While the larger story is more relevant to the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise, 4Kids’ proposed assets sale to (what appears to be) Saban-owned KidsCo Media Ventures LLC includes a couple interesting tidbits relating to Dragon Ball, and more specifically the North American TV broadcast of Kai.

(…) all of Seller’s rights under the Dragon Ball Term Sheet dated March 15, 2010 between 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. and Toei Animation Inc., represented by Funimation Productions, Ltd, as amended by a letter agreement dated February 16, 2011 (“DBZ Agreement”), relating to the Dragon Ball Z Kai series

…

(ddd) “Library Assets” means (i) 26 episodes of Cubix; (ii) 52 episodes of Viva Pinata; and (iii) 52 episodes of Dragon Ball Z, each episode of which is listed on Schedule 2.1(p).

Fans had noted how the CW4Kids/Toonzai broadcast of Dragon Ball Z Kai recently went back to the beginning of the series after concluding the second “season” at 52 episodes; it appears that this is all that 4Kids had licensed of the show thus far, as opposed to Nickelodeon and Nicktoons who had licensed and broadcast the entire run through the end of the Cell arc.

The situation somewhat brings things around full-circle for this portion of the series in North America, however — it was Saban that handled TV syndication for FUNimation back in 1996-1998 with the first two “seasons” of the English-dubbed Dragon Ball Z TV series, which consisted of approximately 68 episodes edited down to 53 episodes. It gets complicated with the “alternate” English dub in the 2000s created primarily for the European market, but what is often referred to as “the Ocean dub” was always just FUNimation themselves in charge, albeit out-sourcing voice, music, and distribution talent at the time to various other companies (Ocean Studios, Shuki Levy, Saban, Pioneer, etc.).

If this assets sale/transfer goes through according to plan, Saban will be in control of the same portion of the series (as well as a little further than before) they originally handled with FUNimation sixteen years ago, and with a similar overall situation: FUNimation in charge of actually producing the show, but working with other television networks and providers to get the show on the air.

To be clear, this is all sub-license talk for the TV broadcast of Kai — FUNimation themselves has primary control of the overall franchise (via Toei) in North America up through at least 2015.

A commercial for a Portuguese-subtitled broadcast of the Japanese version of Dragon Ball Kai has made its way online courtesy of our buddy Puto:

The commercial is quite an odd one — it is a subtitle parody (a la our 2004 Dragon Ball AF prank commercial) with the original Japanese audio intact, but with the Portuguese subtitles reading as a conversation between Goku and Raditz about what the series is and what to expect from it.

An English translation of the “conversation” has also popped up on our forum. It seems as if the TV station SIC Radical over in Portugal will be airing the show, and the video masters appear to be coming through France.

The press embargo for the upcoming Dragon Ball Z for Kinect lifted yesterday, so in addition to its debut trailer, many news outlets are pushing out their hands-on impressions and such.

As expected, the game will contain over 50 characters and over 100 unique moves. It will also include one “never-before-seen” character — plenty of guesses and speculations are running rampant already, but we can probably guess that said character will likely tie in with the “exclusive anime content” we know to be included with the game, which Enos noted as debuting in the US and Europe for the first time.

The game will of course be played primarily in first-person, but as shown in the trailer, will shift to third-person for certain attacks. There are two different modes of play coming in the game: a standard story mode (where you progress through opponents and story line elements), as well as a score attack mode, which was the one shown off to press last week at Namco-Bandai’s Global Gamers Day. There is no multiplayer currently planned for the game.

Thanks to Super Saiyan Prime for the heads-up.

Namco-Bandai EU has put up the first official trailer for the upcoming Dragon Ball Z for Kinect (Xbox 360) on their YouTube channel:

Namco-Bandai is holding a “Global Gamers Day” press event in Las Vegas today, and among a few other announcements came a few of interest to Dragon Ball fans. Our buddy Romain from France is there, and shared a bunch of information.

The first hint of things to come arrived via Gamekult on Twitter, who shared the following image of some swag which clearly indicated some Kinect news on its way:

After a bit of Star Trek talk, Namco-Bandai moved on to the Dragon Ball franchise and formally announced Dragon Ball Z For Kinect, which would indeed contain thirty minutes of exclusive animation (which we originally learned about at the end of February with the British Board of Film Classification’s rating). Characters can be unlocked via QR cards, some of which were distributed to press at the event. The game will be playable from a first-person perspective, have over 100 moves to perform, and is due out in October.

Other than a historical reel of past Dragon Ball video games leading up to the Kinect game announcement, no other games for the franchise were announced or showcased.

The October date may mean that the “Dragon Ball Z HD” listing from Walmart may actually be related — since originally posting the news, Walmart has removed the PS3 listing for said game while the 360 listing remains active. We will continue to update as more information becomes available.

UPDATE: Romain sent along a couple quick shots of the QR card he received.

Additionally, FUNimation themselves were the ones to issue the press release formally announcing the game this evening:

DRAGON BALL Z® FOR KINECT TO TRANSFORM PLAYERS INTO SUPER SAIYANS THIS OCTOBER

NAMCO BANDAI GAMES AMERICA INC. ANNOUNCES NEWEST EVOLUTION IN THE BELOVED FIGHTING SERIES

SAN JOSE, Calif. (April 11, 2012) – Leading video game publisher and developer NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today announced that Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect™ will be coming to the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft this October. All of the classic action and intensity of the Dragon Ball Z universe will be felt with an unprecedented sense of immersion when players learn to deliver over 100 moves, including the legendary Kamehameha with their own fists as they charge their way to victory in this ultimate evolution of the classic franchise.

Developed by Spike Chunsoft Co. Ltd, players will be entering the Dragon Ball Z universe in an entirely new way. Featuring iconic characters, famous attacks, and epic battles authentically created from the original manga series, Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect lets players unleash their inner Super Saiyan with no controller in the way! Fans will also be treated to new anime footage debuting in the US and Europe for the first time, along with over 50 playable characters and an entirely new character. Leveraging the Kinect sensor, Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect will also support QR code functionality, allowing fans to hold up special QR codes to unlock characters and power-ups in the game.

“There’s going to be no better feeling in the world for fans of the Dragon Ball Z series than standing in front of their screens and unleashing their own fists and raging blasts upon enemies with this game,” said Carlson Choi, Vice President of Marketing, NAMCO BANDAI Games America. “The Kinect sensor has truly enabled the development team to finally realize the dreams of millions of fans of both the classic games and the timeless original anime. This game will truly represent the next generation of interactive entertainment in the Dragon Ball Z universe.”

Choosing between ‘Story Mode’ and ‘Score Attack’ mode, players will enjoy battles and events following the story of Dragon Ball Z in first-person view for the first time. Dramatic battles use anime-style camerawork and require the player to move in the same way as their character and perform the same attack or movement from a particular famous scene, combining CG demo scenes and battle controls to experience giant boss battles like never before! In ‘Score Attack’ mode, defeat opponents in 1-on-1 battles to get the highest score!

Dragon Ball Z® for Kinect will be available throughout North America and Europe this October. For more information on the game, please visit: http://dragonball.namcobandaigames.com and www.facebook.com/NamcoBandai.

Dragon Ball Z the animated series is available for purchase on the Xbox LIVE Video Store. For more information about the animated series please visit http://www.dragonballz.com.

As noted by original lyricist Yuriko Mori on her Twitter account, a new commercial for Toyota’s “Sienta” model has begun airing in Japan. The commercial features a family goofing off at an aquarium, while TV personality / children’s entertainer / former Takarasienne Shōko Haida sings a brief parody of Dragon Ball opening theme “Makafushigi Adventure!” in the background. The commercial itself can be viewed below; the promotional web site also has a link to a making-of video.

While it really has nothing to do with the Dragon Ball franchise proper, it is nice to see how elements of the series have so seeped into Japanese society that merely playing a (parody of a) song in a commercial can be counted on to get a positive reaction from audiences.