Happinet’s official release website has updated their Dragon Ball Kai listings for the 15th DVD volume and 4th Blu-ray box of the “Artificial Humans & Cell arc”. Both releases are due out 02 August 2011 and will indeed include the 98th episode of Dragon Ball Kai that was produced, but never aired on Fuji TV due to the horrific earthquake that struck Japan in early March 2011. However, it is being listed as an “extra episode” (番外編; Bangai Hen) rather than by an actual episode number.
Hot on the heels of its official announcement earlier this week, a new website for Dragon Ball Game Project Age 2011 has opened:
There is not a whole lot there just yet, but promises of at least a video clip and additional information should be enough to keep folks salivating for a little while longer.
About a week ago, word began to leak around that a new video game would be announced in an upcoming issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan, with a Tales blog naming it as “Dragon Ball Game Project Age 2011”. This week, the game was officially unveiled in Jump:
Indeed titled Dragon Ball Game Project Age 2011 (at least temporarily), the new game is due out sometime later this year in the fall for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 from Namco-Bandai, and will be another 3D action/fighting game. No developer is currently listed, and details are rather sparse. As per the norm for Japanese announcements, the initial showcase says absolutely nothing of any real interest of substance:
(under “scoop”)
Drawing extreme DB action with super visuals!!
So INTENSE, you’ll be amazed! It’s the advent of a new style, with thoroughly recreated DB battle scenes on a gorgeous screen!!(center)
You’ll feel like you’re really there, as never before!!
The facial expressions are super realistic, and the field goes flying!! The intense production really heats up the game!!(center-left)
Autumn 2011
The battle begins on PS3 and Xbox 360!(under the title information)
The project to take DB games to the extreme is set in motion!! The warriors’ battles enter a new dimension!!(over bottom picture)
ACTION! DRAMA! SCALE! All these together create a super-class [of game]!![WHAT IS Dragon Ball Game Project AGE 2011?!]
It’s the project to create a new DB game, the likes of which no one has ever seen. By pursuing the most accurate recreation of the characters ever, we aim to make it the most lifelike!! Super anticipation!!
It appears to be an entirely new game (rather than a home port of, say, Zenkai Battle Royale currently in Japanese arcades). To be honest, however, any of this verbiage could have been pulled from any game announcement ever for the franchise. We will simply have to wait and see if any of this talk about realism and character expressions chalks up to anything.
When two of the individual DVD releases of Dragon Ball Kai were delayed in Japan last month, without ever being stated that it was due to the music fiasco (a result of “multiple suspicious musical pieces which may infringe on the rights of third parties” as announced by Toei a month prior to that), it was obvious to everyone nonetheless.
Volumes 7 and 8 of the “Artificial Humans & Cell arc” of Dragon Ball Kai (overall volumes 25 and 26 of the series) were delayed one month from 02 April 2011 to just this week on 03 May 2011, while the subsequent two volumes (also set for that same date in May) kept their release date, resulting in all four volumes being released this week.
It was confirmed for us that Shunsuke Kikuchi is indeed listed on the packaging for these four discs as the composer for the series, and the replacement score (itself music from the original version of Dragon Ball Z) is present on these four DVD volumes.
This leaves the home release of the series in quite an interesting situation.
This past February, the second Blu-ray set of the “Artificial Humans & Cell arc” was released in Japan, comprising episodes 66-76 of Dragon Ball Kai, with its original broadcast score composed by Kenji Yamamoto.
This week’s individual DVD releases cover some of these episodes and beyond, with the four discs going from episode 73 to 84 of Dragon Ball Kai.
This means that Dragon Ball Kai episodes 77 through 95 will likely only ever be released in Japan with the replacement score of Shunsuke Kikuchi’s original BGM, and never as they were originally seen on Fuji TV during their initial broadcast. It should be noted that episodes 96 and 97 originally aired after the debacle went down with the replacement score, so while those two perhaps had music selections from the Yamamoto score done and ready to go, they never aired that way.
This all strangely leaves a four-episode span of 73 to 76 that are available on Blu-ray with their original (Kenji Yamamoto) broadcast score, and on DVD with their replacement (Shunsuke Kikuchi) score.
When the third Blu-ray set of the “Artificial Humans & Cell arc” is released in Japan next month (after having been delayed itself), it will likely also contain the replacement score for episodes 88 through 90.
Most international releases are being hit by this musical shift, as well. From what fans continue to post around our community and elsewhere, depending on which edit of the English dub you are watching on television (Nicktoons versus TheCW4Kids) and how many times it has been repeated, you could end up with either musical score — it is likely that FUNimation’s “Part Five” home release was delayed due to the music, as well. As it stands right now, the four existing releases (covering episodes 1 through 52) all contain the original Kenji Yamamoto broadcast score.
Some other foreign airings already in-progress have yet to make the musical shift, while others (such as the French subtitled version that began this week) have gone with the Kikuchi score directly from the first episode.
This week on our show, we dive in to Volume 39 in our on-going “Manga Review of Awesomeness”. Majin Boo has finally hatched, and the heroes and civilians throughout the world are already suffering at his hands. The wacky villain is a huge change-up from the last two story arcs, though. Has Toriyama returned to his comedic roots? Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.
SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0257! VegettoEX, Meri, and Jeff dive into Volume 39 in our “Manga Review of Awesomeness”. Majin Boo has finally hatched, and the heroes and civilians throughout the world are already suffering at his hands. The wacky villain is a huge change-up from the last two story arcs, though. Has Toriyama returned to his comedic roots? 2010’s video game sales, wonderful French release news, May’s releases, and your e-mails round out the episode.
REFERENCED SITES:
Big thanks to sangofe for not only collecting all the bits of various information, but rewriting it again for us so we could easily post about it!
Already making its way throughout the rest of the world, Dragon Ball Kai is finally hitting France, and in a big way. Just yesterday (02 May 2011) at 11 pm, the series began airing in France on TV channel Game One — in its original Japanese language, subtitled in French! Our buddy Puto let us know that it began right from the beginning with the replacement score (the music from the original Dragon Ball Z TV series by Shunsuke Kikuchi), rather than the original Japanese broadcast score by Kenji Yamamoto, which has since been removed and is in the process of being phased out of all international releases.
Next up will be an edited and French-dubbed version of the series to air on their Nickélodéon beginning on 29 May 2011. In addition to that, Game One will also be airing an uncut version of that new dub beginning later this year in September. Both dubs will be produced by Chinkel, and while some of the roles have been confirmed to be their original voice actors (Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta), others are still up in the air.
A home release has not yet been announced, but with so much effort going into the production, we will likely hear about it very soon.
The entire discussion can be checked out over on our forum, which includes various links and confirmations from external sources. Go France!
Media Create has revealed the sales figures for Japan’s top one thousand games in 2010, and Dragon Ball managed to scrape its way by yet again. Listed below (with game titles appropriately adapted from its NeoGAF origins) are the placement in the Top 1000, console, title, release date, 2010 sales, and lifetime sales (relevant for games released before January 2010):
We know that Raging Blast 2 did approximately 10,000 copies less in its first week than its predecessor, and the 2010 sales figures show that it is still about 15,000 copies behind where its predecessor was after the same amount of time (roughly two months, due to their early-November releases). As expected, the 360 version of Raging Blast 2 does not even rank on the Japanese list.
Despite Dragon Ball DS 2 being released seven months earlier, TAG VS for the PSP still managed to sell around the same number of copies by the end of the year. Of most interest may actually be the budget re-release of Sparking! METEOR on the Wii pushing just over 45,000 copies — a game from two and a half years prior to its re-release coming out to within the same ballpark for sales as new games is a fascinating situation.
So far, 2011 has only brought us Ultimate Butōden on the Nintendo DS, and exclusively in Japan, this past February. It sounds like we might have some news on the horizon regarding future games, but until there is a concrete source to point to, we will hold off on the speculation.
The cover art for the ninth and tenth DVD volumes of the “Artificial Humans & Cell arc” have finally surfaced. Both volumes are scheduled to be released 03 May 2011 and are retailing for ¥2,940 (~$35), However, you can pre-order them for a tad cheaper from most online retailers. These volumes will contain episodes 79-81 and 82-84, respectively, presented in 16:9 widescreen. As noted before, the seventh and eighth DVD volumes were delayed and will also be released the same day. These volumes are retailing for the same price and will contain episodes 73-75 and 76-78, respectively.
This week on our show, the gang is all here to discuss the second chapter of Dragon Ball SD. We did not even know one was coming until just a couple weeks ago — does the jump into the Freeza arc make up for the silence after a disappointing first chapter? Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.
SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0256! VegettoEX, Meri, Julian, and Hujio discuss the second chapter of “Dragon Ball SD”. The sudden extra chapter appears out of nowhere and jumps straight into the Freeza fight (condensing it down considerably), but is it worth it that this spin-off even exists? News tidbits, releases, and your e-mails round out the episode.
REFERENCED SITES:
After months of waiting, Happinet’s official release website has finally updated their Dragon Ball Kai listings with the remaining home releases. The 15th DVD volume and 4th Blu-ray box of the “Artificial Humans & Cell arc”, which will be the final home releases for the series, are set to be released 02 August 2011. The prices for both releases have not changed, with the DVD still being marked at a reduced price of ¥1,995 (~$25) and the Blu-ray marked at ¥14,679 (~$180).
The biggest question still remains: will the unaired 98th episode of the series be included on either release as originally planned? Unfortunately, we still do not know yet. Surprisingly, the listings note that the contents of each release are still “to be determined”, indicating that Toei Animation has not quite yet decided what they are going to do. However, since they are clearly planning on releasing a 15th DVD and not simply including the 97th episode on the 14th DVD, I can not imagine they would release the 15th DVD at that price with only a single episode. In addition, most online retailers are listing the 4th Blu-ray box as having the same running time (253 minutes) as all the previous Blu-ray boxes. Based on all this, it does seem more than likely that the 98th episode will be released, but this is pure speculation as we have no confirmation that this is in fact what will happen.