Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 7
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| Dragon Ball Daizenshuu 7 | |
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| Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia | |
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| Released | 05 February 1996 |
| Publisher | Shueisha, Inc. |
| Catalog No. | ISBN 4-08-782757-7 |
| Retail | ¥1,800 (tax included) |
| Book Data | |
| Format | JIS B5 (18.2 × 25.7 cm) |
| Pages | 313 pages |
"Dragon Ball Large Encyclopedia" is the seventh of seven hardcover volumes in the Daizenshuu (大全集, "Great Complete Collection") series of guidebooks covering the Dragon Ball series.
Overview
The seventh daizenshuu is a collection of dictionaries that cover almost every aspect of the Dragon Ball manga series. Unlike the most of the previous daizenshuu, the vast majority of the book is printed in grayscale and is heavily text-based. Besides exhaustive dictionaries, this daizenshuu also contains some rare Akira Toriyama illustrations and comments never printed outside of Weekly Shōnen Jump, illustration reprints from the chapter title pages, a detailed look at much of the series' merchandise, and an exclusive thank you message to fans. Included before the table of contents is an introduction message from Akira Toriyama and the guides title page, which features the illustration from chapter 519, the final chapter of manga series.
Insert Poster
The book features a foldout poster of the guides respective cover illustration drawn by Akira Toriyama. On the opposite side is a character relationship poster that showcases many of the characters Son Goku met along his adventure.
Shenlong Times
As a special bonus for buying the daizenshuu, Shueisha included a small newspaper type pamphlet called the "Shenlong Times". This eight-page pamphlet contains an interview with author Akira Toriyama in commemoration of the final daizenshuu volume. The center of the pamphlet contains a short comic drawn by Toriyama detailing his life following the completion of series, which he is "incredibly glad" has ended. Following the comic is an "I Love Dragon Ball" section, which features a brief interview with Toriyama's good friend and manga artist Masakazu Katsura. The pamphlet ends with a "Dragon Ball News" section, showcasing new and upcoming Dragon Ball merchandise.
Contents
Introduction by Akira Toriyama
This Daizenshuu, the 7th and final one, is a huge Dragon Ball encyclopedia. I think the staff who make these books always have a rough time of it, but this one looked even more hellish than usual. They really did a great job. I'm ridiculously forgetful, so despite being the author, there's lots of stuff even I don't know anymore. It was often quite a nuisance, and I think having this encyclopedia around when the series was still running would have really helped me out. Darn it all.
Anyway, my thanks to the staff, and to all Dragon Ball fans.
— Akira Toriyama
Chronological Table of DB World
The first section in Daizenshuu 7 is a large visual timeline, which gives the exact dates of the major events in the series. It covers pre-Dragon Ball events, such as the Elder Kaiōshin being sealed in the Z Sword around 75 million years ago, all the way to the end of the manga series. Note that the timeline does not follow the years of our modern Gregorian calendar and instead utilizes the Dragon World's unique "Age" calendar. For example, the battle with Freeza takes place on 24 December, Age 762.
World View for DB
The "World View" section of the book contains an in-depth look at the Dragon World structure, including a detailed map of the Dragon Ball world, its universe, and its cosmos. It further describes the three main sections of the Dragon World; the "Heavenly Realm", the "Living World", and the "Kaiōshin Realm". The section also examines various aspects of the Dragon Ball world's societies, cultures, and races. A "Dictionary of Terms" closes out the section, which covers the basic terminology needed to understand the world of Dragon Ball.
Human Racial Dictionary
This dictionary contains biographies for 402 characters from the manga, anime adaptations, TV specials, and movies. Each biography highlights the specific character's history, distinguishing characteristics, important special attacks, their involvement in the Tenka'ichi Budōkai, and any elements original to the anime series or movies. The dictionary's index is divided up into different categories centered around Son Goku, including comrades, Tenka'ichi Budōkai participants, enemies, acquaintances, and non-acquaintances.
Special Attack Dictionary
The "Special Attack" dictionary details 270 techniques that appeared in the original manga and anime series. Each technique's entry includes information about its first appearance, the various characters that used the technique, what category the technique falls under, its main characteristics, and any elements of the technique original to the anime series or movies. The dictionary's index is divided up into different categories centered around Son Goku, including comrades, Tenka'ichi Budōkai participants, enemies, acquaintances, and non-acquaintances.
Rare Illustrations
In-between the "Special Attack" and "Item" dictionaries is an eight page collection of rare illustrations from Akira Toriyama that were not included in "Daizenshuu 1: Complete Illustrations". These illustrations include some short comic strips originally printed in Weekly Shōnen Jump, illustrations for the "Dragon Ball Z Anime Special" magazines, and his original illustrations and character designs for Dragon Ball GT.
Item Dictionary
This dictionary lists 329 of the items that were seen in the manga, anime, TV specials, and movies. Each item entry contains information regarding its first appearance, manufacturer, functions or capabilities, how it was featured in the story, and any elements original to the anime series or movies. The items are also classified by six categories; clothes, medical, general goods, communication, vehicles, and battle items.
Geographical Dictionary
The "Geographical" dictionary details 197 locations across the Dragon Ball world cosmos, including both the Heavenly and Living Realms. Each location entry highlights where it is located, what special characteristics can be seen there, and denotes any significant battles or events that have taken place at that location. The dictionary also provides Akira Toriyama's original map of the Dragon Ball world's Earth, which has been divided up by the daizenshuu into 12 regions.
Particulars Dictionary
Particular About Phrases
This particulars section lists some random phrases from the manga. The phrases include "The Grim Reaper of Justice!" (Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks' self description), "He's the idiot champion of the world!" (Vegeta's description of Mr. Satan at the Cell Games), and "I wonder if he's an alien…?" (Oolong's remark after Goku's first Ōzaru transformation).
Particular About Numbers
The second particulars section is a list of numbers, in numerical order, that were mentioned in the series. The numbers mostly represent multiple units of measure, such as weight and time, but it also includes amounts of money and the number of items or people.
Particular About the Anime
This particulars section showcases a few examples of anime-only elements that added to the series, such as the flashback scene before the Cell Games showing how Son Gohan got his name, Son Goku's false Super Saiyan state in Dragon Ball Z movie 4, Kuririn dressing like Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z movie 10, and seeing more of the Dragon Ball world (Goku meeting the Dai Kaiō, helping Paikuhan in Hell with Cell and Freeza, etc).
Particular About Time
The final particulars section lists all of the specific times we see in the series, such as Kame-Sen'nin beginning Goku and Kuririn's training at 4:30AM, the artificial humans appearing at 10:17AM on an island nine kilometers southwest of South City, Vegeta and Nappa landing on Earth at 11:43AM, and Oolong noticing his shape-shifting abilities were about to stop working as it was 3:05PM.
Pictorial Dictionary for DB Goods
10 Years of Dragon Ball
This timeline highlights 10 years worth of Dragon Ball merchandise, including book publications, anime-related releases, toys, video games, videos, CDs and Laserdiscs, and exclusive food items. The bottom of the timeline also includes significant world social events that occurred during the series' run from late 1984 through 1995.
We Talk About the Dragon Ball Products All Over the World
Following the timeline of Dragon Ball merchandise is a detailed catalog that lists the various items released around the world, although the vast majority of the section is devoted to Japan. Each item has a brief description, the item's release date, and its original retail price. Toward the end of the section is a page listing all of the items given away at the "Akira Toriyama the World" exhibits held in 1993 and 1995. The last portion of the catalog covers global Dragon Ball releases in countries from Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and North America.
Dragon Ball: A 10 Year History of Covers
While the first daizenshuu published all of Akira Toriyama's full colored manga chapter title illustrations, this section contains the majority of his black and white manga chapter title illustrations.
Reprinted!! A "Tenka'ichi Budōkai" of Exam Questions
This is a reprint of the "Tenka'ichi Test", a Dragon Ball knowledge competition held by Bandai and Weekly Shōnen Jump in March 1993 to celebrate the release of Super Butōden for the Nintendo Super Famicom. The exam contained 100 multiple choice questions that covered various aspects of the series, with all of the answers listed at the very end.
Akira Toriyama's Best of Volume Ending Comments
The end of each Weekly Shōnen Jump issue would feature short blurbs from that issue's manga artists. This section reprints the "best of" Akira Toriyama's comments during the series' manga run. The entirety of Toriyama's original comments have never been officially reprinted outside of Weekly Shōnen Jump issues.
Short Features
The following short features are included throughout the book.
The Four Futures Revealed
This one page feature examines the four timelines seen in the Dragon World. These timelines include the main story's actual timeline, the timeline that Future Trunks travels from to find Son Goku in the story's actual timeline, the timeline where Cell kills Trunks and steals his time machine to travel to the story's actual timeline, and a timeline where Trunks does not travel to the past but the Cell Games are still held.
Son Goku: Trajectory of Battle Power Growth
This is a two page chart showing the growth of Son Goku's battle power throughout the series, with a few other characters added in for comparison purposes. The chart provides battle powers for characters from both before the concept of battle powers were introduced into the story, and after they had dropped out of the story mid-way through the battle with Freeza.
Son Goku: Trajectory of Intellectual Growth
Following up the growth in Son Goku's battle power is a chart of his growth intellectually. The chart gives some great examples of Goku's lack of understanding, showing just how much of a country bumpkin he really was. Some examples include him trying to find Bulma's "balls", thinking marriage is some kind of food, telling lame jokes with Kaiō, and telling the Elder Kaiōshin that naughty "ecchi" material is "OK".
Dragon Ball Character's Secret Stories
Akira Toriyama answers five character-related questions in this section, revealing the secrets never expanded upon in the original manga story. The questions include "Where did Lunch-san go?", "How did No. 17 and No. 18 become artificial humans?", "Where has the Pilaf Gang gone?", "How were Kuririn and No. 18 married?", and "What is the difference between the two Trunks?".
Capsule Corporation Flying All Over the World
This feature examines Capsule Corporation's technology and how it has spread across the globe. It notes that by Age 778 Capsule Corporation makes 48% of the planet's vehicles, which had increased from 40% in Age 750 thanks to Goku's defeat of the Red Ribbon Army.
Character's Favorite Items Forum
This one page feature highlights five character's favorite items. These include Kame-Sen'nin's sunglasses, Yajirobe's air car, Bulma's Capsule No. 576 airplane, Bulma and co.'s Dragon Radar, and Freeza's small pod.
Exploring the Item's Roots
The final feature examines the roots of some of the series' items, such as Kinto-Un, the Nyoi-Bō, and the Bashō Fan. It also compares Yamcha's Jet Momonga, Videl's plane, and General Blue's Thunder Rocket to similar vehicles seen in some of Akira Toriyama's previous series.
A Thank-You From Akira Toriyama
So many, many people have helped me out with Dragon Ball through the years. Obviously, there are the fans from all over the world who've cheered me on. And I'm particularly indebted to my three editors (Torishima-san, Kondo-san, and Takeda-san). Then there's everyone involved with Shueisha, the comics, the special collections, the animation, TV, movies, toys, games, merchandise, events, etc. And then there's my wife, family, and friends, all of whom I am tremendously indebted to. Goku and the rest of the characters all did their best, as well. I truly am a happy man.
Thank you all so very much!!
Come to think of it, even though I've received tons of fan letters and presents from everyone, I've never written anyone back. How rude of me! Let me take this opportunity to apologize: I'm sorry.
Well anyway, farewell.
— Akira Toriyama, December 1995
Notes
- Outside of Japan, the seventh daizenshuu has only been officially translated and released in France.
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