If you’re reading this website, there’s a good chance you know Dr. Slump, and you definitely know Dragon Ball — they’re both available in English.
You probably even know Sand Land, maybe you’ve also seen COWA! out there, and let’s not forget Jaco the Galactic Patrolman, too (even if it’s not-so-stealth-Dragon Ball) — all three of these are also available in English.
The gap of missing content closed considerably in 2021 with Viz’s release of Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater, a hardcover omnibus collection of various short series and one-shots that were originally compiled across three volumes in Japan from 1983 to 1997. With everything from Wonder Island to Go! Go! Ackman (and tons more in between), it’s a fairly comprehensive tour throughout the famed creator’s oeuvre.
Is that it, though? Are those the only Akira Toriyama manga officially translated into English by Viz…?
There are four other manga products by Toriyama that have technically been translated and released by Viz — but they’re not the easiest finds these days!
2007: Neko Majin (Z) (5)
A few years after completing Dragon Ball, and sporadically over the next few years in between his other projects, Akira Toriyama released chapters of Neko Majin, a series that increasingly became a Dragon Ball parody and spin-off as it went on, before wrapping back around again to (arguably) taking place fully in-universe.
Chapters were published within Weekly Shōnen Jump and (the now-defunct) Monthly Shōnen Jump, sometimes entire years apart from each other. The series consists of two chapters of Neko Majin ga Iru (“Neko Majin is Here”), one chapter of Neko Majin Mike, and five chapters of Neko Majin Z. The final two chapters of Neko Majin Z bucked the trend and were published back-to-back in consecutive issues of Monthly Shōnen Jump. All eight chapters were collected into a single kanzenban in April 2005, and they were later released in a newly-colorized version in 2013.
Viz included Neko Majin Z 5 — which was printed without a chapter number — in the October 2007 issue of the company’s Shonen Jump print magazine, a so-called “Dragon Ball Collector” issue which included (in addition to the surprise Neko Majin chapter) the first part of an interview with Akira Toriyama and loads of previews and reviews of other Dragon Ball-related content. The translation for Neko Majin Z 5 at Viz was handled by Hiromi Hasegawa.
We would be remiss not to mention Viz’s release of “Dragon Ball: A Visual History” in 2019, a translated adaptation of 2013’s Dragon Ball: Chōgashū (“Super Art Collection”) — basically a beefed-up and contemporary (to 2013) version of the first Daizenshuu. Various manga series and panels are cited and included throughout “A Visual History”… including those of otherwise-untranslated series like Neko Majin.
In comparing these translations, however, the specific examples from Neko Majin Z 5 are actually completely different from Viz’s actual English translation from many years earlier. Not only are certain things translated incorrectly (for example, Neko Majin found Goku, not the group that the Ox Demon King is a part of), but the redrawn sound effects are likewise completely different.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there are magical bounties of fully-translated-but-unreleased Toriyama manga sitting around at Viz — as we recently discussed on our podcast with some of our industry friends (check out episodes 519 and 522 in particular), these specific panels within “A Visual History” were likely translated and lettered in bespoke fashion just for this book, rather than pulled from any archive.
Beyond this critical final chapter of the Neko Majin series, the whole series did get English scanlations back in the day, and we’re all trying to find the guy(s) who did this.
2011: Cross Epoch
Cross Epoch is a single-chapter manga by Akira Toriyama and Eiichirō Oda spanning 14 pages which originally ran in the 2007 No. 4-5 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, released 25 December 2006 in Japan. The story combines several characters from both the Dragon Ball and One Piece series by Toriyama and Oda, respectively, in a bizarre team-up world culminating in a tea party.
Viz first included Cross Epoch in the 100th issue of their aforementioned Shonen Jump print magazine (cover dated for April 2011, but released that February), with a one-page introduction preceding it, and a one-page contest announcement for Goku and Luffy “Mallow” figures after it. The translation for Cross Epoch at Viz was handled by Christine Dashielle.
Alongside Taste of the Devil Fruit (the Toriko and One Piece crossover one-shot manga from 2011 which Viz had made available to “SJ Alpha” members in 2012), Cross Epoch was later included in Viz’s “One Piece Box Set 3” in October 2016.
That’s a fairly limited release for such an important piece of crossover history! To be fair, the one-shot has pretty similar availability in Japan — beyond its original printing, it’s been included in the One Piece 10th Treasures book (which is at least a little more reasonable of a pick-up), as well as with the launch of digital releases for Weekly Shōnen Jump starting with the 2013 #33 issue.
In 2017, Viz recommended that a reader on Twitter check out second-hand sites for a copy of their old magazine… and that’s probably still your best option.
2012: Sachie-chan GOOD!!
Sachie-chan GOOD!! is a single-chapter manga by Akira Toriyama and Masakazu Katsura spanning 53 pages which originally ran in the May 2008 issue of Jump SQ, released 02 April 2008 in Japan. In Sachie-chan, a young girl — with a poop-shaped birth mark — is visited by aliens who have come looking for strong martial artists. They hope to use these champions to drive away invaders, as the Galactic Patrol has not yet arrived to save them…
Sachie-chan GOOD!! marks the first entry in the “Galactic Patrol” series, which continued with another Toriyama and Katsura collaboration again in the form of the three-chapter series Jiya in 2009-2010, and then Toriyama on his own with the 11 (later 12)-chapter series Jaco the Galactic Patrolman in 2013.
Sachie-chan GOOD!! was reprinted a few times in Japan, including in full in “vol. 002” of Shueisha’s “Jump SQ.M” (or “Jump Square Masterpiece”) compilation magazine released 23 October 2009 in Japan, but more notably within the Katsura Akira (カツラアキラ katsuraakira) tankōbon-sized volume released 04 April 2014 in Japan, which compiled both Sachie-chan GOOD!! and Jiya.
Viz included the first 14 pages of Sachie-chan GOOD!! in their Shonen Jump Alpha Yearbook 2013, mailed to subscribers of the company’s Shonen Jump Alpha digital manga service, in December 2012. The full chapter was subsequently made available to subscribers in their online account libraries. The translation and editing for Sachie-chan at Viz was handled by Alexis Kirsch and Andy Nakatani, with lettering by Steve Dutro.
… and that’s it. There’s an incomplete print version in a subscriber booklet that you may be able to find on the second-hand market, but the complete digital version is completely out of reach for anyone who didn’t happen to be a subscriber in 2012!
2013: Kintoki
Kintoki: Toki of the Golden-Eyed Tribe is a single-chapter manga by Akira Toriyama spanning 31 pages which ran in the 2010 No. 50 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump, released 15 November 2010 in Japan, as part of the magazine’s “Top of the Super Legends” series, a special run of one-shots published across the 2010 No. 45 to No. 50 issues that year with notable Jump authors contributing each individual (and unrelated) short story.
In the story of Kintoki, the Golden-Eyed Tribe were best known for their incredible physical strength and golden eyes. Because of that they were revered as gods of war, but now the clan is slowly dying out due to a short lifespan. And just when most everyone has forgotten about the tribe, a mysterious golden-eyed boy enters the scene…
With Kintoki being — all things considered — a fairly “modern” Toriyama work, it has never (yet?) been included in any compilation volumes.
Viz included Kintoki (as “Kintoki: Toki of the Kinme Clan”) within the 28 January 2013 issue of the company’s Weekly Shonen Jump digital publication, which was available individually for $0.99 or as part of a $25.99 annual subscription. The translation for Kintoki at Viz was handled by Alexis Kirsch, with editing by Andy Nakatani, and lettering by Steve Dutro.
Like its original Japanese release, Kintoki has not been regularly made available outside of its original serialization; it has, however, occasionally been included as part of all-inclusive, significantly-larger digital Dragon Ball manga bundles, and no official English-language print release currently exists.
What’s Next?
If you search up “Akira Toriyama” across various other Amazons (France, Spain, Italy), you’ll find long-since released works like Neko Majin, Cruddy Manga Laboratory, Katsuraakira, and so much more — they also have guide books and the various Super Dragon Ball Heroes manga series!
Getting “Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater” this decade was a long-overdue step in the right direction, but there’s still so much more just sitting there, waiting to be enjoyed by the English-speaking fan base. Shueisha also needs to get their ducks in a row and get a fourth ___piece Theater out, but that feels more like an inevitability than a pipe dream at this point.
In conclusion: release Kajika, you cowards.