The adaptation of Akira Toriyama‘s Sand Land manga into an anime 24 years after its release sent the Dragon Ball fanbase into a frenzy. But is there any hope for a continuation of the series?
In the illustrious walls of manga history, Akira Toriyama’s name will always be remembered as a ray of genius and inventiveness. His name often brings to mind the legendary Dragon Ball series, which continues to spawn fresh anime content to this date (Dragon Ball Daima, we’re waiting for you). However, few fans know that Toriyama’s artistic career included more than just creating the iconic Saiyans.
Along with his beloved Dragon Ball series, Toriyama left his fans a gift of amazing one-shots and short manga masterpieces. Most of these came while Toriyama was serializing Dragon Ball weekly in the early 2000s, but continued to create the occasional 100-200 pages long manga series to keep himself entertained. Though most of these short masterpieces still await their well-deserved fame, one was recently picked for an anime adaptation, providing fans with a different lens to experience Toriyama’s brilliant writing talent.
If you haven’t already guessed, the series is Toriyama’s sci-fi and adventure Sand Land, which was originally serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from May to Aug. 2000. The announcement of an anime adaptation spiked the popularity of the previously-forgotten series to new heights, resulting in an action role-playing game adaptation of the series too.
A CGI anime film adaptation of Sand Land was also released in Aug. 2023, preceding the series adaptation that premiered a year later in March 2024. Now that season 1 is all done and dusted, can we expect to see more of this fun story?
Will there be Sand Land season 2?
The Sand Land anime series premiered in the United States on March 20, 2024, with the cast and staff members from the film reprising their roles. Sadly, Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1, 2024, before he could see the charm of his work on screens. However, he made a significant contribution to the series production and crafted an extended storyline for the adaptation before leaving us heartbroken.
Sand Land season 1 followed “The Story of the Fiend Prince” arc for the first six episodes, and then adapted “The Story of the Angel Hero” arc for the last seven episodes of the series. The Angel Hero arc was newly written by Toriyama, especially for the anime adaptation. This means that the manga readers won’t find the events of the second half of the anime in the manga.
The series ran for 13 episodes on Disney Plus and Hulu and concluded on May 1. While fans still can’t get enough of the adventures of Demon Prince Beelzebub, Thief, and Sheriff Rao, there’s a high chance that the series won’t spawn a second season. The reason is simple—the original Sand Land manga lasted only 14 chapters, and all chapters have been already adapted into the anime.
So, now that the manga material is all utilized, paired with the absence of Toriyama to create new chapters, the Sand Land anime might remain a single-season masterpiece. That being said, Disney Plus has not yet given any official statements regarding Sand Land season 2. So, it’s not entirely out of possibility yet, either.