Legendary Mangaka Akira Toriyama took his last breath on March 1, 2024. He is the one responsible for paving the path for the upcoming generation of manga and anime lovers. He created the iconic Dragon Ball franchise and gifted the fans with two of the most celebrated characters in anime history – Son Goku and Prince Vegeta. No anime discussion is ever done without Akira Toriyama and his magnum opus in it.
He was such a workaholic that he kept on creating manga till the end. Even though he was not a part of Dragon Ball Super, he later joined the franchise and helped it reach new heights. Recently, an announcement surfaced online that mentioned that his latest work, Sand Land, will be adapted into an anime. The fans could not help but ask whether it had the potential to dethrone the Dragon Ball franchise.
Fans Are Excited For Sand Land
Sand Land is a short manga by the Dragon Ball creator that was adapted into a movie of the same name. The film was released in Japan on August 18, 2023. Humans and Demons live on a Desert Planet with water shortage, and most of the water sources are captured by the rulers. The story follows a small-town Sheriff, Rao, joining hands with the Demon Prince, Beelzebub, and his assistant, Thief, to discover the elusive Phantom Lake in the desert.
"SAND LAND: THE SERIES" begins streaming worldwide this month:
— A.I.R (Anime Intelligence (and) Research) (@AIR_News01) March 4, 2024
Episodes 1–7 on March 20, then a new episode every Wednesday from March 27 for a total of 13 episodes.
Newly launched website: https://t.co/mtSUBKbVGt
As previously announced, Disney will exclusively stream the… pic.twitter.com/X6n4zqDj1t
After the movie, the latest announcement revealed that the manga will be adapted into a 13-episode series on Disney. The first seven episodes will be released on March 20, 2024, and the rest will be released every Wednesday from March 27. Apart from that, Sand Land is also getting an open-world video game scheduled for April 25, 2024. The video game will follow the player filling Beelzebub’s shoes and exploring the desert to find valuables.
Sand Land video game will be available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S. The first six episodes will feature the Prince of Demon arc, and the rest of the episodes will feature the Angelic Heroes arc. Popular voice actors like Mikako Komatsu, Ayumu Murase, Matsumi Tamura, Kazuhiro Yamaji, etc., will be featured in the series. The fans are pretty excited to see another anime based on their favorite mangaka’s works.
Can Sand Land Be A Multi-Billion Franchise Like Dragon Ball?
Akira Toriyama has set the standards with the Dragon Ball franchise. The Dragon Ball franchise is worth $23 Billion in revenue and is the fourth highest-grossing anime franchise of all time. Multiple animated series, movies, specials, video games, etc., make it a multi-billion-dollar franchise. Even though Akira Toriyama has sadly passed away, Dragon Ball DAIMA and Dragon Ball: Sparkling Zero are the franchise’s upcoming projects.
On the other hand, the Sand Land film grossed about $1.2 million in revenue and has only a single volume with fourteen chapters. Even if the upcoming series and video game brings hundreds of millions in revenue, it will fall short of the $23 Billion franchise. Sand Land’s journey has only begun, and Goku and Vegeta have been ruling hearts for four decades. So, it is too early to compare them.
Sand Land was created two decades ago and was something Akira Toriyama drew for fun. Sheriff Rao and Beelzebub have to face several beasts and overcome obstacles to reach their destination. The comical sci-fi dystopian adventure has a lot of potential and might even surprise the fans since it is Akira Toriyama’s creation. But dethroning the Dragon Ball franchise is a far-fetched dream for Rao and Beelzebub.
