Toei’s official Dragon Ball Kai website is reporting that it has started a “Become Dragon Ball Kai” campaign in conjunction with Bandai. The campaign includes a new children’s clothing line which will run from now until the end of January 2011. The first 590 people to buy an item and return the postcard included will win a free life-size pillow of Kinto-Un. In addition, the first seven people to buy any Son Goku cosplay apparel and submit a photo of themselves wearing it will receive an original photo of them as Goku placed in a famous Dragon Ball photo or screen shot. Finally, do not forget to buy your Dragon Ball underwear!

The next three episode titles for Dragon Ball Kai have been leaked online early — here is a quick run-down of what to expect in the upcoming weeks:

Namco-Bandai issued a press release today confirming the inclusion of the new episode/feature/OVA, Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans, on-disc for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Raging Blast 2 which is due out this November:

DRAGON BALL®: RAGING BLAST™ 2 TO INCLUDE EXCLUSIVE DRAGON BALL® ANIME EPISODE

Game Disc to Feature Brand New Never Before Seen 30-minute Dragon Ball Anime Feature

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (August 10, 2010) – NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. today announced that all retail editions of Dragon Ball®: Raging Blast 2™ for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system will feature a brand new 30-minute feature of the Dragon Ball® anime on the game disc.

The exclusive new feature entitled “Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans” is a completely reconstructed, re-scripted and re-edited version of an original Japanese episode that has never been released in the U.S or Canada, offering something unique to fans of the series. Everyone who buys the game can watch this exclusive anime straight out of the box.

Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 features a host of improvements and new features, delivering the most authentic and advanced Dragon Ball videogame experience to date.  Everything from the camera to the controls has been reworked to create an accessible game with more than enough tactical depth to satisfy even the most battle-hardened Dragon Ball fan. Sporting more than 90 characters, 20 of which are brand new to the Raging Blast series, new modes, and additional environmental effects, Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 is the next evolution in the home console series.

A special preview of the feature will be available on August 18th. We are following-up with Namco-Bandai regarding audio options for the feature in this international release of the game.

Namco-Bandai has posted a ¥1.64 billion (approximately $19 million) loss for the first quarter of fiscal year 2011, the period of April 1st to June 30th, 2010.

In terms of Dragon Ball overall, the franchise dropped in net sales from ¥2.2 billion last year in Q1 2010 to ¥1.2 billion this quarter, and the company is forecasting a drop down to ¥3.0 billion in Q2 2011 compared to ¥5.8 billion in Q2 2010. Compared with last fiscal year’s actual net sales of ¥12.5 billion, the company is forecasting ¥9.5 billion for fiscal 2011.

No individual Dragon Ball game sales were noted in the report, but yesterday’s update with numbers from Famitsu gave us a complete look at Japan throughout calendar 2009. As an update to that, it looks like Dragon Ball DS 2 sold 59,511 copies in Japan over the first half of this calendar year.

In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games), the franchise dropped slightly in net sales from ¥0.7 billion last year in Q1 2010 to ¥0.6 billion this quarter. The company is standing strong with their forecast for fiscal 2011 of ¥2.7 billion, and projects an increase up to ¥1.1 billion next quarter alone. Should that projection ring true, that leaves only ¥0.9 billion to be split among the last two quarters of the fiscal year.

As always, the latter-half of the calendar year seems to be the strongest for Namco-Bandai in terms of Dragon Ball, and particularly in the video game arena. We have at least two more games coming worldwide this fall, which should bump things up.

Famitsu has listed the top-selling games of 2009 in Japan, and our beloved Dragon Ball whimpers along the list at least in some capacity. Note that these stats are through December 2009, and do not include any additional sales so far in 2010. Data is presented in the following format: (rank) (platform) (title) (publisher) (2009 sales) (lifetime sales) — note that titles have been adjusted back to their original Japanese versions compared to other lists you may see online:

• 063 [NDS] Dragon Ball Kai: Saiya-jin Raishū (Bandai Namco) – 192.200 / 192.200
• 111 [PS3] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (Bandai Namco) – 107.542 / 107.542
• 157 [PS2] Dragon Ball Z: Infinite World (Bandai Namco) – 76.275 / 199.966
• 255 [WII] Dragon Ball: Tenka’ichi Dai-bōken (Bandai Namco) – 44.160 / 44.160
• 355 [NDS] Dragon Ball DS (Bandai Namco) – 28.966 / 214.195
• 616 [360] Dragon Ball: Raging Blast (Bandai Namco) 10.816 / 10.816
• 740 [PSP] Dragon Ball: Evolution (Bandai Namco) – 7.513 / 7.513

As expected, Raging Blast did exceptionally better on the PS3 in Japan than on the 360. The latest DS game did surprisingly well, and quite better than the original Dragon Ball DS did in its first year (approximately 72,000 copies). Infinite World has a strong showing in its second year, though it was released extremely late in 2008, so the numbers are a little misleading in that respect. The live action movie game is a shocker to see on the list at all, pushing over 7000 copies in the country that made fun of the movie more than any other.

This certainly would not be the first time that a new Dragon Ball game was leaked via online retailer listings. Play.com is currently listing a new game for the Nintendo Wii titled simply Dragon Ball Z: Spike. It is an odd title, especially considering that Japanese developer Spike is responsible for the Sparking! and Raging Blast series, though only the second and third Sparking! games (NEO and METEOR) made it to the Wii; the only other Wii game for the franchise so far has been last year’s Tenka’ichi Dai-bōken / Revenge of King Piccolo. The game is listed for release 01 October 2010 in Europe, which is not all that far off. With other games coming out later this year as well, it seems strange that we would not have heard a peep about this game yet so far into 2010.

Namco-Bandai issued a press release today detailing the inclusion of the Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans remake animated feature in Raging Blast 2:

株式会社バンダイナムコゲームスは、2009年に発売した『ドラゴンボール レイジングブラスト』を進化させた、プレイステーション3・Xbox360用ソフト『ドラゴンボール　レイジングブラスト2』を、2010年11月11日に発売致します。
(http://b.bngi-channel.jp/db_ragingblast/)

本作は、新たな試みとして過去にファミリーコンピュータ(ファミコン)用『ドラゴンボールZ外伝 サイヤ人絶滅計画』やオリジナルビデオアニメ『公式ビジュアルガイド ドラゴンボールZ外伝 サイヤ人絶滅計画』をベースに、全篇に渡って新規作画とシナリオの再構成を行い、最新の映像技術でフルリメイクし、【リバイバルアニメーション『ドラゴン ボール　超サイヤ人絶滅計画』】としてソフト内に収録致しました。
ゲーム本編は、2009年に発売した『ドラゴンボール レイジングブラスト』を大幅に進化させた格闘アクションゲーム最新作になります。前作に登場したキャラクターはもちろん、新たに登場する新キャラクターも含め、総勢100体ものキャラクターが登場します。
グラフィックは、前作のアニメテイストの表現にCGのもつ質感を融合させたリアル感の増した新たな表現へと進化しました。
さらに、新バトルシステム、新モードの導入を導入し、前作以上の白熱のドラゴンボールバトルが楽しめる本作にご期待ください。

タイトル：ドラゴンボール　レイジングブラスト2
ジャンル：格闘アクション
発売日：2010年11月11日
価格：7,329円(税込)
ハード：プレイステーション3　XBOX360
プレイ人数：1-2人
コピーライト：(c)バードスタジオ／集英社・フジテレビ・東映アニメーション　(c)2010 NBGI

※プレスリリースの情報は、発表日現在のものです。発表後予告なしに内容が変更されることがあります。あらかじめご了承ください。

The game’s official website has also been updated with some sneak-peaks at production art and sketches:

The American version of the game (on both the PS3 and Xbox 360) is due about one week before its Japanese counterparts on 02 November 2010 for our standard price of $59.99. There is no word yet from Namco-Bandai about its possible inclusion outside Japan. The first Famicom game was removed as a bonus from Origins 2 when Dragon Ball DS 2 made its way to the DS over here, but this inclusion seems to be much more a part of the overall experience than that bonus.

Shueisha has updated their listing for the JSAT Edition: Dragon Ball – Heya! Son Goku and Friends Return!! comic which is due out in Japan 03 September 2010 for ¥730 (~$8.00). It now lists some additional details that make this release much more intriguing than it ever was originally, as it appears this will not be a re-release of the manga adaptation drawn by Naho Ooishi in V-Jump. This new comic will be 160 pages in length, while the adaptation by Ooishi was only 72 pages which was slit into two 36 page volumes.

That said, all of the original film animation comics (or “animanga”) were between 150-165 pages in length. On top of that, this new comic will be the exact same size as the film animation comics, “New Book Format” (11 x 17 cm), and Toriyama is the only author listed.

I hate to say it, but it seems that this will simply be an animanga edition of the Jump Super Anime Tour special. On the positive side of things, many of the film comics did include tons of supplemental information, so hopefully we can look forward to that.

After Takeshi Aono’s recent stroke, we learned that all of his roles were being immediately recast. Kami-sama/God would be coming up in Dragon Ball Kai episodes right before the appearance of Cell, leaving the role (unfortunately) wide open. Veteran Bin Shimada has stepped in to the role, perhaps best known to fans as Broli from the various later Dragon Ball Z movies.

Shimada also took over for Aono’s role in Chibi Maruko-chan.