From our other sites
The story
It has come to light that Toei Animation never granted official licensing approval for the “Dragon Ball Park” project announced by French President Emmanuel Macron on his own social media account. Surprise has spread over the fact that a plan significant enough for a head of state to announce publicly hadn’t been confirmed with the rights holder beforehand. On 5ch’s Entertainment/Sports News+ thread, the topic blew up, with users questioning how the plan moved forward without authorization, pointing out similarities to past unauthorized character facilities, and noting that Japan itself doesn’t even have an official Dragon Ball theme park.
ASCII.jp: France’s “Dragon Ball Park” Actually Unlicensed — Toei Animation Denies Approval
By G. Raymond Editor: ASCII
Updated September 3, 2026, 12:50 PM
Source: x.com / Original post here
What people said
Well, France is basically Europe's own "Middle Kingdom" when it comes to that self-centered mindset (referencing 中華思想, the Sino-centric worldview).
If it's going to be a knockoff anyway, they should've picked a different theme — what a waste of money lol
Let's build a Tintin park instead!
A Moebius-themed one would work too
Wait… actually, does one even exist?
Could they seriously end up not getting licensing approval after all this?
Nah, no way… right?
It'll come down to money
All about how much they can squeeze out in licensing fees
They figure ripping it off without permission won't lead to any real consequences
The fact that nothing came out of the Japanese side from the start already seemed off
not a single person involved had checked with the rights holder.
France's a wild country too, lol
there's no way they can open with a clear conscience anymore
Can they even draw crowds off an old manga alone?
If anywhere, it'd make sense to build it in Aichi, Toriyama's hometown
No real competition there either
Background and Key Points of This Story
Toei Animation’s denial that it “never granted approval” means no licensing agreement is currently in place — this article alone doesn’t clarify whether the theme park plan itself has been cancelled. As for precedent involving Japanese characters being used overseas without authorization, the case of Thailand’s Chaiyo Productions is well known: the company claimed rights to Ultraman and ended up in a years-long legal dispute with Tsuburaya Productions, and several thread comments drew comparisons to that case. At the same time, a number of posts in the thread lump France, South Korea, and China together under a blanket “copycat culture” label — but that’s a separate issue from the actual point of contention here, which is the procedural failure to confirm rights before making a public announcement, and the two should be read separately. Meanwhile, the observation that “Japan itself doesn’t even have an official Dragon Ball park” is accurate — there is currently no large-scale, permanent theme park in Japan dedicated to Weekly Shonen Jump properties.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment/Sports News+) thread “France’s “Dragon Ball Park” Actually Unlicensed — Toei Animation Denies.”
Leave a Reply