There are a few things related to Kai and its foreign (that is, outside of Japan) distribution that have been stated and suggested over the last week, such as a possible “alternate” English dub a la the AB Groupe’s commission of Ocean & Blue Water Studios in the previous decade for European and Canadian broadcast. We have not been able to get any kind of independent confirmation on any of it, so we will keep it squarely in the “rumor” category for now. Until we have something to report, there just is not a whole lot to talk about!

We knew that a new ending theme from “Team Dragon” (which comprises members from idol power-house AKB48) would be coming with Episode 55 of Kai, which was later revealed to be titled “Kokoro no Hane” (“Wings of the Heart”).

We will save the majority of our editorializing for the next podcast episode (and the impending CD single release and review, I am sure [though none has been announced as-of-yet]), but suffice it to say… the ending was pretty much what we all expected. Somewhat unexpected was the vast amount of new footage in the opening theme, “Dragon Soul”. While the first half of the opening remains the same as the first two versions, the second half is almost entirely brand-new; the song itself remains exactly the same. The animation showcases some of the new villains (though not showcasing Cell directly, other than hints of his tail), and focuses on Gohan with foreshadowing-esque shots quite often.

Toei Animation’s official website for Dragon Ball Kai was updated over night with a nice little face-lift to reflect the upcoming Artificial Human arc. They have also updated the majority of their sections with new information regarding this story arc, in addition to removing their bulletin board. However, they note that the bulletin board is being replaced with a new “special” section which is still listed as “coming soon”.

The cast page confirms (but you already knew this, right?) that Takeshi Kusao will be returning to provide the voice of Trunks. It also confirms that both Gyū-Maō (Ox Demon King) and King Cold will be voiced in Kai by veteran voice actor Ryūzaburō Ōtomo, both of which were originally voiced by the late Daisuke Gōri. Ryūzaburō Ōtomo recently stepped into voicing the role of Porunga in the last few episodes of Kai, but most will know him as either the voice of Dabra in Dragon Ball Z or Ryū Shinron from Dragon Ball GT.

The page also confirms the song title of the new ending theme that will air tomorrow with episode 55: “Wings of the Heart” (心の羽根; “Kokoro no Hane”). The new ending theme is being sung by “Team Dragon”, which is formed by members of the idol group AKB48. The theme’s lyrics were written by Yasushi Akimoto and the song was composed by Kensuke Yoko, who have both worked on AKB48 songs before.

GameStop is listing Dragon Ball Origins 2 (the domestic release of Dragon Ball DS 2) as coming out 22 June 2010, a date that has not yet been formally revealed by Namco-Bandai, themselves. The game is set at the expected $29.99 price point. GameStop also has cover art for the game, which is identical to the original Japanese release (with the obvious exception of the title change):

I would expect to hear more from Namco-Bandai in the coming days — we are two months off from release on this one, supposedly.

The official Japanese website for Dragon Ball TAG VS on the PSP has gone online. There is still not a whole lot of information about the game just yet, and the site is still showcasing the same four characters previously revealed.

Based on a recent blog post by R Fujimoto, I think we can confidently say that Takeshi Kusao will indeed be returning to reprise his role as Trunks in Dragon Ball Kai. But wait, who is “R Fujimoto”, and how does he know all this? Well…

The comedy group “Ban Ban Ban“, formed by R Fujimoto, F Yamamoto, and Takagi Pikkari, were hired as voice talent for episode 56 of Dragon Ball Kai. For anyone unfamiliar with their act, they dress like their favorite Dragon Ball characters and combine their humor with different situations or scenes related to the series. Fujimoto is often seen dressed as Vegeta, while Yamamoto portrays Freeza and Pikkari does Nappa, and sometimes Kuririn. If you’d like to see some bits from their act, there are two YouTube videos you might want to watch (Video 1, Video 2).

R Fujimoto

Takagi Pikkari

F Yamamoto

On April 9th, Fujimoto and Yamamoto arrived at TAVAC Studios, where the audio for every episode and movie of Dragon Ball has ever been recorded. They were set to provide the voices for two of King Cold and Mecha Freeza’s henchmen. But first, they met the rest of the main cast and received their official scripts. Of course, they were dressed appropriately…

After a successful recording session, what else is there left to do? Why, go out on the town drinking, of course. Now, if you think very highly of the main cast and don’t want any of your wonderful preconceived judgments of them shattered, look away!

Many of the main cast members attended the gathering, including Masako Nozawa (Goku), Ryūsei Nakao (Freeza), Mayumi Tanaka (Kuririn), Ryō Horikawa (Vegeta), Hiromi Tsuru (Bulma), Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo), Tōru Furuya (Yamcha), Hikaru Midorikawa (Tenshinhan), Naoko Watanabe (Pu’er), and none other than Takeshi Kusao (Trunks). The three guys shown in the front right are from “Ban Ban Ban”, with R Fujimoto sitting right next to Nozawa. As the alcohol-induced night progressed, it seemed people started to do some crazy things. Fujimoto noted that Tanaka drew a Vegeta widows peak on his head with a marker, which you can see in the picture below! Some other wacky conduct ensued, but I’ll let you use your imagination to fill in the blanks.

R Fujimoto (left), Hiromi Tsuru (middle) & Takeshi Kusao (right)

R Fujimoto (left) & Ryō Horikawa (right)

If anything, it sounds like one Hell of a party! But most importantly, after all that, we have confirmation that Takeshi Kusao was present that day to record the voice of Trunks for episode 56. Unfortunately, we still do not know who will take over the role of King Cold, who was originally voiced by the late Daisuke Gōri. In the meantime, cheers~!

The previously-not-quite-announced release of the first Dragon Ball movie is now listed as coming out on 28 December 2010… a delay of over half a year from what had previously been listed. We are still awaiting final confirmation from FUNimation on what will actually be included on the disc, and now when it will actually be coming out.