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Ahead of the character’s release this week (05 December 2019), a short promotional video for Broli (DBS) has been released showcasing some of his special moves. The character will be available individually for ¥500/$5, or as part of the game’s optional $24.99 “FighterZ Pass 2” covering six total characters.
The video concludes with a glimpse at the in-game alternate colors, player lobby character, and Z-Stamp that will accompany him for those that pay for access to the character.
Broli originally debuted in 1993’s eighth theatrical Dragon Ball Z film, and subsequently appeared in two more contemporary films of the day. The character was recently “rebooted” alongside other characters in the 2018 theatrical film Dragon Ball Super: Broly; this “Dragon Ball Super” (“DBS”) version serves as the basis for FighterZ‘s inclusion, alongside an additional DLC version based on his original 1990s appearances.
The 3-on-3, “2.5D” fighting game is developed by Arc System Works and is currently available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam); on these systems, the game runs at a 1080p resolution and 60fps frame rate, with higher resolutions available on the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X consoles, as well as the PC. Playable characters include Son Goku, Son Gohan (Cell arc design), Vegeta, Freeza, Cell, Boo (Good), Trunks, Piccolo, Kuririn, #16, #18 (with #17), Yamcha, Tenshinhan (with Chiaotzu), Ginyu (with teammates), Nappa (with Saibaimen), Gotenks, Son Gohan (Boo arc design), Boo (Pure), Hit, Beerus, and Goku Black (with Zamasu), as well as “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan” (SSGSS, or “Super Saiyan Blue”) versions of Goku and Vegeta that can be accessed early via pre-orders or unlocked through gameplay. The Akira Toriyama-designed “#21” is a new character central to the game’s story mode.
A first “FighterZ Pass” with eight additional playable characters is available for $29.99, with the aforementioned “FighterZ Pass 2” available for $24.99. Said additional paid characters are also all available piecemeal at $4.99 each. The release of “Broly (DBS)” wraps up all currently-announced content for the game.
Dragon Ball FighterZ was originally released 26 January 2018 in North America and Europe, and 01 February 2018 in Japan. Alongside its Japanese release, Bandai Namco announced that they had shipped two million copies of the game, making it the fastest-shipping game in the franchise’s history. The game also shipped on the Nintendo Switch back in September 2018.
Shueisha has revealed the cover art for the upcoming debut three volumes of the Dragon Ball GT anime comic:
Presented in full color (as opposed to the limited-color version from serialization), the three volumes are all due out this Wednesday (04 December 2019) for ¥1,000 each (plus tax), and will cover the entirety of the series’ Evil Dragons arc.
The long-running and oft-forgotten Dragon Ball GT anime comic — comprised of limited-color 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 Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump 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, the Dragon Ball GT anime comic has steadily run each issue, albeit plopped in different locations each time.
Until now, the Dragon Ball GT anime comic has thus far been exclusive to its Saikyō Jump serialization. Having wrapped back around again to the beginning of the series earlier this year, the series will hit its 41st chapter (third in its beginning-loop-back) with the January 2020 issue this month.
Each month, Toyotarō provides a drawing — as well as a brief comment — on the official Japanese Dragon Ball website. Thus far, Toyotarō has provided drawings of #8, Lunch, Chapa with Oob, Tambourine, Man-Wolf, Tapion, Janenba, Broli, Ozotto, Ginyu, Bardock, Paragus, King Cold, Bardock’s original television special crew, Onio with his wife, Shiirasu, Great Saiyaman, Nail, Toninjinka, Zarbon, Pui-Pui, Slug, and Vermoud. For his November 2019 entry, Toyotarō has contributed a sketch of Tapikar (with a special guest reappearance by Tapion):
Tapikar.
One of the contestants in the Afterlife Tournament. He’s a character who doesn’t really get much of a chance to shine, but I got the feeling that this was his last chance to bask in the spotlight (because of his name…).
Tapikar, a fighter from the Western Galaxy, appears exclusively in the Dragon Ball Z television series’ Afterlife Tournament filler arc. Both Tapikar, as well as Tapion in the background (a former inclusion in Toyotarō’s series here) have names sourced from the word “tapioca”; Japan happens to be in the midst of a bubble/pearl tea fad at the moment.
This drawing and comment set has been added to the respective page in our “Translations” archive.
Continuing onward from previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s fifty-fourth chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, moving further into the original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc”. 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 in today’s January 2020 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine in Japan.
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 monthly in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ fifty-fourth chapter coming next week in the magazine’s January 2020 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, entering its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” arc. Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017. The seventh collected volume is due from Viz this December.
The Dragon Ball Super television series concluded in March 2018 with 131 total episodes. FUNimation owns the American distribution license for the series, with the English dub having just wrapped its broadcast on Cartoon Network, and the home video release reaching its tenth and final box set in January 2020.
Bandai Namco Holdings has posted a ¥34.607 billion (approximately $318 million) profit for the first half of fiscal year 2020, compared to a ¥34.188 billion profit the same half last year.
Dragon Ball once again handily came in as the company’s best-performing franchise for the half-year, pulling in ¥61.3 billion (a jump over last year’s ¥58.6 billion in the same time period); Dragon Ball beat out the number-two franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam, by about ¥23 billion. The company is holding on its projection of ¥115 billion for full fiscal year 2020, which would be slightly down from last year’s ¥129 billion.
In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games), the franchise also jumped from ¥9.9 billion for the first half of 2019 to ¥11.6 billion this year’s first-half, with a similarly-held-projection for the full year at ¥20 billion.
Overlook Events will bring the “Dragon Ball Symphonic Adventure” orchestral concert to America beginning 27 March 2020 in Chicago, with additional dates and locations to be announced.
“Dragon Ball Symphonic Adventure” Kicks Off North American Tour With Premiere Performance In Chicago
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — As part of the year-long 30th anniversary celebration of “Dragon Ball Z,” Toei Animation Inc. and Sony Pictures Television’s Funimation announced today that the “Dragon Ball Symphonic Adventure,” a one-of-a-kind concert experience, is coming to North America. Produced by Overlook Events and presented by AWR Music Productions, the “Dragon Ball Symphonic Adventure” combines scenes and sounds of Dragon Ball together with live vocals, a 60-piece orchestra and the music of legendary Japanese composer Shunsuke Kikuchi to create an immersive multimedia event for fans. The North American tour of the “Dragon Ball Symphonic Adventure” kicks-off on Friday, March 27, 2020 with its premiere performance in Chicago, IL at the Rosemont Theatre featuring the World Festival Symphony Orchestra conducted by Eric Roth. Additional dates and locations to be announced.
Produced by Toei Animation and distributed in the U.S. & Canada by Funimation, the “Dragon Ball” anime franchise consists of four TV series, namely “Dragon Ball,” “Dragon Ball Z,” “Dragon Ball GT” and “Dragon Ball Super,” and now 20 feature films including this year’s blockbuster film “Dragon Ball Super: Broly.” This year marks the global 30th anniversary of the “Dragon Ball Z” anime TV series.
Based on its Narrative Symphonic Experience concept, Overlook Events mixes a symphony orchestra with rock instruments, live vocals, sound effects and light synchronized to a compilation of Dragon Ball video excerpts projected on giant screens, following a strict narrative – to create the “Dragon Ball Symphonic Adventure.” The result is a concert experience that achieves a musical and technical mastery still very rare in an industry dominated by cinema-concerts.
Overlook describes their creative process: “As great enthusiasts of Akira Toriyama’s saga, we spent long months carefully selecting and analyzing each scene to draw out the essence of the Dragon Ball story. While reconstructing each arc, each scene was thoughtfully set to new orchestrations of the classic music, to align with our Narrative Symphonic Experience concept. Nothing was left to chance. Now, we invite you to enjoy every minute of this concert experience, from the opening trumpet notes heralding the first transformation of Son Goku, ready to unleash his uncontrollable fury against the mighty Frieza.”
Tickets for the premiere performance of “Dragon Ball Symphonic Adventure” will go on sale at 10am CST on November 15, 2019 via Ticketmaster at http://bit.ly/DBSymphonicAdventure.
The event has run several times in various European locations since 2017 with a 60+ member orchestra performing tracks from Shunsuke Kikuchi’s original Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z musical score, along with vocal performances from Hiroki Takahashi.
Following last week’s seventeenth episode premiere, the official Super Dragon Ball Heroes website announced a December 2019 streaming timeframe for the forthcoming eighteenth episode of the Super Dragon Ball Heroes promotional anime, continuing further into the brand-new “Universal Conflict” arc. In the upcoming episode (“Super Decisive Battle! Gogeta vs. Hearts!”), the Earth trembles as the fate of the universe rests on the ultimate fused warrior in his battle against Hearts.
The self-described “promotional anime” began its free online streaming in July 2018, with the initial six episodes covering the “Prison Planet” arc, then moving on to the “Universal Conflict” arc. Though the series’ original trailer was available worldwide, the subsequent episode postings themselves have been region-locked to Japan. No home release of the promotional anime has been announced.
Super Dragon Ball Heroes is itself an update and hardware revision to the original Dragon Ball Heroes, a card-based arcade game in which players arrange teammates on a playing field for turn-based battles. Dragon Ball Heroes has seen a variety of multimedia spin-offs and support pieces. Yoshitaka Nagayama’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission manga (a follow-up to the previous Dark Demon Realm Mission series, which also recently re-started) currently runs in Shueisha’s bimonthly Saikyō Jump magazine, while Toyotarō’s Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission ran from 2012-2015 in Shueisha’s monthly V-Jump magazine. Three portable game adaptations — Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission, Ultimate Mission 2, and Ultimate Mission X — were released on the Nintendo 3DS. A fourth home version, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, launched on the Nintendo Switch and PC on 04 April 2019 and internationally 05 April 2019.
Each month, Toyotarō provides a drawing — as well as a brief comment — on the official Japanese Dragon Ball website. Thus far, Toyotarō has provided drawings of #8, Lunch, Chapa with Oob, Tambourine, Man-Wolf, Tapion, Janenba, Broli, Ozotto, Ginyu, Bardock, Paragus, King Cold, Bardock’s original television special crew, Onio with his wife, Shiirasu, Great Saiyaman, Nail, Toninjinka, Zarbon, Pui-Pui, and Slug. For his October 2019 entry, Toyotarō has contributed a sketch of Vermoud:
Vermoud in his younger days.
He appears in Super too, but to make a bit broader an interpretation of this series’ concept, his past self didn’t show up, so I figured even this pattern of wild imaginings would be allowed. (laughs)
“I’m quitting.” It’s that sort of scene.
Just what was it that took place before he became a God of Destruction…?
Vermoud, a joint design between Akira Toriyama and Toyotarō, debuted in the Dragon Ball Super series’ “Universe Survival arc” as the God of Destruction from Universe 11.
This drawing and comment set has been added to the respective page in our “Translations” archive.
Continuing onward from previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s fifty-third chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, moving further into the original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc”. 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 in today’s December 2019 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine in Japan.
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 monthly in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ fifty-third chapter coming next week in the magazine’s December 2019 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, entering its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” arc. Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017. The seventh collected volume is due from Viz this December.
The Dragon Ball Super television series concluded in March 2018 with 131 total episodes. FUNimation owns the American distribution license for the series, with the English dub having just wrapped its broadcast on Cartoon Network, and the home video release reaching its tenth and final box set in January 2020.
Shueisha and online retailers have listed an 07 November 2019 release date and ¥1,250 + tax price tag for a forthcoming Super Dragon Ball Heroes: 9th Anniversary Super Guide.
The 2019 book follows two previous anniversary guide books: the 8th Anniversary Super Guide book in November 2018 and the 5th Anniversary Mission book in November 2015. Each book covers card additions, ongoing storylines, interviews with production staff, and more. The 5th anniversary book in particular contained the 29th (and thus fast last) chapter of Toyotarō’s Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission manga series.
Information and interviews from the 8th anniversary book were covered on Episode #0462 of our podcast.
Super Dragon Ball Heroes is an update and hardware revision to the original Dragon Ball Heroes, a card-based arcade game in which players arrange teammates on a playing field for turn-based battles. Dragon Ball Heroes has seen a variety of multimedia spin-offs and support pieces. Yoshitaka Nagayama’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission manga (a follow-up to the previous Dark Demon Realm Mission series, which also recently re-started) currently runs in Shueisha’s bimonthly Saikyō Jump magazine, while Toyotarō’s Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission ran from 2012-2015 in Shueisha’s monthly V-Jump magazine. Three portable game adaptations — Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission, Ultimate Mission 2, and Ultimate Mission X — were released on the Nintendo 3DS. A fourth home version, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, launched on the Nintendo Switch and PC on 04 April 2019 and internationally 05 April 2019.
This November marks the Dragon Ball Heroes series’ overall ninth anniversary, with a special live event set to be held 27 October 2019 with
