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3,752 Posts & 2,349 Pages Documenting Dragon Ball, since 1998. We've got you covered!
Published by 07 August 2023, 6:57 PM 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-four entries, this month’s September 2023 issue brings us Yasuhisa Hara (Kingdom) and their take on the series’ 34th volume cover:

Yasuhisa Hara commented:

Congratulations on 40 years! Dragon Ball is a work I read every week in Jump right from the first chapter, so it’s a real honor getting to participate in a special project such as this. It’s quite humbling to be doing an arrangement of one of Toriyama-sensei‘s illustrations, but I also had fun with it while mixing in elements of Kingdom, adding in background soldiers to bring out that “likeness,” even while giving the armor Goku-style coloring.

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, Yūji Kasai’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! manga series, and the Dragon Ball GT Anime Comic. 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.

Published by 24 July 2023, 2:01 PM EDT1 Comment

Show Description

Episode #0504! Mike and Ken journey through the biggest hoaxes in modern Dragon Ball history. From fanart that escaped the clutches of its original artists, to purposeful (and sometimes long-term) bits of misinformation, we’ve seen it all! How well do some of these hoaxes hold up, and what will it take in the future to live up to their legacy?

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 24 July 2023, 9:03 AM EDT1 Comment

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 July 2023 entry, Toyotarō has drawn Beelzebub from Akira Toriyama’s Sand Land manga series (and upcoming theatrical film):

Beelzebub

He’s the son of the Devil King Satan that stars in Toriyama-sensei‘s short manga Sand Land.

I’m beyond excited for the movie that’s coming out this summer!

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

Published by 20 July 2023, 11:16 AM EDTComment

Following up on previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s ninety-fifth 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 September 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-fifth chapter hitting today in the magazine’s September 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 eighteenth 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 this past September.

Published by 17 July 2023, 9:55 AM EDTComment

A black-and-white image is often passed around by fans as proof that Goku uses a hundred-fold version of the Kaiō-Ken against Slug in Dragon Ball Z movie 4:

Goku does not actually say the “hundred-times” part (百倍 hyaku-bai) aloud in the film, however, so where does this image come from and what does it all mean?

The latest entry in our revamped “Rumor Guide” provides all the sources, context, and facts behind this unspoken multiplier!

Published by 13 July 2023, 3:41 PM EDT1 Comment

Bandai Namco has released a new promotional video for the — as of yet still undated — upcoming paid downloadable content pack for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot featuring the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai:

The downloadable content pack’s title in Japanese is “Troubles at the Tenka’ichi Budōkai” (波乱の天下一武道会 Haran no Tenka’ichi Budōkai); as with the previous Bardock DLC, its title is a direct nod to a prior work’s title, in this case being the exact same title as Dragon Ball manga chapter 167, itself later adapted as the title of Dragon Ball television series episode 134.

A localized version of the trailer — now sporting an updated “The 23rd World Tournament” title for the pack — was also released:

Taking place immediately before what the television series designated as the “Z” break (in what is otherwise simply “Dragon Ball” beginning to end in its original comic form), the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai sees a freshly-grown Son Goku at his third tournament appearance taking on the reincarnated/reborn-but-also-offspring (it’s complicated…) of the original Demon King Piccolo.

Adapting the 1990 Bardock television special, the first entry in the second wave of DLC packs for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot launched back in January alongside new, native PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the full game. The three entries in this second “season pass” are all “story arcs” rather than “story episodes”; in the first season pass, the Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ DLC entries were much shorter with a focus on boss fights and level increases, while the third entry — that of Trunks’ future timeline — told a comprehensive, multi-part story.

Developed by CyberConnect2 for Bandai Namco, the action role-playing game released 16 January 2020 in Japan and 17 January 2020 internationally on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam). A Nintendo Switch edition came later in September 2021.

Reviews of the base game, Trunks DLC, and Bardock DLC can be found on episodes #0481, #0490, and #0497, respectively, of our podcast.

Published by 07 July 2023, 11:27 AM EDTComment

This week’s August 2023 issue of Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine sees a certain stalwart wrap up another story arc, while also announcing the addition of a new “full color” classic Akira Toriyama manga to its lineup.

The Dragon Ball GT anime comic — comprised of screen shots from the 1996-1997 television series displayed in manga format with dialog and narration bubbles — began back in the January 2014 issue of the magazine. Running as a tie-in with the Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game’s then-current “Evil Dragon Mission” updates, the anime comic skipped all the way to and began with the series’ own “Evil Dragon” arc. Throughout all of the Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game’s continuing updates and even through the magazine’s transition from a monthly to bimonthly publication (and then back around again to monthly), the Dragon Ball GT anime comic has steadily run each issue, albeit plopped in different locations each time. Upon reaching the “end” of the series, three print volumes compiling the “Evil Dragon” arc were released, and serialization looped back around to the proper beginning in the magazine’s September 2019 issue. The series has continued onward from there, running to the end of the Baby arc in the current August 2023 issue spanning 35 chapters.

Alongside the ending of the Baby arc, a sidebar splash announces that Akira Toriyama’s Sand Land manga will begin serialization in the following issue with a new “full color” version. The next-issue-preview at the end of the August issue likewise announces this forthcoming addition to Saikyō Jump‘s lineup:

While not explictly stated, the arrangement of the announcement at the end of the Baby arc’s serialization seems to imply that — perhaps at least for the time being — Sand Land will take the place of the Dragon Ball GT Anime Comic. This currently leaves the Super 17 arc as the only one left unserialized in the magazine.

Independent of this forthcoming full color serialization, Sand Land is due for a kanzenban-style re-release from Shueisha this August.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! by Yoshitaka Nagayama and Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! by Yūji Kasai continue onward in the August 2023 issue of Saikyō Jump, reaching their 17th and 24th chapters, respectively. Both series will continue next issue.

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. 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.

The October 2023 issue of Saikyō Jump hits Japanese newsstands 04 August 2023 for ¥640 and is set to include clear files of classic Akira Toriyama Jump covers as that month’s packaged bonus items.

Published by 07 July 2023, 11:25 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-three entries, this month’s August 2023 issue brings us Kazue Kato (Blue Exorcist) and their take on the series’ 25th volume cover:

Kazue Kato commented:

Congratulations to Dragon Ball on its 40th anniversary!! Out of all the covers I enjoy, I purposefully picked one that had as many elements as possible. But I also wanted to draw Piccolo and Vegeta… While I was making this homage, I remembered how much I loved copying the artwork when I was a kid, saw how deep an influence it had on the way I draw natural objects and things like knots, and managed to realize once again how much Toriyama-sensei‘s talents became a part of my very being. It was fun!! It was such an honor to be able to partake of this opportunity. Thank you so much!

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, Yūji Kasai’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! manga series, and the Dragon Ball GT Anime Comic. 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.

Published by 06 July 2023, 2:58 PM EDT1 Comment

A sketch from original Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama within the 2005 Dragon Ball GT “Dragon Box” DVD set in Japan is often cited as “proof” that Toriyama himself was the one who designed the Super Saiyan 4 transformation… which is not true (and is even outright explained in the accompanying comment!).

So who actually designed the Super Saiyan 4 transformation in Dragon Ball GT…?

The latest entry in our revamped “Rumor Guide” provides all the back history, context, and facts behind the design of Super Saiyan 4 by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru!

Published by 29 June 2023, 4:38 PM EDTComment

Alongside the Sand Land theatrical debut this August in Japan, a special “Akira Toriyama Hyper Assortment” — a special pack of bonus items — will be distributed to attendees, including a special A5-sized art board with an illustration by Toriyama, as well as a Beelzebub card for the arcade game Super Dragon Ball Heroes:

The bonus pack is limited to 600,000 copies and will be allocated based on each individual theater.

Beelzebub’s card — UGMSL-01 (indicating a card from the currently-ongoing “Ultra God Mission” update series for “Sand Land”) — is listed with the ability “Demon’s Fury” (悪魔のブチギレ Akuma no Buchigire).

Collaboration events with other theatrical films are not unheard of for the Dragon Ball Heroes series: 2016’s “God Mission 9” update featured a crossover with One Piece: Film Gold wherein, for a limited time, players could pit Goku and Luffy against the film’s main villain, Gild Tesoro.

Sand Land was originally serialized within the pages of Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan from May to August 2000 spanning 14 chapters. The series was compiled into a single volume that November. Sand Land went on to act as a debut series within Viz’s Shonen Jump print magazine in America in 2003, both running to completion and receiving its own collected volume later that same year. The new theatrical film is set for release in Japan 18 August 2023 with animation produced by Sunrise, Kamikaze Douga, and Anima.