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3,759 Posts & 2,352 Pages Documenting Dragon Ball, since 1998. We've got you covered!
Published by 01 November 2023, 11:51 AM EDTComment

Sony has announced that Dragon Ball: The Breakers — alongside Mafia II: Definitive Edition and Aliens Fireteam Elite — will be a PlayStation Plus “Essentials” title for North American and European subscribers this month.

Dragon Ball: The Breakers | PS4

In this online asymmetrical action game, a team of 7 ordinary citizens tries to survive the Raider (a classic Dragon Ball rival such as Cell, Frieza, and Buu), who will hunt them down and evolve during the game into an unstoppable force. Escaping won’t be so easy: cooperate with others while there is still time, but the Raider or other Survivors’ decisions might force you to go at it alone. As a Raider, you will enjoy overwhelming powers to hunt and wipe out Survivors. Master each Raider’s unique abilities to track, catch your victims to evolve, and become even more powerful! Whether you’re a Raider or a Survivor, choose your progression path and unlock skills, skins, and items to fine-tune your own personal strategy to escape as a Survivor or triumph as a Raider.

Titles in the “Essentials” category are free for all PlayStation Plus subscribers to claim during their month of availability — this month’s titles will be available from Tuesday, November 7 until Monday, December 4. In North America, the “Essentials” plan currently runs at $9.99/month or $79.99/year.

Bandai Namco recently outlined plans for the game’s fourth season of content in conjunction with its first anniversary, which includes forthcoming crossplay integration (allowing players on different consoles to play with each other):

Developed by Dimps, Dragon Ball: The Breakers puts a small group of seven survivors up against a “raider” in an asymmetrical race to survive, in a world shared with Dragon Ball XENOVERSE 2. The game launched at a base digital price of $19.99 US (with physical versions coming at respective higher costs) on 13 October 2022 in Japan and 14 October 2022 in other worldwide territories across the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam).

Published by 01 November 2023, 10:44 AM EDTComment

Show Description

Episode #0507! From the depths of the archives, we managed to rescue an unreleased goodie: the next installment in our “Dragon Ball GT Review of Awesomeness”…! Mike, Meri, and Jeff dive into episodes 36-40 to wrap up the Baby arc in this podcast episode that was definitely recorded back in August 2018.

How to Listen

Our podcast is available via Apple Podcasts and/or Google Podcasts, or you can pop the direct RSS feed into the program of your choice. You can also listen to this episode by directly downloading the MP3 or by streaming it on Spotify, or YouTube. We invite you to discuss this episode on our forum.

 

Referenced Sites:

Published by 31 October 2023, 6:11 PM EDTComment

French company Microïds — by way of their Kana Music sublabel — are set to release a new Dragon Ball Z: Best Collection vinyl record set, to begin shipping this December for €49.99 and rolling out to additional distributors into the new year.

A total of 15 songs will comprise the two-record set, which includes opening, ending, and insert theme songs from across the Dragon Ball Z television series and films. The tracklist is slated to include:

[Note: song titles are printed below verbatim from the Kana Music promotional imagery; refer to our “Theme Guide” for comprehensive translations and further information]

Disc 1 / Side A:

  1. CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA (Dragon Ball Z TV series first opening)
  2. Burst Forth, Exceptional ZENKAI Power! (Dragon Ball Z TV series first ending)
  3. Battle (I-KU-SA) (Dragon Ball Z movie #2 ending)
  4. Whole (Dragon Ball Z movie #3 ending)

Disc 1 / Side B:

  1. Journey of Light (Dragon Ball Z TV special #1 ending)
  2. The Strongest Rival (Dragon Ball Z movie #5 ending)
  3. HERO (You’re the Hero) (Dragon Ball Z movie #6 ending)

Disc 2 / Side A:

  1. MIND POWER -KI- (Dragon Ball Z TV episode 139 insert)
  2. GIRIGIRI – World Extreme (Dragon Ball Z movie #7 ending)
  3. Blue Wind HOPE (Dragon Ball Z TV special #2 ending)
  4. Burning Fight – The Burning Battles (Dragon Ball Z movie #8 ending)

Disc 2 / Side B:

  1. Day of Destiny – Soul vs Soul – (Dragon Ball Z TV episode 184 insert)
  2. Beyond the Galaxy Rising High (Dragon Ball Z movie #9 ending)
  3. WE GOTTA POWER (Dragon Ball Z TV series second opening)
  4. We Were Angels (Dragon Ball Z TV series second ending)

International distributors for the set include Cartridge Thunder (US $64; expected to ship in January 2024), Black Screen Records (€58,00; expected to ship in January 2024), Very OK Vinyl (CA $56.00; expected to ship in January 2024), etc. Note that there is a limited pre-order window with many of these international distributors, and pre-order sales are often final / cannot be cancelled once made.

Published by 24 October 2023, 1:18 PM EDTComment,

Shueisha has announced two collected volumes of different Dragon Ball manga series for release in Japan on 04 December 2023:

Dragon Ball Super — Volume 22

The twenty-second collected volume of the Dragon Ball Super manga series by Toyotarō will release 04 December 2023 in Japan for ¥528 + tax. Spanning 192 pages, the upcoming volume should pick up with chapter 93, and (in line with prior volumes covering four chapters total) likely span through chapter 96.

The Dragon Ball Super “comicalization” began in June 2015, initially just ahead of the television series, and running both ahead and behind the series at various points. The manga runs in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ 98th chapter coming last week in the magazine’s December 2023 issue. Illustrated by “Toyotarō” (in all likelihood, a second pen-name used by Dragon Ball AF fan manga author and illustrator “Toyble”), the Dragon Ball Super manga covered the Battle of Gods re-telling, skipped the Resurrection ‘F’ re-telling, and “charged ahead” to the Champa arc, “speeding up the excitement of the TV anime even more”. Though the television series has completed its run, the manga continues onward, moving into its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner”, “Granolla the Survivor”, and now “Super Hero” arcs. Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017; the company’s nineteenth collected volume was released last month.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! — Volume 3

The third collected volume of the Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! manga series by Yoshitaka Nagayama will also release 04 December 2023 in Japan for ¥572 + tax. Spanning 176 pages, the upcoming third volume should pick up with chapter 11, and (in line with prior Nagayama volumes) likely span through chapter 15.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! is a promotional manga series written and illustrated by Yoshitaka Nagayama, having just completed its run in Shueisha’s monthly Saikyō Jump magazine. The series adapts events from storylines original to the Super Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game. Ultra God Mission!!!! succeeded Nagayama’s own prior Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission!, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission!!, and Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Big Bang Mission!!! series in the same magazine. Thus far, Ultra God Mission!!!! is the longest-running of Nagayama’s batch by a wide margin, clocking in at 20 chapters.

The various Dragon Ball Heroes manga series remain without an official English translation and release.

Published by 22 October 2023, 12:13 PM EDTComment

Each month, Toyotarō provides a drawing of a Dragon Ball (or related…!) character — as well as an accompanying comment — on the official Japanese Dragon Ball website. Following up on the wealth of characters already drawn, for his October 2023 entry, Toyotarō has drawn Son Goku from the upcoming Dragon Ball Daima series:

Son Goku
DRAGON BALL DAIMA

Dragon Ball Daima was announced! I’m really looking forward to autumn next year!

This drawing and comment set has been added to the respective page in our “Translations” archive.

Published by 19 October 2023, 12:30 PM EDTComment

Following up on previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s ninety-eighth chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, continuing onward into the brand-new “Super Hero arc”, now adapting the contents of the recent theatrical film following three chapters worth of original prologue material. Alongside other initiatives including free chapters and a larger archive for paid subscribers, this release continues the companies’ schedule of not simply simultaneously publishing the series’ chapter alongside its Japanese debut to the release date, but to its local time in Japan alongside its serialization in today’s December 2023 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine.

The Dragon Ball Super “comicalization” began in June 2015, initially just ahead of the television series, and running both ahead and behind the series at various points. The manga runs in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ ninety-eighth chapter hitting today in the magazine’s December 2023 issue.

Illustrated by “Toyotarō” (in all likelihood, a second pen-name used by Dragon Ball AF fan manga author and illustrator “Toyble”), the Dragon Ball Super manga covered the Battle of Gods re-telling, skipped the Resurrection ‘F’ re-telling, and “charged ahead” to the Champa arc, “speeding up the excitement of the TV anime even more”. Though the television series has completed its run, the manga continues onward, moving into its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner”, “Granolla the Survivor”, and now “Super Hero” arcs.

Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017. The company’s twentieth collected volume was released last month.

The Dragon Ball Super television series concluded in March 2018 with 131 total episodes. Crunchyroll (by way of the merger with FUNimation) owns the American distribution license for the series, with the English dub having wrapped its broadcast on Cartoon Network, and the home video release reaching its tenth and final box set in 2020. A complete steelbook “Limited Edition” was released by Crunchyroll last year.

Published by 12 October 2023, 2:01 PM EDT1 Comment

During today’s “Dragon Ball Special Panel” at New York Comic Con, various announcements were shared, including that of a brand new animated series: Dragon Ball Daima.

Moderator Monica Rial (English voice of Bulma) introduced fellow guest Ian Sinclair (English voice of Whis) to review ongoing events and updates for the video games Dragon Ball XENOVERSE 2 and Dragon Ball: The Breakers. The Dragon Ball Super Card Game series was also given a spotlight.

Following these updates, franchise executive producer Akio Iyoku was introduced. With Iyoku on stage, further game updates were shared, including that of the fourth Dragon Ball Games Battle Hour, which will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center next January. The Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero 4K UHD was given a quick nod, with its release in North America coming this November. The theatrical run of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods‘ extended edition from Toei and Fathom was likewise given a brief nod, coming next week in theaters across the United States.

Iyoku then transitioned to the subject of Sand Land, explaining its origin as an Akira Toriyama manga series from 2000, and that more info will be coming about the movie’s international release, but that the forthcoming game from Bandai Namco will release worldwide simultaneously.

Finally, the panel wrapped up with the debut trailer for Dragon Ball Daima, an all-new series slated for release in fall 2024 (though no more specific of a timeframe or release/broadcast platform was given):

Akira Toriyama is credited with the original work (the standard 原作 gensaku credit), story, and character designs, and was stated by Iyoku to be “deeply involved beyond his usual capacity.” In the trailer, all of the main characters are turned into child-sized versions of themselves. Iyoku noted that “Daima” is a name from Toriyama himself, and that there was a long process of different ideas before finalizing it — in fact, the title was only just decided upon a few days ago; a filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office from October 6th included the title “DRAGON BALL DAIMA” along with (a black and white version of) its logo:

Iyoku shared a written message from Akira Toriyama (transcribed below as was presented on-screen live at the panel):

Hello. I’m Akira Toriyama.

I’m currently working on a new Dragon Ball. The Title is “Dragon Ball DAIMA”.

“DAIMA” is a made-up term, which in Japanese characters would be “大魔” or in English would be something like “Evil.”

Due to a conspiracy, Goku and his friends are turned small. In order to fix things, they’ll head off to a new world! It’s a grand adventure with intense action in an unknown and mysterious world.

Since Goku has to make up for his petite size, he uses his Nyoibo (Power Pole) to fight, something not seen in a long time.

I came up with the story and settings, as well as a lot of the designs. I’m actually putting a lot more into this than usual!

Things will unfold that close in on the mysteries of the Dragon Ball world. Hope you enjoy these different-from-usual battles that are cute and powerful!!

— AKIRA TORIYAMA

The title’s characters of and should be familiar to many Dragon Ball fans, with (dai) regularly used for things like the Great Demon King Piccolo (ピッコロ大魔王) or Great King Enma (閻魔大王), while the (ma) is the same from 魔人 (majin).

The panel closed with a video message from Masako Nozawa encouraging a group Kamehameha.

Published by 11 October 2023, 4:54 PM EDTComment

Dragon Ball XENOVERSE 2 — originally released back in 2015 on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and later receiving ports to the Nintendo Switch and now-defunct Google Stadia — continues to receive updates and downloadable content to this day. Following a brief tease on social media yesterday…

… Bandai Namco has announced a new roadmap taking them through 2023 and into 2024 with even more updates to the game, including native Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions of the game.

This new update cycle kicks off tomorrow (12 October 2023) with a free update; content is scheduled to include a new “Cross Versus” 3-vs-3 multiplayer mode and a “Festival of Universes” event series.

The 2024 roadmap confirms — alongside the aforementioned Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions of the game — additional playable characters, story scenarios, and more.

In conjunction with the announcement, the official Xbox website posted a new interview with Jun Song about the forthcoming content.

Published by 09 October 2023, 3:29 PM EDTComment

Show Description

Episode #0506! We continue a brand new interview series talking with the staff members of Kanzenshuu itself! Heath is up next, so strap in for a trip back to the early days of fansites, launching a new one in 2005, combining sites in 2012, how we collaboratively work on everything together, and much more!

How to Listen

Our podcast is available via Apple Podcasts and/or Google Podcasts, or you can pop the direct RSS feed into the program of your choice. You can also listen to this episode by directly downloading the MP3 or by streaming it on Spotify, or YouTube. We invite you to discuss this episode on our forum.

 

Referenced Sites:

Published by 09 October 2023, 11:08 AM EDTComment

The September 2021 issue of Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine kicked off a “Dragon Ball Super Gallery” series in commemoration of the Dragon Ball franchise’s upcoming 40th anniversary. The celebration aims to have different artists all contribute their own spin on the original 42 tankōbon covers, with the images and an accompanying comment published as the magazine’s back cover.

Following the previous twenty-six entries, this month’s November 2023 issue brings us Katsura Hoshino (D.Gray-man) and their take on the series’ 36th volume cover:

Hoshino commented:

When I was a kid, I really admired Toriyama-sensei and drew Trunks and Goku a lot, as well as many manga and illustrations that copied his style. Sensei‘s linework, while simple, is also very difficult, with both depth and fun, and I had a lot of fun and excitement trying with all my might to emulate it.

When I got the opportunity to be a part of this project, while drawing, I kept telling my child self: “You’re drawing Dragon Ball! And Toriyama-sensei is actually going to see it!”

I was really excited and terribly nervous, but thank you so much for letting me draw this.

Saikyō Jump is currently a monthly magazine published in Japan by Shueisha under the “Jump” line of magazines. The magazine began as a quarterly publication in 2012, went monthly in 2013, went bimonthly in late-2014, and returned to a monthly format in 2021 (including a digital release for the first time). The magazine’s focus is spin-off and supplementary manga series aimed at a young audience, while also including game promotions, news coverage, and more. The magazine currently serializes content such as Yoshitaka Nagayama’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! manga series and Yūji Kasai’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! manga series. For calendar year 2019, Shueisha reported Saikyō Jump‘s circulation down at 130,000, with readership as 58.5% upper elementary school, 28% lower middle school, 11% middle school, and 2.5% high school or older.