Dragon Ball Super’s anime return looks like it may finally be around the corner. Unfortunately, it may never reach the same highs the original anime did again.
It was recently announced that Tatsuya Nagamine, celebrated anime director, and the person who guided Dragon Ball Super through its absolute best moments, died this past summer. It would not be hyperbole to call Nagamine the saving grace of the DBS anime. His presence will be sorely missed if and when the anime does return.
Nagamine Was Behind All The Best Parts of the Dragon Ball Super Anime
Tatsuya Nagamine passed away in August 2026 after fighting a year-long battle with an undisclosed illness. His death was only announced by Nagamine’s colleagues months later on X, as Japanese culture is infamously very private when it comes to death. Akira Toriyama’s own death wasn’t even announced to the public until after his funeral service.
The loss of Tatsuya Nagamine is a huge deal for Dragon Ball fans looking forward to the return of the Dragon Ball Super anime specifically. It’s no exaggeration to claim that Tatsuya Nagamine was behind the absolute peaks of the original Dragon Ball Super anime run.
Nagamine first joined series as a co-director of Dragon Ball Super Episodes 77-131. As any DBS fan knows, this was the best stretch of episodes in the series in terms of production value, because they encompassed the Tournament of Power. While DBS showed flashes of genius at various points, the quality of the series was extremely volatile during those early arcs. The ultimate pinnacle of the anime’s run came during Goku’s epic final battle against Jiren, and fans have Nagamine to thank.
Nagamine was infamously hands-on with even the most minute story details in his directorial work on DBS. Following Nagamine’s death, Dragon Ball Super Co-director Megumi Ishitani revealed how Nagamine contributed multiple small pieces of dialogue that, in Ishitani’s view, perfectly captured the heart of Trunks’ character.
Later, Nagamine would go on to lead Dragon Ball Super to what is arguably the franchise’s greatest moment: the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly. The Dragon Ball Super: Broly movie is arguably the best the Dragon Ball anime has ever looked, and it has never surpassed that. As good as Dragon Ball DAIMA’s best fights were, Dragon Ball Super: Broly’s fight choreography and art direction were simply on another level.
Dragon Ball Super 2 Can Still Be Great – But It Won’t Be The Same
Dragon Ball Is Officially Leaving Dragon Ball Super Behind – And It’s About Time – Ultra Instinct Goku vs Black FriezaImage by Yered Garcia
If Nagamine’s passing isn’t already being felt by Dragon Ball fans, it’s about to hit even harder in the coming months. There are two major Dragon Ball announcements to be made at the start of next year, at Dragon Ball’s upcoming Genkidamatsuri event in January.
While what exactly those announcements will be is still mysterious, many fans (and rightfully so) are expecting at least one of those announcements to pertain to the return of the Dragon Ball Super anime. With the Genkidamatsuri event having recently been advertised in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, the odds for a Dragon Ball Super return suddenly look better than ever.
Sadly, DBS’ return couldn’t come at a worse time, because the director who led it to its greatest peaks won’t be around to guide it. That doesn’t mean Dragon Ball Super’s anime continuation can’t still be great. The upcoming arcs from the manga are generally considered its best, so the source material is already setting up the anime team for success. No matter how good it looks, though, without Tatsuya Nagamine, the Dragon Ball Super anime just won’t be the same.
Tatsuya Nagamine wasn’t just known for Dragon Ball Super. He also worked extensively on both Dragon Ball GT and DBZ: Kai. He was also the director of Toei’s Pretty Cure, and directed the One Piece anime from 2019 to 2024. His passing is not just a major blow to the Dragon Ball franchise, but to the medium of Japanese animation as a whole. It’ll be impossible to fill his shoes, but hopefully future anime creators can learn by walking in his footsteps.