When Dragon Ball Super ended its original run a few months ago in Japan, the fan base while rejoicing at the climatic ending of the sequel series were sadden to know that it was the end of the Dragon Ball revival as they knew it. Lucky would have it though that Toei Animation, Shuesiha and Funimation are actually hard at work on a sequel to Dragon Ball Super in a form of a new animated movie out this December focusing on Goku battling the first known saiyan ever and as a special bonus surprise is actually working on a new series based on the popular Japanese only mobile game of the same name, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission out this July!
This new series actually focuses on a “what if” style of story but also features characters last seen in Dragon Ball Super themselves and make’s it a strange blend of the many video games out there and a slight continuation the manga/anime. The story of Heroes itself focuses on Future Trunks and Future Mai from after their exit in Dragon Ball Super getting trapped on a mysterious Prison Planet by the newest villain, Fu — who made his debut in the video game, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 in the latest download content and update of the game this past Winter/Spring. While trap by Fu, Future Trunks and Future Mai will run into a familiar villain from the Dragon Ball Z movies, Frieza’s older brother, Cooler! Also on the Prison Planet is a new ridiculously evil saiyan known as Kumba who is strapped in a straight-jacket and looks extremely menacing, almost Broly like. But that’s not all folks!
Goku and Vegeta from either just before or right after the events of Dragon Ball Super’s finale (kinda murky on where in the timeline they’re from) will be trying to rescue both Future Trunks and Future Mai once again from danger. But there’s another grand twist to Heroes that has fans salivating once the news broke out about this. These are not the only versions of Goku and Vegeta on Prison Planet, their Xenoverse counterparts are actually here too and can go Super Saiyan 4! And yes, both the Super versions of Goku and Vegeta will fight the Xenoverse versions of Goku and Vegeta in here. Also promised in a trailer, near the end was Vegito Blue!
Now, while Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission’s first episode is set to premiere on July 1st at a special tournament in AEON Lake Town, Japan’s biggest eco-friendly shopping center (its second episode is schedule for July 16 at the Jump Victory Carnival Tokyo Kaijo event — both of which are also streaming on it’s Japanese website) there’s no actual confirmation on if it’ll arrive stateside or even how long the series will really be. Here’s crossing our fingers that they make more then two episodes and it’ll show up here stateside once the dub version of Dragon Ball Super ends in December. It’ll sync up nicely with everything Dragon Ball here. But for now, got to keep our expectations on low and enjoy this as a one hour long movie of sorts once it’s all out.
Some of you are probably wondering by now if you can play the Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission mobile game here in the states and get in on the zany stories told. Sadly, you can’t. The game is strictly Japan only at the moment since its release in 2010 and the closest we can ever get to that game’s “what if” scenarios is actually through the 3DS game Dragon Ball Fusions and even the other mobile game, Dragon Ball Legends — which is surprising pretty good for a mobile game. However if you still plan to catch the anime version of Dragon Ball Heroes when it premieres somehow, I recommend checking out the downloadable content for Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 where Fu makes an appearance. While the extra content is relatively short and occurs after the main story of the actual game and the other download content story packs, it actually explains everything you need to know about the new villain and his surprising connection to an older Dragon Ball Z villain. As for the second villain, Kumba, he’s a total mystery and no one knows anything about him outside Toei Animation, Funimation, Shueisha and Bandai Namco.
Be sure to check back here once Heroes finally debuts, especially if it gets a full series order and becomes its own thing down the road. You can be sure that I’ll be covering it for you all weekly like I do for the dub version of Super already!
Photo Source: Toei Animation/Funimation/Shueisha/Bandai Namco/comicbook.com
