Toyotarou, the artist and co-creator of Dragon Ball Super, is officially moving on to another anime franchise in an upcoming project. The late Akira Toriyama’s chosen successor illustrated new promotional artwork for another major anime series unrelated to Dragon Ball.
As initially teased in late September, Dragon Ball Super artist Toyotarou illustrated a collectible trading card of another Bandai-related anime franchise for the special December issue of V-Jump magazine. The free promotional trading card is based on the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. In particular, the card is a special illustration of Mikazuki Augus, the protagonist of Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (2015).
Dragon Ball Super Artist Toyotarou Moves to Gundam — What This Means for the Future of DBS
Toyotarou briefly commented on his newly released Gundam artwork on X (formerly Twitter). He advised fans to buy the latest issue of V-Jump, available in Japan. He once again confirmed that he illustrated this muscular depiction of Mikazuki from the Iron-Blooded Orphans anime. The card features the Gundam hero at the forefront, while the ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos is pictured in the background.
V-Jump’s current Gundam promotion isn’t the only non-Dragon Ball project Toyotarou is working on. He’s also releasing a solo story for the magazine. Toyotarou’s one-shot manga, The Lost Samurai, is currently available to view legally online, courtesy of V-Jump magazine. However, the complete online preview is based on Toyotarou’s rough drafts for the story. Still, the rough artwork provides enough detail about the fantasy samurai story and offers fans a look at the creative process of a prolific manga creator like Toyotarou.
While Dragon Ball fans are nonetheless excited about Toyotarou’s new projects, there’s still great concern over the future of the Dragon Ball Super series, as it remains in hiatus following its single 2025 release of Chapter 104 in February. Further amping up the anxiety is the fact that V-Jump magazine editor Victory Uchida said that there will be no further announcements for Dragon Ball Super in 2025. Specifically, Uchida revealed that the Dragon Ball Super manga will not resume its serialization in V-Jump magazine in 2025.
Although Dragon Ball fans have been seriously concerned over the future of the franchise since the end of Dragon Ball Daima, a recent announcement has installed some much-needed hope and excitement. A major Dragon Ball event, “Genkidamatsuri,” will take place in Japan on Jan. 25, 2026, and will announce several new projects for the series. One announcement is said to be a new Dragon Ball video game, alongside two significant announcements. Masako Nozawa, the Japanese voice actor of Goku, will attend the event with Dragon Ball executive producer Akio Iyoku.
In addition to the exciting 2026 news, the Dragon Ball social media account recently rebranded from its 2015 Dragon Ball Super Twitter handle to all things Dragon Ball anime. Fans are either speculating a new continuation of the Dragon Ball Daima franchise or a possible revival of Dragon Ball Super.
Previous chapters of the Dragon Ball Super manga can be read digitally on the Viz Media and Manga Plus apps.