It’s been eight years since Dragon Ball Super finished airing, and with a 40th anniversary to celebrate this year, Toei Animation and Bird Studio have unveiled two new anime projects: a sequel and a first-of-its-kind remaster.

Both projects were announced at a Dragon Ball Genkidamatsuri event that took place in Japan last week. The sequel is a precursor called Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol (pictured) that has just gone into production. Set after the Tournament of Power arc, it sees heroes Goku and Vegeta team up with the galaxy’s peacekeepers to track down a mysterious wizard who’s absorbing the life force of other planets to regain his lost powers. This story is adapted from the ongoing manga series by late creator Akira Toriyama and current artist Toyotarou, and it will feature several new scenes that are unique to the anime adaptation. 

Toei has also been secretly toiling away on remastering one of Dragon Ball’s stories for the first time. Dragon Ball Super: Beerus is a six-episode series that will premiere in Japan and on Crunchyroll as an “enhanced edition” of Super’s original 15-episode story arc from 2015, with redone animation and a tightened-up storyline. It’s the studio’s response to heavy backlash from fans, who criticized Super‘s slow pace and low-quality animation, and turned its worst animated frames into viral memes.

Bandai Namco has also revealed that a new Dragon Ball video game project with the working title Age 1000 is in the works to launch in 2027, featuring new characters designed by Toriyama before he died in 2024. More details about the upcoming game will be released at an April Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour 2026 event in LA that celebrates all seven of Bandai Namco’s ongoing Dragon Ball video game titles with tournaments, content updates and exclusive merchandise.

Even without new anime projects to reignite the franchise flames, Dragon Ball is still one of the largest revenue-drivers for Bandai Namco’s games and merchandise business worldwide. Last year alone, Dragon Ball merch sales generated more than US$1.46 billion, setting a new record for the highest single-year earnings by a Bandai IP ever. Trailing behind the iconic shonen anime were Mobile Suit Gundam (US$998 million) and One Piece (US$907 million).