Fresh off its series premiere last month, the sports fantasy series Dragon Striker is officially returning for a second chapter. Disney Kids & Family announced today during a packed series panel at Anime Expo in Los Angeles that Season 2 is slated to premiere in early 2027. Alongside the announcement, the creative team treated attendees to an exclusive first-look image of the upcoming season, which will consist of 11 action-packed episodes.
On the technical and musical front, Dragon Striker is doubling down on its premium quality. Award-winning composer Kevin Penkin (Made in Abyss, Star Wars: Visions) returns to score the second season. Elevating the high-fantasy stakes, the new score was recorded in Japan with a massive 80-piece orchestra.
Fans can also look forward to the return of the energetic theme song, “Power of the Dragon,” written and produced by Cash Callaway and performed by Sarah West. The season’s end credits will feature “The Very End,” a track written and performed by Kieran Rhodes.
The series is produced by La Chouette Compagnie (Droners, Dreamland) in association with Disney Television Animation. The powerhouse global creative team includes co-creator and executive producer Sylvain Dos Santos, co-creator and director Charles Lefebvre, and head writer Paul McKeown.
Behind the Scenes: Balancing Disney Charm with Shonen Intensity
Ahead of the highly anticipated Anime Expo panel, journalists caught up with the creators to discuss the unique DNA of Dragon Striker, specifically, how they seamlessly blend traditional Western sports narratives with high-concept anime fantasy. For co-creator and director Charles Lefebvre, the inspiration traces directly back to his childhood in France, where a famous morning broadcast block called Club Dorothée (“Récré A2” era influences) introduced an entire generation to anime.
DRAGON STRIKER – “The Armorer of Mestras” (Disney) KEY
“All the kids, this is how French [people] were so into anime quite early in time,” Lefebvre explained, noting that Japanese RPGs like Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger further shaped his storytelling vocabulary. “A lot of my vocabulary to make it out… was from watching that anime.”
Short, Intense Matches Over Multi-Episode Sagas
When asked how they balanced the sports and magic without one overwhelming the other, the team emphasized pacing and structural contrast. Unlike classic sports anime like Captain Tsubasa, where a single shot or match can stretch across five episodes with endless mid-air flashbacks, Dragon Striker takes a more modern, fast-paced approach inspired by cinematic anime fights. Lefebvre recalled watching My Hero Academia and being struck by how short yet impactful the battles were:
“You have this concept where the fight actually is going to be short, because you have the time… It doesn’t need to be like a long fight like Dragon Ball; those fights were long. And actually, [My Hero Academia] was very short, but crazy intense. And I have, actually, the same feeling in the show.”
Dragon Striker Creative Team: Charles Lefevbe (Creator/Director), Sylvain Dos Santos (Creator/Executive Producer), and Paul McKeown (Head Writer)
“Inside the House of the Mouse”: Pushing the Boundaries
Bringing a distinctly anime-flavored project to a legacy Western broadcaster like Disney was a “secret dream” for the creative team, though they initially harbored fears that they might be asked to tone down the intensity. To their surprise, the executive note was quite the opposite. Lefebvre shared an anecdote about early animation tests where they expected notes to dial things back:
“I remember we were afraid, like, we ‘cannot push as far as we wanted to,’ and actually, that was quite the opposite… They say, ‘No, no, no… It’s not going far enough. You have to put more super power here.’ So I was like, ‘Okay, I think we would be able to do something.’ Because for me, that was one of the biggest surprises, to be able to create a show like that inside the House of the Mouse.”
The team credited the synergy to the fact that Disney’s own modern executives and creatives are massive consumers of Japanese manga and animation themselves. “The team was really passionate about it… People definitely know the mediun.”
For those looking to catch up ahead of the 2027 chapter, all episodes of Dragon Striker Season 1 are currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
Nicole is a writer for Temple of Geek, but she's also been featured on CBR and Looper. She is a massive bookworm with a Master's in Creative Writing. She loves anime and watching sitcoms, especially Night Court and Frasier.
