After the end of the Dragon Ball: Super anime, the manga continued the story. Now the boss of Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero explains whether some of the new characters from the manga will make it into his game on Steam.
Which characters are involved? The manga of Dragon Ball: Super has a total of 103 chapters up to March 2024. The storylines covered in the anime up to the end of the Tournament of Power and the fate of the universe only include chapters up to 42. The remaining 61 chapters tell a total of four story arcs that have not yet been animated and dubbed.
Accordingly, a whole host of new characters also appear in it. In particular, the 10 million year old star eater Moro and Granolah, the last survivor of the Cerealian people, would be exciting candidates for the latest game.
Producer Jun Furutani has now spoken about whether characters that have only appeared in the manga so far will also make it into Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. You can see some of the characters that have already been confirmed for the game in the trailer:
DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO in the trailer
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Adapting manga characters? Difficult.
Will the characters come into the game? In an interview with IGN, Jun Furutani is asked whether characters from the Dragon Ball Super manga will be included in the game. Specifically, the interviewer asks whether Moro and Granolah could make it into the game. They are two of the most exciting new characters.
This is what Furutani says about it, slightly defensively:
The short answer is that it is difficult for him to talk about these things. Yes, yes. Due to various situations. I am sure you understand.
They do not address the question further in the interview, but turn directly to other topics.
What are possible reasons for the answer? In an article on the subject, The Gamer puts forward several theories. The main one is that the early death of Akira Toriyama, the creator of the series, still has a strong influence on the production of all Dragon Ball products such as anime, manga and games.
Since Moro and Grenolah have never been animated and do not have their own voice actors in any language, the hurdle for adaptation could be even higher: Games like Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero draw their inspiration from the manga original, but primarily from the anime series and films.
To ensure that the series, films and games fit together, existing voice actors are hired for the games whenever possible. In Japan, but of course also overseas. If no voice actors have been selected for characters, the casting effort falls to the game’s development team.
Depending on how the anime adaptations of Dragon Ball go, there might still be hope for Moro and Grenolah. If a sequel to Super adapts the two, they might still make it into the game at a later date. MeinMMO editor Jasmin Beverungen is absolutely thrilled with Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero: Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero makes me feel like I’m 12 again, reminds me of the good times with Super Smash Bros.