Bandai Namcohas announced a newcollaborative projectwith Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama, which appears to be an upcoming video game adaption of his classic short manga, SAND LAND. Further details on the project are expected to be revealed before the end of the year, specifically on December 17th.
In the story of Sand Land, most of the world has become a desert due to human actions and natural disasters, and water supply has become scarce. The evil king of the world monopolizes the only water source left, and people across the country are suffering from drought. Beelzebub, the demon protagonist, steals a tank from the king’s army and tries to search along with his friends for an alternative water source called the Phantom Lake. The story ends with the heroes breaking the dam that gives the king monopoly over the water and thus bringing the king’s oppressive rule to an end.
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According to the newly opened Sand Land JapaneseTwitteraccount, the project is intended to express the world of SAND LAND in every possible way, so it might not be limited only to video games. A shortteaser trailerdepicting the art of the work is also released, where the demon boy Beelzebub is looking thoughtfully into the distance, wondering “why the world has become like this.”
The original series was serialized in the weekly Shōnen Jump magazine for 14 chapters and was later compiled into one graphic novel that was published in many countries and received worldwide popularity. For gamers, Akira Toriyama is more known for his work on the popular time-travel JRPGChrono Trigger, and also the Xbox 360 exclusive Blue Dragon. Most of Toriyama’s works involve a plot where humans and non-humans fight together to save the world from a great evil and follow the framework of the traditional hero’s journey in myths and fictional writing.
The news might come as a natural out-turn of Bandai Namco’s recentearning reports, where the publisher states that it will be more selective with IPs it works with in order to appeal to investors. The publisher’s biggest golden goose at the moment is Dragon Ball, which generated $1.12 billion in revenue in the fiscal year 2021, so it makes sense for the company to adapt more of Toriyama’s works for the foreseeable future.
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