Databook Guide

Daizenshuu Volumes

The largest group of Dragon Ball databooks are the Daizenshuu (大全集), or the “Great Complete Collections”, which were made shortly after the manga ended its serialization. These are divided up into a main series of seven hardcover books, followed by three soft-cover supplemental volumes. Some of these books cover the manga, while some cover the anime and movies, and others even cover the Carddass card games that were released in Japan. The first six hardcover books feature an interview with author Akira Toriyama, and all seven came with a bonus insert pamphlet called the “Shenlong Times” that contains interviews with various other important people involved with Dragon Ball. Altogether, these books contain a nearly complete Dragon Ball knowledge, for all elements of the series that existed at the time.

Shenlong was not only a prominent figure in the Dragon Ball series, but also as the overarching theme tying the various Daizenshuu together. It is thus no surprise to notice that the seven main hardcover books can be placed together in a certain order to form a large image of Shenlong, with the Dragon Balls themselves included at the bottom of Daizenshuu 7. In fact, this aspect of the Daizenshuu was actually part of the original advertising campaign in Japan, as seen in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1996, issue #13 (view). In addition, the two extra Carddass Perfect File Daizenshuu can be placed side-by-side to form the same image of Shenlong.

As with most books published by Shueisha, each Daizenshuu came with a questionnaire postcard to inquire about the consumer’s purchasing habits and wants. Each postcard could be returned by a certain date to be entered into a lottery where 500 randomly drawn fans would win a prepaid phone card featuring the artwork from that specific Daizenshuu, which gave many fans incentive to actually return their postcards. Shueisha also decided to reward those that had purchased the Daizenshuu by giving away an exclusive “Dragon Ball Original Extra Large Poster” featuring nearly every Dragon Ball character to 10,000 fans drawn by lottery. To be entered into the lottery for the exclusive poster, fans had to purchase one or both of Daizenshuu 5 and Daizenshuu 6, and return the entry ticket included on the book’s obi (colored strip of paper looped around the book) on a postcard by 06 January 1996. The 10,000 posters were shipped to the addresses written on winning postcards, along with a thank-you letter from Shueisha. This extra large poster would later be used as the foldout poster in the “TV Animation Part 3” supplemental Daizenshuu, making a smaller version available to those who did not win.

It should be noted that although Akira Toriyama is listed as the author for all of the Daizenshuu, he actually had very little involvement with the production of their content, if any at all. Toriyama makes it quite clear in most of his Daizenshuu introductions that “they” (Shueisha) are responsible for putting these together, and he is often graciously humble in thanking them for all their hard work in sorting through his exhaustive series.