Alongside its inclusion this week as part of the new “Super Limit-Breaking NEO” downloadable content and patch for the video game Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, the new theme song “ZERO” by franchise stalwart Hironobu Kageyama — originally announced and first performed back in January at the special “Genkidamatsuri” event — has been released for purchase and streaming across various platforms.
The song is priced at $1.29 on Apple’s service.
Kageyama’s work with the franchise began in 1989 with the first Dragon Ball Z television series theme song “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA” and quickly grew to include a wealth of theme songs (including those for films), insert songs (those used directly within the show), and an expansive number of “image songs” for the popular “Hit Song Collection” series of albums (songs created uniquely for these albums).
The music and lyrics for “ZERO” were written by Kageyama himself; this is in contrast with many of his past franchise contributions, which often involved longtime friend and collaborator Kenji Yamamoto, who was dismissed from the franchise in 2011 following allegations and discoveries of plagiarism within his score to the “refreshed” Dragon Ball Kai television series, at that time still airing in Japan. Kageyama’s most recent contribution to the franchise was the song “Battle of Omega” for 2010’s Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2, which was itself removed in second printings of the game due to Yamamoto’s involvement. Kageyama appeared after this with the opening theme “Fighting Stars” for the 2014 crossover fighting game J-Stars Victory Vs. (alongside Akira Kushida and Hiroshi Katadani), but has otherwise been absent from new material in the time since, though he has made several live appearances. “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA” has itself been used in the time since (as its original Kageyama version in 2012’s Dragon Ball: Ultimate Blast, and as Flow’s 2013 cover version from Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods in various games), but “ZERO” marks the first all-new musical creation since that time.
The Dragon Ball Official Site has posted a short interview with Kageyama, which includes the following special message at the end (NOTE: the English translation used here is the version as used on the site’s own English version):
18年ぶりに「ドラゴンボール」関連の、しかもゲームのメインの曲に関わることができてすごく光栄に思っています！ 昔は歌唱だけでしたが、今回は作詞・作曲にもチャレンジさせていただいたので、今の自分ができることを全部注いで、力いっぱいやらせてもらったという「やったぜ！」感がすごくあります。「ドラゴンボール」のファンのみなさんをはじめ、世界の一人でも多くの方に、「影山って今もこんな風にやってんだね！」っていうところをしっかり聴いてもらいたいなと思います！
It’s been 18 years since I made any music for Dragon Ball, and I’m honored to be able to provide the main theme for this game! With my previous tracks, I was only responsible for the vocals, but this time I was trusted with writing the music and lyrics as well, so I put my absolute all into making it, and I personally feel very satisfied with the result! Of course, I’d love for all Dragon Ball fans to listen to it, but it would also be great if as many other people as possible could listen to this track and say, “Wow, Kageyama’s still got it!”