Akira Toriyama’s coming back for a new Dragon Ball series

Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama has shifted to providing general narrative guidance and character designs for many of the franchise’s projects in recent years. But for Dragon Ball Daima — a new animated series from Toei — the legendary mangaka will be hands-on in a big way.

Today at this year’s New York Comic Con, Toei Animation announced that it is well into production on Dragon Ball Daima, a new series that will see a number of classic Dragon Ball Z characters like Goku, Vegeta, and Bulma transformed into children similar to the way Goku became a child in Dragon Ball GT.

During a panel about the new show, executive producer Akio Iyoku described Toriyama as being “deeply involved beyond his usual capacity” in its production process and teased that he “has planned entirely new episodes for the storyline.”

While Toei hasn’t shared many details about Daima, it did release a new trailer that makes it seem like the show might take a bit of a meta route with a villain aware of Goku’s lengthy history across different Dragon Ball anime and manga. For reasons that aren’t clear, most everyone featured appears to be a child, and while it stands to reason that someone uses the dragon balls to wish for it to happen, the trailer leaves open who that could be.

Plot details or not, the animation featured in the trailer is gorgeous, and Toriyama’s involvement is a sign that Dragon Ball Daima’s story might pack a bit more of a punch than GT’s did when it premieres sometime next fall.