In addition to new episode titles for Dragon Ball Kai, this month’s issue (May 2010) of V-Jump contains exciting news about the new illustration book, Dragon Ball: The Golden Warrior. The magazine featured a nice ad for the upcoming book, which went as followed (translated by Herms):

Dragon Ball Anime Illustration Collection: The Golden Warrior

The path of Son Goku’s adventures and battles!!

From his boyhood up to Super Saiyan 4, Goku’s growth is followed through over 100 illustrations! Featuring numerous illustrations, such as those drawn for the TV series or the movie books, you can see Goku’s whole history!!

Contents include: movie posters/drawings made for magazines like Weekly Jump, V-Jump, etc., interviews with the different generations of character designers with illustration explanations, etc.; it’s a deluxe archive edition!!

So there you have it — a Goku illustration book, jam-packed with awesomenes! You can pick-up your own copy of the book when it hits stores or Amazon Japan on 16 April 2010. I think this will be well worth the retail price of ¥1,200 (~$12.00).

This months issue of V-Jump (May 2010 issue) contained quite a bit of Dragon Ball news. In the anime portion of the magazine they unveiled the final Dragon Ball Kai episode titles of the epic Goku vs Freeza battle, which indicates Planet Namek will explode in episode 53 of Kai. Assuming they skip the Garlic Jr. filler arc, it is likely we’ll see Future Trunks make his debut in episode 55 after the Z-Warriors are all wished back to life and the Namekians find a new home.

Episode 052 – April 11, 2010
「消えゆく星に残った２人！これが最終決戦だ」
“Two Remain on a Vanishing Planet! This is the Final Showdown”

Episode 053 – April 18, 2010
「孫悟空、最後の一撃…ナメック星宇宙に散る」
“Son Goku’s Final Blow… Planet Namek Scatters Throughout Space”

The lovely Suupaa Gohan 2 alerted us to a product that just came out last month that we (somehow!) completely overlooked. Shoko Nakagawa put out a third Anison Cover album, and this one includes a (full-length) cover for the first Dragon Ball Z TV closing theme (“Detekoi Tobikiri ZENKAI Pawā!”), and the special 2-CD+DVD edition of the album also includes a TV-size cover of the Dragon Ball GT TV opening theme (“DAN DAN Kokoro Hikarete ’ku”).

The discs came out 10 March 2010, and will run you ¥2800 for the regular edition (SRCL-7220, which does not include the Dragon Ball GT song cover!), while the 2-CD+DVD edition (SRCL-7218) will run you ¥3500.

Nakagawa’s first cover album’s main single was a version of the Dragon Ball TV series closing theme (“Romantikku Ageru yo”), which also received a music video — we reviewed it way back on Episode #0078 of our podcast.

FUNimation has posted a full-length trailer for their first domestic release of Dragon Ball Z Kai which is due out on both DVD and Blu-ray 18 May 2010. Judging from the trailer and FUNimation’s recent comments on Twitter, it appears that the domestic release of Kai will indeed be in a 4:3 aspect ratio, which is nice to see.

Shueisha’s official listing website has finally updated with some information about the upcoming Dragon Ball Uranai book.

The listing included the books cover and a little blurb describing the book:

おまえさんの運命をおしえてやろう……！！

あの占いババが、あなたの運勢を『DRAGON BALL』に登場する48のキャラクターに当てはめて占う！運勢の浮き沈みが一目でわかる年間チャートつき。占いババを信じれば運気上昇まちがいなし！！

We’ll tell you your destiny…!!

Uranai Baba will divine your fortune based on 48 characters which appear in “DragonBall”! A yearly chart is included that will allow you to instantly comprehend the ebb and flow of your fortune. If you trust in Uranai Baba, your fortune will definitely pick up!!

The book is set to be released 31 March 2010 for ¥840, and you can grab it from Amazon Japan if you so desire. The book will be 224 pages and is a B6 size, which is the same size as the Jump Remix comics. For reference, that is roughly right between the size of the tankōbon and the kanzenban.

Shueisha recently posted a batch of new images of support from its various Jump artists, which included a second image from Dragon Ball author Akira Toriyama saying, “Thank you everyone!! The Genki-Dama is getting bigger and bigger!!”

In addition to Mayumi Tanaka, Sakura-Con has also announced Ryō Horikawa (Vegeta) as another Guest of Honor. Any photos or videos that community members would like to take and share with us would be greatly appreciated!

We are passing along a little bit of second-hand information, but we put decent-enough faith in it to warrant sharing it. Our buddy EvilGamerX gave us word that a “friend at Nicktoons” has shared that the American television debut of Dragon Ball (Z) Kai will begin 24 May 2010 and will air four days a week, though a time slot has not yet been finalized. Songs will also be in English, though it is unclear if that simply includes the opening and ending themes, or extends to the mid-episode insert songs (such as “Over the Star” and “Saiyan Blood”).

As we have known for a while, the first 13 episodes of the “refreshed” version of the Dragon Ball Z TV series will be released domestically on DVD and Blu-ray beginning 18 May 2010. A premier of the first four episodes with their new English dub are actually set to debut at Sakura-Con next Saturday at 8:30 pm during the convention.

We are still holding out until the physical product is in our hands, but it sounds like the domestic release of Kai will indeed be in a 4:3 aspect ratio in some capacity. The Amazon Blu-ray listing is for a 4:3 product, while the DVD listing is for a “widescreen” product, mirroring the Japanese release style. When asked on Twitter by various members of our community, @funimation has responded that the show will be 4:3, though this still does not provide a comprehensive explanation on the TV broadcast versus the DVD release versus the Blu-ray release. If Japan is teaching us anything, it is that their own products can be just as confusing as any American release!