Episode #0476! Mike and Stacey attempt to arrive at a spelling consensus for the “Ritto-sei-ningen” following some recent wiki-work revelations, and we check in on Volume 10 of the “Dragon Ball Super” manga in Japan for a two-page bonus chapter revolving around Cranberi.
The “Good” version of Boo helps round out the full lineup of nine characters included with the game’s optional $29.99 “Characters Pass”, which also includes four days of earlier access to said characters and each coming with abilities and costume elements for the player’s avatar character. Back in March, Bandai Namco shared their 2019 roadmap for Jump Force, outlining the tentative schedule of upcoming character additions and free updates.
Jump Force, a crossover fighting game in celebration of Jump‘s 50th anniversary, contains four brand new characters designed by original Dragon Ball author Akira Toriyama. The game released worldwide on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam) with a Japanese launch 14 February 2019 followed by an international release the following day on 15 February 2019. Jump Force currently features Son Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, Piccolo, Freeza, and Cell as playable characters. We discussed Jump Force on episode #0467 of our podcast.
Spike Chunsoft previously developed J-Stars Victory Vs., a crossover fighting game celebrating Jump‘s 45th anniversary; the game was originally released on the PlayStation 3 and Vita, with a PlayStation 4 port eventually coming alongside an international localization. Prior to this, the company developed the Sparking! (released internationally as “Budokai Tenkaichi”) and Raging Blast series of Dragon Ball fighting games.
In conjunction with the game’s performance at the 2019 Evolution Championship Series (“Evo”) this weekend, Janenba was formally unveiled as the sixth character coming as optional paid downloadable content to Dragon Ball FighterZ within the game’s “FighterZ Pass 2”.
Janenba debuted in 1995’s twelfth theatrical Dragon Ball Z film, and has appeared in various video games since then. The character’s name is a adaptation and contraction of 邪念な念波 (ja-aku na nenpa, or “evil thought waves”), an effective description of the character himself.
Janenba rounds out the six announced slots for “FighterZ Pass 2”, with Jiren, Videl, and the 2018 theatrical versions of Broli and Gogeta announced from the start, with the Dragon Ball GT version of Goku also later announced.
The 3-on-3, “2.5D” fighting game is developed by Arc System Works and is currently available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam); on these systems, the game runs at a 1080p resolution and 60fps frame rate, with higher resolutions available on the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X consoles, as well as the PC. Playable characters include Son Goku, Son Gohan (Cell arc design), Vegeta, Freeza, Cell, Boo (Good), Trunks, Piccolo, Kuririn, #16, #18 (with #17), Yamcha, Tenshinhan (with Chiaotzu), Ginyu (with teammates), Nappa (with Saibaimen), Gotenks, Son Gohan (Boo arc design), Boo (Pure), Hit, Beerus, and Goku Black (with Zamasu), as well as “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan” (SSGSS, or “Super Saiyan Blue”) versions of Goku and Vegeta that can be accessed early via pre-orders or unlocked through gameplay. The Akira Toriyama-designed “#21” is a new character central to the game’s story mode.
A first “FighterZ Pass” with eight additional playable characters is available for $29.99, with the aforementioned “FighterZ Pass 2” available for $24.99. Said additional paid characters are also all available piecemeal at $4.99 each.
Episode #0475! Mike and Meri field a bunch of great audience feedback from last episode’s “Captain Ginyu – Assault” retrospective, and Joe joins in to chat a little bit about some of the insane and absolutely-totally-real wiki work going on behind the scenes!
The tenth collected volume of Toyotarō’s Dragon Ball Super manga — originally and currently serialized on a monthly basis in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine — officially hit Japanese shelves today (02 August 2019) for ¥440 + tax. Spanning 192 pages, the volume covers chapters 45-48, and also contains a two-page bonus comic (originally hinted at by Toyotarō in his July 2019 artwork entry on the series’ official website). The volume takes its title of “Moro’s Wish” (モロの願いMoro no Negai) directly from chapter 48.
The inside title page showcases Son Goku and Vegeta, while the table of contents features angels Conic, Kucatail, and Vados.
To fill out the necessary page count, Toyotarō supplies new drawings between chapters:
The volume wraps-up with a two-page “Special Edition” (特別編Tokubetsuhen) chapter featuring Cranberi, retroactively confirming him as one of Freeza’s subordinates on Planet Namek, killed by Zarbon’s kick during the attack on Muri’s village, and brought back to life with the Dragon Balls.
The print edition of the tenth volume is available for purchase via CDJapan and Amazon Japan. A digital release was made available the same day as the print release.
The Dragon Ball Super “comicalization” began in June 2015, initially just ahead of the television series, and running both ahead and behind the series at various points. The manga runs monthly in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ fiftieth chapter coming last month in the magazine’s September 2019 issue. Illustrated by “Toyotarō” (in all likelihood, a second pen-name used by Dragon Ball AF fan manga author and illustrator “Toyble”), the Dragon Ball Super manga covered the Battle of Gods re-telling, skipped the Resurrection ‘F’ re-telling, and “charged ahead” to the Champa arc, “speeding up the excitement of the TV anime even more”. Though the television series has completed its run, the manga continues onward, having recently entered its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” arc. Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017. The sixth collected volume is due from Viz this December.
Following a mention of a “skin” in a May 2019 “This Week on Xbox” segment by Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, the official Nintendo UK website has posted and since removed a formal entry for Janenba as forthcoming paid downloadable content in Dragon Ball FighterZ:
Janemba as a new playable character
5 alternative colors for his outfit
Janemba Lobby Avatar
Janemba Z Stamp
While the entry has since been taken down, screenshots of the listing are available on MeriStation and JeuxVideo.
Janenba debuted in 1995’s twelfth theatrical Dragon Ball Z film, and has appeared in various video games since then. Janenba’s inclusion would round out the six announced slots for “FighterZ Pass 2”, with Jiren, Videl, and the 2018 theatrical versions of Broli and Gogeta announced from the start, with the Dragon Ball GT version of Goku also later announced.
The 3-on-3, “2.5D” fighting game is developed by Arc System Works and is currently available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam); on these systems, the game runs at a 1080p resolution and 60fps frame rate, with higher resolutions available on the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X consoles, as well as the PC. Playable characters include Son Goku, Son Gohan (Cell arc design), Vegeta, Freeza, Cell, Boo (Good), Trunks, Piccolo, Kuririn, #16, #18 (with #17), Yamcha, Tenshinhan (with Chiaotzu), Ginyu (with teammates), Nappa (with Saibaimen), Gotenks, Son Gohan (Boo arc design), Boo (Pure), Hit, Beerus, and Goku Black (with Zamasu), as well as “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan” (SSGSS, or “Super Saiyan Blue”) versions of Goku and Vegeta that can be accessed early via pre-orders or unlocked through gameplay. The Akira Toriyama-designed “#21” is a new character central to the game’s story mode.
A first “FighterZ Pass” with eight additional playable characters is available for $29.99, with the aforementioned “FighterZ Pass 2” available for $24.99. Said additional paid characters are also all available piecemeal at $4.99 each.
Following this weekend’s fourteenth episode premiere, the official Super Dragon Ball Heroes website announced a September 2019 timeframe for the forthcoming fifteenth episode of the Super Dragon Ball Heroes promotional anime, continuing further into the brand-new “Universal Conflict” arc. In the upcoming episode (“Send Kamioren Flying! Overwhelming! Ultra Instinct!”), Goku utilizes Ultra Instinct and overwhelms Kamioren’s ultimate form in battle, but just when the fight is about to be over, Hearts appears to have a secret plan…
The self-described “promotional anime” began its free online streaming in July 2018, with the initial six episodes covering the “Prison Planet” arc, then moving on to the “Universal Conflict” arc. Though the series’ original trailer was available worldwide, the subsequent episode postings themselves have been region-locked to Japan. No home release of the promotional anime has been announced.
Super Dragon Ball Heroes is itself an update and hardware revision to the original Dragon Ball Heroes, a card-based arcade game in which players arrange teammates on a playing field for turn-based battles. Dragon Ball Heroes has seen a variety of multimedia spin-offs and support pieces. Yoshitaka Nagayama’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission manga (a follow-up to the previous Dark Demon Realm Mission series, which also recently re-started) currently runs in Shueisha’s bimonthly Saikyō Jump magazine, while Toyotarō’s Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission ran from 2012-2015 in Shueisha’s monthly V-Jump magazine. Three portable game adaptations — Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission, Ultimate Mission 2, and Ultimate Mission X — were released on the Nintendo 3DS. A fourth home version, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, launched on the Nintendo Switch and PC on 04 April 2019 and internationally05 April 2019.
Each month, Toyotarō provides a drawing — as well as a brief comment — on the official Japanese Dragon Ball website. Thus far, Toyotarō has provided drawings of #8, Lunch, Chapa with Oob, Tambourine, Man-Wolf, Tapion, Janenba, Broli, Ozotto, Ginyu, Bardock, Paragus, King Cold, Bardock’s original television special crew, Onio with his wife, Shiirasu, Great Saiyaman, Nail, and Toninjinka. For his July 2019 entry, Toyotarō has contributed a sketch of Zarbon:
It’s Zarbon.
As I’m sure you’re well aware, he’s Freeza’s right-hand man.
The concept for these sketches is “characters who don’t appear in Super“, but (to make a shameless plug…) he’ll actually appear very briefly in the bonus comic from Volume 10. But at present, he hasn’t appeared yet, so this is his last chance—!
The forthcoming tenth collected volume of the Dragon Ball Super manga is due out in Japan02 August 2019. Zarbon, along with several other Freeza-related characters, made cameo appearances in the 2018 theatrical film Dragon Ball Super: Broly, which was not adapted in the manga.
Continuing onward from previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s fiftieth chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, moving further into the original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc”. Alongside other initiatives including free chapters and a larger archive for paid subscribers, this release continues the companies’ schedule of not simply simultaneously publishing the series’ chapter alongside its Japanese debut to the release date, but to its local time in Japan in today’s September 2019 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine in Japan.
The Dragon Ball Super “comicalization” began in June 2015, initially just ahead of the television series, and running both ahead and behind the series at various points. The manga runs monthly in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ fiftieth chapter coming today in the magazine’s September 2019 issue. Illustrated by “Toyotarō” (in all likelihood, a second pen-name used by Dragon Ball AF fan manga author and illustrator “Toyble”), the Dragon Ball Super manga covered the Battle of Gods re-telling, skipped the Resurrection ‘F’ re-telling, and “charged ahead” to the Champa arc, “speeding up the excitement of the TV anime even more”. Though the television series has completed its run, the manga continues onward, having recently entered its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” arc. Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017. The sixth collected volume is due from Viz this December.
This is down from last year’s 2,575 entrants, which at the time secured the top spot as the most-entered game in 2018. The game went on to rake in the highest viewer count for an Evo main event on Twitch with incredible moments leading up to the grand finals.
Also contributing are likely the discontinuation of Super Smash Bros. Melee at the main stage tournament factoring in alongside the already-large numbers of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate registrations, as well as strong showings and support for both Under Night In-Birth and the new Samurai Showdown.
Evo 2019 takes place02 August to 04 August 2019 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
