If you have been involved in the Dragon Ball fandom for more than eight consecutive seconds, then you have no doubt heard various rumors about how author Akira Toriyama originally intended to end the series. The biggest such rumor by far is that he planned on ending the series after the Freeza story arc (typically with Goku and/or most of the named cast dying), but was forced to continue due to the series’ overwhelming popularity. There are various other rumors too, such as Toriyama wanting to end the series after the Cell Games, or have Gohan be the one to defeat Boo, etc.
This entire toured guide has been created to analyze the validity of these claims about Toriyama’s intentions on how to end Dragon Ball. The short answer is that the success of Dragon Ball did compel Toriyama to continue drawing it for far longer than he had ever planned, but that the various claims about specific places or ways in which Toriyama was going to end it are almost all unsupported by any real evidence. For the long answer, well, read on!
