Europe has an interesting history with the Dragon Ball franchise. Countries like Spain, Italy, and France imported the series early on and have been enjoying it for many years with multiple home video releases. The UK has always been the odd-man-out over there, though — despite the entire series airing on television via an English dub, it never stuck around, and never received a proper home video release. Manga Entertainment is looking to finally change that with their release of the Dragon Ball Z TV series via FUNimation’s orange bricks. Jerome Mazandarani, Manga’s Head of Marketing & Acquisitions, joins us to talk about what took the series so long over there and where they hope to go from here.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0296! VegettoEX and Hujio discuss a little bit of international news before taking it over to an interview with Jerome Mazandarani, Manga Entertainment’s Head of Marketing and Acquisitions. The “Dragon Ball Z” TV series is finally seeing a home release in the UK, but what took it so long to come out, and where can the series go from here?

REFERENCED SITES:

• Music Downloads @ Kanzenshuu
• “Dragon Ball Z for Kinect” Official European Trailer @ Kanzenshuu
• “Dragon Ball Z for Kinect” Additional Tidbits @ Kanzenshuu
• Portuguese-Subtitled “Dragon Ball Kai” Broadcast Coming @ Kanzenshuu
• 4Kids/Saban North American Broadcast Sublicense Tidbits @ Kanzenshuu
• “Dragon Ball Z” Season One Pre-order @ Amazon UK

Discuss this episode on the Kanzenshuu forum!

A lot has changed since 1984 — Dragon Ball has since come to an end, anime episodes are readily available worldwide hours after they are initially broadcast, and manga is now both drawn and published digitally! With all these great leaps in technology over the past few decades it was only a matter of time before manga artists adjusted their techniques and methods. Can the change in Akira Toriyama’s artistic styles really be attributed to his embracing of the digital age, however, or was it merely a choice on his part? Join us as we delve into the perverse creative process of Toriyama to find out just what his development process for the Dragon Ball manga was, and if it was really all that different from his current methods.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0295! Hujio and Corey discuss Akira Toriyama’s creative process, from how he drew the “Dragon Ball” manga series during its serialization to his current drawing methods. Many fans attribute the changes in Toriyama’s artistic style to the differences in his drawing methods, such as the addition of a computer to digitize his manga, but are the methods from these two eras really all that different from one another? Can the addition of a computer really make that much of a difference?

REFERENCED SITES:

• Takeshi Aono Passes Away @ Kanzenshuu
• Dragon Ball Opening Theme Parodied in Car Commercial @ Kanzenshuu
• Namco-Bandai Press Event: DBZ Kinect Game Revealed @ Kanzenshuu
• Takashi Matsuyama’s Official Website
• “Did Akira Toriyama draw the kanzenban covers?” Forum Thread

Discuss this episode on the Kanzenshuu forum!

Things were different back in 1997. An English dub of Dragon Ball Z had only been on North American television for a single year. We had one video game for the franchise, but it was from a decade prior and had almost all traces of it being a part of the franchise stripped away from it. In came Final Bout on the original PlayStation, bringing American fans an opportunity to play as characters from a story they were just beginning to become so incredibly invested in. What was it like to be a part of that? How did fans actually view the game? Did anyone from any country ever have a chance to experience a Dragon Ball game in the same way ever again?

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0294! VegettoEX and Meri discuss what it was like to be a fan of the “Dragon Ball” franchise in 1997 when “Final Bout” for the PlayStation hit store shelves. While we technically had one game for the franchise released a decade prior, to most American fans, we were playing a DBZ video game for the first time. How did fans actually view the game? Did anyone from any country ever have a chance to experience a “Dragon Ball” game in the same way ever again?

REFERENCED SITES:

• Walmart “Dragon Ball Z” HD Game Listing @ Kanzenshuu
• Manga UK DBZ DVD Official Announcement @ Kanzenshuu
• 3DS Game Website Listing @ Namco-Bandai
• “Final Bout” Re-release Cover and Description @ Kanzenshuu (News Archive)
• April Fool’s Archive @ Temple O’ Trunks

We have done a variety of character breakdowns over the years, ranging from major ones like Gohan all the way through minor ones like Tapion from Dragon Ball Z Movie 13. This time around, our buddy Lance joins us to totally deconstruct Vegeta. What makes this guy tick? Did he serve his purpose in its entirety by the end of the Freeza arc, and did Toriyama successfully reinvent him well enough to last the rest of the series? Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0293! VegettoEX, Meri, and man of many Internet names, Lance (or Gaffer Tape or MistareFusion) deconstruct the character of Vegeta. From his initial introduction through the end of the series, and despite being just another villain in a long line of them, he is always written completely differently than any other character in the series. What makes this guy tick? Did he serve his purpose in its entirety by the end of the Freeza arc, and did Toriyama successfully reinvent him well enough to last the rest of the series?

To mark the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, Anime Fans Give Back once again held a 24-hour live streaming fundraising event. We joined on board for a half-hour segment to talk about how our favorite franchise was affected (not only by the disaster, but also by Kenji Yamamoto). Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.

Finally, big congrats go out to Ryan for winning our Saikyō Jump contest! On the way from Japan is a copy of the March 2012 issue along with its bonus DVD (which contains both Episode of Bardock and Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans). Stay tuned for even more contests in the near future!

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0292! VegettoEX, Julian, and Hujio join the cast of The Unofficial One Piece Podcast for a special Anime Fans Give Back fundraising session. Catch up with the two groups, current watchings and readings, favorite characters, and how last year’s disaster (along with Kenji Yamamoto) so heavily affected the franchise in Japan. Meri joins in to also announce the winner of our “Saikyo Jump” (and bonus DVD) contest!

REFERENCED SITES:

• Anime Fans Give Back Official Website
• Kenji Yamamoto Feature @ Daizenshuu EX
• The Evolution of Dragon Ball Kai @ Kanzentai

To celebrate 291 episodes of our podcast, we in turn celebrate one of the best and most under-appreciated artists from our favorite franchise: Minoru Maeda. When fans think of Dragon Ball, the first name that comes to mind is obviously Akira Toriyama, but Maeda shaped the series (particularly for fans of the anime) in almost as many ways as the original author. Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0291! VegettoEX, Hujio, and Herms discuss a pretty full week of news before moving into a biography and in-depth discussion of Minoru Maeda. The first name that comes to mind with our favorite franchise is obviously Akira Toriyama, but most fans (especially those of the anime) do not seem to realize that more often than not they are viewing something that Maeda touched or supervised in at least some capacity. Just who is this man, and what are some of his most important works?

REFERENCED SITES:

• “The Golden Warrior” @ Kanzentai
• Minoru Maeda Interview @ Kanzentai
• “Saikyo Jump” Bonus DVD Review @ Daizenshuu EX
• “Saikyo Jump” Contest @ Daizenshuu EX
• Anime Fans Give Back Official Website

While we unfortunately could not schedule the third round of our “Dragon Ball GT Review of Awesomeness” for this week (stay tuned, though!), we make up for it in spades by covering the crazy Kinect news, the March 2012 Saikyō Jump bonus DVD, and a plethora of your amazing listener questions. Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0290! VegettoEX, Meri, and Hujio dive into some more crazy Kinect news before covering the March 2012 “Saikyo Jump” bonus DVD. Especially at such a cheap price, just how does this package fare? We then turn it over to an extravaganza of your listener questions! Everything from favorite story arcs, to the spark that defines Toriyama’s writing, to abandoned characters is covered, along with less important items such as the Official Daizenshuu EX Band.

REFERENCED SITES:

• Kinect Game @ Korean Ratings Board
• Kinect Game @ British Board of Film Classification
• “Saikyo Jump” Bonus DVD Review @ Daizenshuu EX
• “Saikyo Jump” Contest @ Daizenshuu EX

Our buddy Herms has done a fantastic job of translating a new version of the timeline of events leading up to Dragon Ball Online (which has been posted for now over on our forum), so we figured we would take a fresh look at the game’s story. What about it is so compelling, and does it have that special spark that we feel has been missing from some of the other expanded-universe productions? Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0289! VegettoEX and Julian cover two weeks worth of fascinating news (FUNimation Dragon Box survey, upcoming “Episode of Bardock” reprint, and more!) before diving in to the “Dragon Ball Online” timeline. Thanks to Herms’ new translation, we have a pretty detailed back-history for the game in English. Does it tell a compelling story, and does it make us want to hunker down and actually play the darn thing?

REFERENCED SITES:

• March 2012 “Saikyo Jump” Review @ Daizenshuu EX
• Gaffer Tape’s Dragon Ball Dissection 1 @ YouTube
• FUNimation Dragon Box Survey
• FUNimation May 2012 Releases @ Mania
• “Episode of Bardock” Reprint Info @ V-Jump
• DBZ Kinect Game @ Korean Ratings Board
• Herms DB Online Timeline Translation @ Daizenshuu EX

Our buddy Herms stops by this episode for a wonderful primer to Dr. Slump, the series Akira Toriyama was already famous for by the time he got around to our other favorite franchise! Who are those characters that show up during the Red Ribbon Army arc crossover, and is it possible to reconcile some of the plot holes and continuity errors introduced to put the two series the same universe? Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0288! VegettoEX and Julian catch up on a thankful lack of news before Herms pops in for a Dr. Slump primer. Who are the characters that show up during the Red Ribbon arc crossover, and is it possible to reconcile some of the plot holes and continuity errors introduced to put Dr. Slump and DragonBall in the same universe?

REFERENCED SITES:

• March 2012 “Saikyo Jump” @ CDJapan
• Kanzenban Volume 18 (French) @ Amazon France
• “DBZ Kai” Part 7 DVD Set (FUNimation) @ Amazon
• “DBZ Kai” Part 7 Blu-ray Set (FUNimation) @ Amazon
• Dr. Slump Vol. 1 (Viz) @ Amazon