Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball continues to entertain audiences, and the legacy that it will leave behind is incalculable. Dragon Ball Super produced 131 episodes before it ended its run more than seven years ago. That being said, Dragon Ball Super’s manga has continued the series’ story long beyond the Tournament of Power’s conclusion. There’s actually more material in Dragon Ball Super’s manga that’s set after the Tournament of Power than there is beforehand, which helps highlight just how much new material the manga has produced.

This has prompted discussion about when the inevitable Dragon Ball Super 2 gets announced and proceeds to animate the manga’s Galactic Patrol Prisoner and Granolah the Survivor Sagas, which feature some of the series’ best battles. At this point, Dragon Ball Super’s manga has accrued more than enough material to sustain a Dragon Ball Super anime extension. Unfortunately, any such series would be forced to confront a serious hurdle that could hurt Dragon Ball Super 2’s success.

Dragon Ball Super’s anime concluded in 2018, but the series decided to continue its story with two canonical feature films, Broly and Super Hero. Feature films were never an issue for Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball Z because they were always very clearly non-canonical stories that existed outside the main narrative. Before it was known that a proper Dragon Ball Z sequel anime would enter production, Dragon Ball Z produced two canonical feature film follow-ups, Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F.’ These movies were met with such success that Dragon Ball Super became official. However, the peril of canonical movies is that some fans may not have seen these cinematic installments and they shouldn’t be confused or feel punished for this. Accordingly, these movies’ events need to be worked into the anime so that everyone is on the same page.

This approach absolutely killed Dragon Ball Super’s momentum upon its debut. There are new ideas and subplots that are presented in Dragon Ball Super’s God of Destruction Beerus and Golden Frieza Sagas, but there are still 27 episodes that are spent on “old” material. This is a serious ask of the audience and Dragon Ball Super 2 would face the exact same issue as Broly and Super Hero. Audiences want a new Dragon Ball Super anime, but they also don’t want to spend dozens of episodes, months of the show’s runtime, on stories that they’ve already seen. Dragon Ball Super 2 will eventually get to “new” material, but the anime shouldn’t begin in a place where audiences want to wait a few months before they actually start watching. Fans would regard the start of the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga and Moro’s debut as Dragon Ball Super 2’s “true” start, but they’d also be worried that they might miss some important changes if they just skip the anime’s adaptation of the Broly and Super Hero Sagas.

Another problem that any Dragon Ball Super 2 anime is set to face is that the two movies that it will need to recap are placed in a bit of a floating timeline, depending on which piece of media is being enjoyed. The Broly and Super Hero Sagas are back-to-back in Dragon Ball Super’s anime, but they’re quite distantly apart in the corresponding manga. Dragon Ball Super’s manga features very crucial material between the Broly and Super Hero Sagas that the anime can’t just skip. This means that Dragon Ball Super 2 will need to change events – at least in some manner – so that the Super Hero Saga is the second arc that follows the Broly Saga. This change would also need to find a reason to keep Piccolo and Gohan occupied during the other sagas, otherwise they’d just be able to save the day with their new powers. Fundamental issues would be faced here because Gohan and Piccolo play a sizable role in the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga as they take on Seven-Three.

Alternatively, Dragon Ball Super 2 would be hit with serious pacing problems during a crucial place at the climax of its story if it were to adapt the manga’s sagas in proper chronological order. Fans won’t be happy to revisit old material after the reveal of Black Frieza, which is exactly how manga readers felt when the High School and Super Hero Sagas followed. An altered version of events that places the Broly and Super Hero Sagas back-to-back would face new problems, but it would at least be able to move straight from Black Frieza’s debut into what will presumably be the Black Frieza Saga. Whichever approach is taken, there are some concessions that are being made to Akira Toriyama’s original vision. There were greater legal and bureaucratic factors in play that kept – and continue to keep – a new Dragon Ball Super manga adaptation from going into production. However, the amount of time that’s passed and the unique way in which the anime’s movies and manga have cross-pollinated each other sets any future Dragon Ball Super anime up for big struggles.

Audiences are willing to tolerate some material that they’ve seen before, as long as it’s within reason or brings something new to the table, like a revised animation style. Dragon Ball fans were frustrated when Dragon Ball Super started with two story arcs that adapted the franchise’s most recent movies. However, they had only experienced these stories once before, and in a much more condensed format. Dragon Ball Super 2 would be in a trickier situation because this would mark the Super Hero Saga’s third adaptation between a movie and an expanded manga adaptation. Audiences may be less willing to sit through this story again when it’s being told for the third time. Admittedly, there's value in adapting Broly into an episodic saga, since its "adaptation" was distilled to a single splash panel in the manga. Super Hero is the real issue though, which is unfortunate because it really does feature some of Gohan, Piccolo, and Pan's best material, plus there's the Saiyan free-for-all brawl that it culminates in.

Alternatively, adapting the Galactic Patrol Prisoner and Granolah the Survivor Sagas into movies also wouldn't be the right approach since so many events would need to be condensed or removed altogether, which wouldn't do them justice or have been worth the wait. A smart idea would be if Dragon Ball Super actually took a page out of Demon Slayer’s book and announced a Moro film trilogy. This would give audiences exactly what they want, while also setting up an infrastructure that could work for a series of Granolah the Survivor Saga films. Several movies still aren’t the same thing as an episodic series, but it might be the best approach possible for Dragon Ball Super’s future. This all leaves Dragon Ball Super 2 stuck in a very difficult position that's inevitably going to leave some fraction of the fandom disappointed. That's not the best way to begin a series and Toei Animation has firm proof from the previous Dragon Ball Super anime that this approach pushes the fans' buttons. Yet at the same time, any proper Dragon Ball Super anime continuation will need to touch upon these sagas' essential events. It may not be the easiest road ahead for Dragon Ball Super, but fans will ultimately just be happy to see Moro, Granolah, Gas, and Ultra Ego Vegeta in fluidly animated action.