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Published by 03 January 2011, 11:43 AM ESTComment

Wow. Certainly was not expecting this kind of e-mail to hit my box this morning. This is the kind of wild prediction one of us should have made last podcast episode.

FUNimation Entertainment and Toei Animation Announce Online Streaming of Dragon Ball Z

Anime Leaders to Stream Episodes of Iconic Anime Series

Flower Mound, Texas – January 3, 2011 — FUNimation® Entertainment and Toei Animation Co., Ltd. have entered into an agreement giving the American anime leader exclusive rights to the U.S. and Canadian online streaming of the studios’ signature animated series “Dragon Ball Z.”

Starting Saturday, January 15th at 7:30 PM CDT preceding the One Piece simulcast at 8:00 PM CDT, FUNimation will stream the series from its beginning via the official Dragon Ball Z website www.dragonballz.com in addition to www.dragonballzkai.com , www.funimation.com and FUNimation partner site www.hulu.com.

FUNimation will offer its professionally-produced, uncut, English-tracked and English-subtitled adaptations of the hugely successful series beginning with the first episode as well as other chapters of the Dragon Ball franchise: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Z Kai.

“We are pleased to offer the first legal streaming of this seminal anime series,” said Gen Fukunaga, president and CEO of FUNimation Entertainment. “Dragon Ball Z and One Piece are the crown jewels of our digital content strategy and we are proud of the diverse selection of series that entertains established fans and new ones as well.”

So there you have it. Apparently the entire franchise will be making its way, both in its original Japanese incarnation (subtitled) along with an English dub, streaming online starting with the first episode of Dragon Ball Z, and it all goes down on January 15th.

The online coupling of Dragon Ball and One Piece mirrors the current “Dream 9” time slot on Fuji TV right now, which airs Dragon Ball Kai at 9:00 am, followed by One Piece at 9:30 am on Sunday mornings. This coupling appears to be in for some type of shift this coming April, however, with the series Toriko taking the Kai slot.

This is just hitting today, so we will of course continue to follow-up with additional information as it becomes available (items such as musical scores being used, possible availability outside North America, etc.).

Published by 03 January 2011, 10:29 AM ESTComment

Amazon Japan has released the cover art for the fourth and fifth DVD volumes of the Artificial Humans & Cell arc. The fourth volume is set to be released 07 January  2011, with the next volume following a month later on 04 February 2011. Both are retailing for ¥2,940 (~$35), but you can pre-order them for a tad cheaper from most online retailers. These volumes will contain episodes 64-66 and 67-69, respectively, presented in 16:9 widescreen.

Published by 31 December 2010, 3:23 PM ESTComment

It was recently announced that Banpresto would be releasing a new line of figures entitled the “Master Stars Piece” collection, which will span across multiple anime series, including Dragon Ball Z, Naruto Shippuden, and One Piece. The figures were recently unveiled at Jump Festa 2011. However, unlike the other anime series in the line, Banpresto is holding a Budōkai-style competition to determine which Dragon Ball Z figure will be produced: the Zōkei (“Model”) Tenkai’chi Budōkai…!

Each figure model is set in a head-to-head match-up and will proceed through the tournament based on your votes! The first round match-ups end on 31 January 2011 at 6:00pm JST. Simply visit the tournament website and place your vote for the model you like the best in each match-up. Much of the site is in English, so voting for international fans is quite simple: select “Tournament Table” from the menu in the upper left corner, select a tournament block, view the product details as needed, and then click the red button under the “VS”. From there, click one of the red buttons that has appeared nearest to the product you would like to vote for and confirm your vote by clicking the top button when prompted. By clicking the scouter in the middle of the screen you can view how many votes each competitor have been placed.

In total there are 10 models facing off in five rounds; No. 20 vs Super Saiyan Vegeta, Super Saiyan 3 Goku vs Piccolo, Super Saiyan Goku vs Full Power Freeza, Super Saiyan 2 Gohan vs No. 16, and Perfect Form Cell vs Son Goku. Not only will the winner get their model produced as part of Banpresto’s new line, but they will win the grand prize of one million yen! Now the question is: who will you vote for?

Published by 30 December 2010, 11:50 AM ESTComment

The second volume of the Bakuman anime is due out 23 February 2011 in Japan, and the Limited Edition version of both the DVD and Blu-ray will come with a bonus CD. How does this related to Dragon Ball, you may ask? Satoshi Hino (voice of Bakuman character Akito Takagi) will be performing two cover songs on this bonus CD, including “Makafushigi Adobenchā!” (“Mystical Adventure!”), the opening theme to the first Dragon Ball TV series.

UPDATE: It looks like the Limited Edition DVD and Blu-ray releases of the first volume will actually contain a bonus CD with a cover of “CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA”, as well. The first volume of the Bakuman TV series is due out 26 January 2010.

The Dragon Ball series and its author are apparently mentioned several times by the two main Bakuman characters, so it certainly seems like an appropriate tie-in. I simply do not think I can justify spending $70 on a single cover song, though…

Published by 29 December 2010, 8:40 PM ESTComment

It has certainly been a crazy year, this here 2010. The prior year may have given us DragonBall Kai, but this year was no slouch in the crazy announcement department. We had our fair share of sad moments over the course of 2010, as well, unfortunately. Tune in for a full recap of all the year’s biggest stories, a check-in on our predictions from last year, and a look at what we think 2011 has in store for us. Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0243! VegettoEX, Meri, and Julian recap the crazy year that was 2010. All sorts of surprises on both sides of the ocean, a plethora of releases, far too many sad moments, and a few head-scratchers made up the last year. How did we fare in our predictions from a year ago, and what do we see on the horizon for 2011? We already know about some video games and home releases, but will there be any true surprises in the next year?

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Published by 20 December 2010, 8:38 PM ESTComment

As a minor aside and follow-up to our previous podcast episode examining Dragon Ball SD, while nothing official has been confirmed, there does not seem to be any indication that it will be anything more than the single chapter in this month’s debut issue of Saikyō Jump. The quarterly magazine’s plans for March do not list a second chapter of Dragon Ball SD anywhere just yet, though this could certainly change.

Published by 20 December 2010, 8:36 PM ESTComment

Sadly, another veteran voice actor has also passed away, unfortunately joining greats such as Hirotaka Suzuoki and Daisuke Gōri. Takeshi Watabe passed away this month at age 74. While certainly a big name in the field, his contributions to the Dragon Ball franchise were limited. Perhaps his most well-known role was that of Panbukin in the first Dragon Ball Z TV special, though he did play one-off characters in both the first TV series as well as Dragon Ball GT.

Published by 20 December 2010, 8:36 PM ESTComment

Unshō Ishizuka indeed took over the role of Mr. Satan beginning with this weekend’s episode 86 of Dragon Ball Kai. Other than briefly voicing the character in TAG VS for the PSP earlier this year, there had been no word whether it would be Ishizuka himself or someone else eventually taking the role in the refreshed TV series.

Mr. Satan had previously been played by the great Daisuke Gōri, who passed away this past January.

Published by 20 December 2010, 8:35 PM ESTComment

We thought we would be taking it easy this week on the show due to sickness all around and lack of any significant news, but that all got tossed out the window when the Toriko announcement (see below) came into play. Hujio and I broke everything down in a logical fashion, with the knowledge that more information is probably heading our way very soon. What is on the horizon for DragonBall Kai…? Download the show now, or head on over to the podcast page for more information or to subscribe.

SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Episode #0242! VegettoEX and Hujio discuss the future of “DragonBall Kai” based on the recent news of “Toriko” taking its time slot on Fuji TV in April 2011. Is the show going to continue in any way, or is the refresh coming to a close? Lots of talk about DBZ Movie 1, some website projects in the works, and so much more rounds out the episode!

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