Dragon Ball Super’s manga comeback still has no clear timeline, and its latest Jump Festa update offers little reassurance. The series has been removed from the announced line-up for the event’s official art exhibition, with Metaphor: ReFantazio taking its place.
That is disappointing news if you were hoping the showcase might bring a meaningful update. But there is an important distinction: an exhibition change is not a cancellation announcement, nor does it establish how long the manga’s hiatus will continue.
What changed at Jump Festa?
According to ComicBook Anime, Dragon Ball Super initially appeared on the list for Jump Original Art World, the art exhibition at Jump Festa 2027. An update to the event website subsequently replaced it with Metaphor: ReFantazio. The change was highlighted by @SupaChronicles on X.
No explanation for the replacement was provided.
The exhibition news follows two other absences reported by ComicBook Anime: Dragon Ball Super has no announced stage slot and does not appear on the event’s promotional poster. Taken together, those omissions leave the series with a limited presence beyond merchandise at the upcoming event.
The gallery is worth watching because it features special artwork contributed by creators. Toyotaro, the artist behind the Dragon Ball Super manga, has supplied sketches during the hiatus before. However, that history does not establish whether he will contribute anything this time.
The manga’s future remains unresolved
The manga entered an indefinite hiatus in 2024 following the death of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama. Readers have been waiting for news of regular chapters resuming ever since.
Its adaptation of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero brought that storyline to a conclusion. ComicBook Anime describes it as the last material overseen by Toriyama before his death. The wider story, however, still has unfinished business, particularly the threat posed by Black Frieza.
Toyotaro has expressed a desire to continue the manga without Toriyama. That matters as a statement of creative intent, but wanting to continue and having an announced publication schedule are different things. The reported exhibition update supplies neither a return date nor an explanation of the manga’s production status.
Anime activity is a separate story
The uncertainty around the manga does not mean every part of Dragon Ball Super is standing still.
ComicBook Anime also points to the remake anime Dragon Ball Super: Beerus and the in-development Dragon Ball Super: The Galactic Patrol. The latter is set to adapt the Galactic Patrol Prisoner storyline, one of the manga’s two anime-unadapted arcs discussed in the report.
Those projects give the franchise material to work with, but they do not answer when new manga chapters might arrive. An anime adaptation announcement should not be read as confirmation that monthly manga publication is restarting.
What this means for Malaysia and SEA — analysis
For readers in Malaysia and across SEA deciding what to make of the news, the useful takeaway is to separate event visibility, anime development and manga publication. Movement in one area does not automatically settle the others.
The gallery removal makes Jump Festa look less promising as a venue for a manga comeback reveal. That is an inference from the reduced presence, not an official statement about future plans.
For now, neither “the manga is definitely returning soon” nor “the manga is finished for good” is supported by this update. The next meaningful development would be a direct announcement about publication—not another attempt to read a release calendar from an event poster.