Akio Iyoku, the executive producer of the Dragon Ball franchise, has revealed the true purpose of creating Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Iyoku, who is overseeing the production of Dragon Ball Daima, revealed how the critically acclaimed 2018 anime movie came to be.
Iyoku was a special guest for the “All Night Nippon – Dragon Ball 40th Anniversary Special” radio show on Jan. 1, 2025. As one would expect from the name, the radio program celebrated the milestone anniversary of the Dragon Ball series by the late Akira Toriyama. Iyoku was one of many guests who appeared on the program. He spoke about recent developments in Dragon Ball Daima and shed some light on past projects, such as Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
The Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Movie Aimed to Make Piccolo Relevant Again
According to Iyoku, based on notes written by Andy 案太郎 (@/peraperayume) on X (formerly Twitter), Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was developed to make Piccolo relevant again in the series. With everyone becoming stronger following the events of the Dragon Ball Super TV series and movies like Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Iyoku struggled to figure out what to do with Piccolo. He consulted Akira Toriyama about the next move for Piccolo, which led to the creation of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. As fans know, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero focused on the bond between Piccolo and adult Gohan, as the two former fighters returned to form to stop the resurgence of the Red Ribbon Army. Through the use of the Dragon Balls on Earth, Piccolo achieved a powerful new transformation known as “Orange Piccolo.”
Amusingly, Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero recognized the franchise’s heavy reliance on Goku and Vegeta and intentionally sidelined the characters so Piccolo and Gohon could be the stars of the show. The film also featured Pan, the daughter of Gohan and Videl, who had been training under Piccolo like Gohan did when he was a child, albeit under a much softer training regime. Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero was also the first time the franchise was fully animated as a CG-animated feature film. However, the opening sequence recapping the early history of the Red Ribbon Army was traditionally animated under the guidance of Chikashi Kubota. Kubota is also the chief animation director of Dragon Ball Daima and was responsible for the Dragon Ball Z flashback scenes in Daima Episode 1.
Although Piccolo’s role in Dragon Ball Daima isn’t as vital as in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, he hasn’t been completely sidelined in the new anime TV series. For starters, the demonic origins of the Namekian race have been reinstated in Daima, while explaining how Piccolo’s people came to live on other planets in Universe 7. Daima also revealed a shocking connection between the Namekians and the Glinds — the demon race of the Supreme Kai. A long-forgotten lore detail about Piccolo’s father — not the Demon King Piccolo that current Piccolo is a reincarnation of — was also brought back into the limelight by Daima.
Among these fascinating revelations regarding Piccolo is the unflattering development of forgetting his native language after living on Earth for so long. He also hasn’t had a standout fight in Daima so far. Granted, it took 12 episodes for Vegeta to finally get his moment, so it’s not over for Piccolo yet — especially when as of writing, it’s unclear how many episodes Dragon Ball Daima will have or how long the series will run.