The Dragon Ball Super manga's long hiatus has finally ended: chapter #88 of Akira Toriyama and Toyotaro's work will be published on December 20 in Shueisha's V-Jump. The new arc will focus on Trunks, Goten, Gohan, and Piccolo, and it will be a direct tie-in to the events of the acclaimed movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
Fans of the Dragon Ball universe have been eagerly waiting for the Dragon Ball Super manga to resume publication. After the momentous ending of the Granolah the Survivor arc in August, which saw the return of Frieza in a new, overwhelmingly powerful form, the manga took a long break to prepare for the next stage of its exciting story. In the meantime, there was a lot of speculation that the next Dragon Ball Super arc would adapt the events of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, the latest movie in the franchise that was released during the Summer of 2022 and became a global success.
The November 2022 issue of V-Jump confirms that Dragon Ball Super will resume publication on December 20, with the beginning of a new story arc - news originally broken by @DbsHype, and now confirmed by Dragon Ball Official Site. Fans now know that the story will focus on two characters that have not enjoyed the spotlight until now: Trunks and Goten. Gohan and Piccolo will also have major roles, and the manga will be a direct prequel to the events shown in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. The exact words on the poster published on V-Jump are actually "We’re going to depict DBS Super Hero beginning with a prequel (Goten and Trunks’ story)", which means that the new arc may start with a prequel story and then move into fully adapting the Super Hero movie.
Dragon Ball Super Returns in December
While at this stage everything is speculation, fans can guess that the new Dragon Ball Super arc takes place a few years after the end of the Granolah Arc, because Goten and Trunks look really grown up from their last appearance. This also confirms two important things regarding the movie. First, Super Hero takes place after the Granolah arc, and second, the movie is indeed canon. It will be up to the manga, however, to explain many things that were left vague in Super Hero, especially Gohan and Piccolo's new powerful transformations.
Goten and Trunks are two beloved characters that did not see any action since Dragon Ball Super began. Fans have been clamoring to see more of them, and the manga is promising to do just that. Dragon Ball Super's new arc, beginning on December 20, will not only give Trunks and Goten their due, it will also finally adapt and explain the events of Super Hero, giving fans of the franchise exactly what they have been asking for.
Source: @DbsHype, Dragon Ball Official Site