Kanzenshuu

Translation Update: “Special Project: Toyotarō Drew It!” Image #63

Published by VegettoEX28 February 2023, 9:54 AM ESTCommentToyotarō Drew It

Each month, Toyotarō provides a drawing of a Dragon Ball character — as well as an accompanying comment — on the official Japanese Dragon Ball website. Following up on the wealth of characters already drawn, for his February 2023 entry, Toyotarō has contributed a drawing of Coola:

COOLA (Final Form)

He has a form beyond what his younger brother Freeza had, so I remember being completely astonished at the time. He’s a really cool character and I really like him.

Coola debuted in the fifth Dragon Ball Z film back in 1991 (The Incredible Strongest vs Strongest), and appeared as the main antagonist again in the sixth film the following year. Coola went on to receive minor and supporting roles across ancillary productions like Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, and remains a fairly standard inclusion in video games.

This drawing and comment set has been added to the respective page in our “Translations” archive.

News

Upcoming 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai DLC for “Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot” Titled and Promoted Alongside April 2023 Issue of V-Jump

Published by VegettoEX23 February 2023, 12:24 PM ESTCommentGame Project Z Action RPG

In conjunction with this week’s April 2023 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, Bandai Namco has further promoted the upcoming paid downloadable content pack for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot featuring the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai:

The downloadable content pack’s title in Japanese is “Troubles at the Tenka’ichi Budōkai” (波乱の天下一武道会 Haran no Tenka’ichi Budōkai); as with the previous Bardock DLC, its title is a direct nod to a prior work’s title, in this case being the exact same title as Dragon Ball manga chapter 167, itself later adapted as the title of Dragon Ball television series episode 134.

The pack’s official English localized title will be “Chaos at the World Tournament“.

Taking place immediately before what the television series designated as the “Z” break (in what is otherwise simply “Dragon Ball” beginning to end in its original comic form), the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai sees a freshly-grown Son Goku at his third tournament appearance taking on the reincarnated/reborn-but-also-offspring (it’s complicated…) of the original Demon King Piccolo.

Adapting the 1990 Bardock television special, the first entry in the second wave of DLC packs for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot launched last month alongside new, native PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the full game. The three entries in this second “season pass” are all “story arcs” rather than “story episodes”; in the first season pass, the Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ DLC entries were much shorter with a focus on boss fights and level increases, while the third entry — that of Trunks’ future timeline — told a comprehensive, multi-part story.

Developed by CyberConnect2 for Bandai Namco, the action role-playing game released 16 January 2020 in Japan and 17 January 2020 internationally on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam). A Nintendo Switch edition came later in September 2021.

Reviews of the base game, Trunks DLC, and Bardock DLC can be found on episodes #0481, #0490, and #0497, respectively, of our podcast.

Podcast

Podcast Episode #0498

Published by VegettoEX20 February 2023, 2:13 PM ESTComment

SHOW DESCRIPTION:

Episode #0498! Mike and Heath discuss some of the biggest (non-strength-related!) rumors and misunderstandings in general Dragon Ball fandom. From the classic “ending with Freeza” to recent confusion over the authorship of the Dragon Ball Super manga, we bring the receipts!

REFERENCED SITES:

Our podcast is available via Apple Podcasts and/or Google Podcasts, or you can pop the direct RSS feed into the program of your choice. You can also listen to this episode by directly downloading the MP3 or by streaming it on Spotify, SoundCloud, or YouTube. We invite you to discuss this episode on our forum.

News

“Dragon Ball Super” Manga Chapter 90 Released

Published by VegettoEX20 February 2023, 10:03 AM ESTCommentDragon Ball Super

Following up on previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s ninetieth chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, continuing onward into the brand-new “Super Hero arc”. Alongside other initiatives including free chapters and a larger archive for paid subscribers, this release continues the companies’ schedule of not simply simultaneously publishing the series’ chapter alongside its print serialization in Japan.

In the current V-Jump issue’s back-pages preview for next month’s issue (which is set to contain the series’ 91st chapter), promotional blurbs clarify that Gohan and Piccolo will be on the next issue’s cover, and that the next chapter will begin the story of the actual Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero film itself with Piccolo up against the fresh-on-the-move Red Ribbon Army.

悟飯とピッコロ！最強の師弟が次号の表紙を飾る！

世界中大ヒットした映画「ドラゴンボール超スーパーヒーロー」！いよいよ次号かり映画で描かれたストーリーに突入するぞ！！

ついに動き出すRR軍！ピッコロはその野望を阻止できるのか！？

Gohan and Piccolo! The strongest teacher and student adorn the cover of the next issue!

We finally enter the story of the worldwide hit movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero in the next issue!

The Red Ribbon Army is finally on the move! Can Piccolo put a stop to their ambition?!

The Dragon Ball Super “comicalization” began in June 2015, initially just ahead of the television series, and running both ahead and behind the series at various points. The manga runs in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ ninetieth chapter hitting today in the magazine’s April 2023 issue.

Illustrated by “Toyotarō” (in all likelihood, a second pen-name used by Dragon Ball AF fan manga author and illustrator “Toyble”), the Dragon Ball Super manga covered the Battle of Gods re-telling, skipped the Resurrection ‘F’ re-telling, and “charged ahead” to the Champa arc, “speeding up the excitement of the TV anime even more”. Though the television series has completed its run, the manga continues onward, moving into its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner”, “Granolla the Survivor”, and now “Super Hero” arcs.

Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017. The company’s eighteenth collected volume will be released this June.

The Dragon Ball Super television series concluded in March 2018 with 131 total episodes. Crunchyroll (by way of the merger with FUNimation) owns the American distribution license for the series, with the English dub having wrapped its broadcast on Cartoon Network, and the home video release reaching its tenth and final box set in 2020. A complete steelbook “Limited Edition” was released by Crunchyroll this past September.

News

Viz “Dragon Ball Super” Manga English Translation Collected Edition Vol. 19 Releasing September 2023

Published by VegettoEX16 February 2023, 3:31 PM ESTCommentDragon Ball Super

Viz’s nineteenth collected volume of the Dragon Ball Super manga will be released 05 September 2023, covering chapters 81-84 (a la its Japanese counterpart):

Granolah’s fierce assault seems to have Gas on the ropes until the youngest Heeters member’s inner nature is unleashed, leading to an all-out assault like nothing any of our heroes have ever encountered before! But perhaps the key to defeating Gas has something to do with memories of Bardock, Goku’s long-deceased father?!

The volume is available for pre-order at Amazon at its $9.99 MSRP.

The Dragon Ball Super “comicalization” began in June 2015, initially just ahead of the television series, and running both ahead and behind the series at various points. The manga runs in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ ninetieth chapter coming next week in the magazine’s April 2023 issue.

Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017.

News

Bandai Namco Holdings Q3 Fiscal 2023 Figures

Published by VegettoEX14 February 2023, 10:50 AM ESTCommentFinancial

Bandai Namco Holdings has posted a ¥84.444 billion (approximately $636 million) profit for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2023, compared to a ¥61.703 billion profit at this same point last year.

Dragon Ball remains the company’s best-performing franchise, pulling in ¥102.2 billion these first three quarters of the fiscal year (a jump from ¥91.3 billion at this point last year), and the company is projecting a full fiscal year total of ¥139 billion, up from last full fiscal year’s ¥127.6 billion.

In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games), the franchise grew from ¥16 billion the first three quarters last year to ¥17.9 billion the same period this year, with a projected full year jump from ¥19.7 billion last year to ¥22 billion this year.

News

40th Anniversary Tribute “Dragon Ball Super Gallery” #19: Hideaki Sorachi

Published by VegettoEX07 February 2023, 10:33 AM ESTComment40th Anniversary Super Gallery

The September 2021 issue of Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine kicked off a “Dragon Ball Super Gallery” series in commemoration of the Dragon Ball franchise’s upcoming 40th anniversary. The celebration aims to have different artists all contribute their own spin on the original 42 tankōbon covers, with the images and an accompanying comment published as the magazine’s back cover.

Following the previous eighteen entries, this month’s March 2023 issue brings us Hideaki Sorachi (Gintama) and their take on the series’ 16th volume cover:

Hideaki Sorachi commented:

When I was a child, I loved the cover to volume 16, but when I tried to copy it, it never came out well, so I asked my father to draw it for me on a big sheet of drawing paper and I hung it in my bedroom as a poster for the longest time.

Time has passed and Dragon Ball is now nearing its 40th anniversary. That brat was such a lousy artist and managed to get some drawing skills, but I still think I’m not quite at the level of that worn-down, yellowed-out poster.

Saikyō Jump is currently a monthly magazine published in Japan by Shueisha under the “Jump” line of magazines. The magazine began as a quarterly publication in 2012, went monthly in 2013, went bimonthly in late-2014, and returned to a monthly format in 2021 (including a digital release for the first time). The magazine’s focus is spin-off and supplementary manga series aimed at a young audience, while also including game promotions, news coverage, and more. The magazine currently serializes content such as Yoshitaka Nagayama’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! manga series, Yūji Kasai’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! manga series, and the Dragon Ball GT Anime Comic. For calendar year 2019, Shueisha reported Saikyō Jump‘s circulation down at 130,000, with readership as 58.5% upper elementary school, 28% lower middle school, 11% middle school, and 2.5% high school or older.

Podcast

Podcast Episode #0497

Published by VegettoEX29 January 2023, 2:41 PM ESTComment

SHOW DESCRIPTION:

Episode #0497! Mike, Ken, and Randy reconvene once again to review the “Bardock: Alone Against Fate” DLC pack for “Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot”! How does the second season pass kick things off this time around, and how does it compare to content from the first season pass?

REFERENCED SITES:

Content

Translation Update: “Special Project: Toyotarō Drew It!” Image #62

Published by VegettoEX24 January 2023, 10:37 AM ESTCommentToyotarō Drew It

Each month, Toyotarō provides a drawing of a Dragon Ball character — as well as an accompanying comment — on the official Japanese Dragon Ball website. Following up on the wealth of characters already drawn, for his January 2023 entry, Toyotarō has contributed a drawing of Hire Dragon:

Hire Dragon

This is how I imagine it all grown up. I hope it’s still living happily on Mount Pao-tzu.

Hire Dragon debuted in the third Dragon Ball Z film back in 1990 (A Super Decisive Battle for Earth), and subsequently appeared in both the next two films as well as the Garlic Jr. “filler arc” of the Dragon Ball Z television series.

This drawing and comment set has been added to the respective page in our “Translations” archive.

News

“Dragon Ball SD” Volume 9 Listed For Release from Shueisha in March 2023

Published by VegettoEX22 January 2023, 3:31 PM ESTCommentDragon Ball SD

The ninth collected volume of Dragon Ball SD is on its way from Shueisha, with a catalog entry noting an 03 March 2023 release date, clocking in at 192 pages and running at ¥748 + tax.

The release will mark just under a year since the eighth collected volume. The ninth collected volume should pick up from Piccolo’s battle with Freeza in Dragon Ball SD chapter 79.

Dragon Ball SD was a stalwart of Saikyō Jump dating back to its original debut issue, adapting events from the original story in humorous new ways with “chibi” or “super deformed” (the titular “SD”) styled characters. After the original four quarterly issues of the magazine and SD covering four distinct time periods, the magazine shifted to a monthly release and SD reverted back to the proper beginning of the series with a continuous storyline. In 2016, the series skipped ahead from the end of the 22nd Tenka’ichi Budōkai to the Saiyan arc. In conjunction with Saikyō Jump‘s big format refresh in 2021, Dragon Ball SD was moved out of the magazine to a digital-only series on the company’s official YouTube channel; the series briefly returned to print in the August 2022 issue for a special chapter promoting the theatrical film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.

Dragon Ball SD is not available in English, though it does currently see a release in certain territories such as Germany and France.