Dragon Ball's latest controversy begs the question of who really runs the series

For the Dragon Ball fans who are unaware, there is possibly set to be a huge change in the entire creative structure of the franchise. According to Bunshun Online, the head of Shueisha's Dragon Room section, Akio Iyoku, has stepped down from the company and hopes to take over the creative aspects of the franchise for his own company, Capsule Corporation Tokyo.

While Shueisha is reluctant to part with any rights to the series, neither company can currently confirm anything. However, if any such transfer does occur, it could drastically affect all Dragon Ball content, except for the manga. Considering that Akio Iyoku was seemingly responsible for a lot of content for the series over the years, fans are wondering who actually runs the series.

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Iyoku stepping down from Shueisha could heavily impact the Dragon Ball series

Every Dragon Ball fan knows Akira Toriyama as the creator of the series and the person who quite possibly shaped all Shounen series. However, following the recent developments at Shueisha, several new pieces of information have begun to surface online.

Apparently, Akira Toriyama was set to make Piccolo the lead character in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie. However, Akio Iyoku did not think that it would work financially and got the Mangaka to add Gohan as a lead character as well.

Gohan Beast as seen in the Super Hero movie (Image via Toei Animation)

If it wasn't for him, the latest movie from the franchise would not have been a Piccolo-Gohan movie but just a Piccolo movie. However, as the creators listened to Iyoku, fans got to witness the Gohan Beast transformation. Apparently, Iyoku likes to play with nostalgia and managed to give Gohan his Beast form by creating a similar situation to that of his Super Saiyan 2 transformation incident during the Cell Games.

However, that's not all, as apparently, Iyoku was also responsible for several other creative decisions, including the ideation of the Broly movie and the inclusion of Frieza in the Tournament of Power.

Broly as seen in the Broly movie (Image via Toei Animation)

Iyoku analyzed the past data and came to the conclusion that Broly was a very popular character when he was introduced in the Dragon Ball Z movies. Thus, he got Akira Toriyama to create a storyline that would have Broly be reintroduced to the series. However, this time, he would stay canon.

Additionally, if fans remember, Frieza wasn't originally part of the Universe 7 team in the Tournament of Power, but Majin Buu. However, the story was later tailored in such a way that Frieza, who was dead at the time, managed to return for the Tournament of Power and fought alongside other Universe 7 fighters.

Frieza and Goku as seen in the Tournament of Power (Image via Toei Animation)

Considering that this was a huge creative decision, fans are led to wonder if Akira Toriyama actually runs the series. While it is true that the Mangaka creates the story around the plot points and has to be credited for the same, the fact that such big creative decisions weren't his own has started to irk fans.

The worst part about the current situation is that Akio Iyoku has now stepped down from Shueisha. Thus, if talks between Shueisha and Capsule Corporation Tokyo do take a bad turn, it could likely mean that Iyoku might no longer be assisting in the creation of the series.

Given the content that Iyoku has supposedly helped with, his absence could hugely impact the future of Dragon Ball Super. Thus, fans could also see the manga series going on a hiatus or a new project getting delayed by years.