The new “Full Color Comics” for the Dragon Ball manga are set to hit Japan next week, and it turns out that North America is not far behind! Revealed in this week’s North American edition of Weekly Shonen Jump is the great news that the series will pick up in the next issue — hitting 04 February 2013, day-and-date with the print edition in Japan — for us fans across the ocean.
Single-volume weekly issues of Viz’s Weekly Shonen Jump are available for $0.99 a pop, while a yearly subscription is also available for $25.99. Purchases have recently shifted to download-to-own, meaning that — as long as Viz exists and the service is provided — you can continue to enjoy and read your purchases, even if you let a subscription lapse.
In Japan, the first three volumes for the Saiyan Arc of the “Full Color Comics” hit store shelves 04 February 2013. While these particular volumes will be released print-only, Shueisha has announced potential plans to go back and do the first (non-“Z”, if you will) portion of the series as digital-only while they continue onward to the Freeza, Cell, and Majin Boo arcs in print.
A recent “open recording” event for press was held in Japan promoting the voice performances of Olympic gold-medalist jūdō-kaKaori Matsumoto and voice actress/singer/TV-personality Shōko Nakagawa with some of their lines from the upcoming theatrical presentation, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, set to debut in Japan 30 March 2013. The two were announced to be playing bit parts in the movie earlier this month.
Mainichi Shimbun Digital posted an abbreviated version of the session:
At the beginning of this particular clip, Nakagawa says that she is so happy she is in tears, but she will do her best anyway. They play back her lines (opposite “Birusu”), then she does them a few times. What appears to be the voice director (at least in this example video) tells her to do it one more time, then again, but cuter.
A similar video was posted by Movie Collection with more material:
Matsumoto’s line is, “Again? Are they setting off extra-large fireworks or something at Capsule Corporation?” The voice director (or whoever it is that is in charge and talking to her) asks her to do it again with more energy. Nakagawa’s advice to her is, “like you’ve raised your Battle Power to the max”. Next up is Nakagawa, and here (as in the other video), she says she is so happy she is in tears, but she will do her best as-is. The exact exchange of dialog, pulling from the two video sources above, comes out to:
BIRUSU: “Oracle Fish! Oracle Fish, are you here?” ORACLE FISH: “[lots of weird warbling] … I was out for a stroll. What is it?” BIRUSU: “39 years ago, you said that, 39 years hence, a strong enemy would appear before me.” ORACLE FISH: “Did I say that?” BIRUSU: “You did, didn’t you?” ORACLE FISH: “Hmm… then, I said it!”
After the recording is a joint interview with Masako Nozawa. Someone asks Nakagawa how it was, and she says “I can’t stop crying today, I’m just too happy. The greatest miracle in my life has occurred.” The actress goes into a long spiel about how she has always gained courage and strength from the series, and how becoming an adult, and leafing through the pages of Jump, and seeing the announcement, and then to think she was called upon, etc. — the basic amount of incredible joy one might expect. Nakagawa continues (mirroring her official statement from earlier in the month):
Just to think I’d be in the same universe as Trunks, Goku, and Vegeta, breathing the same air, I really couldn’t sleep, so I did the recording without getting any sleep, but it’s a dream come true, I thought it was a fantasy, but today, I actually got to meet you, Nozawa-san, and I’m so happy, I… [incoherent blubbering]
As for the Oracle Fish, she did not want her voice to be recognizable:
… as far as Dragon Ball is concerned, I felt that a voice recognizable as “Shoko-tan” would be something fans would really dislike, so I tried a bunch of different voices in order not to give a “Shoko-tan” feeling, and finally I got the director’s OK, so I’m really looking forward to the movie.
Nozawa says it is her second time performing together with Nakagawa; the previous time was all right, but this time, with the power in her voice, and the way she broke into a cute voice, was good and not at all Shoko-tan-like.
A reporter asks how Matsumoto feels about having participated in recording, since she likes Goku:
MATSUMOTO: “I’m incredibly happy, but I don’t show much emotion, apart from matches…” NOZAWA: “That’s fine, as long as you show it then.” NAKAGAWA: “The moment you won the medal, did you use the Kaiō-ken? Like, times 20, or 30?” MATSUMOTO: “I did it with the power of this world.”
Nakagawa was then asked if she had any special requests for Masako Nozawa:
NAKAGAWA: “Re- request? Um… well, could you say, ‘Heya, Shoko-tan!’ and then something like Goku would say?” NOZAWA: “All right. ‘Heya, Shoko-tan! Wanna go get some grub with me?'” NAKAGAWA: “YES I WILL! I can’t believe it! I’m terribly sorry, making such an extravagant request in front of all of you… and I think I’ve peed myself.”
The event wraps up with a triple-Kamehameha and a final remark from Nakagawa of, “Uwaa! My scouter just broke! That was the greatest…”
UPDATE: In addition to the above videos, a new article on the Japanese website “CinemaToday” contains a small gallery of promotional photographs from the recording session. In the last few photos Matsumoto is holding a cutout of the police office modeled after herself, while Nakagawa is holding a scepter-like figure of the “Oracle Fish”, giving us a first glimpse at their respective characters.
One of the old Daizenshuu EX guides that many of you really seemed to love was the “Transformation Guide”. In it, we broke down all of the different Super Saiyan forms, movie character forms, and so on and so forth. It was one of the sections we intentionally left by the wayside when we fused into Kanzenshuu — as one of the earlier guides that we did in our post-2003 relaunch, it deserved a whole lot more attention and care than we gave it back then. There has also been a deluge of more guidebooks released since we first launched it, so there is even more information to toss in there.
There is also older information to toss in there, too, believe it or not! One of the recent discussion threads that has popped up on our forum questioned what exactly Japanese fans called Gohan’s transformation after #16 was killed during the battle with Cell. In the series, it is not given a proper name. We of course refer to it as “Super Saiyan 2” nowadays without even thinking of it, but it is important to note that the stage was never given a name in the series until much later — in manga chapter 474, Goku displays the various transformations to Majin Boo, and along the way to Super Saiyan 3, supposed aloud that you could call the stage in the middle “Super Saiyan 2”.
So the question remains: what did people call Gohan after he transformed? Some digging around Japanese Wikipedia led us to a book that we have owned for a while and never bothered to really put some time into: the “Anime Comic” release of the Trunks TV Special.
The book was released 31 May 1993. Over in the manga, the Majin Boo story arc was only just getting started — that same week would have been manga chapter 424, around the time that Gohan begins high school, meets Videl, etc. Over in the TV series, Gohan would have transformed against Cell a mere two weeks earlier. This truly was “fresh” information.
What does this “Anime Comic” release have to do with anything? The back of the book details the various Super Saiyan transformations seen up to that point. Along with the standard “Super Saiyan” and even “Super Saiyan Grade II (two)” and “Super Saiyan Grade III (three)” — the bulkier forms shown off by the likes of Vegeta, Trunks, and Goku — it goes on to talk about what is later called “Full Power Super Saiyan” and then what Gohan becomes. Interestingly, the book keeps the naming consistency going strong, referring to them as “Super Saiyan Grade IV (four)” and “Super Saiyan Grade V (five)”.
So there you have it — “Super Saiyan 2”, before Goku ever gave it a proper name in the series, could have and would be referred to as “Super Saiyan Grade V“.
Until the “Transformation Guide” can return in a bigger-and-better format, please enjoy these tidbits of information! As you might expect, our own Herms has a nice breakdown over on our forum for even more information and context.
We said a month ago that we had even more interviews coming your way, and we meant it! The final twelve voice actor interviews from the 2004 TV anime guide, Dragon Ball Tenka’ichi Densetsu, have been translated for your reading pleasure. These interviews include:
Tōru Furuya (Yamcha)
Hirotaka Suzuoki (Tenshinhan)
Takeshi Kusao (Trunks)
Hiromi Tsuru (Bulma)
Takeshi Aono (Piccolo Daimaō / God)
Yūko Minaguchi (Videl)
Mayumi Shō (Chi-Chi)
Hiroshi Masuoka (Kame-Sen’nin)
Ryūsei Nakao (Freeza)
Norio Wakamoto (Cell)
Kōzō Shioya (Majin Boo)
Jōji Yanami (Narration / Kaiō)
You can check them all out over on the “Translations” page, and fret not, because we are working on even more translations! You may come here for the most-comprehensive news coverage around, but you might as well stay for the best Dragon Ball content, too.
A new update to the Dragon Ball Kai portion of the Miracle Battle Carddass series is on its way: the “MIRACLE OF GOD” booster pack will bring Battle of Gods into the on-going card game starting 12 April 2013 in Japan.
Appearing for the first time in the movie opening March 30! New characters join the battle at top speed! Characters that also have a role to play in the movie appear as “boost kira”! Limited-edition campaign card included!
In total for the new update, there will be 77 cards, plus six super-omega and one limited-edition. 45 cards of the total kinds are common, 10 are uncommon, nine are rare, six are super-rare, six are super-omega-rare, and seven are “boost kira cards”.
Booster pack boxes are currently available for pre-order on both CDJapan and Amazon Japan, with the former offering a special price of ¥3,600 down from the ¥4,200 tax-inclusive MSRP. Each box contains 20 packs of eight cards each, with the obvious note that you are not guaranteed to receive all of the set’s cards simply by purchasing a box.
The Miracle Battle Carddass series is one that spans five Jump franchises: Dragon Ball (still under the Kai brand), Toriko, One Piece, Hunter × Hunter, and Naruto. The game features “Character”, “Action”, and “Dramatic” cards, and the player’s mana (to use the terminology of one well-known collectible card game) is called “Jumpower”.
Though the two brands do cross over from time to time, Miracle Battle Carddass cards are not interoperable with Dragon Ball Heroes cards and their respective arcade machines.
The official “BandaiNamcoKids” YouTube account has posted a new, full-length promo video for the upcoming Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission Nintendo 3DS game set for release in Japan 28 February 2013:
The new commercial shows off much more of the new opening animation that will be included in the game, along with the special appearances by the God of Destruction “Birusu” as well as “Uisu”, the two new characters set to debut in the new theatrical presentation, Battle of Gods, itself hitting Japanese theaters 30 March 2013.
The vast majority of other information in the promo video — the special updates from the arcade version it will cover (up through “Galaxy Mission 4”), some of the special characters/cards you will be able to come up against and obtain in-game (Super Saiyan 3 versions of both Future Trunks and Vegeta, Super Saiyan Bardock and Chilled from Episode of Bardock, Hacchi Hyack from Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, etc.), the special cards included with pre-orders, etc. — has been revealed in prior updates such as the brief 30-second commercial from last December.
Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission on the Nintendo 3DS is due out in Japan 28 February 2013 alongside a LaLaBit Market Special Edition version of the game. There is no international release of the game announced as of yet.
As we reported last December, a new Dragon Ball Z single-disc compilation CD, under the tentative title “Dragon Ball Z: Best Song Collection”, was scheduled for release this coming February in commemoration of the franchise’s upcoming film, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. The listing on Amazon Japan has recently been updated with the album’s official title, “Dragon Ball Z 20th Century-SONGS BEST”, and official cover art.
The official track listing has also been provided, which features a select 15 remastered tracks of the series’ best songs from the 20th century:
[01] “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA” — TV Series: 1st Opening Theme
[03] “The Battle (I·KU·SA)” — Movie 2 Ending Theme
[04] “The Whole World” — Movie 3 Ending Theme
[05] “Light’s Journey” — 1st TV Special Ending Theme
[06] “The Incredible Strongest vs Strongest” — Movie 5 Ending Theme
[07] “Hero (You’re the Hero)” — Movie 6 Ending Theme
[08] “MIND POWER …Energy…” — TV Series: Insert Song (Episode 139)
[09] “At the Brink –The Earth’s Limit–” — Movie 7 Ending Theme
[10] “The Blue Wind’s Hope” — 2nd TV Special Ending Theme
[11] “Burning Fight –A Close · Intense · Super-Fierce Battle–” — Movie 8 Ending Theme
[12] “Day of Destiny –Spirit vs Spirit–” — TV Series: Insert Song (Episode 184)
[13] “Surpassing the Galaxy, Rising High” — Movie 9 Ending Theme
[14] “WE GOTTA POWER” — TV Series: 2nd Opening Theme
[15] “We Were Angels” — TV Series: 2nd Ending Theme
The album is still scheduled to be released on 27 February 2013 for ¥2,310, with a catalog number of COCX-37869, and is available at both Amazon Japan and CDJapan.
Things have truly kicked into high gear with an onslaught of news for the Dragon Ball franchise that easily rivals the peaks of any other popular franchise. With a new movie on the horizon, us poor souls at Kanzenshuu slave over our laptops endlessly day and night to keep any faithful visitors from falling into the dark. Things have become so hectic that we have to spend an entire podcast episode just catching up on news! Need to catch-up on two weeks worth of Dragon Ball news, or just want a refresher? We have you covered!
SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0321! VegettoEX and Hujio catch up on January’s Dragon Ball news. This month has brought us everything from domestic manga news to minor video game reveals to the expected deluge of “Battle of Gods” news and promotional materials. The first quarter of 2013 is shaping up to be a biggie, and Kanzenshuu is the only source you need to stay up to date!
“Free Comic Book Day” — a special day each year where comic book publishers provide free sampler books to stores to lure in patrons — gets a nice little addition from Viz this year with a Dragon Ball and Rurouni Kenshin preview book.
The SHONEN JUMP PRESENTS: DRAGON BALL/RUROUNI KENSHIN RESTORATION sample book will provide, as its title pretty clearly implies, a quick look at each of the two series.
Dragon Ball, a wry update on the Chinese “Monkey King” myth, that follows Son Goku, a monkey-tailed boy who, along with a determined young girl named Bulma, to collect the seven “Dragon Balls” amd earn a wish from a powerful dragon! Also: Following the end of years of civil war, a feared and ruthless assassin decides to take up a new name and calling in the samurai classic, Rurouni Kenshin!
Dragon Ball (split by Viz into two separate releases of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, though the manga was originally a 42-volume series entitled simply Dragon Ball in Japan) finished its individual volume “Graphic Novel” run from Viz many years back, and most recently completed a “Viz Big” release in late 2010 that combined two or three volumes into a larger-sized book on higher quality paper with most of the color chapters intact. Viz will be starting up a new “3-in-1” release of the Dragon Ball manga this summer, a release line that still combines multiple volumes into one physical book, but on much lower-quality paper and at a cheaper price. Viz indicated to Kanzenshuu that they intend to keep the “Viz Big” releases out alongside the new “3-in-1” volumes with the collectors in mind.
Toei Animation’s official “Battle of Gods” website has posted its “Character” page, which was the last missing section of the site, and updated the existing “Cast/Staff” page with some of the main cast.
The “Character” page includes short profiles for each character, which are exactly the same as those published in promotional pamphlet handed out at Jump Festa ’13 and in the promotional packet given out to press outlets this last December. The characters listed include: Son Goku, Vegeta, Son Gohan, Trunks, Son Goten, Piccolo, Kuririn, Videl, Bulma, Yamcha, Tenshinhan, Mr. Satan, Boo, No. 18, Chiaotzu, Kame-Sen’nin, Oolong, Pu’er, Chi-Chi, Gyūmaō, Dende, Pilaf, Mai, Shuu, and Kaiō.
Two big entries splash the bottom of the page for the God of Destruction, “Birusu”, as well as “Uisu”:
The profile text for “Birusu” states that he is the God of Destruction that maintains the world’s balance and is a being feared by even the Kaiō and Kaiōshin, while “Uisu” is still only listed as a mysterious man working in league with “Birusu”.
We also have confirmation on the voice actors for each character, many of which have been up in the air until now. It appears that Yūko Minaguchiwill indeed be returning to voice Videl, but perhaps the most pleasant news is the return of the original voice actress for Mai, Eiko Yamada, who did also return to reprise the role in the first episode of Dragon Ball GT. Since then she has worked on very few projects and essentially retired, so it is nice to see her return. Overall, the cast is mostly the same as it was in Dragon Ball Kai with the expected carry-overs from the likes of Hikaru Midorikawa (Tenshinhan), Ryūzaburō Ōtomo (Gyūmaō), Unshō Ishizuka (Mr. Satan), and even Aya Hirano (Dende). Kōzō Shioya will indeed return as Boo, a character from the story arc that has yet to be completed in the recently-revivedDragon Ball Kai, though he has also returned for every single video game.
Oddly enough, no voice actor has been listed yet for Chiaotzu. This may simply be an oversight on their part, as Hiroko Emori has been the only person to ever voice the character, even returning for Dragon Ball Kai and all of the recent video games. So far we have not seen any indication or reason why she may or may not return, but we will be sure to keep you posted.
