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Published by 08 March 2014, 6:17 PM EST7 Comments

Fuji TV has officially announced its new show line-up for the spring of 2014, including Dragon Ball Kai, the “refreshed” version of the Dragon Ball Z TV series originally created for its 20th anniversary in 2009. Along with the announcement, a brief listing of main staff and cast is provided. In addition to the main cast of Kai returning, some of the main cast from the Majin Boo arc of Z will be returning as well, including Kōzō Shioya as Majin Boo and Yūji Mitsuya as Kaiōshin.

However, as seen back in 2009 with Kai, some recasting will be occurring. Videl, originally played by Yūko Minaguchi in Z and most recently in the Battle of Gods film, will be portrayed by Shino Kakinuma, the wife of series veteran Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo). In addition, the role of Bobbidi will be portrayed by Bin Shimada instead of series narrator Jōji Yanami. There has been no official word yet about the casting of Dabra, Kibito, or other such minor characters.

There will also be a bit of a shakeup in the series’ staff. Most significantly, and due to the series’ musical controversy in 2011, the musical composition will be taken over by Norihito Sumitomo who most recently composed the score for Battle of Gods. Rounding out changes to the music department, Satoshi Motoyama will be joining veteran Yukio Nagasaki as audio director. Additionally, all three of the series’ producers will be new to the franchise, so it will be interesting to compare this to the adaptation of the previous story arcs. As expected, veteran series animator Tadayoshi Yamamuro is listed as lead animator for both the new opening and ending animations.

Dragon Ball Kai officially kicks off into a new era 06 April 2014 in Japan on Fuji TV at 9:00 a.m., joining One Piece to bring back the original Sunday morning “Dream 9” block. Thanks to kei17 for the heads up!

Published by 06 March 2014, 11:04 AM ESTComment

FLOW has been announced as the musical guest of honor for AnimeFest 2014 taking place in Texas later this year. The band and convention created a special video message to share the news:

FLOW’s contributions to the Dragon Ball franchise include an original song named “HERO ~Song of Hope~” along with a cover of “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA“, both of which were used — as an insert song and the closing theme, respectively — in last year’s new film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.

AnimeFest 2014 will run from 15 August 2014 – 18 August 2014 in Dallas, Texas at the Sharaton Dallas Hotel. Pre-registration for the convention runs through the end of this month for $30. Dai Sato will be the main guest of honor.

Published by 05 March 2014, 9:25 PM ESTComment

The April 2014 issue of Saikyō Jump officially hit Japanese shelves this week (04 March 2014). In addition to another Dragon Ball GT anime comic installment and the 27th monthly Dragon Ball SD chapter (and a tease of material coming to said comic’s “Volume 2” release next month), a new Q&A session begins between SD‘s own Naho Ooishi and original Dragon Ball manga author Akira Toriyama.

What is the origin of the name of “scouter”?!
In the military realm, the word “scout” refers to “reconnaissance”. For example, a reconnaissance vehicle would be called a “scout car”. I tweaked that “scout” and gave it its name. In other words, it’s a useful tool for the purposes of information-gathering.

A blurb promises that the session will continue next issue, so we have started up a formal page to document the on-going Q&A over in our “Translations” section. The May 2014 issue of Saikyō Jump is due out in Japan 04 April 2014 for ¥500 and will also contain a couple bonuses: a Dragon Ball Kai poster and one with an (existing, most likely) image drawn by Akira Toriyama himself.

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Weekly Shōnen Jump conducted a similar on-going Q&A session with Akira Toriyama last year entitled “Super Long Interview!! Please Tell Us, Akira Toriyama-sensei!!” leading up to the new film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods.

Published by 05 March 2014, 7:10 PM ESTComment

The April 2014 issue of V-Jump in Japan, released back on 21 February 2014, contains the latest monthly chapter of Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission by “Toyotarō“.

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In the 15-page Mission 18: “It’s Amazing! The Super Class Upgrade” (すごいぞ!超クラスアップ Sugoi zo! Sūpā Kurasu Appu), Beat reappears in a new outfit and tells Nym to prepare himself. Back at the Heroes Lab, Tsubasa is happy that he made it in time. Momo-chan is confused, but Tsubasa reassures her: it is the latest evolved avatar form, A Super Class Upgrade! Beat powers up in tandem with Super Saiyan 2 Bardock, and the two of them go on the attack, hitting Nym and second-form Cell from behind, then circling back to do it again as the two fly out of control. As Nym and Cell fly upward, Beat and Bardock then come down from above, slamming them down into the water.

In the water, the cracked Six-Star Ball briefly comes dislodged from Nym’s forehead, and he wonders what he has been doing. This does not last long, however, as Liu Xing Long, the Six-Star Dragon, gets a stranglehold on him and replaces itself between his eyes. With a maniacal grin, he bursts back up out of the water. He tells Beat that it is now his turn, but his manner of speaking is strange. It appears that the Dragon is now completely in control. He lets loose with “Whirlwind Spinning Blades” (senpū kaiten jin), dishing out damage.

Back at the Dragon Ball Heroes Lab, Yoshito-kun reports to Tsubasa that enough capsules are now ready for everyone. Tsubasa tells him to send them out, and Yoshito complies.

At another Battlefield, the Tenka’ichi Budōkai Arena, Kagyu notices the capsule appear above him and drop into his hand. Tsubasa explains to everyone from the lab that these are capsules they have developed to give them a super class-upgrade. They should absolutely use it before the battle! As Kagyu wonders at it, none other than Berserk calls from behind him. Kagyu wonders why he is here, but Berserk says it should be obvious: it is time for their revenge match. Berserk, too, has a cracked Dragon Ball lodged in his forehead.

Meanwhile, Froze is looking at his own capsule at his Battlefield, the Big Gete Star. Suddenly, an Elite-Type Freeza Clan Avatar (introduced via narration-box as “Rezok”, an obvious play on reizōko, meaning “refrigerator”) addresses him by name and says they should get started. Froze was expecting an Evil Dragon, but Rezok is unfazed by the dismissive comment. “Unpleasant”, gripes Froze in English. Rezok tells him not to be too selfish: he will kill him.

Back in the Ancient Kaiōshin Realm, the battle between Salaga and Kabra is heating up. Salaga knocks Kabra to the ground and taunts him, telling him to hurry up and attack. Kabra complains that he has intentionally got the wrong idea, but Abra whispers that he is under the control of the Evil Dragons. In that case, there is no choice but to fight…? “Of course,” says Salaga, surprising them from behind, and licking Abra, making him bristle. Salaga wonders whether the Neko Majin is just for decoration, and Kabra tells him hands off. Salaga is disappointed: Neko Majin are supposed to be considerably strong, but this one does not seem to be of any use. Kabra starts to respond, but Salaga uses Piccolo-Boo to stretch out and grab Abra from inside his helmet, tossing him at high speed towards a rock outcropping. Anger in his eyes, Kabra blasts off, grabbing Abra in his arms and careening into the rocks himself.

Salaga begins laughing, and wonders what was up with him going out of his way to save a single Neko Majin. As the dust clears, Kabra says that there has been nothing good since they met: Abra is a loudmouth and talks out of turn, and Kabra liked being by himself to begin with. He does not need friends. Being disliked suited him… but he has changed since he met Abra. (Salaga taunts him, saying he is not listening to this trip down memory lane.) Abra has changed him, and that is why he will beat down anybody who hurts Abra!

Abra perks up. He asks Kabra if that means that he saved him. Kabra agrees, and asks if he is all right. Abra is ecstatic: this marks his thousandth good deed! The curse is lifted… Abra lifts into the air, and in a puff of smoke, he reappears as a human-sized cat wearing a vest, with a “V”-mark across his stomach. “This is Abra’s true form…?” asks Kabra. That is right, and he has remembered his true name! He is…! Neko! Majin! V! (Abra punctuates his introduction with poses.) Salaga is stunned.

Back over the ocean, Nym sends No. 17 and his duplicate out, and they combine into Super 17. Beat, who is using Super Saiyan 4 Goku, Adult Gotenks, and Super Saiyan GT Gohan, is startled. Super 17 quickly knocks back all three, sending them plummeting into the water below. Nym appears behind Super 17 with a cocky grin. Beat looks resigned: if it is like this, then it cannot be helped… he did not want to suddenly test it out in a real battle, but it looks like he has no choice to try… that transformation. Nym is confused, but Beat lets out a scream, sending water into the air. (Meanwhile, Bardock, Goku, Gohan, and Gotenks have all managed to come up on shore nearby.) Elsewhere, the other fighters all sense his ki, while Yoshito-kun, Tsubasa, and Momo-chan look on from the Heroes Lab.

In a bright flash of light, the transformation is complete, shocking Liu Xing Long from within the cracked Dragon Ball. Beat has transformed into Super Saiyan 3! Sorry, but he will be ending this in an instant… It is on!!

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The latest chapter has been catalogued on the respective page (which is still soon due for a major expansion…!) of our “Spin-Off Manga” guide page.

The April 2014 issue of V-Jump is packed with additional Dragon Ball news — including the official reveal for the Majin Boo arc of Dragon Ball Kai — and may be available for purchase from CDJapanPlay-Asia, and Amazon Japan for an MSRP of ¥530. It is actually the first issue of V-Jump to ever receive a re-print, so retailers may or may not receive additional stock.

Published by 05 March 2014, 9:01 AM EST5 Comments

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods originally hit Japanese theaters back on 30 March 2013 and saw its home release 13 September 2013. Somewhat coinciding with the upcoming revival of Dragon Ball Kai and its move into the Majin Boo arc, the movie will be airing on Japanese TV later this month.

While we know plenty of material Akira Toriyama had originally suggested for the film never made it past the early planning and storyboarding stages, voice actress Eiko Yamada (Mai) detailed on Twitter that the upcoming TV broadcast will have additional scenes:

ドラゴンボールZ 神と神
昨年の映画が、3月22日
土曜プレミアムで放送されます!
映画より時間が長くなります!
ピラフ、シュウ、マイの、3バカトリオのシーンも、
追加収録でパワーアップ


Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, last year’s movie, will be broadcast on March 22nd on Premium Saturday!
It will run longer than the movie! [i.e., it will be longer than the theatrical version]
The scenes of the idiot trio of Pilaf, Shuu and Mai will also be powered up with additional recording.

Yamada also posted up a picture of herself with Tesshō Genda (Shuu), as well as a copy of the recording script with “Premium Saturday” legend at top left:

The TV broadcast will air 22 March 2014 on Fuji TV at 9:00 p.m. We at Kanzenshuu will be watching to see what has been extended or otherwise altered, so expect that information to make its way into the film’s entry in our “Movie Guide” in the near-term.

Published by 04 March 2014, 9:56 PM EST3 Comments

Back in December we brought on Kirran / @LordMoonstone to do the job that the developers of the new video game Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z were seemingly unwilling to do: explain what the heck the game was. Fighting game? Team-battle game? Both? Neither?

This time around, Kirran joins us again to discuss the full retail version of the game a month after its release. With expectations in check, does it live up to its potential? Is the full roster diverse enough? Are online matches even playable? Listen in to find out, and stay tuned to the site for our (eventual…!) full written review of the game.

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SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0357! VegettoEX and LordMoonstone discuss the final retail version of “Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z” for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Vita. With expectations for the team-battle game now fully in check, does it live up to its potential, and do you need a full group of real-life friends to get anything out of the game? “Dragon Ball Kai” and “Jaco the Galactic Patrolman” news wrap up the episode!

REFERENCED SITES:

Enjoy! Discuss this episode on the Kanzenshuu forum.

Published by 04 March 2014, 9:29 PM EST3 Comments

Viz has announced that they will release a collected English-language edition of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman — in both print and digital form — in January 2015.

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Jaco the Galactic Patrolman was an 11-chapter manga series by Akira Toriyama that ran from the 2013 #33-44 issues of Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan, and also saw a simultaneous digital release in English by Viz in their own digital Weekly Shonen Jump. Originally teased by Shueisha as the “shocking revival of Dragon Ball!!”, by the series’ completion it became clear that it was indeed a true prequel to Dragon Ball.

A collected release of the manga was originally due out in Japan this past January, but was delayed to 04 April 2014 and will include some bonus material such as the reveal of Goku’s mother, Gine. Alongside a regular edition of the collected manga will be a “Super Elite” version at a slightly-higher price point. Four installments of a “Vomic” (“Voiced Comic”), available for free viewing online courtesy of Shueisha, recently wrapped up featuring Tsubasa Yonaga as the voice of Jaco.

January 2015 seems like — quite honestly — almost an absurd amount of time to wait for a collected release when it has already seen individual chapter releases. How do you feel about the wait until next year?

Published by 03 March 2014, 9:50 AM ESTComment

dbsdvol2_bonus_note_450wThis week’s upcoming April 2014 issue of Saikyō Jump in Japan (officially due out 04 March 2014) includes a tease of bonus material coming to the second collected volume of Naho Ooishi’s Dragon Ball SD.

Alongside the magazine issue’s 27th regular chapter of Dragon Ball SD is a note that a comic which ran in another magazine will be included in Volume 2 of the collected edition, itself due out in April.

The most likely inclusion, though we do not know for certain, is the four-page “V-Jump Away-Edition” from the December 2013 issue of V-Jump. The short comic tells a “What If?” story involving the future version of Trunks and his attempt to destroy the Red Ribbon Army in the past.

Naho Ooishi’s Dragon Ball SD – a “chibi”-fied retelling of the original manga story – runs monthly in Saikyō Jump. The first collected volume was released last year spanning the first nine chapters of the monthly reboot.

The second collected volume is due out 04 April 2014 for ¥617. It is already slated to include the 12-page “Battle of Gods Special Manga Version” from the April 2013 Saikyō Jump, as well as a bonus Dragon Ball Heroes card.

Published by 02 March 2014, 12:46 PM ESTComment

Japanese rock band “Good Morning America” has announced via their official website that their new single “Dear Zarathustra” (拝啓、ツラツストラ; Haikei, Tsuratsusutora) will be the new ending theme song for Dragon Ball Kai as it picks back up for the Majin Boo arc. They do note that this theme will only be used for the first quarter of the story arc, indicating that there will be additional ending themes used as the arc progresses, similar to what was done with Dragon Ball GT.

The band has also announced a 06 May 2014 release date for the CD single, which will be available in two limited edition releases and a standard edition. No online retailers are currently listing the CD single.

  • Limited Edition: A Type — Catalog No. COZA-905 (¥1,500 + tax)
    Includes a 2 track CD and an exclusive live concert bonus DVD.
  • Limited Edition: B Type — Catalog No. COCA-16858 (¥1,300 + tax)
    Includes a 2 track CD with an exclusive extra bonus track of a recorded live radio show performance.
  • Standard Edition — Catalog No. COZA-16859 (¥1,000 + tax)
    Same CD as the “Type A” limited edition, although with karaoke versions of both songs.

There is no word yet on any possible change to the series’ opening theme. “Dragon Soul” (by the group also named “Dragon Soul” fronted by Takayoshi Tanimoto) was used for the entire previous run of Dragon Ball Kai even after the ending theme switch from “Yeah! Break! Care! Break!” to “Kokoro no Hane” during the Cell arc.

Dragon Ball Kai, the “refreshed” version of the Dragon Ball Z TV series originally created for its 20th anniversary in 2009, officially kicks off into a new era 06 April 2014 in Japan on Fuji TV at 9:00 a.m. It will be reclaiming its spot in the “Dream 9” block — taking it back from Toriko — alongside One Piece.

Thanks to our buddy kei17 for the heads up!

Published by 28 February 2014, 8:53 AM ESTComment

The final of the four promised installments for the “Vomic” — “Voiced Comic” — of Akira Toriyama’s Jaco the Galactic Patrolman is now online courtesy of Shueisha.

The fourth “Vomic” covers all of the second chapter of the series. It has been completely colorized and features slight background music and sound effects. Issei Futamata and Tsubasa Yonaga lend their voices to Omori and Jaco, respectively, while Takuya Satō finally joins in as Katayude.

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After the fourth “Vomic” installment fades down from the second chapter, the voice actors briefly discuss their recording of the series and how enjoyable the experience was.

The “Vomic” website has also added a small photo gallery of the voice actors working on the series:

Jaco the Galactic Patrolman was an 11-chapter manga series by Akira Toriyama that ran from the 2013 #33-44 issues of Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan, and also saw a simultaneous digital release in English by Viz. Originally teased by Shueisha as the “shocking revival of Dragon Ball!!”, by the series’ completion it became clear that it was indeed a true prequel to Dragon Ball.

A collected release of the manga was originally due out in Japan this past January, but was delayed to 04 April 2014 and will include some bonus material such as the reveal of Goku’s mother, Gine. Alongside a regular edition of the collected manga will be a “Super Elite” version at a slightly-higher price point.