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3,708 Posts & 2,331 Pages Documenting Dragon Ball, since 1998. We've got you covered!
News
New “Sparking!” (“Budokai Tenkaichi”) Video Game Announced by Bandai Namco
Published by 06 March 2023, 8:06 PM ESTComment

In conjunction with the “DRAGON BALL Games Battle Hour” event yesterday, Bandai Namco and their partners revealed that a new entry in the Sparking! series of Dragon Ball video games is currently in development:

No additional information — including that of a specific developer (beyond the publishing duties of Bandai Namco), a formal “number” or title for the game, etc. — were made available alongside this initial announcement.

The three Sparking! games — the original, NEO!, and METEOR — hit the PlayStation 2 over the course of 2005 to 2007, with the Nintendo Wii also receiving ports of the second and third games. The game series was released numerically under the “Budokai Tenkaichi” moniker internationally. A fourth games — Tag Vs. in Japan / Tenkaichi Tag Team internationally — was released on the PlayStation Portable in 2010.

As opposed to the completely separate Dragon Ball Z (“Budokai”) series developed by Dimps which came before it, the Sparking! series — developed instead by Spike — featured 3D arenas with an over-the-shoulder camera angle.

Spike (as Spike Chunsoft) later went on to also develop the crossover fighting games J-Stars Victory VS in 2014 and Jump Force in 2019.

In the 30th Anniversary: Dragon Ball Chōshishū –Super History Book– released in 2016, Sparking! series producer Ryō Mito reminisced about development on the series and in particular METEOR‘s reputation as not just a “God-tier game” but “a Dai Kaiōshin-tier game.”

News
“Dragon Ball FighterZ” Updates: Evo 2023, Rollback Beta on Steam, Forthcoming Balance Patch
Published by 06 March 2023, 4:58 PM ESTComment

Producer Tomoko Hiroki and the teams at Arc System Works and Bandai Namco have announced a slew of updates for Dragon Ball FighterZ coming this year:

  • Dragon Ball FighterZ will make its fourth in-person appearance at Evolution Championship Series (“Evo”) this August in Las Vegas.
  • During the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour 2022-23 Finals this week, it was announced that a forthcoming beta on Steam will be made available to test the previously-announced rollback netcode coming to the game for its current-generation consoles and PC release. Plans are currently set for “around spring”.
  • Also announced during the World Tour finals, Dragon Ball FighterZ will receive another forthcoming patch to further balance the game.

The 3-on-3, “2.5D” fighting game is developed by Arc System Works and is currently available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam). A first “FighterZ Pass” with eight additional playable characters is available for $29.99, a “FighterZ Pass 2” available for $24.99 adding another six, and “FighterZ Pass 3” with an additional five for $19.99. Said additional paid characters are also all available piecemeal at $4.99 each.

Dragon Ball FighterZ was originally released 26 January 2018 in North America and Europe, and 01 February 2018 in Japan, across the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Alongside its Japanese release, Bandai Namco announced that they had shipped two million copies of the game, making it the fastest-shipping game in the franchise’s history. The game also shipped on the Nintendo Switch back in September 2018.

Content
New Manga Guide Page: Serialization
Published by 03 March 2023, 1:13 PM ESTComment

A brand-new “Serialization” page has launched within our extensive “Manga Guide,” with the goal of providing an evergreen, up-to-date page detailing all current Dragon Ball manga series in Japan.

As of the new page’s launch, these series presently include (in order of original serialization start):

  • Dragon Ball GT Anime Comic
  • Dragon Ball Super by Toyotarō
  • Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! by Yūji Kasai
  • Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! by Yoshitaka Nagayama

The guide also covers Dragon Ball SD by Naho Ooishi, which originally began serialization within the pages of Saikyo Jump in 2010 before moving to a video comic series back in 2021.

Visit the New “Serialization” Guide Page

The new page complements our existing “Weekly Shōnen Jump Serialization” page, which details every issue that the original Dragon Ball series was first published in.

Content
Translation Update: “Special Project: Toyotarō Drew It!” Image #63
Published by 28 February 2023, 9:54 AM ESTComment

Each month, Toyotarō provides a drawing of a Dragon Ball 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 February 2023 entry, Toyotarō has contributed a drawing of Coola:

COOLA (Final Form)

He has a form beyond what his younger brother Freeza had, so I remember being completely astonished at the time. He’s a really cool character and I really like him.

Coola debuted in the fifth Dragon Ball Z film back in 1991 (The Incredible Strongest vs Strongest), and appeared as the main antagonist again in the sixth film the following year. Coola went on to receive minor and supporting roles across ancillary productions like Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, and remains a fairly standard inclusion in video games.

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

News
Upcoming 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai DLC for “Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot” Titled and Promoted Alongside April 2023 Issue of V-Jump
Published by 23 February 2023, 12:24 PM ESTComment

In conjunction with this week’s April 2023 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, Bandai Namco has further promoted the upcoming paid downloadable content pack for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot featuring the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai:

The downloadable content pack’s title in Japanese is “Troubles at the Tenka’ichi Budōkai” (波乱の天下一武道会 Haran no Tenka’ichi Budōkai); as with the previous Bardock DLC, its title is a direct nod to a prior work’s title, in this case being the exact same title as Dragon Ball manga chapter 167, itself later adapted as the title of Dragon Ball television series episode 134.

The pack’s official English localized title will be “Chaos at the World Tournament“.

Taking place immediately before what the television series designated as the “Z” break (in what is otherwise simply “Dragon Ball” beginning to end in its original comic form), the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai sees a freshly-grown Son Goku at his third tournament appearance taking on the reincarnated/reborn-but-also-offspring (it’s complicated…) of the original Demon King Piccolo.

Adapting the 1990 Bardock television special, the first entry in the second wave of DLC packs for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot launched last month alongside new, native PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the full game. The three entries in this second “season pass” are all “story arcs” rather than “story episodes”; in the first season pass, the Battle of Gods and Resurrection ‘F’ DLC entries were much shorter with a focus on boss fights and level increases, while the third entry — that of Trunks’ future timeline — told a comprehensive, multi-part story.

Developed by CyberConnect2 for Bandai Namco, the action role-playing game released 16 January 2020 in Japan and 17 January 2020 internationally on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (via Steam). A Nintendo Switch edition came later in September 2021.

Reviews of the base game, Trunks DLC, and Bardock DLC can be found on episodes #0481, #0490, and #0497, respectively, of our podcast.

Podcast
Podcast Episode #0498
Published by 20 February 2023, 2:13 PM ESTComment

SHOW DESCRIPTION:

Episode #0498! Mike and Heath discuss some of the biggest (non-strength-related!) rumors and misunderstandings in general Dragon Ball fandom. From the classic “ending with Freeza” to recent confusion over the authorship of the Dragon Ball Super manga, we bring the receipts!

REFERENCED SITES:

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, SoundCloud, or YouTube. We invite you to discuss this episode on our forum.

News
“Dragon Ball Super” Manga Chapter 90 Released
Published by 20 February 2023, 10:03 AM ESTComment

Following up on previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s ninetieth chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, continuing onward into the brand-new “Super Hero 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 print serialization in Japan.

In the current V-Jump issue’s back-pages preview for next month’s issue (which is set to contain the series’ 91st chapter), promotional blurbs clarify that Gohan and Piccolo will be on the next issue’s cover, and that the next chapter will begin the story of the actual Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero film itself with Piccolo up against the fresh-on-the-move Red Ribbon Army.

悟飯とピッコロ！最強の師弟が次号の表紙を飾る！

世界中大ヒットした映画「ドラゴンボール超スーパーヒーロー」！いよいよ次号かり映画で描かれたストーリーに突入するぞ！！

ついに動き出すRR軍！ピッコロはその野望を阻止できるのか！？

Gohan and Piccolo! The strongest teacher and student adorn the cover of the next issue!

We finally enter the story of the worldwide hit movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero in the next issue!

The Red Ribbon Army is finally on the move! Can Piccolo put a stop to their ambition?!

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’ ninetieth chapter hitting today in the magazine’s April 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 eighteenth collected volume will be released this June.

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 this past September.

News
Viz “Dragon Ball Super” Manga English Translation Collected Edition Vol. 19 Releasing September 2023
Published by 16 February 2023, 3:31 PM ESTComment

Viz’s nineteenth collected volume of the Dragon Ball Super manga will be released 05 September 2023, covering chapters 81-84 (a la its Japanese counterpart):

Granolah’s fierce assault seems to have Gas on the ropes until the youngest Heeters member’s inner nature is unleashed, leading to an all-out assault like nothing any of our heroes have ever encountered before! But perhaps the key to defeating Gas has something to do with memories of Bardock, Goku’s long-deceased father?!

The volume is available for pre-order at Amazon at its $9.99 MSRP.

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’ ninetieth chapter coming next week in the magazine’s April 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 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 this past September.

News
Bandai Namco Holdings Q3 Fiscal 2023 Figures
Published by 14 February 2023, 10:50 AM ESTComment

Bandai Namco Holdings has posted a ¥84.444 billion (approximately $636 million) profit for the first three quarters of fiscal year 2023, compared to a ¥61.703 billion profit at this same point last year.

namco_bandai_logo_resaved

Dragon Ball remains the company’s best-performing franchise, pulling in ¥102.2 billion these first three quarters of the fiscal year (a jump from ¥91.3 billion at this point last year), and the company is projecting a full fiscal year total of ¥139 billion, up from last full fiscal year’s ¥127.6 billion.

In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games), the franchise grew from ¥16 billion the first three quarters last year to ¥17.9 billion the same period this year, with a projected full year jump from ¥19.7 billion last year to ¥22 billion this year.

News
40th Anniversary Tribute “Dragon Ball Super Gallery” #19: Hideaki Sorachi
Published by 07 February 2023, 10:33 AM 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 eighteen entries, this month’s March 2023 issue brings us Hideaki Sorachi (Gintama) and their take on the series’ 16th volume cover:

Hideaki Sorachi commented:

When I was a child, I loved the cover to volume 16, but when I tried to copy it, it never came out well, so I asked my father to draw it for me on a big sheet of drawing paper and I hung it in my bedroom as a poster for the longest time.

Time has passed and Dragon Ball is now nearing its 40th anniversary. That brat was such a lousy artist and managed to get some drawing skills, but I still think I’m not quite at the level of that worn-down, yellowed-out poster.

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: Ultra God Mission!!!! manga series, Yūji Kasai’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! manga series, and the Dragon Ball GT Anime Comic. 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.