Back on 17 July 2012, a few days after the new Dragon Ball Z movie was first announced, Toei released an official press statement for the movie. We unfortunately did not notice it at the time, and frankly, we stopped looking after scriptwriter Yūsuke Watanabe publicly confirmed our suspicions via his Twitter account. That being said, for the sake of completeness and to drive further fan discussion (i.e. speculation), now seems like as good a time as any to post it. The beginning of the press release highlights all of the franchise’s accomplishments and massive popularity worldwide. However, we have jumped down to the end and translated the real heart of the release covering different aspects of the movie:

The global phenomenon Dragon Ball is being made into a movie using Toei Animation’s latest technology, consistently realized as a Toriyama work, with the original author Akira Toriyama himself deeply involved from the script stage for the first time. An episode from between the animation series “Z” and “GT”, or in other words from the blank decade between the end of the battle with Majin Boo in chapter 517 of the manga and chapter 518, will be depicted for the first time.

Such well-known and charming characters as Kuririn, Piccolo, and Vegeta will all make an appearance. A new story in the official history of Dragon Ball is born, neither a spin-off nor a side-story, one that can be enjoyed by both children and parents, manga fans and anime fans.

All-in-all, the press release mostly contains information that has all been well-documented in our news posts up until now. There are however a few key points worth noting, such as the movie being a part of series’ “official history” and that it’s something both new and older fans of either the manga or anime will enjoy. Now all we need are some plot points, and as soon as they are available, we’ll be sure to get them to you!

When it was first announced that a new Dragon Ball Z movie was being produced, only a few key members of the production staff were listed — Masahiro Hosoda (細田雅弘) as the director, Yūsuke Watanabe (渡辺雄介) as the script writer, and Tadayoshi Yamamuro (山室直儀) as the animation supervisor. Even when the movie’s official website was launched, only these three were listed, along with the various production companies involved (Fox International Productions Japan, Shueisha, Fuji TV, Toei Animation, Bandai, Bandai Namco Games, and Bird Studio). However, we can now add yet another name to this short list of main staff. Veteran artist Hiroshi Katō (加藤 浩) is now listed on Toei’s main website as the movie’s art director.

Although Hiroshi Katō is a newcomer to the franchise, he has been involved in the anime industry since 1993 and has been the art director for numerous series, including Neon Genesis Evangelion, Ah! My Goddess, and most recently Space Brothers. Hiroshi Katō currently oversees the background art division of Totonyan (short for “To Tony Animation”), an animation company specializing in background art, overseeing scene designs, and CG animation. The company’s CG designer, and founder, is Mitsuko Katō (加藤光子). Totonyan will presumably be overseeing all artistic aspects of the movie’s production, and we can only speculate that the company has thus far provided all of the background and CG work seen on the movie’s official website and in the teaser trailer.

As reported by Crunchyroll earlier this morning, Toei Animation has been granted 50 million yen (~$636,000) as part of the non-profit organization UNIJAPAN’s “Co-production Certification Program” to help fund the upcoming Dragon Ball Z movie due out in Japan on 30 March 2013. The program was developed by the Japanese government’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), and other affiliated organizations, to support the international endeavors of Japanese filmmakers. Of the four films awarded funding support, the 2013 Dragon Ball Z movie was the only animated film to receive such an honor due to its “enduring international popularity” and its production collaboration with the U.S. company Fox.

So, is it time to start thinking about international releases now?