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Naoki Miyahara Added to the “Animation Styles Guide”
Published by 06 November 2012, 9:13 AM ESTComment

It’s been a few weeks, and we’re back with yet another new animator to highlight in the “Animation Styles Guide”. This week we detail the work of Toei Animation’s talented Naoki Miyahara, who joined the staff of Dragon Ball Z early on in 1990 as a key animator and would later be an animation supervisor in both Z and GT. As one of the franchise’s top animators, it’s a shame Miyahara has never returned to the franchise.

Look for more updates to our ever-growing “Animation Styles Guide” in the near future!

News
Dragon Ball Kai is Set to Continue… but Not in Japan
Published by 06 November 2012, 8:05 AM EST11 Comments

Mere days after Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo)’s cryptic tweets about finishing up a mysterious recording session, Mayumi Tanaka (Kuririn) has let slip via her blog just what exactly it was: a continuation of Dragon Ball Kai… with a hitch.

日本ではオンエアされないけど、
海外で続いてるドラゴンボール改
今、天下一武道会、悟天とトランクスが肩車で、
大人の部に混ざる辺りを収録しています。
やはり前より画像が綺麗です。
日本でもオンエアして欲しいなあ～～～と話しました。
真弓より

It won’t be aired in Japan, but overseas, Dragon Ball Kai is continuing.
Right now, we are recording the part at the Tenka’ichi Budōkai, where Goten and Trunks infiltrate the adults’ division by one standing on the other’s shoulders.
The image is definitely clearer than before.
We talked about how we want it to air in Japan, too.
— Mayumi

This is yet another twist in the Kai saga, which saw the show conclude after only the Cell arc, a scandal that resulted in the replacement of nearly the entire score, and a natural disaster that prevented its final episode from being broadcast. And with partial foreign funding of the upcoming Dragon Ball Z movie, there is the tantalizing possibility that overseas rights-holders wanted the Boo arc badly enough to help finance it. In the absence of an official statement from any of the relevant entities, however, we can merely speculate.

The only question that remains is, why record the dialogue in Japanese if the show will not be broadcast in Japan? It seems like a great deal of trouble to go to simply to maintain consistency in home releases abroad, so perhaps the show may eventually see daylight in Japan, in one form or another. Only time will tell.

News
Toriyama Surprises “Maximum the Hormone” With Illustrations
Published by 03 November 2012, 10:37 AM EDT1 Comment

Japanese rock metal groups Maximum the Hormone and jealkb held a small concert earlier this week on 29 October 2012 at the “Electric Lady Land” live music house in Nagoya, Japan. You may remember that both groups are avid fans of the series, as Maximum the Hormone released the tribute song “F” dedicated to Freeza in mid-2008 and jealkb provided the ending theme song to the “Jump Super Anime Tour” special. After the concert was over Maximum the Hormone headed backstage, only to find Akira Toriyama waiting for them in their dressing room! He presented the group, and more specifically guitarist/lead vocalist Ryō-kun, with an autographed illustration commemorating their song dedicated to Freeza. As with any great event these days, Maximum the Hormone documented the whole experience on their official Twitter account (@MTH_OFFICIAL), pictures and all.

In addition, Toriyama stuck around to draw illustrations for the other band members. The first three autographed illustrations (shown below) were drawn for members Ue-chan (bassist), Daisuke-han (vocalist), and Nao-chan (drummer), with the final one featuring Son Goku in a “metal pose” as featured on the cover of Bu-ikikaesu, the second album released by Maximum the Hormone.

Big thanks to our forum member fps_anth for pointing this out to us!

News
Regular “Dragon Ball” Cast Calls it a Wrap on… Something
Published by 02 November 2012, 10:44 PM EDT3 Comments

Toshio Furukawa, the voice actor for Piccolo, announced today via his Twitter account that they had just finished recording all of their dialogue for a “certain anime”. He even included a photo of the cast after wrapping things up, which included (from left to right) Ryō Horikawa (Vegeta), Mayumi Tanaka (Kuririn), Masako Nozawa (Son Goku), and himself. Fans quickly jumped all over it, assuming he was speaking of the upcoming Dragon Ball Z movie, and so much so that Furukawa had to respond saying it didn’t have anything to do with the new movie. That leaves many wondering what four main cast members from Dragon Ball would be working on together, other than something Dragon Ball-related. Could it be something for Dragon Ball Heroes? Maybe another video game? Something we know nothing about, yet? Either way, we at least got a cool picture out of it!

News
Namco-Bandai Q2 Fiscal 2013 Figures
Published by 02 November 2012, 6:23 PM EDT1 Comment

Namco-Bandai has posted a ¥17.320 billion (approximately $215 million) net income for the first half of fiscal year 2013.

Dragon Ball once again made the list of best-performing franchises this half, raking in ¥3.7 billion this first half, down slightly from the ¥4.1 billion the same first half last year. Namco-Bandai is sticking with their projection for the full fiscal year of ¥8.5 billion, a drop from last year’s ¥11.8 billion.

In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games), the franchise jumped ever-so-slightly in net sales from ¥2.1 billion last first half in fiscal 2012 to ¥2.4 billion this half. The company is still forecasting ¥4.0 billion for the year, a slight drop from the actual net sales of ¥4.4 billion in fiscal 2012.

It is a slow time of year for Dragon Ball, its merchandise, and its video games — Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations, and Soul Calibur V (still!) were some of the top-performing video games this half of the year. It will be interesting to see if this week’s upcoming Budokai HD Collection or last month’s Dragon Ball Z for Kinect make their way to the list next quarter… not that any of us are really expecting that.

News
Banpresto Announces “Zōkei Tenka’ichi” 3 Figure Line
Published by 26 October 2012, 8:06 AM EDT1 Comment

Just about two years ago, Banpresto announced a new line of figures for Dragon Ball and other popular series called the “Master Stars Piece” collection. What made Dragon Ball special was that it would have a special contest — the Zōkei (“Model”) Tenka’ichi Budōkai — via a tournament website to determine which figure from the lot would actually make it to production.

Banpresto has just unveiled a third Zōkei Tenka’ichi Budōkai coming soon for the “Figure Colosseum”. While there is no date set just yet, the official website showcases potential figure models for Majin Boo, Super Saiyan 3 Broli, young Chi-Chi, Kame-sen’nin, good ol’ casual camping Goku drinking from what appears to be a canteen, and #18:

The previous Zōkei Tenka’ichi Budōkai models have all been impressive, so we look forward to seeing what Banpresto has in store for us, and what the community happens to vote for this time around! Big thanks to our buddy kei17 for the heads-up.

News
Event Celebrating “Dragon Ball Heroes” 2nd Anniversary Announced
Published by 26 October 2012, 12:56 AM EDT1 Comment

We’re a little behind with our Dragon Ball Heroes news, but hopefully this update will get us all caught up, for now. Hot off the heals of “Galaxy Mission 4”, which was released this last September, the official Dragon Ball Heroes website recently announced that “Galaxy Mission 5” will be available in arcades nation-wide (in Japan) on 15 November 2012. The new mission will feature a new “Dimensional Transfer” campaign and the final battle with a new enemy — Super Baby (who was revealed in the latest Heroes mini-manga chapter)! In addition, the mission launch will coincide with the 2nd anniversary of Dragon Ball Heroes.

In celebration of the launch of “Galaxy Mission 5” and the arcade game’s 2nd anniversary, Bandai and Carddass will be hosting a grand event for fans. The event’s details will be announced via a live stream on the official Dragon Ball Heroes website at 11:00am on 04 November 2012.

You’ll absolutely regret missing it! A live stream will be held!!

Part 1: Special news will be revealed by V-Jump!!
Part 2: All the particulars of the Dragon Ball Heroes 2nd anniversary event!

Unfortunately, it appears all streaming on the official Dragon Ball Heroes website is region locked, so if you live outside of Japan you most likely won’t be able to watch. But don’t worry, we’ll keep you updated as soon as we know more!

News
Zarbon Teased For “Zenkai Battle Royale”
Published by 25 October 2012, 9:32 AM EDTComment

The December 2012 issue of V-Jump is chock full of Dragon Ball goodness. In addition to some Dragon Ball Heroes news and mini manga, the issue also teases a new, “super aggressive” character coming soon to Zenkai Battle Royale, the arcade-only Japanese fighting game:

The silhouette is obviously Zarbon, Freeza’s right-hand lackey. The game’s official website was last updated earlier this month, so hopefully we can get a good look at Zarbon pretty soon. It is fascinating that the game continues to receive new upgrades and character additions from Mr. Satan and Majin Boo to Yamcha and Broli all the way up through its “Super Saiyan Awakening” update.

The December 2012 issue of V-Jump is available via CDJapan for $5.89, Play-Asia for $13.49, or Amazon Japan for ￥500 (~$6.27) — plus shipping, of course — while supplies last. Thanks once again to French superfan Nostal / Treevax for the heads-up!

News
“Dragon Ball Heroes” Mini Manga Continues in December V-Jump
Published by 24 October 2012, 10:29 AM EDT2 Comments

Back in the November 2012 issue of V-Jump — Shueisha’s video game magazine in Japan — a new, two-page Dragon Ball Heroes mini manga made its debut. Authored by the mysterious “Toyotarō”, the mini manga was really just a short promotional piece for the card-based arcade game showcasing some of the Dragon Ball GT-focused “Galaxy Mission” updates.

The second page ended with a vague note about the story being continued, but no real explanation on what that would mean. The December 2012 issue of V-Jump dropped in Japan this week on 21 October 2012, and courtesy of French superfan Nostal / Treevax, we can confirm that another two-page mini manga is included, with Beet taking on Vegeta Baby from Dragon Ball GT, all leading up to a “Galaxy Mission 5” update coming to Dragon Ball Heroes (itself also tying in with the second anniversary of the game — more on that shortly!).

The December 2012 issue of V-Jump is available via CDJapan for $5.89, Play-Asia for $13.49, or Amazon Japan for ￥500 (~$6.27) — plus shipping, of course — while supplies last.

Content
Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu Information Page and Interview
Published by 22 October 2012, 2:32 PM EDT8 Comments

When Dragon Ball began its grand revival in Japan in the early 2000s — with a “Perfect Edition” release of the manga and the TV series’ availability on home video for the first time ever via the Dragon Boxes — Shueisha began releasing new companion guide books to compliment this sudden surge of interest in the franchise once again. The first of these guides was Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu, an anime guide book covering the Dragon Ball Z TV series. It may be some years later now, but we’re happy to announce that an information page for the guide book is now available in our “Databook Guide”!

While there’s plenty of great information in the guide, its true highlight is a lengthy interview with Akira Toriyama and Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, one of the main illustrators and character designers for the anime who is known for being able to closely match Toriyama’s art style. So in addition to simply creating an information page for the guide, we’ve also translated this amazing interview for your reading pleasure and added it to the “Translations” section!