The last Dragon Ball movie before Akira Toriyama’s passing had one mission: give Piccolo, one of the franchise’s best characters, his due.
Back in 2022, Toei put out Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, a pretty good movie that featured a new art style and put Piccolo and Gohan (aka, his son) in the forefront. If you came away from the movie loving either character, particularly the former, that appears to have been the goal all along.
During a recent radio show celebrating Dragon Ball’s 40th anniversary, longtime executive producer Akio Iyoku spoke on the series’ past and current projects. According to translated notes by Twitter user peraperayume (thanks, CBR), Iyoku wanted Piccolo to be on par with Goku and Vegeta, both of whom had leveled up significantly throughout Dragon Ball Super’s run and the Broly movie. By that point, Piccolo hadn’t, something many fans of the character noticed. Iyoku was one such fan, and sought to address that probem.
As he tells it, he sought out creator Akira Toriyama’s advice on how to do right by the Namekian. Ultimately, their talks sparked the idea for Toriyama to write Super Hero. That movie puts Goku and Vegeta aside so Piccolo and Gohan can take center stage and take on a newly revived Red Ribbon Army. Eventually, the duo unlock new forms to use, with Piccolo’s being a pretty cool new Orange mode considered by Toriyama as his first proper upgrade.
Happy New Year!🐉
Yesterday on January 1st, Akio Iyoku talked at the “All Night Nippon – Dragon Ball 40th Anniversary Special” radio show for about 20 minutes about various DB things, including Daima and what may be coming👀
Translated some bits🔽Source:https://t.co/X40t6ECrUR pic.twitter.com/I12WCPxl2W
— Andy 案太郎 🇩🇪 (@peraperayume) January 2, 2025
While Piccolo’s in the current Dragon Ball Daima anime, his Orange form hasn’t popped up in that yet, ditto last year’s fighting game Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero. (It was, however, added into Xenoverse 2 as DLC.) It sounds like the movie did its job and made people want more Piccolo. Now, it’s just a matter of how Toei balances that demand with that of other fan-favorite characters—even moreso since Toriyama’s passing early last year.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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