FUNimation has officially stated that the Wal-Mart listing for Dragon Ball: Season One (Widescreen) is a “mistake”. Things still seem a little too fishy based on the comment we received from Lionsgate and the original Saga of Goku sets mysteriously becoming unavailable on retailer sites. While the commonly-accepted “Lionsgate’s rights expire in 2010” nonsense is nothing more than just that — nonsense — based on random Wikipedia edits, we may see some additional developments sooner rather than later. Keep in mind the runarounds in June 2006 when information about the first DBZ remastered “season set” leaked via online retailers.

Dragon Ball Kai will be receiving a high-definition Blu-ray release in Japan:

Set to release on 18 September 2009 for ¥3045, the first volume will contain three episodes. There will also be a standard DVD release with the same contents (albeit not in high-def) retailing for ¥1995.

For a bit of comparison, and making no justification for the pricing scheme, here is a breakdown of some of the currently- and previously-offered deals on episodes both in the US and Japan.

• FUNimation’s DBZ Season One Set on standard DVD contains 39 episodes and has an MSRP of $34.98. This breaks down to approximately $0.90 per episode. These sets were “remastered”, are missing approximately 20% of the footage, encoded as progressive, and contain three voice tracks. These sets were the second full release of these episodes on DVD in the US, and a third release for the beginning of the series.
• FUNimation’s “Ultimate Uncut Edition” on standard DVD contained 3 episodes and had an MSRP of $24.98. This breaks down to approximately $8.32 per episode. These sets used old masters, were encoded with low bitrates, and contain two voice tracks. FUNimation’s original DVD singles retailed for the same amount and contained 3-4 episodes per disc.
• Toei’s R2 singles based on the “Dragon Box” sets for DBZ contained 6 episodes each and retail for ¥3990 (approximately $40 US). This breaks down to approximately $6.66 per episode. These discs are remastered, are encoded at an extremely high bitrate, encoded as progressive, and were previously unavailable in Japan in any home format (other than the box sets they came from).
• Toei’s upcoming releases for Kai contain 3 episodes each and retail for ¥3045 on Blu-ray and ¥1995 on DVD (approximately $31 US and $20, respectively). This breaks down to approximately $10.33 and $6.66 on Blu-ray and DVD, respectively).

We contacted Lionsgate back in April regarding their sub-license to the first 13 episodes (and first movie) of the original Dragon Ball TV series — productions that have always been available edited and English-dubbed-only due to a distribution deal FUNimation wrangled themselves into back in 1995 when they first began producing the series. At that time, Lionsgate would neither confirm nor deny any information at all to us, saying that the information we were seeking “… is confidential and cannot be used for a website.”

Since then, our forum members have noticed a listing on Wal-Mart’s website for a Dragon Ball: Season 1 (Widescreen) with an MSRP of $49.99 and a release date of 15 September 2009. As Wal-Mart’s site has hosted inaccurate information in the past, we all mostly shrugged it off. Since then, other forum members have brought to our attention that many online retailers are now listing Lionsgate’s (originally Kidmark’s) Saga of Goku as “discontinued” and no longer available.

Did FUNimation obtain new film masters for the first TV series and now have plans to released a faux-“remastered” version a la their DBZ TV season sets, including the first 13 episodes? Is it all one big misunderstanding? We await further clarification as the longest-running business blunder in FUNimation’s entire history perhaps moves into a new chapter!

Our forum member GotenZ1 spent some time at E3 this last week and got a chance to play Tenka’ichi Dai-Bōken for the Nintendo Wii (being released outside Japan as Revenge of King Piccolo). Confirmed is a new vocal theme song! We do not yet have any details on the performer, but do know that it will not have 2D animation for the opening sequence (which we still have not seen since Budokai 3 back in 2004).

We have it on good authority that all of the new Dragon Ball video games are due out this fall in North America in addition to their European releases. These games include Attack of the Saiyans on the DS (dropping the “Kai” title just like its European release), Revenge of King Piccolo on the Wii, and Raging Blast on the PS3 & 360.

The real clincher here? They are coming straight from Namco-Bandai, just like in Europe. Atari is nowhere to be seen.

UPDATE: In come the press releases!

We have reached out to Atari for a statement on their current and future role in the franchise. As you heard on our most recent podcast episode (and will eventually come in some sort of concise written form to the home page), quite a bit is going on with the company these days.

The CD single for the closing theme to Dragon Ball Kai, “Yeah! Break! Care! Break!”, is set to be released 24 June 2009 in either a regular (¥1200, ~$13.00 US) or “Limited Edition” (¥1300, ~$14.00 US) version.

The track listing is as follows, with both song titles written in English:

1. Yeah! Break! Care! Break!
2. Over the Star
3. Yeah! Break! Care! Break! (Original Karaoke)
4. Over the Star (Original Karaoke)

It seems that even the hard times are hitting Toei Animation, the company responsible for animating the Dragon Ball franchise, as Anime News Network (via animeanime.jp) is reporting that during a board meeting on Monday, Toei Animation has decided to change the positions of some of its top executives. Chairperson Tsutomu Tomari will effectively step down and serve as a board member and adviser starting on June 24. Here’s the initial report from ANN:

Toei Animation, the largest anime production company in Japan, has announced that it decided in a Monday board meeting earlier in the day to change the positions of its top executives. Chairperson Tsutomu Tomari will effectively step down and serve as a board member and adviser starting on June 24. The current president, Hiroshi Takahashi, is assuming the dual roles of chairperson and president. Senior director Kozo Morishita will be promoted to executive vice-president, and senior director Hirotarō Nishi will be promoted to senior managing director. Morishita is currently in charge of the planning and sales departments, and Nishi is in charge of the accounting and information system departments.

As far as we know, this will have no effect on Dragon Ball Kai, but I guess only time will tell. We will be sure to keep you updated if any news to the contrary surfaces.