Few anime franchises have enjoyed the success or popularity of the Dragon Ball series, which has now spanned numerous anime movies and anime series through the years. Now, Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, has a new anime on the way and we cannot wait!
You’d think that, after creating a whole host of amazing Dragon Ball characters and seeing the TV series thrive for decades, Toriyama might be content enough to leave the anime game for good. But he’s clearly not resting on his laurels and has been hard at work creating new anime characters.
His manga Sand Land, a short series which ran in 2000, is getting the big-screen treatment. The Sand Land website revealed key details and has us hyped.
The story sees Earth in the distant future, ravaged by war and with all the planets water being controlled by a greedy king – Mad Max: Fury Road vibes, right? Sheriff Rao is the hero of the story and, accompanied by Beelzebub and Thief, he traverses the desert in search of a long-lost lake. Along the way, the trio encounter dragons, bandits, and other anime villains.
Now that sounds like a blast! Toriyama took to Twitter, via the Sand Land account to share some insight into how the project originally came to life.
“After Dragon Ball ended, I experimented with various short works and one-shots, then tried to put all I had into drawing what I figured would be my final work. This was Sand Land” Toriyama said. “Thinking about it now, I’m surprised I managed to draw a weekly serialisation all by myself without any assistant, even if it was only for a single comic volume’s worth.”
On the film adaptation, he added: “I drew this putting my own likes at the forefront, so anyone who says they enjoy this is a super-fan who really gets me… The images I’ve seen still had many unfinished parts, but I never expected this to get a visual adaptation after over 20 years, so this kind of quality is like a dream come true.”
We can’t wait to see the new movie, but it’s not arriving in Japan until August 18, with no news on a wider release just yet. Until then, check out other anime fun with our guides to the Demon Slayer season 3 release date, the Dragon Ball Super season 2 release date, or the One Punch Man season 3 release date.