As Dragon Ball Heroes — the most recent video game adaptation of the long-running Dragon Ball “Carddass” series in Japan — approaches its “new chapter” with “JM” (Ja’akuryū Mission or “Evil Dragon Mission”) entries starting next month, we thought it would be worth taking a look back at the nearly-three-years the game has been running. We specifically wanted to determine what it has accomplished in terms of furthering the Dragon Ball franchise and its longevity, and what could be done to keep the popularity at an all-time high. Would it even be able to work — *gasp* — outside of Japan, and would a new animated series be the key to its success…?!

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0347! VegettoEX and Julian look back on “Dragon Ball Heroes” and its accomplishments over the last nearly-three-years. What has the game done to further the popularity and longevity of the franchise? Where does it need to head with this “new chapter” in order for it to accomplish something new? Would a new “Dragon Ball Heroes” animated series be the answer, and how could that work with a global fandom? This week’s DBZ news and second “Who’s That Character?!” segment round out the episode.

REFERENCED SITES:

• FUNimation Posts & Removes Widescreen DBZ “Season One” Trailer
• Viz Dragon Ball “Full Color” Comics Cover Art Revealed
• “Dragon Ball RPG: Boyhood Arc” (Android/iOS) Website Opens
• “J Legend Retsuden” (JP 3DS) Commercial & Promotional Video
• “Battle of Z” (360/PS3/Vita) North American Release: 2014-01-28
• Mayumi Tanaka Confirms More Voice Recording in Blog Post

Enjoy! Discuss this episode on the Kanzenshuu forum.