Alright, logically, I know everything will work out. But I’m still very much in my feels about this.

It’s been confirmed that as of episode 131 in March, Dragon Ball Super will be over…at least for the foreseeable future. Now what this means for the franchise is unclear, but it’s definitely not going away any time soon. There’s a movie slotted for December of this year, and I’m assuming they want all their energy focused on that. Once that’s done, my theory/hope is that they’ll be back with a new tv series, probably under a new name, which will jump past Super, landing on the other side of Z, after Goku’s gone off to train Uub. Super, which started during the ten year gap between the defeat of Buu and the end of Z, has always been working within a deadline.  They could only do so much, only get so far, because everyone has to turn up to see Pan (and yeah yeah, Uub) fight in that World Martial Arts Tournament. Granted, Dragon Ball has always been good at taking it’s time (I’m pretty sure the whole Buu saga pretty much takes place within a matter of weeks), but we’ve been feeling the drag on some characters, specifically the kids. This is a good opportunity to refresh the series, and get it moving forward and reaching new heights. (And finally de-canonizing GT once and for all)

But I really, really don’t want it to end.

Super has had it’s stumbling blocks, but overall, I feel like each arc has been better than the previous one (with the possible exception of the Golden Frieza saga). The Universe 6 saga opened up a lot of doors, probably the best being the introduction of an entirely new planet of Saiyans, and I enjoyed the Future Trunks saga a lot, even if it did stumble at the finish line. The Universe Survival saga has really blown me away–while it’s not been perfect, it’s surprised me at almost every turn, kept me engaged, and made the stakes feel realer than they have in a long, long time; and done this all without a true villain to speak of. I feel like Super has finally hit it’s stride. This is the show I’ve been wanting; in many ways, the show I’ve been chasing since I was a teenager.

And now, it’s ending.

We don’t know what will happen next. We don’t know that whatever magic is making this saga work will still be alive on the other side of the movie. We don’t know that we won’t lose other beloved talents, like we lost Bulma’s Japanese voice actress, Hiromu Tsuru, at the end of last year. Now, it could be for the best. It could be that if Super continued through the production of the new movie, that magic would be lost anyway, as attention and talent got split. But it feels risky to end it when it’s at such a high, and when it’s left so many possibilities still to explore, especially without a return planned. We’ve been promised a tour of Universe 6, and I want to see more of those Saiyans. I want to see more proud Grandpa Piccolo and protective Papa Vegeta. I want to, maybe, finally, see some character development forced out of Goku.

I guess for now, we’ll just have to hold our breath for the next Dragon Ball Z Abridged episode (and pick up a copy of Dragon Ball FighterZ).

I leave you with my favorite ending theme from Super (don’t worry, it’s not spoilery):