Episode #0531! Mike and Jay chat about the pre-smartphone world of Dragon Ball mobile gaming, and in particular, Jay’s work on digging into and porting the “Dragon Ball Racing” mobile game to the PlayStation 2! Tune in for a whirlwind tour through this oft-forgotten side-niche of games and learn what’s on the horizon for those looking to learn more.
Roughly every 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 November 2025 entry, Toyotarō has drawn Tao Pai-pai:
Tao Pai-pai
On this installment of the “old man character series,” it’s everyone’s favorite, Tao Pai-pai! He doesn’t actually look that old, but according to the guidebooks, by the time he appeared in the story, he was supposedly already 291 years old… Will we ever know the truth behind the Turtle siblings’ and the Crane brothers’ long lives?
An age of 291 for Tao Pai-pai (at the time of his first appearance in the series) is initially given in the franchise’s first guide book, the Dragon Ball: Adventure Special from 1987. Working the math backward knowing what we know about the calendar system from later in the series, this would place his birth year as circa Age 459. Years later, Tao Pai-pai’s character biography in Daizenshuu #7 goes with this same math, concretely placing his birth year as Age 459.
Episode #0530! For our 20th podcast-iversary, Mike dives back into what we covered on the show all the way back in November 2005. A three-disc movie boxset from FUNimation was on the horizon (finally bringing DB movie 2 out of VHS-Hell), while Dragon Box: The Movies was on its way in Japan. Randy joins for a look back at the original “Dragon Ball Z: Sparking!” on the PS2, which we also covered back on the first episode of the podcast. Heath then pops in for a little self-indulgent retrospective about the show and what we envision for the future. Here’s to another 20 years of the podcast!
Roughly every 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 2025 entry, Toyotarō has drawn the Ox Demon King:
Ox Demon King
He may look young, but from Pan’s perspective, he’s already a great-grandfather! Even though he’s the Turtle Hermit’s #2 disciple, we never actually see his real power in the series proper. I really want to see him fight someday!
Two volumes of collected Dragon Ball spin-off manga are set for release 04 December 2025 in Japan (alongside the January 2026 issue of Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine in which they currently run):
Dragon Ball SD
The twelfth collected volume of Dragon Ball SD by Naho Ooishi is on its way from Shueisha, with its catalog entry clocking it at ¥814 + tax.
The release will once again mark about a year since the previous collected volume. The upcoming twelfth collected volume should pick with Dragon Ball SD chapter 107. The series’ 117th chapter ran earlier this month in the November 2025 issue of Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine.
Dragon Ball SD was a stalwart of Saikyō Jumpdating back to its original debut issue, adapting events from the original story in humorous new ways with “chibi” or “super deformed” (the titular “SD”) styled characters. After the original four quarterly issues of the magazine and SD covering four distinct time periods, the magazine shifted to a monthly release and SDreverted back to the proper beginning of the series with a continuous storyline. In 2016, the series skipped ahead from the end of the 22nd Tenka’ichi Budōkai to the Saiyan arc. In conjunction with Saikyō Jump‘s big format refresh in 2021, Dragon Ball SD was moved out of the magazine to a digital-only series on the company’s official YouTube channel. The series briefly returned to print in the August 2022 issue for a special chapter promoting the theatrical film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, and then again in the December 2024 issue for a 40th anniversary celebration chapter. The series returned to the pages of Saikyō Jump-proper for full serialization again starting in the January 2025 issue.
Dragon Ball SD is not available in English, though it does currently see a release in certain territories such as Germany and France.
Let’s Super Dive!! tells the story of a young boy heading off to attend a school to become the best Dragon Ball Super Divers player. The collected edition just began back in August, and this upcoming second volume should pick with chapter 8. The series’ 12th chapter ran earlier this month in the November 2025 issue of Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine.
With Dragon Ball Heroes now squarely in the rear window, the next major guide book for the ongoing Dragon Ball Super Divers card-based arcade game — the 96-page Dragon Ball Super Divers 1st Anniversary Super Guide — is set for a 20 November 2025 release in Japan at ¥1,870 + tax.
This first anniversary book follows last year’s Start Dive Guide, which itself followed a regular series of Dragon Ball Heroes guides: the 5th Anniversary Mission book in November 2015, the 8th Anniversary Super Guide book in November 2018, the 9th Anniversary Super Guide in November 2019, the 10th Anniversary Super Guide in November 2020, the 11th Anniversary Super Guide in November 2021, the 12th Anniversary Super Guide in November 2022, and the 13th Anniversary Super Guide in November 2023. Each book covers card additions, ongoing storylines, interviews with production staff, and more.
In conjunction with Dragon Ball‘s ongoing 40th anniversary celebration, a special “Genkidamatsuri” (ゲンキダマツリ) event — a portmanteau and play on Goku’s Genki-Dama attack and the Japanese word for “festival” — will be held25 January 2026 at the Makuhari Messe convention center outside of Tokyo, Japan.
The event is a follow-up to last year’s “Daimatsuri” event, held back in October 2024 to kick off the 40th anniversary celebration.
This year’s event will showcase Dragon Ball console and mobile video games, card games, figures, toys, snacks, and more. Voice actress Masako Nozawa and Capsule Corporation Tokyo founder and franchise producer Akio Iyoku will be on hand for a two-part “super announcement” regarding “new developments” for the franchise, while singer Hironobu Kageyama will perform live.
A new Dragon Ball game project will be unveiled this January during the Dragon Ball Genkidamatsuri event in Japan!
The event will be free to attend, but limited to those invited after completing the corresponding application on the official event website. Lottery periods for these applications will be open first between October 17th and November 3rd, and then again November 7th and November 30th.
Among the 21 recipients of this year’s Person of Cultural Merit Recognition in Japan is Masako Nozawa (Son Goku, et al.). This marks the first time a voice actor has been selected for the award. As part of the award, the selected individual(s) are provided a special government-sponsored pension.
In conjunction with the award, Nozawa issued the following statement:
When I thought about it, I realized I had walked this path alongside my “voice” for quite a long time, and was able to do it in my own way, so I am deeply moved at receiving this marvelous reward.
I humbly accept this reward in the name of all voice actors. I feel very proud to be able to shine a light on the work of those that came before and inspired me, those that are currently taking on that work, and on the future work of all the young actors and actresses that will step into the world of the “voice” from now on.
Furthermore, I am also incredibly grateful to all the creators that shaped such incredible stories and characters and to all of their fans. It is because of all of you that “culture” can flourish, and it is all of you that support our path as voice actors.
My vitality is my lone saving grace, so I will give it my all to continue delivering my “voice” and give back to the culture, even if just a little bit.
In conjunction with the EVO France 2025 fighting game event this past weekend (10-12 October 2025), Bandai Namco announced an extensive balance patch for Dragon Ball FighterZ, along with a surprise announcement of an all-new forthcoming playable character: Super Saiyan 4 Son Goku from the Dragon Ball Daima series.
While no footage of the new Goku form (set for release in Spring 2026) is shown, the character speaks aloud: “Sorry to keep you waiting. Now, let’s get started.” (待たせたな。さあ、始めようか。).
The game’s 1.40 patch — which released over the weekend — features extensive gameplay updates (including unique adjustments for individual characters). Global gameplay updates include:
Ki Charge
Able to cancel out faster now
Sped up timing at which Dragon Rush and Super Dash can be performed
Dragon Rush
Now deflects Ki Blasts during the movement if unleashed after a Ki Charge
Z Reflect
Blocking the opponent’s physical attacks with the right timing will now trigger a special screen freeze (except for Videl)
If the above screen freeze is triggered, Vanish can be performed
Vanish
The move is now invincible on start-up when performed from a Z Reflect
Sparking Blast
Reduced blockstun
High Jump
Increased controllable distance moved mid-air during Sparking Blast (except for Master Roshi)
Z Assist (A-Type, B-Type)
Reduced cooldown time needed before next usage
Z Change
Reduced cooldown time needed before next usage
Guard Cancel Change
Can now act mid-air if guarded against from a high position
Bandai Namco has announced that additional characters are coming to Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO beyond the 208 characters already contained within the base game and its first “season pass”:
The YouTube video’s description states:
The next DLC is already in the pipeline, bringing new characters and more. More info coming January 2026!
The “Season Pass” for Sparking! ZERO contains the “Hero of Justice Pack” (featuring characters and transformations from the 2022 theatrical film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero), two Dragon Ball Daima character packs, and the “Extra DLC” character Shallot (from the Dragon Ball Legends mobile game). The full “Season Pass” retails for $34.99; the previous “Hero of Justice Pack” is separately available by itself for $17.99, while each “Daima Character Pack” is separately available for $9.99.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZEROreleased on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (via Steam) 10 October 2024 in Japan, and 11 October 2024 internationally. As opposed to the completely separateDragon Ball Z (“Budokai”) series developed by Dimps which came before it, the Sparking! series — developed instead by Spike — featured 3D arenas with an over-the-shoulder camera angle. The new game’s title of Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO falls more in line with the original trilogy’s naming scheme in Japanese. The three Sparking! games — the original, NEO!, and METEOR — hit the PlayStation 2 over the course of 2005 to 2007, with the Nintendo Wii also receiving ports of the second and third games. The game series was released numerically under the “Budokai Tenkaichi” moniker internationally. A fourth games — Tag Vs. in Japan; Tenkaichi Tag Team internationally — was released on the PlayStation Portable in 2010. Spike (as Spike Chunsoft) later went on to also develop the crossover fighting games J-Stars Victory VS in 2014 and Jump Force in 2019.
