A recent tweet from FUNimation states that the remade special, Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, that will appear on the North American release of Raging Blast 2 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will be presented with its original Japanese language only (with English subtitles):

Re: the portion of the Eradicate the Super Saiyans OVA on the Namco Bandai Raging Blast 2 game – not ours,Toei’s in Japanese w/Eng sub.

That is followed up with another quick semi-retraction that basically leaves the door open for a later release that would involve an English dub, pretty much as we have expected. At the present time, though, it does not seem like FUNimation has anything to announce about it.

Want to see it right away upon release? You will be in our camp watching it in Japanese this November!

Namco-Bandai has released a new trailer for Raging Blast 2 today as part of GamesCom 2010 with sneak-peaks at new characters and Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans.

Specifically revealed as playable characters for the upcoming PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game are Bojack, Zangya, and Hatchihyack.

Bojack and Zangya have almost always come as a pair as playable characters in Dragon Ball video games, dating all the way back to Super Butōden 2 on the Super Famicom in 1993. The duo from the ninth Dragon Ball Z movie last appeared in 2007’s Sparking! METEOR for the PlayStation 2 and Wii.

Previously just a “boss” character in Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku (Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, originally Nintendo Famicom and Bandai Playdia games), “Hatchiyack” will now be a fully playable character.

Also showcased in the new trailer are several quick scenes from the newly-remade Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, the story of which is now confirmed to flood over into the main game.

We hope to have even more reveals about the new animation in the near future, so look forward to additional coverage.

AnimeJan is holding a contest to allow a very lucky fan to attend a Kai recording session on 9 September 2010 in Tokyo. You will also have the chance to tour the premises and witness the production process! If you would like to go on the tour for us and take tons of notes and photos, you can sign-up here. The contest ends 31 August 2010.

Toei’s official Dragon Ball Kai website is reporting that it has started a “Become Dragon Ball Kai” campaign in conjunction with Bandai. The campaign includes a new children’s clothing line which will run from now until the end of January 2011. The first 590 people to buy an item and return the postcard included will win a free life-size pillow of Kinto-Un. In addition, the first seven people to buy any Son Goku cosplay apparel and submit a photo of themselves wearing it will receive an original photo of them as Goku placed in a famous Dragon Ball photo or screen shot. Finally, do not forget to buy your Dragon Ball underwear!

The next three episode titles for Dragon Ball Kai have been leaked online early — here is a quick run-down of what to expect in the upcoming weeks:

Namco-Bandai issued a press release today confirming the inclusion of the new episode/feature/OVA, Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, on-disc for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Raging Blast 2 which is due out this November:

DRAGON BALL®: RAGING BLAST™ 2 TO INCLUDE EXCLUSIVE DRAGON BALL® ANIME EPISODE

Game Disc to Feature Brand New Never Before Seen 30-minute Dragon Ball Anime Feature

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (August 10, 2010) – NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today announced that all retail editions of Dragon Ball®: Raging Blast 2™ for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system will feature a brand new 30-minute feature of the Dragon Ball® anime on the game disc.

The exclusive new feature entitled “Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans” is a completely reconstructed, re-scripted and re-edited version of an original Japanese episode that has never been released in the U.S or Canada, offering something unique to fans of the series. Everyone who buys the game can watch this exclusive anime straight out of the box.

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 features a host of improvements and new features, delivering the most authentic and advanced Dragon Ball videogame experience to date.  Everything from the camera to the controls has been reworked to create an accessible game with more than enough tactical depth to satisfy even the most battle-hardened Dragon Ball fan. Sporting more than 90 characters, 20 of which are brand new to the Raging Blast series, new modes, and additional environmental effects, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 is the next evolution in the home console series.

A special preview of the feature will be available on August 18th. We are following-up with Namco-Bandai regarding audio options for the feature in this international release of the game.

Namco-Bandai has posted a ¥1.64 billion (approximately $19 million) loss for the first quarter of fiscal year 2011, the period of April 1st to June 30th, 2010.

In terms of Dragon Ball overall, the franchise dropped in net sales from ¥2.2 billion last year in Q1 2010 to ¥1.2 billion this quarter, and the company is forecasting a drop down to ¥3.0 billion in Q2 2011 compared to ¥5.8 billion in Q2 2010. Compared with last fiscal year’s actual net sales of ¥12.5 billion, the company is forecasting ¥9.5 billion for fiscal 2011.

No individual Dragon Ball game sales were noted in the report, but yesterday’s update with numbers from Famitsu gave us a complete look at Japan throughout calendar 2009. As an update to that, it looks like Dragon Ball DS 2 sold 59,511 copies in Japan over the first half of this calendar year.

In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games), the franchise dropped slightly in net sales from ¥0.7 billion last year in Q1 2010 to ¥0.6 billion this quarter. The company is standing strong with their forecast for fiscal 2011 of ¥2.7 billion, and projects an increase up to ¥1.1 billion next quarter alone. Should that projection ring true, that leaves only ¥0.9 billion to be split among the last two quarters of the fiscal year.

As always, the latter-half of the calendar year seems to be the strongest for Namco-Bandai in terms of Dragon Ball, and particularly in the video game arena. We have at least two more games coming worldwide this fall, which should bump things up.

Famitsu has listed the top-selling games of 2009 in Japan, and our beloved Dragon Ball whimpers along the list at least in some capacity. Note that these stats are through December 2009, and do not include any additional sales so far in 2010. Data is presented in the following format: (rank) (platform) (title) (publisher) (2009 sales) (lifetime sales) — note that titles have been adjusted back to their original Japanese versions compared to other lists you may see online:

• 063 [NDS] Dragon Ball Kai: Saiya-jin Raishū (Bandai Namco) – 192.200 / 192.200
• 111 [PS3] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (Bandai Namco) – 107.542 / 107.542
• 157 [PS2] Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World (Bandai Namco) – 76.275 / 199.966
• 255 [WII] Dragon Ball: Tenka’ichi Dai-bōken (Bandai Namco) – 44.160 / 44.160
• 355 [NDS] Dragon Ball DS (Bandai Namco) – 28.966 / 214.195
• 616 [360] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (Bandai Namco) 10.816 / 10.816
• 740 [PSP] Dragon Ball: Evolution (Bandai Namco) – 7.513 / 7.513

As expected, Raging Blast did exceptionally better on the PS3 in Japan than on the 360. The latest DS game did surprisingly well, and quite better than the original Dragon Ball DS did in its first year (approximately 72,000 copies). Infinite World has a strong showing in its second year, though it was released extremely late in 2008, so the numbers are a little misleading in that respect. The live action movie game is a shocker to see on the list at all, pushing over 7000 copies in the country that made fun of the movie more than any other.