Shortly after it was revealed that Super Saiyan Bardock would be appearing in the Dragon Ball Heroes card-based arcade game, it was announced that a short spin-off manga would be drawn by Naho Ooishi to help explain the back story of Bardock’s new Super Saiyan transformation. This spin-off manga was entitled Episode of Bardock, and was set as a new “sequel” story to the original TV special. The story was released in three parts over the course of August, September, and October 2011’s V-Jump issues. Although Akira Toriyama had no involvement with the story’s plot development, he did provide the character design for Chilled, the manga’s main villain.
After Episode of Bardock finished in V-Jump, an animated adaptation of the manga was announced and later premiered at Jump Festa 2012 on 17 December 2011. Following the anime’s premiere, the manga in its entirety was re-printed in the April 2012 issue of V-Jump which was released on 21 February 2012. However, this reprint featured two new pages at the very end; instead of closing almost directly with the defeat (and likely death) of Chilled and the passing-down of the Super Saiyan legend, similar to the anime adaptation, these new pages cut back over to Bardock and the residents of Planet Plant that he just saved (and, for some reason, Bardock heroically walking off into the sunset).
Original Chapter Run
ドラゴンボール エピソードオブバーダック 第１話
Doragon Bōru Episōdo Obu Bādakku Dai Ichi-wa
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock – Part 1
Softcover | JIS B5 (18.2 × 25.7 cm) | 21 pages
| Premiered: |
21 June 2011 (V-Jump, August 2011 Issue) |
| Retail: |
¥500 |
| Publisher: |
Shueisha |
Bardock has somehow survived his confrontation with Freeza, and is being treated on Planet Plant by a doctor. Two goons soon arrive to conquer Planet Plant, but are quickly defeated by Bardock. After not hearing from the men he sent out ten days ago, Chilled, a member of Freeza’s race, decides to check on Planet Plant personally.
ドラゴンボール エピソードオブバーダック 第２話
Doragon Bōru Episōdo Obu Bādakku Dai Ni-wa
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock – Part 2
Softcover | JIS B5 (18.2 × 25.7 cm) | 16 pages
| Premiered: |
21 July 2011 (V-Jump, September 2011 Issue) |
| Retail: |
¥540 |
| Publisher: |
Shueisha |
Chilled arrives on Planet Plant and attempts to coerce the natives into divulging Bardock’s whereabouts. Eventually giving up the ruse of “space police”, Chilled begins to destroy the local village, which draws out Bardock after pleas from Beri. Bardock encounters Chilled (who he initially believes to be Freeza), and seems to be in over his head!
ドラゴンボール エピソードオブバーダック 第３話
Doragon Bōru Episōdo Obu Bādakku Dai San-wa
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock – Part 3
Softcover | JIS B5 (18.2 × 25.7 cm) | 16 pages
| Premiered: |
20 August 2011 (V-Jump, October 2011 Issue) |
| Retail: |
¥530 |
| Publisher: |
Shueisha |
Bardock attempts to fight back, but his self-proclaimed pathetic power is nothing against the might of Chilled. Bardock pushes his emotions to the limits, however, and transforms into a Super Saiyan! With his newly-found power and control, he is able to easily defeat Chilled, who passes down the story of the golden-haired Saiyans to his followers.
Chapter 1 Reprint
The first chapter of Episode of Bardock was initially reprinted in the third quarterly issue of Saikyō Jump.
ドラゴンボール エピソードオブバーダック 第１話
Doragon Bōru Episōdo Obu Bādakku Dai Ichi-wa
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock – Part 1
Softcover | A5 (14.5 × 21 cm) | 21 pages
| Premiered: |
11 August 2011 (Saikyō Jump, 2011 #03) |
| Retail: |
¥480 |
| Publisher: |
Shueisha |
Reprint of the first chapter of Episode of Bardock.
Complete Editions/Reprints
All three chapters were reprinted in the April 2012 issue of V-Jump with the added bonus of two new pages to conclude the spin-off. These new pages were themselves adapted from the animated adaptation of Episode of Bardock which debuted at Jump Festa in November 2011. Though emblazoned with a kanzenban splash on its title page, the reprint is included as a smaller insert within the magazine and is non-removable.
Kanzenban
ドラゴンボール エピソードオブバーダック
Doragon Bōru Episōdo Obu Bādakku
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock
Softcover | A5 (14.5 × 21 cm) | 58 pages
| Premiered: |
21 February 2012 (V-Jump, April 2012 Issue) |
| Retail: |
¥520 |
| Publisher: |
Shueisha |
Complete reprinting of all three chapters of Episode of Bardock along with two new final pages themselves adapted from the animated adaptation of Episode of Bardock. Includes one color cover page, 51 black and white content pages, three black and white Dragon Ball context/history pages, and three black and white promotional pages.
A “Super Kanzenban” for Episode of Bardock was announced for inclusion with the March 2014 issue of Saikyō Jump. The book includes all three original chapters along with the two bonus pages, a six-page “SD”-style chapter, and a ten-question interview between Naho Ooishi and Akira Toriyama.
Super Kanzenban
ドラゴンボール エピソードオブバーダック 超完全版
Doragon Bōru Episōdo Obu Bādakku Sūpā Kanzenban
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock Super Perfect Edition
Softcover | New Book Format (11 × 17 cm) | 84 pages
| Premiered: |
04 February 2014 (Saikyō Jump, March 2014 Issue) |
| Retail: |
¥480 (tankōbon not for individual sale) |
| Publisher: |
Shueisha |
Complete reprinting of all three chapters of Episode of Bardock along with two new final pages themselves adapted from the animated adaptation of Episode of Bardock. Includes one color cover page, 57 black and white content pages, and four black and white interview pages.
