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News
40th Anniversary Tribute “Dragon Ball Super Gallery” #33: Naho Ooishi
Published by 11 April 2024, 4:44 PM EDTComment

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 thirty-two entries, this month’s May 2024 issue brings us Naho Ooishi (Dragon Ball SD) and her take on the series’ 18th volume cover:

Ooishi commented:

My first contact with the manga was when I was in kindergarten and couldn’t even read it, given to me by my father in place of a coloring book. Even after becoming an adult, I thankfully continued to be involved with Dragon Ball, so I was able to live my life alongside the larger-than-life Goku, who had become a father, and later a grandfather. It’s no exaggeration to say that Dragon Ball has occupied a very, very big presence throughout more than half my life. No matter how much I try, I will never be able to thank Toriyama-sensei enough for allowing me to live my life alongside the Dragon Ball. Thank you so, so much. I will continue to love Dragon Ball with aaaaaaaaaaall my heart from now on, too.

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: Meteor Mission! manga series and Yūji Kasai’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Avatars!! manga series. 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.

Podcast
Podcast Episode #0510
Published by 05 April 2024, 11:11 AM EDTComment

Show Description

The extended Kanzenshuu family and friend community comes together to share their memories of, gratitude toward, and the impact of Akira Toriyama.

How to Listen

Our podcast is available via Apple 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. We invite you to discuss this episode on our forum.

Though we always post our podcast episodes on YouTube, this particular episode has been given some additional light editing with the occasional example screen or video clip to accompany some of the discussion points, as well as on-screen names/handles for each of the contributors.

Content
Translation Update: “Special Project: Toyotarō Drew It!” Images #74, #75, & #76
Published by 04 April 2024, 3:23 PM EDTComment

Roughly each month, Toyotarō provides a drawing of a Dragon Ball (or related…!) 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 early 2024 catch-up entry, Toyotarō has drawn Cashman, Dub, and Arale from the Akira Toriyama-related manga series from V-Jump‘s early days:

SAVINGS WARRIOR CASHMAN

I obviously like the first version penned by Toriyama-sensei that ran in the very first issues of V-Jump, but I also really like the later version penned by Nakatsuru-san!

DUB & PETER 1

This is another one of the manga that Toriyama-sensei ran in the very first issues of V-Jump. You have insufferable brats, machines, and an American style! It really makes you feel like you’re square in the middle of Toriyama world!

DR. SLUMP’S ARALE NORIMAKI

This is the version of Arale that Toriyama-sensei designed for the second series (the one that aired during the 90s). It got two manga in V-Jump, one drawn by Nakatsuru-san, and another drawn by Yamamuro-san.

Savings Warrior Cashman was originally published as three chapters over the span of 1990 to 1991 in the initial A5-size run issues of V-Jump, while Dub & Peter-1 was originally published as four chapters over the course of 1992 to 1993 in the next AB-size trial run issues of V-Jump — both series were penned by Akira Toriyama directly.

After this point, V-Jump went monthly beginning with the July 1993 issue (published that May), and went on to feature the aforementioned two Dr. Slump sequel manga series (with involvement from Takao Koyama, Yoshimi Narita, Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, and Tadayoshi Yamamuro at different points), as well as a Cashman sequel series (from Takao Koyama and Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru).

Toriyama’s original Savings Warrior Cashman (as “Soldier of Savings Cashman”) and Dub and Peter 1 are both available in English as part of Viz’s “Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater” collection.

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

Content
New Translation: “Sand Land” Production Secrets – Akira Toriyama “Sand Land” Kanzenban Interview
Published by 01 April 2024, 2:59 PM EDTComment

Last August, Shueisha released a new kanzenban edition of Akira Toriyama’s 14-chapter manga series Sand Land. This new edition — mirroring the format and sizing of Dragon Ball‘s own kanzenban edition released from 2002 to 2004 — was updated to contain the original full-color versions of pages from its Weekly Shōnen Jump serialization, rough sketches from Akira Toriyama, as well as behind-the-scenes information.

The latest addition to our ever-growing “Translations” archive is just that: the full “Sand Land” Production Secrets interview with Akira Toriyama!

Read the Full Translation!

Sand Land was originally serialized within the pages of Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan from May to August 2000 spanning 14 chapters. The series was compiled into a single volume that November. A new kanzenban edition was released in Japan last August; that same month, a colorized version of the manga began in Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine in the September 2023 issue.

Sand Land went on to act as a debut series within Viz’s Shonen Jump print magazine in America in 2003, both running to completion and receiving its own collected volume later that same year. The entire manga series is also available as part of Viz’s digital vault service.

The Sand Land theatrical film debuted 18 August 2023 in Japan with animation produced by Sunrise, Kamikaze Douga, and Anima. Its home video release in Japan is due out 29 May 2024. The movie was expanded upon and received its own in-universe continuation by way of the Sand Land animated series, currently streaming worldwide.

A video game adaptation from Bandai Namco is out worldwide this month, as well.

News
Toyotarō Shares Story Behind Final “Dragon Ball Super” Manga Correction By Akira Toriyama
Published by 29 March 2024, 10:02 AM EDTComment

Reflecting on the passing of original creator Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball Super manga author and artist Toyotarō took to Twitter this week to share an anecdote about his review process with Toriyama for the most recent manga chapter.

Toyotarō noted that, at the end of his original draft for chapter 103, the characters all simply flew away with their backs turned. Upon review, Toriyama’s correction was for Piccolo to wave goodbye to Pan’s kindergarten teacher, which Toyotarō then felt had more meaning after Toriyama’s passing. Toyotarō then shared a new recreation of the original draft and correction — not the original versions, as he does not currently have permission to share those — in his extended Twitter thread:

So Dragon Ball Super will be on hiatus for now. Sorry about that. I’m not sure when chapters 101-103 will get printed in a collected volume, so please be sure to check them out on V-Jump! (You can also purchase back issues on Jump+!) Just one thing I would like to say regarding Chapter 103… (If you haven’t read it yet, spoilers ahead).

The truth is that, on the original storyboard that I drew for chapter 103, on the last page, everyone had their backs turned before flying off into the distance. But Sensei gave me one last correction: “Make Piccolo turn and wave goodbye to the kindergarten teacher.” (I couldn’t post the original storyboard without permission, so what you see below is my own recreation.) I got news of his passing after sending the finalized pages.

Therefore, it wasn’t with that intention that I drew Piccolo that way… but I now want to add that extra meaning onto that drawing. Thank you for everything, Toriyama-sensei. I was able to work alongside you for nine years. That really was a special time. Thank you so much. I pray from the bottom of my heart that you may rest in peace.

Examples of Toriyama’s corrections have been published before in the collected volumes of Dragon Ball Super, notably at the back of volumes 3, 6, 7, and 8.

Dragon Ball Super chapter 103 was published last week within the May 2024 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine (and received a simultaneous worldwide release in various languages via services such as Viz’s Shonen Jump and Shueisha’s Manga Plus). The series is now on an indefinite hiatus.

News
New “DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO” Trailer: “Power VS Speed” + 11 Character Reveals
Published by 22 March 2024, 11:42 AM EDTComment

In conjunction with a new gameplay showcase stream this week, Bandai Namco has released a new “Power VS Speed” trailer — both in English and Japanese — for the forthcoming DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO video game:

In addition to the 40 character blocks previously revealed, the new trailer announced the following additional character inclusions:

  • Super Trunks [Super Saiyan Grade 3 Future Trunks]
  • Dispo
  • Kakunsa
  • Turtle Hermit (Max Power)
  • Nappa
  • Butta
  • Toppo
  • Jheese
  • Super Saiyan Kale (Berserk)
  • Super Saiyan Broli (Full Power) [Dragon Ball Super]
  • Hit

As part of the gameplay showcase, game producer Jun Furutani noted that in keeping with the series’ history and expectations, battle systems such as the Dragon Dash, Impact Action, and counters have been kept from previous entries. In terms of new mechanics, Furutani noted that overall character movement has been boosted, and that dashing has therefore been adjusted to be even faster and can be incorporated into offensive and defensive techniques. A new “Skill Count” builds up during battle, which comes into play with two other new mechanics: the “Revenge Counter” lets you strike back while absorbing an opponent’s attack, while “Super Perception” is a counter command that lets the player preemptively counterattack in anticipation of upcoming attacks, including ki blasts. A new ki action called “Vanishing Assaults” lets you swoop in and approach the opponent instantly.

Though a specific release date has not been announced, Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO is slated for release on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (via Steam).

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. The new game’s title of Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO falls more in line with the original trilogy’s naming scheme in Japanese. 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. 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.

News
“Sand Land” Animated Series Debuts on Streaming Services Worldwide
Published by 21 March 2024, 9:05 PM EDTComment

The expanded adaptation of Sand Land — originally a theatrical film that debuted in Japan last summer — formally hit streaming services worldwide yesterday (20 March 2024).

Spanning 13 total episodes, the expanded series covers the events of last year’s film (itself covering and expanding upon the events of the original 14-chapter manga series) over the course of the first six episodes in the “Demon Prince arc”, and then moves on to all-new content developed in conjunction with original author Akira Toriyama in the “Angelic Hero arc” for the remainder of the series.

For the series’ streaming debut, the first seven episodes — all six of the first arc, and the first of the brand-new arc — were all posted at once. Moving forward, one new episode will be posted each Wednesday. The series is largely being handled by Disney+ worldwide, with the United States in particular receiving the series via Hulu.

The series also received new opening and ending themes: the opening theme is “Water Carrier” by Kroi, while the ending theme is “Drive My Idea” by Tempalay. Both groups provided new comments alongside the series’ debut:

OPENING THEME
“Water Carrier” by Kroi
Lyrics: Leo Uchida
Composition & Arrangement: Kroi
(IRORI Records / PONY CANYON)

Comment from Kroi
We, Kroi, will be handling the opening theme of SAND LAND: The Series, based on the original work by Akira Toriyama-sensei, with our new single “Water Carrier”!

Actually, it’s actually close to two years ago that we received word of this and recorded the song, so we’re happy to finally be able to share this news with everyone!

The world where Beelzebub & co.’s adventure unfolds is one where what’s “good” and what’s “evil” isn’t clear, and real the truth seems to be something that doesn’t come neat and tidy. We think our song came out as something will allow you to get even more thrills and excitement out of that world!

Please enjoy our song “Water Carrier” alongside SAND LAND: The Series!

ENDING THEME
“Drive My Idea” by Tempalay
Lyrics & Composition: Ryōto Ohara
Arrangement: Tempalay
(unBORDE / Warner Music Japan)

Comment from Tempalay
We love the vehicles drawn by Akira Toriyama-san, and even in private we call them “Akira Toriyama-style”. We were in elementary school during Sand Land‘s original run. The big buzzwords of the time that impacted us as kids were Nostradamus’ Predictions and the Y2K Problem, and in the middle of all that, Sand Land‘s post-apocalyptic vibe left a lasting impression. I think it was an era that balanced excitement with a vague sense of dread.

We hope you’ll get that same double-faceted feeling from the song we’ve provided.

…Which is me trying to sound all cool, but the reality is, I’ve been a super-fan since I was little, so I’m seriously hyped! I hope my classmates stumble upon this comment and read it! KURIRIN!

—Ryōto Ohara (Tempalay)

Following Dragon Ball‘s completion, Akira Toriyama produced various one-shots and short works for Shueisha including Alien Peke and Tokimecha in 1996, and Bubul of Demon Village in 1997. Series with longer runs — serializations that would ultimately comprise a single tankōbon — were also produced, including COWA! in 1997, Kajika in 1998, and Sand Land in 2000.

Sand Land was originally serialized within the pages of Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan from May to August 2000 spanning 14 chapters. The series was compiled into a single volume that November. A new kanzenban edition was released in Japan last August; that same month, a colorized version of the manga began in Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine in the September 2023 issue.

Sand Land went on to act as a debut series within Viz’s Shonen Jump print magazine in America in 2003, both running to completion and receiving its own collected volume later that same year. The entire manga series is also available as part of Viz’s digital vault service.

The Sand Land theatrical film debuted 18 August 2023 in Japan with animation produced by Sunrise, Kamikaze Douga, and Anima. Its home video release in Japan is due out 29 May 2024.

A video game adaptation from Bandai Namco is out worldwide this April, as well.

Content
New Translation: “Dr. Mashirito’s Ultimate Manga Technique” – Interview with Akira Toriyama
Published by 21 March 2024, 2:07 PM EDTComment

Last July, Shueisha released an expanded collection of content from Kazuhiko Torishima originally printed within the company’s Saikyō Jump magazine: titled Dr. Mashirito’s Ultimate Manga Technique (Dr.マシリト 最強漫画術), the 196-page book includes a variety of career reflections, advice for upcoming artists, and interviews with colleagues.

New and exclusive to the book was an interview with Akira Toriyama himself, which is the latest addition to our ever-expanding “Translations” archive.

Read the Full Translation!

Though the entire early-career retrospective/chat is enlightening, one particular section may garner a little more attention than others:

Toriyama:
That’s the hardest thing about action manga. If you draw it on the same level as the previous fight, it’ll seem to the readers that the level has actually gone down. So I gradually came to believe that there’s a limit to making the characters stronger. In terms of having to take the level of action portrayals even higher, it got quite difficult from around the time the battle with Freeza ended.

Torishima:
That would have been the best place to stop, too. (laughs)

Toriyama:
That’s rich, coming from you. (laughs)

Torishima:
Well, when it got to have such runaway popularity, we couldn’t very well have that, now could we?

An exploration of this exchange — which to most casual readers would appear to be a throwaway comment and laugh between friends — has been added to the respective page in our “Intended Endings Guide” here on Kanzenshuu.

News
“Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot” To Receive Continued Development
Published by 21 March 2024, 12:01 PM EDTComment

The official Dragon Ball games Twitter account — both in Japanese and in English (by way of Bandai Namco) — announced today that the 2020 video game Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is set to receive continued development support.

『ドラゴンボールZ KAKAROT』は今後も展開を予定しております。
どうぞ続報をお待ちください！”

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.

Two season passes worth of content — with six individual packs in total — have come out since the game’s release. 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. The second season pass includes entries for the original 1990 Bardock television special, the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai, and the 28th Tenka’ichi Budōkai.

In terms of mainline continuity content, the game now already effectively covers everything from the final battle with Demon King Piccolo up through an expanded epilogue of the manga.

Reviews of the base game, Trunks DLC, Bardock DLC, 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai DLC, and 28th Tenka’ichi Budōkai DLC can be found on episodes #0481, #0490, #0497, #0505, and #0509, respectively, of our podcast.

News
“Dragon Ball Super” Manga Chapter 103 Released
Published by 20 March 2024, 12:00 PM EDT3 Comments

Following up on previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s 103rd chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, continuing onward into the brand-new “Super Hero arc”. After three chapters worth of original prologue material, the manga version of the arc covered the full events of the respective film, and has now transitioned into even more original story content.

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 Japanese debut to the release date, but to its local time in Japan alongside its serialization in today’s May 2024 issue of Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine.

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’ one-hundred-third chapter hitting today in the magazine’s May 2024 issue.

UPDATE: Though Shueisha’s official Manga Plus website originally noted upon this chapter’s release that the Dragon Ball Super manga will be off next month in the magazine’s June 2024 issue and would return in the magazine’s July 2024 issue (set for release 21 May 2024), the site has been updated since this article’s original posting with the removal of this statement. Within the actual pages of V-Jump, splash text on the final page of the chapter notes “We will take a break starting next issue” (次号より休載いたします。), while promotional splashes for the next issue (June 2024, releasing in April) in the back of the magazine have tiny text that notes “Dragon Ball Super will be on break next issue” (次号の「ドラゴンボール超」は休載です。).

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 twentieth collected volume was released last month.

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 in 2022.