Goku Is Missing From Jump Festa's Key Art for the First Time Since 2016

Dragon Ball Super is getting zero main stage presence at Jump Festa 2027 this December, and it's not just a scheduling footnote — Goku is nowhere on the event's official key visual for the first time since 2016. That's one of the only times in Jump Festa's 27-year history that Goku hasn't been front and center next to franchise staples like Luffy and Naruto.

The timing makes it sting worse. Dragon Ball Super's manga has been on hiatus since creator Akira Toriyama's death in 2024, reportedly tangled up in a rights dispute between Shueisha and Akio Iyoku's Capsule Corp Tokyo. When the Dragon Ball Super: Galactic Patrol anime got confirmed as an adaptation of a previously manga-only arc written by Toyotarou, fans took it as a sign the rights mess had been sorted and the manga would finally come back. Goku getting cut from Jump's own marketing just torched that theory.

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There's still one confirmed date on the calendar: the Dragon Ball Super: Beerus anime remake starts streaming in the U.S. on Netflix Oct. 17. The manga's return, though, remains a total mystery — Toyotarou keeps teasing a comeback through his "Toyotarou Tries to Draw" series, but nothing's locked in.