Dragon Ball has debuted Bulma’s next major anime makeover, and just like all the other ones seen before it’s a great one. Dragon Ball officially kicked off the 40th anniversary of its celebration for the original release of Akira Toriyama’s original manga debut for Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. This has resulted in the announcement of all kinds of cool new projects for the franchise in the works like a new anime remake, a brand new anime series coming later, and much more on the way. This even includes a new entry in a massive video game franchise.
Dragon Ball had surprised fans earlier this year with the tease of a new “Age 1000 Project” video game in the works that featured new character designs from the late creator Akira Toriyama himself. During a new panel as part of the Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2026 this weekend, it was confirmed that this was actually the highly anticipated return of the Xenoverse franchise with Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3. And it brings with it a brand new Bulma to the spotlight too.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 will be taking place in a far off future for the Dragon Ball world, and the Age 1000 aspect (which many fans latched onto as a possible tease for a third entry in the franchise) comes from the team asking Akira Toriyama to imagine what a future would look like for the franchise. As producer Akio Iyoka explained during the event, Toriyama’s vision of this future “forms the foundation of the world and story.” It’s teased to have a “deep involvement” from Toriyama as well, and that makes the debut of this new Bulma all the more exciting.
Iyoku teased that Toriyama’s involvement ranges from the setting, story, the characters (which is what fans had been hoping for) and how they interact with this new future setting. Iyoku also confirmed that the new characters seen in the promotional materials thus far, and thus will also be seen in the new game, come from Toriyama’s original designs as well. This means that even all this time after the creator’s passing, he’s still having a ton of influence over the course of the franchise’s future.
The Dragon Ball franchise still has a lot more to enjoy on the way as well. Dragon Ball Super: Beerus is a brand new remake version of the Battle of Gods arc seen in the TV anime series from over ten years ago at this point. Scheduled to release sometime later this Fall, this new version of the anime will be “enhanced” and features “extensive new cuts, revisions to existing scenes, a complete re-rendering of all footage, newly recorded dubbing with added score and sound effects, and a full reconstruction of the story.”
This new version of the Dragon Ball Super TV anime will then lead into a brand new series after. Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol has been officially announced as a new anime series adapting the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc from the manga release. Taking place after the events of the Universe Survival and Broly arcs, this new anime series is going to feature a stronger villain, bigger fights and more. No release date has been announced for it yet, but it’s plenty to get excited about!
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