The latest addition to our ever-growing “Translations” archive is the first part (of three total) from a panel held at “Unite Tokyo 2019”, a video game development conference that brings current and past developers together for a series of meetings and lectures. This particular panel featured three massive names in the field of Dragon Ball, licensing, and video game development: Kazuhiko Torishima, Daisuke Uchiyama, and Shin Unozawa.

The panel touches on the licensing and sponsorship agreements between partners, the changing tides of video game development (not only within Bandai but Japan as a whole), Torishima’s overwhelming presence and lasting influence, and so much more.

Combined with the second part of this panel (which we teased back on Podcast Episode #0488 and the translation of which is coming to the site soon!) and a series of game development-related interviews in 2016’s Super History Book, we hope to bring even more of a critical eye and wealth of (factual!) citations to enrich fandom’s understanding of Dragon Ball video games and their ever-changing development cycles. Much like the larger franchise as a whole, Dragon Ball games have so many preconceptions, misunderstandings, and false assumptions around them, and we are excited to bring some of these sources to light.

For now, enjoy the translation of the first part of this “Unite Tokyo 2019” panel series, and please look forward to more!