Namco-Bandai EU has put up the first official trailer for the upcoming Dragon Ball Z for Kinect (Xbox 360) on their YouTube channel:
17 April 2012, 11:48 AM EDT13 Comments
16 April 2012, 9:11 PM EDTComment
A lot has changed since 1984 — Dragon Ball has since come to an end, anime episodes are readily available worldwide hours after they are initially broadcast, and manga is now both drawn and published digitally! With all these great leaps in technology over the past few decades it was only a matter of time before manga artists adjusted their techniques and methods. Can the change in Akira Toriyama’s artistic styles really be attributed to his embracing of the digital age, however, or was it merely a choice on his part? Join us as we delve into the perverse creative process of Toriyama to find out just what his development process for the Dragon Ball manga was, and if it was really all that different from his current methods.
SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0295! Hujio and Corey discuss Akira Toriyama’s creative process, from how he drew the “Dragon Ball” manga series during its serialization to his current drawing methods. Many fans attribute the changes in Toriyama’s artistic style to the differences in his drawing methods, such as the addition of a computer to digitize his manga, but are the methods from these two eras really all that different from one another? Can the addition of a computer really make that much of a difference?
REFERENCED SITES:
- Takeshi Aono Passes Away @ Kanzenshuu
- Dragon Ball Opening Theme Parodied in Car Commercial @ Kanzenshuu
- Namco-Bandai Press Event: DBZ Kinect Game Revealed @ Kanzenshuu
- Takashi Matsuyama’s Official Website
- “Did Akira Toriyama draw the kanzenban covers?” Forum Thread
Discuss this episode on the Kanzenshuu forum!
13 April 2012, 10:57 AM EDT2 Comments
It is our pleasure to announce that the “Lyrics” section now contains all songs used in the Dragon Ball Z theatrical films, as well as all insert songs from the Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Kai TV series. As with the lyrics we showcased at the launch of Kanzenshuu earlier this month, those which previously existed on Daizenshuu EX have been enhanced with the original Japanese text and new translations, and all of the lyrics from both prior websites have been reformatted to our new-and-improved look.
In doing so, we have also gone ahead and added the remainder of the songs we were missing from both sites (several Z and Kai insert songs, and the ending theme to Evolution); this means we now have lyrics available, in Japanese, Romaji, and English translation, for every last Japanese song actually used in an official Dragon Ball production, both animated and live-action.
Those of you familiar with our former incarnations will note that there are still several Japanese songs previously on Daizenshuu EX that we have not yet re-posted here; these will be coming in another update within the next few weeks. If you are familiar with what they are, however, you will find a hint as to just what that update will contain. Meanwhile, we will be continuing to bring the other sections of Kanzenshuu back online, with content old and new alike. Stay tuned….
11 April 2012, 1:59 PM EDT16 Comments
Namco-Bandai is holding a “Global Gamers Day” press event in Las Vegas today, and among a few other announcements came a few of interest to Dragon Ball fans. Our buddy Romain from France is there, and shared a bunch of information.
The first hint of things to come arrived via Gamekult on Twitter, who shared the following image of some swag which clearly indicated some Kinect news on its way:
After a bit of Star Trek talk, Namco-Bandai moved on to the Dragon Ball franchise and formally announced Dragon Ball Z For Kinect, which would indeed contain thirty minutes of exclusive animation (which we originally learned about at the end of February with the British Board of Film Classification’s rating). Characters can be unlocked via QR cards, some of which were distributed to press at the event. The game will be playable from a first-person perspective, have over 100 moves to perform, and is due out in October.
Other than a historical reel of past Dragon Ball video games leading up to the Kinect game announcement, no other games for the franchise were announced or showcased.
The October date may mean that the “Dragon Ball Z HD” listing from Walmart may actually be related — since originally posting the news, Walmart has removed the PS3 listing for said game while the 360 listing remains active. We will continue to update as more information becomes available.
UPDATE: Romain sent along a couple quick shots of the QR card he received.
Additionally, FUNimation themselves were the ones to issue the press release formally announcing the game this evening:
DRAGON BALL Z® FOR KINECT TO TRANSFORM PLAYERS INTO SUPER SAIYANS THIS OCTOBER
NAMCO BANDAI GAMES AMERICA INC. ANNOUNCES NEWEST EVOLUTION IN THE BELOVED FIGHTING SERIES
SAN JOSE, Calif. (April 11, 2012) – Leading video game publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today announced that Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect™ will be coming to the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft this October. All of the classic action and intensity of the Dragon Ball Z universe will be felt with an unprecedented sense of immersion when players learn to deliver over 100 moves, including the legendary Kamehameha with their own fists as they charge their way to victory in this ultimate evolution of the classic franchise.
Developed by Spike Chunsoft Co. Ltd, players will be entering the Dragon Ball Z universe in an entirely new way. Featuring iconic characters, famous attacks, and epic battles authentically created from the original manga series, Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect lets players unleash their inner Super Saiyan with no controller in the way! Fans will also be treated to new anime footage debuting in the US and Europe for the first time, along with over 50 playable characters and an entirely new character. Leveraging the Kinect sensor, Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect will also support QR code functionality, allowing fans to hold up special QR codes to unlock characters and power-ups in the game.
“There’s going to be no better feeling in the world for fans of the Dragon Ball Z series than standing in front of their screens and unleashing their own fists and raging blasts upon enemies with this game,” said Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing, NAMCO BANDAI Games America. “The Kinect sensor has truly enabled the development team to finally realize the dreams of millions of fans of both the classic games and the timeless original anime. This game will truly represent the next generation of interactive entertainment in the Dragon Ball Z universe.”
Choosing between ‘Story Mode’ and ‘Score Attack’ mode, players will enjoy battles and events following the story of Dragon Ball Z in first-person view for the first time. Dramatic battles use anime-style camerawork and require the player to move in the same way as their character and perform the same attack or movement from a particular famous scene, combining CG demo scenes and battle controls to experience giant boss battles like never before! In ‘Score Attack’ mode, defeat opponents in 1-on-1 battles to get the highest score!
Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect will be available throughout North America and Europe this October. For more information on the game, please visit: http://dragonball.namcobandaigames.com and www.facebook.com/NamcoBandai.
Dragon Ball Z the animated series is available for purchase on the Xbox LIVE Video Store. For more information about the animated series please visit http://www.dragonballz.com.
11 April 2012, 11:33 AM EDT7 Comments
As noted by original lyricist Yuriko Mori on her Twitter account, a new commercial for Toyota’s “Sienta” model has begun airing in Japan. The commercial features a family goofing off at an aquarium, while TV personality / children’s entertainer / former Takarasienne Shōko Haida sings a brief parody of Dragon Ball opening theme “Makafushigi Adventure!” in the background. The commercial itself can be viewed below; the promotional web site also has a link to a making-of video.
While it really has nothing to do with the Dragon Ball franchise proper, it is nice to see how elements of the series have so seeped into Japanese society that merely playing a (parody of a) song in a commercial can be counted on to get a positive reaction from audiences.
11 April 2012, 12:17 AM EDT26 Comments
Kanzenshuu has been live for 10 ten days now, and finally, everything is integrated as we had originally envisioned it. While it wasn’t entirely easy, we hope it is worth it to all of you. First and foremost, the forum from back at Daizenshuu EX has been ported over in full (mega-props to lost_in_thought, and in all seriousness, if you have as unhealthy an attachment to this community as we and some other folks do, a little present for him wouldn’t be out of line). However, we have somewhat cleaned house a bit and there have been a few changes you may want to note:
- The “New Section Previews” and “Staff Help Requests” sub-forums have been combined. They were pretty much the same thing, anyway.
- “Introductions” and “Ask” archives have been… well, archived. They don’t serve much of a purpose anymore.
- External links are back to opening in a new tab or window.
- The logo in the upper-left of the forum goes back to the main forum page, and a new link has been added to the right under the text header to lead you back to this main website.
- Avatars can now be 100×100 pixels in size. You’re welcome.
- The forum rules have been condensed a little bit, but you know how we roll — be awesome, and type well. That’s all it takes!
In addition, the user panel (seen to your left) is now fully operational on the main website, allowing users to login anywhere on the site. If you were previously a registered user on Daizenshuu EX, your same username and password will work properly here as well. All of your original user information and settings have been imported, along with all of your private messages. Logging in will also allow you to comment on any news posts that are less than 21 days old. All podcast news posts will be locked, and can instead be thoroughly discussed in their respective topics found in the Podcast sub-section of the forum.
As with any integration and import of this size, there are bound to be some bugs and glitches we didn’t foresee. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, or a bug of some kind, please be sure to let us know using the site’s main contact form. I know some of you have already used the contact form to inquire when the forums would be back online, but we decided this would be the easiest way to respond.
So spread the word. The forums are back!
10 April 2012, 7:01 PM EDTComment
Things were different back in 1997. An English dub of Dragon Ball Z had only been on North American television for a single year. We had one video game for the franchise, but it was from a decade prior and had almost all traces of it being a part of the franchise stripped away from it. In came Final Bout on the original PlayStation, bringing American fans an opportunity to play as characters from a story they were just beginning to become so incredibly invested in. What was it like to be a part of that? How did fans actually view the game? Did anyone from any country ever have a chance to experience a Dragon Ball game in the same way ever again?
SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0294! VegettoEX and Meri discuss what it was like to be a fan of the “Dragon Ball” franchise in 1997 when “Final Bout” for the PlayStation hit store shelves. While we technically had one game for the franchise released a decade prior, to most American fans, we were playing a DBZ video game for the first time. How did fans actually view the game? Did anyone from any country ever have a chance to experience a “Dragon Ball” game in the same way ever again?
REFERENCED SITES:
- Walmart “Dragon Ball Z” HD Game Listing @ Kanzenshuu
- Manga UK DBZ DVD Official Announcement @ Kanzenshuu
- 3DS Game Website Listing @ Namco-Bandai
- “Final Bout” Re-release Cover and Description @ Kanzenshuu (News Archive)
- April Fool’s Archive @ Temple O’ Trunks
10 April 2012, 12:39 AM EDTComment
It is with the greatest sadness that we must report the passing of voice actor Takeshi Aono, as initially reported by Anime News Network. The news was first made public by fellow voice actress Eiko Yamada via her Twitter account.
Takeshi Aono of Theater Troupe Geikyou passed away this morning. (Voice of Chibi Maruko-chan‘s grandfather, etc…) I liked his plays where he was way too serious. He was wonderful as a voice actor too, but he was something special on the stage. He had a presence that was overwhelming and full of life!! How can he be gone…?! I offer my sincerest prayers.
Dragon Ball fans will best remember Takeshi Aono as the voice of Ninja Murasaki, Piccolo Daimaō, and of course, God. However, in June 2010 Aono suffered a stroke after undergoing surgery for an aortic aneurysm. Since that time he had remained in the hospital, and the majority of his roles were given to veteran voice actor Bin Shimada, including the role of “God” in Dragon Ball Kai. He was 75 years old, and will be greatly missed by all.
Thanks to Rachel for her quick translation.
03 April 2012, 2:59 PM EDTComment
The last we heard about any possible Dragon Ball game for the Nintendo 3DS was back in June 2010 when the system was unveiled during that year’s E3 — Namco-Bandai listed the franchise as coming to the system in the future, and that was that.
While not really adding much concrete information to the mix, Namco-Bandai’s website now at least lists an entry for a Dragon Ball game on the 3DS:
The listing still has no real title — just “Dragon Ball Series (tentative name)” — and no known release date.
02 April 2012, 3:20 PM EDTComment
We are still here — the launch date itself was the only April Fool’s joke!
Those of you who already subscribe to our weekly podcast probably noticed a little gift in your feeds last night. Over the last few months, we have been recording what are essentially mini audio diaries while we worked on this new website. They were primarily for us to document what we were working on, how long things were taking, and even discuss a few naming conventions. We figured it might be fun for the audience to listen in to the final product, so we have compiled it all together in to what became a kind of kick-off episode for the new site.
For those curious, the show will simply be titled Kanzenshuu – The Podcast going forward, and we will indeed pick right back up in the numbering with Episode #0294 next week. Until then, please enjoy this special kick-off episode — it is a far cry from what we normally produce each week (news, in-depth topic discussions, monthly releases, and feedback — we are all about providing the best content we can!), but again, for those of you that have been with us a long while and have been wondering how and when we might take upon a gigantic project like this, it will be a fun listen!
Look for more content to keep pouring into the site, the forum to return and be fully integrated, and enjoy everything that is already here for you. We are here to stay, and we are glad to have you along for the ride with us!
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