'Dragon Striker' Co-Creators Discuss One Piece Inspiration, Tama Magic, and Possible 15-Season Plans

Courtesy of Disney

Plainly put, Disney XD’s upcoming series Dragon Striker will surely satisfy both anime and sports fans. Combining the intense always-on type of adrenaline that comes with soccer with the traditional but rich world-building of classic shonen anime (you will be surprised at some titles named), creators Sylvain Dos Santos and Charles Lefebvre have crafted a vastly high-in-the-sky colorful universe driven by a special kind of magical energy. Backed by a soaring score from legendary composer Kevin Penkin (Made in Abyss), the highly anticipated series is already generating a great amount of buzz when it releases this coming week.

The Movie Nerds recently sat down with Dos Santos and Lefebvre to discuss the legendary anime and video game titles that inspired the show, the truth behind those fifteen season rumors, and how a childhood love of sugar can inadvertently create the ultimate defensive magical power (yep, you read that right!)

Salvatore Cento: First things first, the score for Dragon Striker was composed by Mr. Kevin Penkin who is also responsible for featured musical pieces in Made In Abyss, The Apothecary Diaries and The Rising of the Shield Hero (among others) When it came to Dragon Striker, how did the collaboration with Mr. Penkin begin?

Charles Lefebvre:  I was already a fan of his work so when we had the opportunity to work with Kevin, that was - amazing. When I’m drawing - I use his history as a loop on my playlist. I love how he can write melancholic and sad songs to bring emotion. For example, when I watched Made In Abyss - by the end of the first episode, I knew I was going to watch the show until the end just because of the music.The music certainly made me feel something.

As for Dragon Striker, we were going for something real, something original. When Sylvain and I met with Kevin Penkin, I said I’m a big fan of Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Monster Hunter - he was like OK, I got you covered. Let me write you a song. From that very first first musical piece, I was hooked. I ended up having everyone listen to the opening theme song. All the teams that worked on the show were like - wow, we’re working on something where the score is certainly going to help the show reach the level we’re hoping for. Kevin was the master we needed for this show. He’s amazingly nice too laughsCento: Mr. Dos Santos, do you want to add anything to that?

Sylvain Dos Santos: No, no. That’s perfect!

Cento: There is no question that Dragon Striker is an amazing combination of soccer, fantasy elements and Japanese animation. When it comes to anime specifically, which titles were the biggest inspiration towards this show’s creation?

Dos Santos: We can say that sports anime are a huge influence for the show. I think Captain Tsubasa, Inazuma Eleven - of course, Eyeshield 21 . . . but also classic shonen like - I’m a huge fan of One Piece, the way we are treating the Tama - the power inside the show - is inspired by how the divine fruits are treated.

Sometimes it’s serious, sometimes it doesn’t feel very powerful. But if you can use it, if you’re smart and creative, it can be the most interesting power - like Milo with the Jelly. At times, the Tama is also inspired by video games - like Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Final Fantasy IX of course. That’s one of my favorite ones as well.Lefebvre: It’s really just that - having those influences and having fun with that. You know? It’s like - what I was saying - for example, Inuzama Eleven or Captain Tsubasa - the matches are a little different. The way it’s built - it’s made to take time. A match can be spread over four or five episodes. Dragon Striker is quite the opposite. Everything has to be compact. Like a match - sometimes only half an episode. That was really a different approach for the show.

It had to be really impactful and fast paced for everything. That was the inspiration behind the feeling we could have for those sports shonen - to give you this implication - and two, like I say, was the gladiator. The idea was to have an arena with gladiators and sometimes in this case, it was all inspired by fight shows. Naruto or My Hero Academia would be the fight shows in this case. The action is going to be shorter in length - so by using these influences, we would make it as impactful as we can.

Cento: There are many different announcements out there regarding Dragon Striker’s release schedule. One outlet is reporting all 11 episodes will premiere on June 9th (or June 10th?) while another outlet is saying there will be 22 episodes. Straight from the creators, what is the official plan regarding release?

Dos Santos: Early in June and that’s the real thing.

Lefebvre: I guess it’s the 9th on Disney XD and after it’s 10 on -

Steven Beydler (Senior Publicity Manager at Disney Branded Television): I can jump in on this. It’s going to be a marathon on June 9th on Disney XD and then all episodes the next day on Disney Plus - so, you can get all episodes the day before or all episodes on Disney Plus the day after.

Cento: A big aspect of Dragon Striker is that every character has a magical energy called Tama that gives them a unique ability that they can use on and off the field. When it comes to Key’s team the Knights, what was the process like figuring out who gets what kind of powers? For example, how did you figure out that Ssyelle can manipulate time? Or how Milo can summon jellies?

Dos Santos: The whole system of Tama is based on the hopes and dreams of the people we’re creating. In our world - when you’re five or six, you develop - some people, some percent of the population, unlock a magical power called Tama and it’s inspired by your personality. So for Ssyelle for example, she’s always been a little girl that wanted to do everything at once to be the best at everything. Thus, she can slow time around her - so she has more time.For Milo, it’s a bit more tricky because he was a very young scaredy cat. His deep desire was to create something that could protect him but at the same time - he was very much in love with sugar. So, the protection turned into jellies.Also, Odward, his big brother, is very full of himself. Naturally, he has the power to create many illusions of himself. Basically - it’s show me your Tama and I will tell you who you are.

Lefebvre: We had the idea for some time and so it came down to how are we going to treat it and how are we going to make it evolve and fill it into the power-ups of the characters on the show. I think Milo is a good example - from disgusting jelly to being one of the best defenses in the game by the end of the show. The idea might be strange but we always take the challenge of bringing it to the screen and how we are going to make it fun.

Cento: Lastly, there was another statement made at Annecy that has my full attention. There is potentially enough Dragon Striker writing material to go into ten+ seasons. That is incredibly ambitious. In your minds - as the creators of this show, what is it about Key and his journey that can sustain a narrative for that long of a time?

Dos Santos: It was a little bit of a joke. laughs

Lefebvre: I’m going to just clear the air. Maybe, it felt so serious in Annecy because we were so stressed for the presentation laughs - mainly the idea is, yes - the world is made really from a creative point of view and with strong world-building so we can extend the world and develop it for the mystery, further developments and other stories inside this world. We can go deep in it. But 15? That was just a number to say that we can make a lot. The idea was for the moment. If we have or if we find the audience somewhere along the journey of Dragon Striker - if it's going for at least five seasons - that will be a more reasonable number for it. We will for sure go deeper into the world if we can - because we have a lot to tell about it.

Dos Santos: Like Charles said, it was a joke but half of a joke. If enough people like the series and like the universe - we worked so hard on world building that it’s super easy to create new stories, new generations and prequels also. So, yea - it’s a joke but not that much laughs.

Cento: As time goes on, will we see Key and the other characters physically grow up like in Avatar and Naruto?

Dos Santos: That’s one of the ideas. If we get the chance to do new seasons, there is a possibility.

Cento: Alright guys - Mr. Das Santos, Mr. Lefebvre. That is it! Thank you!

Dos Santos: Thanks!

Lefebvre: Bye-bye!

If you want to get into the fantasy sports series that will be Dragon Striker for yourself, all eleven episodes from season one will be shown in a marathon on Disney XD starting from June 9th. On June 10th, they will be available for streaming on Disney Plus and Hulu. While many of the anime that are mentioned above can be streamed on Crunchyroll (with the exception of Inazuma Eleven), One Piece can be streamed on Disney Plus as well.