RightStuf notes that the sixth Dragon Box for the Dragon Ball Z TV series from FUNimation has been delayed from 05 July 2011 to just two weeks later on 19 July 2011 (also a Sunday).
The second-to-last bad boy in our near-perfect dream release for this part of the series in North America (no, seriously — go back and check out our reviews of the first two boxes for how great these are) is a mere $30.99 on Amazon right now. Grab it!
A new survey has popped up from Namco-Bandai with the company asking for, among other minor tidbits, name suggestions for what we can only assume is “Game Project Age 2011“, the working title for the upcoming PS3 and 360 fighting game. Current options include:
There are a couple interesting tidbits to pull out of this. When the Sparking! games were released in North America under the prior Atari regime beginning back in 2005, they were re-named to (an in-universe named-backwards) “Budokai Tenkaichi”. While the “Raging Blast” moniker was kept over the last two years and games, last year’s PSP game TAG VS was re-branded as “Tenkaichi Tag Team” internationally, calling back to the prior games it was based on. It would seem that Namco-Bandai is considering the “Tenkaichi” branding going forward still, perhaps as a way to distance themselves from the dwindling sales of the Raging Blast games and grab a few older fans back into the mix.
Before the first Sparking! game’s international release, Atari distributed a similar survey (which indeed had “Budokai Tenkaichi” as a possible name choice). Despite whatever the original Japanese name for the game may end up as, it is likely that the official international name for “Game Project Age 2011” is among the five titles above.
Shanda Games, an online game developer and operator in China, announced their Q1 2011 results yesterday. As a part of the conference call discussing their results, Chairman and CEO Alan Tan also announced that they will be bringing the Korean-developed Dragon Ball Online MMO to China “early next year”. Along with Final Fantasy XIV, the game is currently undergoing customization to launch in their region.
First revealed back in March 2007, Dragon Ball Online has so far been only officially available in Korea.
This week on our show, we dive back into the universe to talk about Bulma. Just how deep of a character is this woman? She is introduced right at the very start of the series, and arguably sees and participates in more than some of the regular heroes. The week’s news and some great e-mails round out the episode. Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.
SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0260! VegettoEX, Meri, and Hujio discuss the second character ever introduced in the series: Bulma! Just how deep of a character is she, and does an author like Toriyama actually know what to do with her? A good week’s worth of news and great e-mails round out the show.
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The cover art for the next two DVD volumes and Blu-ray box set of the “Artificial Humans & Cell arc” of Dragon Ball Kai have been unveiled via Amazon Japan. All three are scheduled to be released 02 June 2011, with the DVDs retailing for ¥2,940 (~$35) and the Blu-ray running a hefty ¥14,679 (~$175). The DVDs will contain episodes 85-87 and 88-90 presented in 16:9 widescreen, respectively, while the third Blu-ray box set will contain episodes 77-87 presented in 4:3 full screen spread across four discs. These releases now all contain the Shunsuke Kikuchi replacement score, as opposed to their original broadcast score from Kenji Yamamoto.
After a lengthy test release, Zenkai Battle Royale is finally making its way to arcade spots throughout Japan, starting in 392 locations across 46 regions. It debuts today with a marketing push across Twitter (following their account and tweeting #zenkai_wget) to gain access to Vegeta with his Saiyan arc scouter, while playing with Namco-Bandai’s “Bana Passport” (a card to save statistics and progress) gives you access to Goku in his outfit from Planet Yardrat.
Playable characters in the game’s launch are Goku, Kuririn, Vegeta, Freeza, Piccolo, #16, #18, Trunks, Cell, and Nappa.
The launch is not without its issues, though. The game’s official website has a large posted notice indicating that players are receiving errors stating, “Your Bana Passport card or cell phone is being used by another game machine”. The company is looking into the issue.
Thanks to Rachel for digging into some of the tidbits for us.
animeanime.jp (also adapted and translated by Anime News Network) has revealed that Dragon Ball background music composer Shunsuke Kikuchi has received the 2nd place “International Award” from the Japanese Society for Right of Authors, Composers, and Publishers (“JASRAC”) for the amount of money generated overseas in the previous year thanks to his score for Dragon Ball Z. Kikuchi also received the 9th place award for his work on Doraemon.
With Kikuchi’s original score for the series currently being retroactively inserted into Dragon Ball Kai (as well as being featured in the arcade game Zenkai Battle Royale and the Japanese releases of the Raging Blast video games, not to mention international releases and streams of the TV series), it is no surprise to see Kikuchi so high on the list. Congratulations!
By way of Robert’s Anime Corner, we have learned that FUNimation’s “Part 5” of their home DVD and Blu-ray release of Dragon Ball Kai (released domestically as Dragon Ball Z Kai) has been delayed for a second time to 28 June 2011. This delay was in conjunction with a slew of other FUNimation products, unlike the first delay, which we are assuming was due to the music replacement affecting all on-going broadcasts and releases of the series.
Thanks to a slow news week, we were able to dive into the past a little bit with something that is occasionally requested for a topic, but we have held off for fear of it being too distant and possibly irrelevant of a topic. With it being such a huge and important part of fandom’s rise and enjoyment, though, a listener e-mail gave us the push we needed to dive into ye’ olden fansub VHS days.
Our discussion begins with the need for a translated version of the show, all the way up through the digital age and any relevance it has to the franchise. Whether names like S. Baldric, E. Monsoon, Anime Labs, Ctenosaur, Project-X, NGN, or Pearl do or do not mean anything to you, this is the episode that explains it all! Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.
SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0259! VegettoEX and Meri discuss ye’ olden fansub VHS days. How did non-Japanese fans watch the series prior to any domestic release, what were the experiences like, and how did everything change once a legitimate and proper release came on the scene? Whether names like S. Baldric, E. Monsoon, Anime Labs, Ctenosaur, Project-X, NGN, or Pearl do or do not mean anything to you, this is the episode that explains it all!
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This week on our show, the guys dive into two weeks worth of news. A new video game is coming later this year (despite the franchise continuing down the financial hole for Namco-Bandai), the 98th episode of Dragon Ball Kai will make its way to the home release as a bonus inclusion (not to mention that whole music fiasco still in-progress)… the list goes on and on. E-mails about Journey to the West, the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai, and inflation round out the episode. Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.
SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0258! VegettoEX, Hujio, and Julian recap all the big news over the last two weeks. A new video game is coming later this year (despite the franchise continuing down the financial hole for Namco-Bandai), the 98th episode of “DragonBall Kai” will make its way to the home release as a bonus… the list goes on and on. E-mails about “Journey to the West”, the 23rd Tenka-ichi Budokai, and inflation round out the episode.
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