Namco-Bandai has posted a ¥32.4 billion (approximately $319 million) profit for the full fiscal 2013 year.

Dragon Ball did not perform well enough to warrant inclusion in the top-performing overall franchises list this year. While it also did not appear at all in 2011, it did pop up last year. The #5 franchise Namco-Bandai lists is Pretty Cure bringing in ¥11.6 billion for the year — a year ago, the company forecast the Dragon Ball franchise bringing in ¥8.5 billion for fiscal 2013, so it is likely somewhere in that vicinity.

No individual Dragon Ball video games are listed in the report, not a surprise considering budget-esque releases last year such as the Budokai HD Collection and Dragon Ball Z for Kinect, neither of which were even released in Japan.

In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games), the franchise jumped from ¥4.4 billion last fiscal year to ¥4.8 billion this year (which, while not stated, was likely due to tie-ins with Battle of Gods and Dragon Ball Heroes), despite having forecast ¥4.0 billion a year ago. Namco-Bandai is forecasting a similar drop to ¥4.0 billion for next year.

As part of another round of interest in the Dragon Ball franchise — primarily tied in with the then-upcoming new film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods — a new series of guide books was announced for 2013: the four Chōzenshū. The books were revealed to be refreshed versions of the previously-released Daizenshuu from the 1990s, also packed with additional information and reference material from the various productions created since the prior books’ release. As a complement to the Chōzenshū, one additional book was also announced: the Chōgashū, which would be a new illustration and artwork collection.

The final Chōzenshū (#4, “Super Encyclopedia”) and the Chōgashū (“Super Art Collection”) are available today (09 May 2013) in Japan. Our own Julian / SaiyaJedi already has them in-hand and has begun the documentation process. Stay tuned for our regular overview pages for the books in our “Databook Guide” — we will have complete breakdowns of both books in the coming days.

For those of you that need that quick-hit to your information-bloodstream, here are a few key details:

• The Chōgashū — with the official English translation of “Super Art Collection” within the book — does indeed contain material from the first Daizenshuu (though not necessarily printed at the same size as before), along with a wealth of new content — such as the Kanzenban cover illustrations — and a new interview with original manga author Akira Toriyama (“Akira Toriyama Super Interview: Latest Edition”) alongside the original one from the first Daizenshuu. Some of the new artwork content includes Toriyama’s Hoko×Tate illustration, Tōhoku earthquake/tsunami support image, and “Super Collaboration Ticket” drawing of Goku.
• Chōzenshū 4 does indeed contain the majority of material from the seventh Daizenshuu (such as the timeline), and most of it has been re-set in a new layout instead of being directly re-printed as-is; only 30 pages or so out of 352 are straight-up reproductions of the originals. Also included is an essay by Masako Nozawa (Son Goku, et al.) and an interview with Akira Toriyama looking back on the series at different points in time.

Both books are available today (09 May 2013). Chōzenshū 4: Super Encyclopedia runs ¥2,300 and can be purchased online at CDJapan and Amazon Japan. The Chōgashū runs ¥3,800 and can also be purchased online at CDJapan and Amazon Japan.

Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission for the Japanese Nintendo 3DS continues to have a baffling up-and-down sales journey. After falling off the Media Create list for two weeks in a row, the game returns back up to the #5 spot for its tenth week (during the time period of 29 April 2013 to 05 May 2013) with another 15,094 copies sold, now putting it at a very solid 177,157 total copies. In fact, this is the game’s third-best week so far!

At this point, it may be worth it to break down the sales all in one spot to see these trends (using Media Create sales figures unless otherwise specified):

• Week 01: 88,386
• Week 02: 21,915
• Week 03: 11,396
• Week 04: 9,097
• Week 05: 9,414
• Week 06: 11,674
• Week 07: 4,964*
• Week 08: 2,308*
• Week 09: 8,834*
• Week 10: 15,094

* Famitsu sales list figures

There has been no word on shipment shortages or manufacturing problems, so it really does make you wonder what on Earth is going on here. Were there shortages that just went unreported? Would digital sales have filled in that void were the game actually available on the Nintendo 3DS eShop? The sixth-week bump makes sense tying in with the theatrical debut of Battle of Gods, and perhaps these tenth-week sales could at least partially be attributed to Golden Week, but we do have to ask: could Namco-Bandai be making an even bigger killing on this game if they really wanted to?

It’s not dead yet…!

Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission completely fell off the sales charts last week, but the Japanese Nintendo 3DS-only portable-port of the on-going arcade game crawled its way back up onto the Famitsu sales chart for its ninth week (the period of 22 April 2013 to 28 April 2013) with another 8,834 copies sold.

The game is still completely gone from the Media Create sales list, but comparing its and the Famitsu numbers puts the game in the ballpark of 170,000 total copies sold at this point. The jump from approximately 2,300 copies the previous week to almost 9,000 copies this past week is curious, and begs the question of how well the game could be doing were it actually for sale digitally on Nintendo’s eShop.

Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission for the Japanese Nintendo 3DS is available for purchase at CDJapan and Play-Asia. As previously noted, however, the Nintendo 3DS is region-locked and will require a Japanese system to play. There is currently no word on an international release of the game.

It has been a good run for Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission, but in its eighth week, the Japanese Nintendo 3DS-only portable-port of the on-going arcade game has finally fallen off both the Media Create and Famitsu sales lists (for the period of 15 April 2013 to 21 April 2013).

The game pushed itself over the 160,000 copies mark last week, but failed to crack the Top 20 on the Media Create sales list. With the bump in sales from Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods coming and going earlier this month, we are likely looking at modest, slower sales for the game moving forward.

Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission for the Japanese Nintendo 3DS is available for purchase at CDJapan and Play-Asia. As previously noted, however, the Nintendo 3DS is region-locked and will require a Japanese system to play. There is currently no word on an international release of the game.

While Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission on the Japanese Nintendo 3DS continues to lead the pack on the homefront, the original arcade version of the game also triumphantly carries onward. So far 2013 has seen both the “Galaxy Mission 6” and “Galaxy Mission 7” updates, the latter of which has incorporated a wealth of material from the new film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.

The upcoming “Galaxy Mission 8″ — previewed in this month’s (June 2013) issue of V-Jump in Japan — brings things back around to villains and characters that had not yet been given a chance to shine. The single-player Age Mission for “Galaxy Mission 8″ has Garlic Jr. as the main boss. The player will have to progress across the map and get to Castle Garlic. Meanwhile, other movie boss characters will enter the fray such as Hirudegarn, Broli, Coola, Tullece, Slug, and Beerus. There are additional characters to complement the villains, as well — for example, Garlic Jr.’s minions from the movie are along for the ride.

“Galaxy Mission 8″ kicks off in the arcade version of Dragon Ball Heroes 18 May 2013 in Japan.

The June 2013 issue of V-Jump – which also contains the eighth chapter of the on-going promotional manga Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission — is available for purchase at CDJapan and Amazon Japan.