It’s official. Dragon Ball Z was meant to end with the conclusion of the “Cell Saga,” according to the former editors of the late Akira Toriyama.
While fans have often speculated, there’s now confirmation that the “Cell Saga” in Dragon Ball Z was initially intended to close out the series during its publication in Shonen Jump magazine. This surprise reveal was announced by Toriyama’s former Dragon Ball editors: Kazuhiko Torishima, Yu Kondo and Fuyuto Takeda. The legendary trio were interviewed for the Feb. 22, 2025, episode of KosoKoso, a podcast hosted by Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest) and Torishima — who was forever immortalized by Toriyama as Dr. Mashirito in Dr. Slump.
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DBZ’s ‘Cell Saga’ Was Originally Intended to Be Dragon Ball’s Last
Social media user @/Venixys translated the comments made during the late February podcast on X (formerly Twitter). It was stated that Toriyama wanted to end the Dragon Ball manga with the “Cell Saga,” a fan-favorite storyline where Trunks, Vegeta and Bulma’s son from the future, travel to the past to warn the Z-warriors of two deadly androids that will wipe out humanity three years from now. However, Trunks’ unintentional interference with the past creates a new timeline where two different killer androids arrive, which leads to the debut of Cell, a bio-android built from the DNA of the strongest fighters who could further enhance his powers by absorbing others.
Although Toriyama repeatedly expressed his desire to end Dragon Ball Z with the “Cell Saga,” some were confused by his decision, as they believed the series could continue in another way (such as a spinoff or sequel series). However, Toriyama was pressured by the editorial team at Shonen Jump to continue Dragon Ball — most likely because of the series’ incredible success. That said, Takeda did take Toriyama’s feelings to heart. He found ways of lessening Toriyama’s workload to motivate him to continue Dragon Ball and agreed that the “Majin Buu” saga would be the series’ final storyline.
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For years, there have been great debates within the Dragon Ball Z fandom regarding the series’ original conclusion, as it’s been commonly known that Toriyama was pressured to keep the manga going far longer than he had intended. A popular fan theory regarding DBZ’s original conclusion was the “Frieza” saga, but “Cell Saga” has also been a strong second choice — especially as the finale of Gohan defeating Perfect Cell with Goku’s help from the afterlife came off as the perfect way of passing the torch from father to son. It would have also bookended the DBZ era with Goku returning to the afterlife, mirroring his shocking death from the series’ first fight with Raditz. Dragon Ball Z Kai even ended with the “Cell Saga” and only continued with the adaptation of the “Majin Buu” saga years later because of strong international demand.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)
