This week’s August 2023 issue of Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine sees a certain stalwart wrap up another story arc, while also announcing the addition of a new “full color” classic Akira Toriyama manga to its lineup.
The Dragon Ball GT anime comic — comprised of screen shots from the 1996-1997 television series displayed in manga format with dialog and narration bubbles — began back in the January 2014 issue of the magazine. Running as a tie-in with the Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game’s then-current “Evil Dragon Mission” updates, the anime comic skipped all the way to and began with the series’ own “Evil Dragon” arc. Throughout all of the Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game’s continuing updates and even through the magazine’s transition from a monthly to bimonthly publication (and then back around again to monthly), the Dragon Ball GT anime comic has steadily run each issue, albeit plopped in different locations each time. Upon reaching the “end” of the series, three print volumes compiling the “Evil Dragon” arc were released, and serialization looped back around to the proper beginning in the magazine’s September 2019 issue. The series has continued onward from there, running to the end of the Baby arc in the current August 2023 issue spanning 35 chapters.
Alongside the ending of the Baby arc, a sidebar splash announces that Akira Toriyama’s Sand Land manga will begin serialization in the following issue with a new “full color” version. The next-issue-preview at the end of the August issue likewise announces this forthcoming addition to Saikyō Jump‘s lineup:
While not explictly stated, the arrangement of the announcement at the end of the Baby arc’s serialization seems to imply that — perhaps at least for the time being — Sand Land will take the place of the Dragon Ball GT Anime Comic. This currently leaves the Super 17 arc as the only one left unserialized in the magazine.
Independent of this forthcoming full color serialization, Sand Land is due for a kanzenban-style re-release from Shueisha this August.
Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! by Yoshitaka Nagayama and Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! by Yūji Kasai continue onward in the August 2023 issue of Saikyō Jump, reaching their 17th and 24th chapters, respectively. Both series will continue next issue.
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. 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.
The October 2023 issue of Saikyō Jump hits Japanese newsstands 04 August 2023 for ¥640 and is set to include clear files of classic Akira Toriyama Jump covers as that month’s packaged bonus items.
