Last week we pored through all of the information from the March 2013 issue of V-Jump, or so we thought. We actually missed a single page (pointed out us by forum member omegalucas) hidden near the back of the issue that showcased “tentative” cover art for both of the upcoming Chōzenshū and “Full Color Comics” releases (scan courtesy of Nostal/Treevax). As of this morning, Shueisha has finally updated their listings with the official cover art for both releases, which appears to be unaltered from these “tentative” covers showcased in V-Jump.
The Chōzenshū are a condensed four volume collection of hardcover databooks which are being published to replace and expand upon the now out of print Daizenshuu databooks. However, although this collection is based on the contents of the original Daizenshuu, they will feature new and updated material that has come to light in the years since their original publication. The first Chōzenshū, titled “Story & World Guide”, appears to be a combination of “Daizenshuu 2: Story Guide” and “Daizenshuu 4: World Guide“, and features the latter’s original cover illustration by Akira Toriyama. This first volume of the series is due out 05 February 2013 — though V-Jump still lists the original 04 February 2013 release date — for ¥2,200 and is currently available from your favorite online retailers, such as Amazon Japan and CDJapan.
The “Full Color Comics” are a fully-colored re-release of the original Dragon Ball manga series, which at the moment are planned to cover the entirety of the “Z”-era storyline. Each volume will contain 17 chapters on 248 pages, with the first three comics covering chapters 195 to 245: Raditz’s arrival on Earth to our heroes’ departure for Planet Namek. The volumes will be the same size as the original tankōbon releases, although thicker, as each tankōbon volume typically only contained 12 to 13 chapters. The first three comics will cost a bit more than your standard tankōbon, at ¥630 each, and will be available 04 February 2013.
- Dragon Ball Full Color: Saiyan Arc Vol. 01 (Amazon Japan / CDJapan)
Dragon Ball Chapters 195-211 - Dragon Ball Full Color: Saiyan Arc Vol. 02 (Amazon Japan / CDJapan)
Dragon Ball Chapters 212-228 - Dragon Ball Full Color: Saiyan Arc Vol. 03 (Amazon Japan / CDJapan)
Dragon Ball Chapters 228-245
For those of you that live in the United States, you will also be able to grab these releases digitally via the North American edition of Weekly Shonen Jump starting the same day-and-date (04 February 2013) as the print edition in Japan. You can subscribe to the magazine’s North American digital edition on Viz’s official Weekly Shonen Jump website.
UPDATE: Shueisha’s official listing for “Chōzenshū 1: Story & World Guide” has been updated yet again, this time noting that the guide will include a brand new interview with original author Akira Toriyama.
17 Comments
I’m totally cool with them starting off with the “Z” end of things for these releases (What with that movie coming out), but I guess I didn’t think about it that they’d be labeling these volumes numerically starting midway through the manga’s run. At least it’s not labeled as “Dragon Ball Z Full Color Volume 1”, but if they were to go back and do the first half of the series, the numbering is going to be all funky.
Bitchin’. 8)
Yikes! Not a huge fan of those full color comic covers, but I guess they could be worse.
Also, was anyone hoping that they would have called these Chōzenshū, Kanzenshuu’s instead. That would have been neat….although I’m not familiar enough with the Japanese language to know if it would have worked. 😆
haseowolf, I don’t think this numbering will continue with “4” on the First Namek Arc Full Color volume, I think that it’s meant to be something like “Saiyan Arc vol. 1” and “Saiyan Arc vol. 2”, etc. The next volume will probably be “Namek Arc vol. 1”, i.e. the numbering’s for each of the individual arcs and not meant to span the entire series as a whole.
Hm, hesitant to pick up the coloured Manga. Waiting for Viz’s next move before I make mine. I’d like to add a couple more Kanzenban to my collection too, so I’m going to have think about this so I don’t end up with three copies of the same volume (I already own or plan on owning the full set of Viz Bigs).
The Chozenshu on the other hand, I’d be interested in picking up, although depending on their size these might prove to be expensive purchases (that I can’t read!). I’ll wait till other forum members get them in first. 😛
@jrdemr Shueisha has already advertised the next batch of the “Full Color Comics” as the “Freeza Arc”, which are due out in April. If they stick to 17 chapters per volume, then these five volumes will cover chapters 246-330 — when Freeza arrives on Earth and Trunks makes his first appearance.
@dragonboxzthemovies The Chōzenshū are the same size as the Daizenshuu, although they’ll probably be thicker since they’re combining two books together.
Is anyone else weirded out that Nappa and Goku appear to be making the exact same pose, right down to the facial details?
It might be that Goku is mocking Nappa, since he’s dead by that point. But it is odd, although the main images on the covers come from chapter title pages 202, 217, 219, 227, and 231.
Did they make Goku’s gi darker on the Chōzenshū cover?
I bet Julian had a Newtype flash when he learned of the new interview. 😆
Do you think there will be any content from the Daizenshuu’s that isn’t in the Chozenshuus? I don’t have the Daizenshuu’s yet, and it would probably be good if I could just get these instead of them, rather than in addition to them.
I’m really excited about these colored releases. The colors are so lively, and those covers look very good.
Btw, will the chozenchu’s translated to english be able to send to Norway(europe)?
There has been no announcement from anyone about any translation of the Chōzenshū into any language other than Japanese. Various online retailers have different shipping options — plenty of people in Norway have ordered items from Japan, so you will just have to shop around.
@shreddinghead:
I’ll be translating the new interview, which will be up on the site once I finish, and we will probably translate bits and pieces of things as we see fit if they’re not already in the Daizenshuu volumes these books are based on.
If you want the books themselves published in English, I think you need to talk to Viz Media.
*tankobon
I can’t believe they’re already out of print! I was gonna get one of the Chōzenshū 😥