Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume

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Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume

Post by Herms » Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:08 am

----Notice:This old thread is part of my series of guides. To avoid necro-posting, please post any comments you have in the sticky thread for my guides, rather than here. Thanks!----

Now that I’m back in Tokyo and reasonably non-jetlagged, I went out and got the Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume. Like the Story Volume, it’s mostly general information and things recycled from the daizenshuu, but there’s a few neat things, mostly in the Toriyama interview.

Character Profiles
The first big section is the Character Collection, which gives 1-2 page bios on important characters (with separate sections for heroes and villains), and a section with smaller bios for more minor characters (about a sentence to a paragraph each), divided up by story arc. Most of this is all the same old thing, but for the heroes it gives little boxes of their personal data, listing their race, height, weight, birth year, hobbies, favorite food, and favorite vehicle. The intro to this section says that these personal profile boxes were supervised by Toriyama. Goku, Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Yamcha’s height and weights were already printed in Daizenshuu 7, and Yajirobe’s height was also given in Daizenshuu 7. The rest of the character heights and weights are new. Chaozu, Yajoribe, and Mister Satan’s birth years are new information; the rest were already printed in Daizenshuu 7. Videl’s birth year is given here as Age 757 (same year as Gohan), while in Daizenshuu 7 it’s given as 756 (same as Erasa and Sharpna). The hobbies and favorite foods and vehicles are a mixture of new information and things stated or implied in the series. The race category is all old information, so I left that part out. The only thing worth mentioning is that Tenshinhan is listed as simply an Earthling, with no mention of his 3-Eyed Race ancestry.

Son Goku
Height: 175 cm (adult)
Weight: 62 kg (adult)
Birth Year: Age 737
Hobbies: finding strong opponents and fighting with them
Favorite Food: will eat anything
Favorite Vehicle: Kinto-un

Son Gohan:
Height: 176 cm (adult)
Weight: 61 kg (adult)
Birth Year: Age 757
Hobbies: reading, fishing, research
Favorite Food: will eat anything
Favorite Vehicle: house wagon

Son Goten
Height: 123 cm (child)
Weight: 26 kg (child)
Birth Year: Age 767
Hobbies: play-fighting, bug catching
Favorite Food: pocky, strawberry daifuku
Favorite Vehicle: bike

Vegeta
Height: 164 cm
Weight: 56 kg
Birth Year: Age 732
Hobbies: training
Favorite Food: will eat anything
Favorite Vehicle: attack ball [not sure what this is; maybe the space pods Freeza and co. use?]

Trunks (teenage)
Height: 170 cm
Weight: 60 kg
Birth Year: Age 766
Hobbies: tinkering with machines
Favorite Food: convenience store bento
Favorite Vehicle: the time machine

Trunks (kid)
Height: 129 cm (child)
Weight: 30 kg (child)
Birth Year: Age 766
Hobbies: video games
Favorite Food: yakiniku
Favorite Vehicle: sports air car

Piccolo
Height: 226 cm (adult)
Weight: 116 kg (adult)
Birth Year: Age 753
Hobbies: meditating in quiet places
Favorite Food: water (particularly the thawed ice water in the north area)
Favorite Vehicle: none

Kuririn
Height: 153 cm (adult)
Weight: 45 kg (adult)
Birth Year: Age 736
Hobbies: karaoke
Favorite Food: Chinese buffet
Favorite Vehicle: sports car

Yamcha
Height: 183 cm
Weight: 68 kg
Birth Year: Age 733
Hobbies: grappling, baseball
Favorite Food: hard-baked soba
Favorite Vehicle: the Mighty Mouse (his old-fashioned buggy)

Kame-sennin
Height: 165 cm
Weight: 44 kg
Birth Year: Age 430
Hobbies: reading, watching TV, internet (adult sites too of course), video games, afternoon naps
Favorite Food: home-delivered pizza
Favorite Vehicle: air wagon

Tenshinhan
Height: 187 cm
Weight: 75 kg
Birth Year: Age 733
Hobbies: playing volleyball with Chaozu [as a nearby box explains, this is how he came up with his Haikyuuken/Volleyball Fist attack]
Favorite Food: jiaozi/gyouza [Chaozu gets his name from this food], shumai [Pilaf’s flunkies Shu and Mai are named for this]
Favorite Vehicle: llama, ostrich

Chaozu
Height: 138 cm
Weight: 33 kg
Birth Year: Age 738
Hobbies: watching movies
Favorite Food: tenshindon [another name for tenshinhan, the dish Tenshinhan is named for; anyone else find a weird subtext to them being each other’s favorite food?]
Favorite Vehicle: air scooter

Yajirobe
Height: 165 cm
Weight: 78 kg
Birth Year: Age 735
Hobbies: fishing, hunting, afternoon naps
Favorite Food: roast wild pig
Favorite Vehicle: stolen cars

Bulma
Height: 165 cm
Weight: 49 kg
Birth Year: Age 733
Hobbies: inventing
Favorite Food: strawberries
Favorite Vehicle: all vehicles

Chi Chi
Height: 163 cm (adult)
Weight: 50 kg (adult)
Birth Year: Age 737
Hobbies: farm work
Favorite Food: Chinese chimaki
Favorite Vehicle: tractor

Mister Satan
Height: 188 cm
Weight: 94 kg
Birth Year: Age 736
Hobbies: golf, auctions
Favorite Food: high-class steak
Favorite Vehicle: high-class cars (Satan model)

Videl
Height: 157 cm
Weight: 47 kg
Birth Year: Age 757
Hobbies: being an ally of justice
Favorite Food: okonomi-yaki, Caesar salad
Favorite Vehicle: air bike

Next is the world guide section, which goes over a whole bunch of stuff that seems to be mostly recycled from Daizenshuu 4. There’s a reprint of the map of the DB cosmos, an explanation of the god hierarchy, an explanation of the dragonballs, a look at the different races and organization, a list of all the wishes, etc. Nothing really new here.

Then there’s the technique section, which seems to be based off the technique classification guide from Daizenshuu 4. So it lists all the techniques by type (ki, physical attack, special ability, etc), as opposed to be story arc or name.

And then there’s…

The Toriyama Interview
The format’s the same as the one in the Story Volume, a sort of short Q&A style, as opposed to a more conversational style like in the daizenshuu interviews. It’s a lot like the question corner in the early tankoubon volumes.

Naming schemes and deign motifs
The first two questions are nothing major. On why character names have a theme (like with vegetables for Saiyans), he says it’s because it’s easier to think them up that way. With Freeza, even though he’s named after a freezer, he really named him with the idea of a refrigerator in mind. That is, if Freeza is a refrigerator, then all his underlings would be things you put inside refrigerators. So the Saiyans are vegetables, Ginyu and co. are dairy items, and the other evil aliens are fruit. The next question is on design motifs for characters. Cell has a bug motif, and Piccolo has a snail motif.

Mister Satan’s name
Then he’s asked about Mister Satan’s real name. As Toriyama’s mentioned before, like in DragonBall Forever’s name pun guide, “Mister Satan” is just the character’s ring name. His real name is something different. So what is his real name? Well, according to Toriyama, it’s…

*drum roll*

*wait for it*

*wa~ait for it*

*brace yourself*

*more drum roll*

Mark.

No, really.

As Toriyama explains, this is a pun on akuma/devil, fitting his ring name. In Japanese, Mark is writtenマーク/maaku, and if you rearrange that, you get “akuma”. They don’t have family names in the region where Mister Satan lives, so his name is simply “Mark”. Toriyama adds that Videl is the character’s real name, not a ring name (“Videl” being “devil” rearranged a’course). There’s a picture of Mister Satan, with him asking people to please call him “Mister Satan”. Whatever you say Mark.

Cosmos
Next is a question on how Toriyama came up with the structure of the DB cosmos. He said it was so that it would be easy for both him and the readers to understand. As he explains, it’s this big ball, divided up into the living world and afterlife, and outside that ball are the Kaioshin.

But, Toriyama adds, at the bottom of that big ball, like an antipode, is the Demon Realm (Makai), where there are the Makaioshin (“Gods of the Kings of the Demon Realm; an obvious counterpart to the Kaioshin), who rule over evil. Toriyama says that it seems at the moment, the Kaioshin’s power is greater than the Makaioshin (Japanese not really having a plural form, it’s unclear from all this whether there is only one Makaioshin or more). To go along with this information, there’s another reprint of the standard picture of the DB cosmos, with labels for the Kaioshin Realm, 4 Kaio Planets, and the Demon Realm. The Demon Realm is labeled as being in that little tip at the bottom of the cosmos, like it was in Daizenshuu 7 (in Daizenshuu 4, where the DB cosmos map was first printed, the Demon Realm wasn’t labeled).

Where Kaio come from
Toriyama is next asked what the Kaio’s heredity system is like. Toriyama explains that inside the giant ball that is the DB cosmos is a world called Planet Kaishin (World-Core), which is where the Kaio are all born and raised. This planet is like a giant version of the Kaio Planets that North Kaio and the others live on. On it is a gigantic tree (or trees; the lack of Japanese plural clouds up things again), the Kaiju (World-Tree), and the Kaio are all born from the fruit of this tree, as Shin-jin (Core-People). The population of this planet is about 80. The Shin-jin are genderless, and their average life expectancy is said to be 75,000 years. They live leisurely lives, studying various things at a school-like castle. But whenever one of the Kaio on the Kaio Planets passes away, they draw lots among themselves to choose who will take that Kaio’s place and become the new Kaio. The Kaioshin, however, are chosen only from among Shin-jin born from a special golden fruit that is particularly rare. Occasionally there are delinquent Shin-jin with evil hearts, and they go to be with the Makaio (“Demon Realm Kings”; apparently the Demon Realm answer to the Kaio, like the Makaioshin are to the Kaioshin, though Toriyama doesn’t explain the term).

So there you have it: the supreme gods of the DB cosmos are chosen by lottery. As Crow T. Robot would say, this is weird theology. There’s a diagram illustrating the whole Kaiju fruit thing, showing South Kaio comes from a normal fruit, and East Kaioshin coming from a golden one. There’s also a picture of North Kaio, remarking on his luck at the lottery, and one of Goku saying he’s surprised Kaio wasn’t chosen for his bad jokes.

Dragonballs
The next question is on what it’s like to touch a dragonball. Toriyama says he thinks the dragonballs are like hard resin. He adds that even if you poke a hole in a dragonball or harm it in some other way, after a wish is granted and the balls all scatter and eventually regenerate from stones, the harmed dragonball will be as good as new.

Zeni
Toriyama is asked how much a zeni is worth. He answers that to keep it simple, he imagined them as being about the same as a yen (so 100 zeni=about 1 US dollar). The value of Hoi-Poi Capsules varies by what’s in them. So a standard four-person air car capsule is 1,480,000 zeni, 1,280,000 for the air car itself, and 200,000 zeni for the capsule. If you take something into a Capsule Corp agency, for 200,000 zeni they’ll equip it with a capsule system so that you’ll be able to shrink it into a capsule. For things like houses though, it takes a lot of labor to put the capsule system in, so it costs more.

Namekians
Then Toriyama is asked about Namekians being able to get nourishment from just water. Toriyama says that he thinks the reason Namekians can live on just water is because they have enzymes in their bodies that turn water into nutrients. Incidentally, he says, the plants the Namekians cultivate, the Ajissa, are named after hydrangea plants (ajisai in Japanese), which snails like (they do?). As it happens, Viz actually flat-out called the Ajissa plants “hydrangea plants”.

Saiyan aging
Next Toriyama is asked whether Saiyans are always young. As a fighting race they stay young for a long time in order to maintain their power, but Toriyama explains that their actual lifespan isn’t much different than Earthlings, and they quickly deteriorate after a certain age. Toriyama adds that Saiyan hair style still changes with age, and that Nappa went bald. Like with Earthlings, hair composition various from person to person.

Freeza’s organization
The next question asks how many planets Freeza and co. had, and what their organization was like. Toriyama says he thinks they ruled hundreds of planets, not including the ones they destroyed. The Saiyans were a fighting race who since ancient times had lived a violent and inhuman lifestyle, raiding planets to accumulate wealth. Freeza and co. ruled them by force, as big kingpins. They were all a violent bunch though, so their organization wasn’t like an actual company.

Techniques
Finally, there are two questions on techniques. First, Toriyama is asked which techniques from DB he would most like to try. He says he’d most like to try Bukujutsu and Shunkan-ido, since he’d like to try flying with Bukujutsu and being able to teleport with Shunkan-ido would be convenient. Then Toriyama is asked what kind of technique he would come up with as a new technique for Goku. Toriyama replies that if he had any good idea for one, he thinks he would have already drawn it back when DB was in serialization.

The end.
Last edited by Herms on Mon Apr 25, 2011 1:31 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by Bussani » Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:47 am

Interesting stuff indeed, Herms!

Now we know that it is possible to harm a dragon ball, and also where the hole in Yajirobe's one went. We also know that Saiyajin hair does in fact change -- rather, it will just stop growing once it reaches a certain length/style. Shame he didn't mention mustaches to finally put that one to rest.

Let's see, what else..? Kaio and Kaioshin come from the same planet, that's pretty interesting. I wonder if that means Kibito is a Shin-jin, or something else? I wonder if Shin-jin look just like Kaio/Kaioshin, or if they take on that form once they become them...? As normal, a lot of new questions come up every time Mr Toriyama gives an answer.

Also; Mark. Awesome.

Edit: By the way, it's been a while since I've seen the Cosmos Map. Is the Kaioshin planet, where they fight Kid Buu, outside of the Cosmos Ball? Is it it's own ball altogether even?
Last edited by Bussani on Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by SHINOBI-03 » Fri Apr 10, 2009 4:51 am

Ok... I think the realy big thing here is Mr. Satan's "real name"... Mark? Take that FUNimation :D

I also laughed about Tenshinhan's and Chaozu's favorite food... THEY LIKE TO EAT EACH OTHER!!!

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Post by Chuquita » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:04 am

Goku's REAL hobbies make me grin, because every time I think of him and hobbies I think of Chi-Chi trying to get him to lie in
Movie 8 about it. XD

I KNEW IT! I knew Gohan IS taller than Goku!

Goten likes pocky. X3

I'm slightly taller than Vegeta! Yay I think! XD

PICCOLO IS 7'3!? O_O


Oh Yamcha, you never cease to amuse me. (The Mighty Mouse) *Snickers*.

Kamesennin and the internet....oh dear.... '_';;;


I agree about Tenshinhan and Chaoutzu, that is a bit of an odd subtext. (Also, you can ride Ostriches?)

Bulma's a cm taller than Vegeta, I love it! XD



...

Mark, huh?

Oh Mr. Toriyama. X3


Wow, that Kaio bit is pretty interesting stuff. O_O

I always thought a dragon ball would feel like alabaster. So its resin, huh?


I've been wondering about the whole saiyajin aging thing...the quick deterioration thing is a bit startling.


So the ancient saiyajins were like pirates?


This must be my longest response in a while. ^^;;;


Thank you so much for sharing the information!
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Post by Herms » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:07 am

I just noticed that the intro to the character section says that the personal profile boxes were supervised by Toriyama. That's important, so I've put that into my initial post.
Bussani wrote:Edit: By the way, it's been a while since I've seen the Cosmos Map. Is the Kaioshin planet, where they fight Kid Buu, outside of the Cosmos Ball? Is it it's own ball altogether even?
Yeah, it's outside of it, and circles around it like a moon. The whole thing is called the Kaioshin Realm (kaioshin-kai), and it's like a clear glass ball. Inside it is the Kaioshin Planet (kaioshin-sei), which is the actual planet shown in the sereis, and also the numerous suns that surround the Kaioshin Planet.
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Post by Bussani » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:09 am

Herms wrote:
Bussani wrote:Edit: By the way, it's been a while since I've seen the Cosmos Map. Is the Kaioshin planet, where they fight Kid Buu, outside of the Cosmos Ball? Is it it's own ball altogether even?
Yeah, it's outside of it, and circles around it like a moon. The whole thing is called the Kaioshin Realm (kaioshin-kai), and it's like a clear glass ball. Inside it is the Kaioshin Planet (kaioshin-sei), which is the actual planet shown in the sereis, and also the numerous suns that surround the Kaioshin Planet.
Ah, neat. Thanks Herms.

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Post by jda95 » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:21 am

Chuquita wrote:Goten likes pocky. X3
I know, this bit of information just makes me laugh so hard!

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Post by Herms » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:45 am

So about the Kaio having an average lifespan of 75,000 years: Daizenshuu 7's timeline says that Buu was created 5 million years ago, so East Kaioshin is at least that old, which would seem to be a contradiction. But I guess the Kaioshin could have much longer lifespands than the Kaio, being born from a different fruit and all. In fact, Daizenshuu 7's timeline puts the Elder Kaioshin as being imprisoned about 75 million years ago, and when he's freed he tells Goku that he only has a few more thousand years to live, so maybe the lifespan of a Kaioshin is exactly 1,000 times longer than that of a Kaio?
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Post by Bussani » Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:51 am

Totally pointless and unrelated, but I wonder what would happen if you ate one of these fruits?

Funny, fruits in 'Heaven' is another thing from Saiyuki; heavenly peaches that grant immortality if I remember right.

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Post by SHINOBI-03 » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:05 am

Bussani wrote:Totally pointless and unrelated, but I wonder what would happen if you ate one of these fruits?

Funny, fruits in 'Heaven' is another thing from Saiyuki; heavenly peaches that grant immortality if I remember right.
One type makes the body stronger than daimond and lighter than air,a type gives eternal youth and another makes the eater as eternal as Heaven and Earth. Said in episode 3: "Monkey King Wreaks Havoc in the Palace of Heaven"
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Post by Booney » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:12 am

Wow never realized they were so little :shock:
Piccolo is the only one taller then me haha. :lol:
I wonder how the rest feels about Kuririns hobby.
Nice little bunch of somewhat new info :D
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Post by mysteriousdbzgt » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:21 am

Interesting bit of information. :D "Mark..."
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Post by The Tori-bot » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:40 am

Herms wrote:Mark
O_O

*head explodes*




[size=0]You mean... I'm... Mr Satan...?!?! o_O;[/size]
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Re: Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume

Post by Bussani » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:55 am

Herms wrote: As Toriyama explains, this is a pun on akuma/devil, fitting his ring name. In Japanese, Mark is writtenマーク/maaku, and if you rearrange that, you get “akuma”.
Image

(Even though he's Gouki in Japan)

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Post by Son Wukong » Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:00 am

jda95 wrote:
Chuquita wrote:Goten likes pocky. X3
I know, this bit of information just makes me laugh so hard!
Pocky...mmmmmmmm.

Mark? Bwahahahaha.

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Post by Senzu_Bean » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:36 am

Akira Toriyama really have not clue about human's body considering how muscular all Zette-Senshi are they would never weight that few.

Something that caught my attention is Dabura a Makaioshin then? However East Kaioshin was weaker than him rather than stronger like Toriyama suggest in this.

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Post by Bussani » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:52 am

Senzu_Bean wrote:Something that caught my attention is Dabura a Makaioshin then? However East Kaioshin was weaker than him rather than stronger like Toriyama suggest in this.
Since he is King of the Demon Realm, that could be right. Forgive me, but I don't see where it says that East Kaioshin is meant to be stronger here? All it says is that they have evil hearts and so are sent to the demon realm, there's nothing stopping them from being (or maybe becoming) stronger than a Kaioshin?

Edit: Or maybe just becoming Babidi's servant was what made Dabura so strong? I forget if anyone mentions anything like that.

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Re: Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume

Post by B » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:58 am

Herms wrote:Naming schemes and deign motifs
The first two questions are nothing major. On why character names have a theme (like with vegetables for Saiyans), he says it’s because it’s easier to think them up that way. With Freeza, even though he’s named after a freezer, he really named him with the idea of a refrigerator in mind. That is, if Freeza is a refrigerator, then all his underlings would be things you put inside refrigerators. So the Saiyans are vegetables, Ginyu and co. are dairy items, and the other evil aliens are fruit.
Haha, that's something that seems obvious, but I'm wondering how many people caught on. Something I like about Freeza, heh.
Herms wrote:Mister Satan’s name
Then he’s asked about Mister Satan’s real name. As Toriyama’s mentioned before, like in DragonBall Forever’s name pun guide, “Mister Satan” is just the character’s ring name. His real name is something different. So what is his real name? Well, according to Toriyama, it’s…

*drum roll*

*wait for it*

*wa~ait for it*

*brace yourself*

*more drum roll*

Mark.

No, really.
Did I mention Toriyama is great when people kick him in the butt to do this?
Herms wrote:Where Kaio come from
Toriyama is next asked what the Kaio’s heredity system is like. Toriyama explains that inside the giant ball that is the DB cosmos is a world called Planet Kaishin (World-Core), which is where the Kaio are all born and raised. This planet is like a giant version of the Kaio Planets that North Kaio and the others live on. On it is a gigantic tree (or trees; the lack of Japanese plural clouds up things again), the Kaiju (World-Tree), and the Kaio are all born from the fruit of this tree, as Shin-jin (Core-People). The population of this planet is about 80. The Shin-jin are genderless, and their average life expectancy is said to be 75,000 years. They live leisurely lives, studying various things at a school-like castle. But whenever one of the Kaio on the Kaio Planets passes away, they draw lots among themselves to choose who will take that Kaio’s place and become the new Kaio. The Kaioshin, however, are chosen only from among Shin-jin born from a special golden fruit that is particularly rare. Occasionally there are delinquent Shin-jin with evil hearts, and they go to be with the Makaio (“Demon Realm Kings”; apparently the Demon Realm answer to the Kaio, like the Makaioshin are to the Kaioshin, though Toriyama doesn’t explain the term).

So there you have it: the supreme gods of the DB cosmos are chosen by lottery. As Crow T. Robot would say, this is weird theology. There’s a diagram illustrating the whole Kaiju fruit thing, showing South Kaio comes from a normal fruit, and East Kaioshin coming from a golden one. There’s also a picture of North Kaio, remarking on his luck at the lottery, and one of Goku saying he’s surprised Kaio wasn’t chosen for his bad jokes.
Interesting. Of course, this raises a few questions: Were there illustrations of the Core People? Do they basically look like Kaios? Where was North Kaio's replacement after he died? Or the other Kaioshin after dying from Buu? I guess this kind of stuff happens when you think things up on the spot/after the series ended.
Herms wrote:Techniques
Finally, there are two questions on techniques. First, Toriyama is asked which techniques from DB he would most like to try. He says he’d most like to try Bukujutsu and Shunkan-ido, since he’d like to try flying with Bukujutsu and being able to teleport with Shunkan-ido would be convenient. Then Toriyama is asked what kind of technique he would come up with as a new technique for Goku. Toriyama replies that if he had any good idea for one, he thinks he would have already drawn it back when DB was in serialization.
Classic Toriyama. I love it.

These Super Exciting Guides seem like a condension of the various Daizenshuu with some new stuff. Would I be out line to call these... Daizenshuu Kai? :D

I'd much rather pick these up than seven Daizenshuu, but Viz is retarded when it comes to guidebooks for ANY series. :<
Keen Observation of Dragon Ball Z Movie 4's Climax wrote:Slug shits to see the genki

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JulieYBM
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Post by JulieYBM » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:59 am

Mark?! Win. Absolute win.

Is Satan suppose to be a family name?


EDIT: Oops, didn't read that part about his surname.
Last edited by JulieYBM on Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
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B
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Post by B » Fri Apr 10, 2009 10:02 am

SHINOBI-03 wrote:I also laughed about Tenshinhan's and Chaozu's favorite food... THEY LIKE TO EAT EACH OTHER!!!
I can't help but think yaoi.
Keen Observation of Dragon Ball Z Movie 4's Climax wrote:Slug shits to see the genki

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