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New Translation: “Saikyō Jump” July 2014 Scouter Q&A
Published by 04 June 2014, 9:13 PM EDT

The April and May 2014 issues of Saikyō Jump each contained one Q&A session between Dragon Ball SD‘s Naho Ooishi and original manga author Akira Toriyama. The short “Tell Us, Toriyama-sensei!” series seemed to come to a close after those two issues, but the July 2014 issue — released this week in Japan — picks up where they left off two months ago.

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In another brief Q&A session, Ooishi digs into the “secrets” of the scouters by going straight to the “source” yet again by asking Akira Toriyama three more questions.

Why does a scouter break when it picks up a high battle power?
To be honest, it’s just showy staging for a comic. It’s really digital, which makes it impossible, but in terms of something analog, it’s like how a counter that’s rising at breakneck speed can’t keep up and breaks down.

It seems that there are old- and new-type scouters, but are there various other types of scouters as well?
They’re the same in terms of features, but a variety of different aliens wear them, but there are a bunch of different types of attachment parts depending on the position of the ear. If you’re a soldier in Freeza’s army, you can have one made to order to fit your ear. The different screen colors can be chosen to fit the peculiarities of different aliens’ eyes, or to suit one’s tastes. Also, dual-eye types exist as well. Incidentally, its inventors were the Tsufruians, the original inhabitants of Planet Vegeta who were wiped out by the Saiyans. Originally, it was a device for the purpose of guarding against enemies and beasts, but Gichamu1, a highly skilled engineer in Freeza’s army, laid eyes on it and made modifications for concrete battle power numbers and telecommunications abilities, and soldiers began making use of it to carry out offensives.

Do scouters have any hidden features, or features that you would have given them if you were to do it now?
If the form or location of the enemy picked up by the scouter were displayed in video, it would be even more perfect, but if you add features up to that point, it would get more difficult to do as manga story developments go. I’m not sure I should be saying this as the creator, but I wonder how scouters are attached around the ear. I was always doubtful of it when I was drawing it. It would have to be strong enough to withstand sharp movements. I suppose there’s be no other way but to stick it on tight with something. Well, that’s because it’s “alien technology”. On Earth, the headset method, like the toy, is the right answer.

The Q&A has also been archived on its own page within our “Translations” section.

Also in the issue, Ooshi — assigned with the title of “Neko Majin Researcher” — speaks to the appeal of the magical cats stating:

The Neko Majin, who are cute yet strong, quietly play a big role somewhere in the world! This character and that character that you all know will appear, as well!

The July 2014 issue of Saikyō Jump retails for ¥500 and can be ordered at CDJapan and Amazon Japan.

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