In a new interview with Shueisha's V Jump magazine, Toyotarou has revealed how involved Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama was with the manga's final arc, which was an adaptation of the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero anime film.
Following Toriyama's death back in March, V-Jump has decided to put the Dragon Ball Super manga on hiatus and instead, posts a series of interviews with Toyotarou which provides behind-the-scenes context on how the manga gets made.
In the latest interview Toyotarou revealed that Toriyama was the one who, "made teenage Trunks want to become a hero. It's a bit shocking thinking Toriyama came up with this, but it shows he understood the difference between teenage Trunks and future Trunks. "
It seems Toriyama wanted a way to differentiate between Future Trunks and teenage trunks as the Dragon Ball Super manga approached the same period that the Future Trunks storyline told during the Android saga.
Based on these comments, it seems Toriyama was heavily involved with Dragon Ball Super volume 21, which is a small prequel to the events of the anime film, where Trunks and Goten don superhero costumes similar to Gohan's Saiyaman.
This manga volume was released in Japan on August 23 and collected chapters 89-92.
This confirms that Toriyama (68) was also heavily involved with the franchise, right up until his passing. Back in March, Toriyama died due to acute subdural hematoma, a condition where blood collects between the skull and the surface of the brain. It seems he fell and hit his head, while walking through his home studio in Kiyosu.
The official statement on the official Dragon Ball website also confirmed that Toriyama was hard at work on several projects at the time of its passing, so it is currently unknown if Toriyama had any confirmed plans or input on how to continue the Dragon Ball Super manga after the Super Hero arc.
Elsewhere, a new report has emerged which may add new context to the Dragon Ball Super manga's current hiatus. It seems there's a conflict unfolding between Toriyama's former right-hand man and Shuiesha over who has the right to negotiate business deals for the Dragon Ball franchise when it comes to anime and video games.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero Synopsis:
Descendants of the Red Ribbon Army’s sinister leaders have renewed their quest for world domination. As their two ultrapowerful androids seek their own brand of justice against Earth’s heroes, Piccolo and Gohan must push their powers to new limits!