It's almost time for Jump Festa, the annual event where Japanese publisher Shueisha showcases its most important manga and gives fans exciting updates for the future. Except that this year, Shueisha's most famous property, Dragon Ball, will barely be featured at Jump Festa. Fans speculate that the franchise's complicated status could be the reason, and that surprising changes could be on the horizon.
The original Dragon Ball manga by Akira Toriyama ended in 1995. A sequel, Dragon Ball Super, began publication in 2015, with story and supervision by Toriyama and art by Toyotaro. Dragon Ball Super was initially an adaptation of the anime, but it soon took its own original direction, producing story arcs that have yet to appear in anime form, like the much-anticipated Galactic Patrol arc.
After Toriyama's sudden death in 2024, the manga went on hiatus, and it still hasn't come back. After Toriyama's death, the status of the Dragon Ball franchise became quite muddled. The rights to the IP are split between the Toriyama estate, Shueisha (publisher of the manga), Toei Animation (which produces the anime), Bandai Namco (for toys, merchandising, and video games), and Capsule Corporation Tokyo, a company founded by Akio Iyoku, a former Shueisha editor who was Toriyama's right-hand man for many years.
Fans speculate that this complex situation is why the manga is still on hiatus, while projects that originated before Toriyama's death, like Dragon Ball Daima, saw the light of day. In September 2026, fans were surprised to see no Dragon Ball characters in Jump Festa's official visual, which features the protagonists of Shueisha's most popular manga. On Nov. 2, when the full lineup and schedule for the event were updated, Dragon Ball Super was no longer present in the Jump Original Art World zone, a booth that features original art for the most important series.
Its spot was taken by Metaphor: ReFantazio, the manga adaptation of Atlus' award-winning RPG, currently published in Shueisha's V Jump magazine (where Dragon Ball Super was serialized). It's worth noting that the Dragon Ball Super anime will have an exhibition space at Jump Festa 2027 as part of Toei Animation's booth, as the remake Dragon Ball Super: Beerus recently started airing, so it's not like Shueisha is trying to cancel Dragon Ball. However, the absence of the manga, after more than two years of hiatus, looks like the final nail in the coffin for fans who hoped that Toyotaro could pick up the torch and continue the story.
Another recent development adds one more piece to the puzzle and fuels speculation that big changes are coming to the franchise. The building that housed Akira Toriyama's Bird Studio, where the author worked for many years, is due to be demolished soon. Many people have spotted the construction works on the site and shared pictures, even if no official statements have been released.
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