In late-2012 Japan experienced yet another revival of the Dragon Ball series, this time capitalizing on the hype surrounding the franchise’s first theatrical film in 17 years, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. With the series already well-established in the world of print, thanks to the original tankōbon releases (including their 2009 “refreshed” versions), the kanzenban releases, and the various animation comic releases, Shueisha decided to move on to the next untapped Dragon Ball market: digital releases.
Shueisha began testing the idea of releasing a digitally colored version of the Dragon Ball manga on their Manga Online website back in June 2009, but stopped abruptly in November 2009. In total they released the first 23 chapters in full color for free, all of which appear to have been reused in these subsequent digital “Color Edition” releases. However, on 12 October 2012, just prior to returning to a full color release, Shueisha released all 42 tankōbon volumes of the series digitally under the “Jump Comics Digital” line. These “Monochrome Edition” releases were near-identical reprints of the original gray scaled tankōbon volumes published between 1985 and 1995, although with a reduced purchase price (¥368, or ¥350 plus tax).
It was eventually unveiled in December 2012 that Shueisha had indeed decided to move forward with the idea of a digitally colored release with the announcement of a tankōbon-sized “Dragon Ball Full Color” release covering only the “Z”-era storyline. A later announcement noted the possibility of a future digital-only release for the beginning of the series, but no other additional details were provided at the time. When the “Dragon Ball Full Color” manga hit bookstores on 04 February 2013, Shueisha surprised many fans by releasing 20 digital volumes in a new “Color Edition” format on the same day. This “Color Edition” comes at a small premium over the digital monochrome version, at ¥473 (¥450 plus tax) per volume.
A quick note at the back of each volume informs the reader that this is a “special edited version” of the author’s original work which has been digitally re-colored by Shueisha. It also notes that the new colors are “in addition to the book’s original colors”, indicating that all of the original chapter colors were retained when present. The following pages are provided as examples of this digital re-coloring (click to view larger images).
Unlike the original tankōbon release and its digital monochrome release, these “Full Color” volumes have been divided into seven appropriate story arcs. It should be noted that the chapter count of these volumes are different from those in the original tankōbon release.
Digital Color Edition Volumes
Dragon Ball Part 1: Son Goku Training Arc Volume 01
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 1: Son Goku Training Arc Volume 02
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 1: Son Goku Training Arc Volume 03
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 1: Son Goku Training Arc Volume 04
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 2: Red Ribbon Army Arc Volume 01
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 2: Red Ribbon Army Arc Volume 02
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 2: Red Ribbon Army Arc Volume 03
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 2: Red Ribbon Army Arc Volume 04
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 2: Red Ribbon Army Arc Volume 05
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 3: Demon King Piccolo Arc Volume 01
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 3: Demon King Piccolo Arc Volume 02
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 3: Demon King Piccolo Arc Volume 03
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 3: Demon King Piccolo Arc Volume 04
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 3: Demon King Piccolo Arc Volume 05
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 3: Demon King Piccolo Arc Volume 06
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 3: Demon King Piccolo Arc Volume 07
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 4: Saiyan Arc Volume 01
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 4: Saiyan Arc Volume 02
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 4: Saiyan Arc Volume 03
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 4: Saiyan Arc Volume 04
- 04 February 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 5: Freeza Arc Volume 01
- 04 April 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 5: Freeza Arc Volume 02
- 04 April 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 5: Freeza Arc Volume 03
- 04 April 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 5: Freeza Arc Volume 04
- 04 April 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 5: Freeza Arc Volume 05
- 04 April 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 5: Freeza Arc Volume 06
- 04 April 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 5: Freeza Arc Volume 07
- 04 April 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 6: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume 01
- 04 September 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 6: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume 02
- 04 September 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 6: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume 03
- 04 September 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 6: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume 04
- 04 September 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 6: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume 05
- 04 September 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 6: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume 06
- 04 September 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 6: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume 07
- 04 September 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 6: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume 08
- 04 September 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 7: Majin Boo Arc Volume 01
- 04 October 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 7: Majin Boo Arc Volume 02
- 04 October 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 7: Majin Boo Arc Volume 03
- 04 October 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 7: Majin Boo Arc Volume 04
- 04 October 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 7: Majin Boo Arc Volume 05
- 04 October 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 7: Majin Boo Arc Volume 06
- 04 October 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail
Dragon Ball Part 7: Majin Boo Arc Volume 07
- 04 October 2013
- Released
- Shueisha
- Publisher
- ¥450 + tax
- Retail