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Toyo Keizai: Dragon Ball Rights Are Unresolved After Akira Toriyama's Death

Toyo Keizai Online, the website tied to the finance magazine Weekly Toyo Keizai, reported on July 8 about the rights to Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball franchise following his death. According to Toyo Keizai, the rights are currently up in the air since Toriyama's death, and publisher Shueisha, former editor Akio Iyoku, and Bandai Namco were all in discussions over the future of Dragon Ball.

Iyoku became the head of the "Dragon Ball Room" managing team at Shueisha in 2016 after working as editor-in-chief of the publisher's V Jump magazine. He worked closely with Toriyama since taking charge of the Dragon Ball franchise and helped with a number of projects. However, Iyoku was later transferred in 2022 to a new, different department.

Toyo Keizai's source at Shueisha reported concerns from Shueisha and other parties involved over Iyoku's failure to seek management approval before green-lighting projects, such as the Sand Land film. The source noted animation studios and TV stations had personality clashes with Iyoku at times. Toyo Keizai also reported that collaborations, such as those on metaverse and AI technology for which upper management had high expectations, fell behind.

Following the 2022 transfer, Iyoku parted ways with Shueisha a year later along with several subordinates, and established Capsule Corporation Tokyo, named after the organization in the Dragon Ball universe, in May 2023. The company handles distribution and development of intellectual property from creators, notably Toriyama.

According to Toyo Keizai, Shueisha became concerned it would lose the manga rights for the Dragon Ball series as Toriyama was unhappy with Iyoku's 2022 removal from the Dragon Ball team. Toyo Keizai added that Shueisha chairperson Marue Horiuchi personally visited Toriyama's home in the Aichi Prefecture in an unsuccessful attempt to secure the rights.

Bandai Namco produced a number of successful games based on the franchise, including the Dragon Ball Z Dokkan smartphone game, and wanted clarity on who retained the rights to the IP. The company arranged a meeting between Shueisha and Iyoku (who was speaking on behalf of Toriyama).

The Dragon Ball creator then died on March 1, and in his absence, disagreements have continued and the situation remains unresolved.

The article noted industry executives are hoping to come to an agreement with Toriyama's estate.

The latest anime in the franchise, Dragon Ball Daima, will premiere in Japan in a new evening anime programming block on Friday evenings on Fuji TV, starting on October 11.

Source: Toyo Keizai (Soichiro Morita) via SupaChronicles' X/Twitter account