Dragon Ball brand split: Everything we know about Akio Iyoku's request (so far)

Modified Sep 01, 2023 02:43 GMT

Dragon Ball could change as a franchise forever in the near future (Image via Toei Animation).

Dragon Ball as a franchise is undergoing a massive change with the resignation of Akio Iyoku from the Dragon Room project and Shueisha. It's very likely that most fans are not familiar with Iyouku and what he does but he is a big player in the franchise and is pushing for the series to move away from Toei and move to other places.

Of course, what was even more impressive is what Mr. Iyoku is requesting: to push the franchise to far greater heights and create multiple projects from the world that author Akira Toriyama has crafted over the years. While everything can seem perfect at first with this request, it's important to gauge who Iyoku is and the pros and cons of this initiative.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the Dragon Ball series and any opinion stated here belongs to the author.

Akio Iyoku's desire to change the Dragon Ball franchise

Explaining who Iyoku is

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Akio Iyoku was the head of the Dragon Room section of Shueisha, which is a group of creative people focused on Dragon Ball. This includes a wide variety of projects, including movies and video games, and now it has been confirmed that Iyoku has resigned from his position in the company as he wants to take the franchise even further.

He has created his own company, Capsule Corporation Tokyo, named after Bulma's family business in the series. He has been author Akira Toriyama's right-hand man for quite some time now, helping with communication from the likes of Toei, Shueisha, working on the scripts for the recent movies and a lot more.

The news of his resignation has been so shocking that Toriyama had to do a quick Q&A at his home regarding this situation and said he had no comment, as of now.

Iyoku's request

Iyoku is one of the most important figures in the Dragon Ball franchise (Image via Comic Con).

While this is news in development, it's clear that Mr. Iyoku wants his company and his people to have greater control of the franchise and help it expand. This means influence in the movies, the anime adaptations, the video games, and similar projects, with the manga remaining under Shueisha's control, who are the biggest publishers in Japan.

Iyoku did an interview back in 2022 stating that he was looking forward to doing a lot more Dragon Ball projects and this move seems to stem from that desire.

For those unaware, he was the one who suggested the concept of bringing back Broly and making him canon because of his popularity and also suggested making Gohan the lead character in the recent Super Hero movie.

This highlights the man's desire to push the envelope with the franchise.

The pros and cons of this project

There hasn't been a Dragon Ball Super anime since the Tournament of Power arc (Image via Toei Animation).

There is no denying that the Dragon Ball franchise has been missing an anime for quite some time now and fans are getting very frustrated. While the manga has produced some interesting content in the Moro and Granolah arcs, other mediums and venues haven't gotten the most out of the series, which is something that Akio Iyoku seems to agree with.

Toei Animation has had a hold on the series for years now and it seems that they don't know what direction to take anymore. There hasn't been any hints of a new anime or new content, which has led to Iyoku's frustration with the company.

This, in a way, has resulted in the creation of Capsule Corporation Tokyo, and wanting greater diversity in the series' content.

On the other hand, this could also lead to the franchise being watered down. When there is a lot of content being churned out, the quality could be questionable and that leads to the name losing value.

A good example of this is Masami Kurumada's Saint Seiya series, whose constant spinoffs, reboots, and failed movies have only hurt an already declining franchise.