New Anime Report Sparks Dragon Ball, One Piece Rumor As Toei Animation Eyes Its Next Movies

Dragon Ball and One Piece are two of the biggest anime properties in the world, and sure enough, they both have plenty of movies in their respective libraries. Most of them exist largely to advertise their respective anime, but with great character writing and even greater action, they’ve all managed to find their fans, especially with how much more effort has been put into them in the past decade.

Any new Dragon Ball or One Piece movie is an exciting event, and there’s reason to believe that more are on the horizon. It’s been two years since the last Dragon Ball and One Piece movies, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and One Piece Film: Red, and while there haven’t been any official announcements of anything new, an official report from Toei Animation has sparked a rumor that new Dragon Ball and One Piece films are in development. Whether there’s any weight to that is unknown, but with how great the recent films have been, it’s great to think about.

Why Dragon Ball & One Piece Might Be Getting New Movies From Toei Animation

According to a recent financial report from Toei Animation, the studio behind Dragon Ball and One Piece, two anime films are in development for fiscal year 2026, meaning they will be released anytime between April 2025 and March 2026. At that point, it will have been 3-4 years since the last Dragon Ball and One Piece films, which is how long it usually takes for new ones to come out, and as such, the report of Toei Animation releasing new films in 2025 and 2026 has people thinking that new Dragon Ball and One Piece films are in development.

Naturally, that report didn’t specify what the films would be, and they could easily be original films or ones based on other major Toei Animation properties like Digimon or PreCure. However, One Piece remains the biggest anime franchise in modern day, and 2026 is the 40th anniversary of the Dragon Ball anime, so it’s far more likely for Toei Animation’s upcoming films to be for Dragon Ball or One Piece than it is for them to be for other properties they own. Official announcements for the films will probably happen soon, and hopefully, they’ll be exactly what people are expecting.

Why Dragon Ball & One Piece Getting New Films Is So Exciting To Think About

Everything To Look Forward To In New Dragon Ball & One Piece Films

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Toei Animation’s new films will likely be for Dragon Ball and One Piece, and that’s plenty exciting after how great their last films were. For Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was a revolutionary film thanks to its great CGI action and character writing for Piccolo and Gohan, with it arguably having the best writing of any Dragon Ball film. A new film would also be an easy way to move Dragon Ball Super’s story forward considering the Dragon Ball Super manga’s hiatus, so just the idea of it is great to think about.

As for One Piece, not only did One Piece Film: Red have some of the best animation and direction in the franchise, but One Piece Film: Red was a great film for successfully telling an emotional and dramatic story easily on par with the best arcs in the manga, so a new film would be even better to watch. With how much both franchises have evolved in recent years, any new film from Dragon Ball or One Piece would be a major event to look forward to, and with any luck, the upcoming Toei Animation films will be exactly that.

Source: @pewpiece on X.