A new Dragon Ball anime is on the horizon, and it looks like Toei will be pulling out all the stops to make this the proverbial Super Saiyan God of shonen battle anime. Dragon Ball’s official website recently announced some all-new projects set to be officially revealed at its upcoming Genki Damatsuri event on January 25, 2026, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Dragon Ball anime. While the details of the reveals have been kept secretive, the context surrounding the event strongly suggests a new Dragon Ball anime.
A new Dragon Ball anime series is already exciting news, but adding to that, two new announcements from Toei Animation (the company that produces the Dragon Ball anime) improve the outlook substantially. The combination of these announcements paint an exciting picture of what the next Dragon Ball anime series could look like, and it’s pretty much guaranteed to be its most impressive-looking series yet. Dragon Ball DAIMA already raised the bar in terms of consistent animation quality for Akira Toriyama’s acclaimed shonen battle franchise, and this next entry could finally surpass the franchise’s pinnacle, DBZ.
A New Dragon Ball Anime is Expected to Be Revealed in January
Goku in his various Super Saiyan forms for the Dragon Ball Genki Damatsuri eventDragon Ball Official Website
In the official Dragon Ball website’s announcement for the Genki Damatsuri event, it was revealed that Capsule Corp Tokyo founder Akio Iyoku would be making a two-part “super announcement.” While it was never stated directly what this announcement entails, most fans are fairly certain it’s an anime for a few reasons. First, Iyoku’s Capsule Corp owns the rights to the Dragon Ball anime and videogames, but not the manga. This would all but rule out his making a manga announcement.
Additionally, the Dragon Ball website claims there will already be a new game reveal happening separately from Iyoku’s “super announcement.” That makes it highly unlikely one of Iyoku’s announcements will have to do with a video game. One other potentially telling detail is simply the fact that the event is referring to this announcement using the word “super.” Of course, the word super has been used in the series in a variety of contexts (Super Saiyan, Super Vegeta, Super Dragon Ball Heroes, etc.), but there’s definitely a possibility that this could be a hint at the highly anticipated Dragon Ball Super 2.
Rumors have also been swirling for months about a potential Dragon Ball movie, adding more fuel to the fire. Expectations and speculation aside, Iyoku recently assured fans in the bluray release of Dragon Ball DAIMA that Dragon Ball would be continuing, so the upcoming event announcement looks to be Iyoku’s way of making good on that promise.
Toei’s Recent Announcements Paint an Exciting Picture For Dragon Ball’s Upcoming Release
Dragon Ball Is Officially Leaving Dragon Ball Super Behind – And It’s About Time – Ultra Instinct Goku vs Black FriezaImage by Yered Garcia
Ahead of Dragon Ball’s big Genki Damatsu event announcement, Toei Animation has made a few important announcements of its own that could shed some light on what to expect from Iyoku’s upcoming DB project. Toei’s first recent announcement was actually in regard to the One Piece anime, though it’s nonetheless important for Dragon Ball fans to consider. Toei announced One Piece will be going on a three-month break starting in January — the same time Dragon Ball’s big event will be held. It’s likely no coincidence.
The second (and perhaps even more interesting) major announcement Toei made was the release of its plan for growth in the next few years. Translated by X User @Venixys, notable parts of Toei’s newly released plan include “establishing 2–3 new studios in Asia to support Japanese production within five years”, “creating further visual expressions, not only cel-look CG,” “continuing to expand the studio’s flagship IPs globally,” and “hundreds of hires in key roles within the main studio (Oizumi Studio).”
It’s clear that Toei’s entire plan is to make their upcoming projects, especially for their flagship IPs, the best they’ve ever been. That’s why they’re slowing down the production cycle for One Piece, and it’s also why they’re hiring for many new roles at their main Oizumi studio. In that sense, Capsule Corp Tokyo and Toei’s new Dragon Ball anime is almost gaurunteed to be better than DBZ — not in terms of storyline (it’d be hard for any writer to match the charm of Akira Toriyama’s original Dragon Ball run), but in terms of anime production value.
Dragon Ball’s Next Anime Will Look Even Better Than DBZ
Super Saiyan 2 Goku in Dragon Ball DAIMA with SSJ3 Goku from DBZBrett Cardaro
As incredible as many moments in DBZ were, the series was also inconsistent at times with its animation. Even setting its divisive filler arcs aside, DBZ has some infamously humorous artistic quirks. There are scenes where the animators forget where characters are supposed to be (like Android 18 seeming to teleport during her fight against Super Saiyan Vegeta), or scenes where the bodily structures of certain characters are uncannily inconsistent (like Vegeta magically becoming taller during his rampage on Namek). Ultimately, those small minor issues are worth it to get the gorgeous art and fluid action that make up the vast majority of the series.
DBZ’s hand-drawn imperfections are definitely part of its charm, but the use of modern animation techniques helped Dragon Ball DAIMA push the franchise to impressive new heights of polish. In fact, even despite its own inconsistencies, Dragon Ball Super (especially in its movie adaptations) is another example of the beauty that’s possible when Dragon Ball’s intense action collides with modern animation techniques. Toei’s newly announced plan ahead of the DB event in January promises even greater improvement in that capacity going forward.
Dragon Ball DAIMA’s introductory sequence, depicting iconic moments from the Buu Saga reanimated in DAIMA’s art style, truly took DBZ to the next level. It showed that respecting Toriyama’s manga while upping the quality to meet the new industry standard results in something magical. Between Toei setting aside time from One Piece and also vowing to improve its biggest IPs going forward, it’s safe to say the next Dragon Ball anime will be its most visually impressive yet. The only real problem is what the story will look like without Toriyama writing it.