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News
“Dragon Ball Super” Manga Chapter 99 Released
Published by 20 November 2023, 11:51 AM ESTComment

Following up on previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s ninety-ninth chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, continuing onward into the brand-new “Super Hero arc”, now adapting the contents of the recent theatrical film following three chapters worth of original prologue material. 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 alongside its serialization in today’s January 2024 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine.

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 in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ ninety-ninth chapter hitting today in the magazine’s January 2024 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, moving into its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner”, “Granolla the Survivor”, and now “Super Hero” arcs.

Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017. The company’s twentieth collected volume is set for release in February 2024.

The Dragon Ball Super television series concluded in March 2018 with 131 total episodes. Crunchyroll (by way of the merger with FUNimation) owns the American distribution license for the series, with the English dub having wrapped its broadcast on Cartoon Network, and the home video release reaching its tenth and final box set in 2020. A complete steelbook “Limited Edition” was released by Crunchyroll last year.

News
Bandai Namco Holdings Q2 Fiscal 2024 Figures
Published by 13 November 2023, 10:30 AM ESTComment

Bandai Namco Holdings has posted a ¥52.167 billion profit for the first half of fiscal year of 2024, down from a ¥66.557 billion profit this same timeframe last year.

namco_bandai_logo_resaved

Dragon Ball came in as the company’s second-best-performing franchise for the half, pulling in ¥68.4 billion (behind the Mobile Suit Gundam at ¥72.6 billion). This is a slight jump from Dragon Ball‘s performance during this same timeframe last fiscal year at ¥65.7 billion. The company is projecting a full fiscal year total of ¥133 billion, however, which would be down from last full fiscal year’s ¥144.5 billion.

In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games) for Japan, the Dragon Ball franchise pulled in ¥12.2 billion (behind the Mobile Suit Gundam and One Piece franchises at ¥34.7 and ¥30 billion, respectively). This is roughly in line with Dragon Ball‘s performance during this same timeframe last fiscal year at ¥12 billion. The company is projecting a full fiscal year total of ¥21 billion, which would be down from last full fiscal year’s ¥22.5 billion.

News
40th Anniversary Tribute “Dragon Ball Super Gallery” #28: Gege Akutami
Published by 07 November 2023, 2:22 PM ESTComment

The September 2021 issue of Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine kicked off a “Dragon Ball Super Gallery” series in commemoration of the Dragon Ball franchise’s upcoming 40th anniversary. The celebration aims to have different artists all contribute their own spin on the original 42 tankōbon covers, with the images and an accompanying comment published as the magazine’s back cover.

Following the previous twenty-seven entries, this month’s December 2023 issue brings us Gege Akutami (Jujutsu Kaisen) and their take on the series’ 41st volume cover:

Akutami commented:

Whenever I was at the pub that a friend of my father’s used to run, the only reason I was able to wait my way through the adults’ late-hours drinking without so much as a peep was thanks to the fact that they had all the Dragon Ball volumes available to read. To think that, 25 years later, I would be able to participate in a project like this fills me with such deep emotion that I think it’s transcended the concept of “deepness” at this point.

Saikyō Jump is currently a monthly magazine published in Japan by Shueisha under the “Jump” line of magazines. The magazine began as a quarterly publication in 2012, went monthly in 2013, went bimonthly in late-2014, and returned to a monthly format in 2021 (including a digital release for the first time). The magazine’s focus is spin-off and supplementary manga series aimed at a young audience, while also including game promotions, news coverage, and more. The magazine currently serializes content such as Yoshitaka Nagayama’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Meteor Mission! manga series and Yūji Kasai’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! manga series. For calendar year 2019, Shueisha reported Saikyō Jump‘s circulation down at 130,000, with readership as 58.5% upper elementary school, 28% lower middle school, 11% middle school, and 2.5% high school or older.

News
“Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Meteor Mission” Updates: Video Games, Manga, & Promotional Anime
Published by 04 November 2023, 1:14 PM EDT1 Comment

Following the base Super Dragon Ball Heroes arcade upgrade and its subsequent Universe Mission, Big Bang Mission, and Ultra God Mission expansions, the series is set to debut its brand new Meteor Mission update on 09 November 2023, alongside the game’s overall 13th anniversary.

Ahead of the game’s content launch, various multimedia spin-offs have already jumped into the game’s forthcoming content:

The November 2023 issue of Saikyō Jump featured the final chapter of Yoshitaka Nagayama’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! manga series — clocking in at 20 chapters, it has thus far been the longest of Nagayama’s various series. Alongside the final chapter, Shueisha announced that Nagayama would continue onward with a respective new Meteor Mission manga series, which hit today within the December 2023 issue of Saikyō Jump.

The Meteor Mission update is also given attention in the latest chapter of Yūji Kasai‘s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! manga series, likewise hitting today in the December 2023 issue of Saikyō Jump.

Back on 22 October 2023, the ongoing Super Dragon Ball Heroes “Promotional Anime” took a hiatus from its traditional 2D animation: the new Meteor Mission episode — “The Curtain Rises on the Demonic Invader Arc!! A Dark Shadow Attacks the Earth” — was instead animated via the video game’s engine (indeed featuring a different “Promotional CG Movie” watermark as opposed to the standard “Promo Anime” version).

In both the manga and promotional anime series, following the completion of the Super Space-Time Tournament, Goku and the others regroup on North Kaiō’s planet only to find him completely gone — they are then confronted by “Majin Ozotto,” who claims to have eaten Earth and is hunting gods.

The character Majin Ozotto is a notable focus in this latest Meteor Mission content. Ozotto dates back to 1994, where — in conjunction with the “Jump Multi(media) World” event celebrating Weekly Shōnen Jump‘s 25th anniversary — the character debuted in Sega’s first-person arcade fighting game, Dragon Ball Z: V.R.V.S., where “Majin Ozotto” (rendered in the game’s own English translation as “Ozotto the Super Monster”) is the shapeshifting final boss.

Ozotto was in fact designed by original Dragon Ball author Akira Toriyama himself. The original design set included a larger, multi-armed version which was not used in the final game; this design was most recently seen in the Dragon Ball 30th Anniversary Super History Book:

The character fell into relative-obscurity following his original release, with a planned appearance in the 1996 PlayStation and Saturn game Idainaru Dragon Ball Densetsu (“The Great Dragon Ball Legend”) unfortunately scrapped. Ozotto was brought back in 2018 within Super Dragon Ball Heroes, where he made a small appearance at the end of the “Universe Mission 3” update’s special video, and went onward to be included in various game missions and manga chapters.

News
“Dragon Ball: The Breakers” PlayStation Plus Essentials Title For November 2023 + Anniversary Plans
Published by 01 November 2023, 11:51 AM EDTComment

Sony has announced that Dragon Ball: The Breakers — alongside Mafia II: Definitive Edition and Aliens Fireteam Elite — will be a PlayStation Plus “Essentials” title for North American and European subscribers this month.

Dragon Ball: The Breakers | PS4

In this online asymmetrical action game, a team of 7 ordinary citizens tries to survive the Raider (a classic Dragon Ball rival such as Cell, Frieza, and Buu), who will hunt them down and evolve during the game into an unstoppable force. Escaping won’t be so easy: cooperate with others while there is still time, but the Raider or other Survivors’ decisions might force you to go at it alone. As a Raider, you will enjoy overwhelming powers to hunt and wipe out Survivors. Master each Raider’s unique abilities to track, catch your victims to evolve, and become even more powerful! Whether you’re a Raider or a Survivor, choose your progression path and unlock skills, skins, and items to fine-tune your own personal strategy to escape as a Survivor or triumph as a Raider.

Titles in the “Essentials” category are free for all PlayStation Plus subscribers to claim during their month of availability — this month’s titles will be available from Tuesday, November 7 until Monday, December 4. In North America, the “Essentials” plan currently runs at $9.99/month or $79.99/year.

Bandai Namco recently outlined plans for the game’s fourth season of content in conjunction with its first anniversary, which includes forthcoming crossplay integration (allowing players on different consoles to play with each other):

Developed by Dimps, Dragon Ball: The Breakers puts a small group of seven survivors up against a “raider” in an asymmetrical race to survive, in a world shared with Dragon Ball XENOVERSE 2. The game launched at a base digital price of $19.99 US (with physical versions coming at respective higher costs) on 13 October 2022 in Japan and 14 October 2022 in other worldwide territories across the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam).

Podcast
Podcast Episode #0507
Published by 01 November 2023, 10:44 AM EDTComment

Show Description

Episode #0507! From the depths of the archives, we managed to rescue an unreleased goodie: the next installment in our “Dragon Ball GT Review of Awesomeness”…! Mike, Meri, and Jeff dive into episodes 36-40 to wrap up the Baby arc in this podcast episode that was definitely recorded back in August 2018.

How to Listen

Our podcast is available via Apple Podcasts and/or Google Podcasts, or you can pop the direct RSS feed into the program of your choice. You can also listen to this episode by directly downloading the MP3 or by streaming it on Spotify, or YouTube. We invite you to discuss this episode on our forum.

 

Referenced Sites:

News
Microïds/Kana Music To Release “Dragon Ball Z: Best Collection” Vinyl Record Set
Published by 31 October 2023, 6:11 PM EDTComment

French company Microïds — by way of their Kana Music sublabel — are set to release a new Dragon Ball Z: Best Collection vinyl record set, to begin shipping this December for €49.99 and rolling out to additional distributors into the new year.

A total of 15 songs will comprise the two-record set, which includes opening, ending, and insert theme songs from across the Dragon Ball Z television series and films. The tracklist is slated to include:

[Note: song titles are printed below verbatim from the Kana Music promotional imagery; refer to our “Theme Guide” for comprehensive translations and further information]

Disc 1 / Side A:

  1. CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA (Dragon Ball Z TV series first opening)
  2. Burst Forth, Exceptional ZENKAI Power! (Dragon Ball Z TV series first ending)
  3. Battle (I-KU-SA) (Dragon Ball Z movie #2 ending)
  4. Whole (Dragon Ball Z movie #3 ending)

Disc 1 / Side B:

  1. Journey of Light (Dragon Ball Z TV special #1 ending)
  2. The Strongest Rival (Dragon Ball Z movie #5 ending)
  3. HERO (You’re the Hero) (Dragon Ball Z movie #6 ending)

Disc 2 / Side A:

  1. MIND POWER -KI- (Dragon Ball Z TV episode 139 insert)
  2. GIRIGIRI – World Extreme (Dragon Ball Z movie #7 ending)
  3. Blue Wind HOPE (Dragon Ball Z TV special #2 ending)
  4. Burning Fight – The Burning Battles (Dragon Ball Z movie #8 ending)

Disc 2 / Side B:

  1. Day of Destiny – Soul vs Soul – (Dragon Ball Z TV episode 184 insert)
  2. Beyond the Galaxy Rising High (Dragon Ball Z movie #9 ending)
  3. WE GOTTA POWER (Dragon Ball Z TV series second opening)
  4. We Were Angels (Dragon Ball Z TV series second ending)

International distributors for the set include Cartridge Thunder (US $64; expected to ship in January 2024), Black Screen Records (€58,00; expected to ship in January 2024), Very OK Vinyl (CA $56.00; expected to ship in January 2024), etc. Note that there is a limited pre-order window with many of these international distributors, and pre-order sales are often final / cannot be cancelled once made.

News
Japanese “Dragon Ball Super” Manga Volume #22 and “Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!!” Volume #3 Releasing in December 2023
Published by 24 October 2023, 1:18 PM EDTComment,

Shueisha has announced two collected volumes of different Dragon Ball manga series for release in Japan on 04 December 2023:

Dragon Ball Super — Volume 22

The twenty-second collected volume of the Dragon Ball Super manga series by Toyotarō will release 04 December 2023 in Japan for ¥528 + tax. Spanning 192 pages, the upcoming volume should pick up with chapter 93, and (in line with prior volumes covering four chapters total) likely span through chapter 96.

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 in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ 98th chapter coming last week in the magazine’s December 2023 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, moving into its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner”, “Granolla the Survivor”, and now “Super Hero” arcs. Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017; the company’s nineteenth collected volume was released last month.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! — Volume 3

The third collected volume of the Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! manga series by Yoshitaka Nagayama will also release 04 December 2023 in Japan for ¥572 + tax. Spanning 176 pages, the upcoming third volume should pick up with chapter 11, and (in line with prior Nagayama volumes) likely span through chapter 15.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! is a promotional manga series written and illustrated by Yoshitaka Nagayama, having just completed its run in Shueisha’s monthly Saikyō Jump magazine. The series adapts events from storylines original to the Super Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game. Ultra God Mission!!!! succeeded Nagayama’s own prior Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission!, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission!!, and Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Big Bang Mission!!! series in the same magazine. Thus far, Ultra God Mission!!!! is the longest-running of Nagayama’s batch by a wide margin, clocking in at 20 chapters.

The various Dragon Ball Heroes manga series remain without an official English translation and release.

Content
Translation Update: “Special Project: Toyotarō Drew It!” Image #71
Published by 22 October 2023, 12:13 PM EDTComment

Each month, Toyotarō provides a drawing of a Dragon Ball (or related…!) character — as well as an accompanying comment — on the official Japanese Dragon Ball website. Following up on the wealth of characters already drawn, for his October 2023 entry, Toyotarō has drawn Son Goku from the upcoming Dragon Ball Daima series:

Son Goku
DRAGON BALL DAIMA

Dragon Ball Daima was announced! I’m really looking forward to autumn next year!

This drawing and comment set has been added to the respective page in our “Translations” archive.

News
“Dragon Ball Super” Manga Chapter 98 Released
Published by 19 October 2023, 12:30 PM EDTComment

Following up on previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s ninety-eighth chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, continuing onward into the brand-new “Super Hero arc”, now adapting the contents of the recent theatrical film following three chapters worth of original prologue material. 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 alongside its serialization in today’s December 2023 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine.

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 in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ ninety-eighth chapter hitting today in the magazine’s December 2023 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, moving into its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner”, “Granolla the Survivor”, and now “Super Hero” arcs.

Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017. The company’s twentieth collected volume was released last month.

The Dragon Ball Super television series concluded in March 2018 with 131 total episodes. Crunchyroll (by way of the merger with FUNimation) owns the American distribution license for the series, with the English dub having wrapped its broadcast on Cartoon Network, and the home video release reaching its tenth and final box set in 2020. A complete steelbook “Limited Edition” was released by Crunchyroll last year.