The eighth 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 this week on 04 December 2018 for ¥440 + tax. Spanning 200 pages, the volume covers chapters 37-40. The volume takes its title of “‘Sign’ of Son Goku’s Awakening” (孫悟空覚醒の”兆”; Son Gokū Kakusei no “Kizashi”) directly from chapter 39 itself.
In his introductory comment, Toyotarō imagines one day possibly having a Dragon Ball theme park of our own:
I really love a certain “magic kingdom”. I often watch that “magic kingdom”‘s movies, too. I just can’t resist that feeling of happiness.
It’d be nice if there’s a Dragon Ball Land, too, one day…
The inside title page showcases Son Goku and Vegeta, while the table of contents features Gods of Destruction Ramoosh, Vermoud, and Geen.
To fill out the necessary page count, Toyotarō supplies new drawings between chapters, with this volume exclusively featuring team lineups (specifically the Universes 2, 3, 4, and 10 teams). The Jump Victory Carnival 2018 bonus chapter is included following chapter 40. “Corrections Done by Toriyama-sensei Himself” make a reappearance, with a single showcase of Jiren character design adjustments:
A two-page interview between Toyotarō and Akira Toriyama is also included.
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The volume wraps-up with a two-page preview of the “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” arc that began with the most recent chapter.
The print edition of the seventh volume is available for purchase via CDJapan and Amazon Japan. A digital release was made available the same day as the print release.
The first collected edition saw its release in April 2016 covering the series’ first nine chapters, one spin-off chapter, and a special interview between Toyotarō and original author Akira Toriyama. The second collected edition saw its release in November 2016 covering the next six chapters, one more spin-off chapter, and a special interview with Toyotarō. The third collected edition saw its release in June 2017 covering the next five chapters. The fourth collected edition saw its release in November 2017 covering the next four chapters and a follow-up special interview been Toyotarō and Toriyama. The fifth collected edition saw its release this past March covering another four chapters and one additional spin-off chapter. The sixth collected edition saw its release this past June covering another four chapters. The seventh collected edition saw its release this past September covering another four chapters.
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’ forty-second chapter coming last month in the magazine’s January 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 for further promotion. Though the television series has completed its run, the manga continues onward telling its own version of the existing story, now entering its own original “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” arc. Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition early last year. The fourth collected volume is due in English from Viz this coming January.
The Dragon Ball Super television series concluded in March 2018 with 131 total episodes. FUNimation owns the American distribution license for the series, with the English dub airing on Cartoon Network, and the home video release reaching its fifth box set last month.
