Recently, Bandai Namco announced that they are going to be working with Akira Toriyama - author of the Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump series - to turn his latest manga series, Sand Land, into a full IP. To do this, they are pulling out the Bandai Namco Filmworks team and working with Shueisha Inc.
This task is called the Sand Land Project, featured by its own website, and it will see various partners come together to create a wide variety of content. The project will start with the co-production of animation by Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc.’s Sunrise Studio, Kamikaze Douga Co., Ltd., and ANIMA Inc.
If you are unaware, Sand Land is a popular manga created by Toriyama. It was serialized intensively for a short period in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2000, and the one-volume comic has gained worldwide popularity since its publishing. Its premise is fitting, given the author’s past works: In a desert world where both demons and humans suffer from an extreme water shortage, Beelzebub, the prince of demons, and Rao, a small-town sheriff, form a tag team and set off on an adventure in search of the Phantom Lake somewhere in the desert.
Sand Land’s IP has a lot of work ahead of it, but we are sure to hear more about the series’ future possibilities in 2023. Given that Bandai Namco has a big hand in all of this, I would imagine a game or few to be made off the series, following the animation that is already confirmed to be in the works. Check out their visual adaptation below and let us know what you think about this new series in the comments.
