeing them receive new transformations too boot.
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