'Dragon Ball Heroes' New Anime Confirmed; Series Might Now Get Licensed Outside Japan

Dragon Ball fans' excitement levels should definitely reach over 9,000 right now as Dragon Ball Heroes, a new anime about the adventures of the Super Saiyan race just got greenlit. This is only for Japan though, and fans might want to tone down their excitement levels significantly lower since the show is still facing licensing issues.

First things first though—Dragon Ball Heroes is not exactly an independent arc in the Dragon Ball saga. Instead, it is more of an anime adaptation of a card game of the same name from Nintendo. Basically, Dragon Ball Heroes has its own storyline that is not too much different than the most recent anime, Dragon Ball Super, which ended earlier in the year. However, Dragon Ball Heroes, the game, was actually quite notorious for spoiling some of the things that Dragon Ball Super was about to feature.

Now Dragon Ball Heroes is getting its own television spotlight. This much was confirmed by Yonkou Productions on their official Twitter account. They also explained quite a lot of details regarding the new Dragon Ball Anime. Unfortunately for fans, Yonkou Productions stated that Dragon Ball Heroes is just going to be a promotional material for the game, meaning it will not have a long lifespan and will probably just be brief.

Now for the even sadder news: this also means that Dragon Ball Heroes might not get ported over to the western countries, meaning no English dubs nor western television air times. Sadly, Dargon Ball Heroes will probably be only available within Japan. Much of this predicament was due to the card game, Dragon Ball Heroes, not having a license outside Japan and only being available in its home country. This is despite the card game being 8-years-old by now.

It does make sense though, that the promotional anime for a franchise stays within the franchise's domain of operations. For the anime Dragon Ball Heroes to be licensed in outside Japan, the card game's licensing would have to go first, which can be a lot of work for something uncertain.

At least there will be a movie for Dragon Ball Super. Meanwhile, the Dragon Ball Heroes anime will only feature the Universe Survival and the Prison Planet arcs, so those outside Japan will miss those animated chapters. Fans might want to stop holding their breaths for this one, though, since there is a big chance it will not air outside of Japan—legally, of course.