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3,758 Posts & 2,350 Pages Documenting Dragon Ball, since 1998. We've got you covered!
News
“Super Dragon Ball Heroes: 13th Anniversary Super Guide” Releasing November 2023
Published by 25 September 2023, 2:18 PM EDTComment

Following the now-traditional schedule, Shueisha and other online retailers have listed an 09 November 2023 release date and ¥1,595 + tax price tag for a forthcoming Super Dragon Ball Heroes: 13th Anniversary Super Guide.

The 2023 book follows several previous anniversary guide books: the 5th Anniversary Mission book in November 2015, the 8th Anniversary Super Guide book in November 2018, the 9th Anniversary Super Guide in November 2019, the 10th Anniversary Super Guide in November 2020, the 11th Anniversary Super Guide in November 2021, and the 12th Anniversary Super Guide in November 2022. Each book covers card additions, ongoing storylines, interviews with production staff, and more.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes is an update and hardware revision to the original Dragon Ball Heroes, a card-based arcade game in which players arrange teammates on a playing field for turn-based battles. Dragon Ball Heroes has seen a variety of multimedia spin-offs and support pieces. Yoshitaka Nagayama’s Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultra God Mission!!!! manga (a follow-up to the previous Dark Demon Realm Mission!, Ultimate Mission!!, and Big Bang Mission!!! series) currently runs in Shueisha’s monthly Saikyō Jump magazine, while Toyotarō’s Dragon Ball Heroes: Victory Mission ran from 2012-2015 in Shueisha’s monthly V-Jump magazine. Three portable game adaptations — Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission, Ultimate Mission 2, and Ultimate Mission X — were released on the Nintendo 3DS. A fourth home version, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, launched on the Nintendo Switch and PC internationally in April 2019.

Content
Translation Update: “Special Project: Toyotarō Drew It!” Image #70
Published by 22 September 2023, 9:55 AM EDTComment

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 September 2023 entry, Toyotarō has drawn the skinny failed fusion version of Gotenks:

Gotenks (Failed Fusion)
In Super Hero, they went with the fat version, but since he got to fight in ways only he could, with headbutts and the like, it might have been a better idea than going with this skinnier version.

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

News
“Dragon Ball Super” Manga Chapter 97 Released
Published by 20 September 2023, 11:37 AM EDTComment

Following up on previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s ninety-seventh chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, continuing onward into the brand-new “Super Hero arc”, now adapting the contents of the recent theatrical film following three chapters worth of original prologue material. 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 November 2023 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’ ninety-seventh chapter hitting today in the magazine’s November 2023 issue.

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 this 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 last year.

News
First “Fist of the North Star” Manga Re-Release Volume (Shinsōban) Ships with Akira Toriyama Obi Comment
Published by 18 September 2023, 9:58 AM EDT2 Comments

The “New Edition” (新装版 Shinsōban) of Buronson and Tetsuro Hara’s classic Fist of the North Star manga series began its release last week in Japan, with the first two volumes hitting 13 September 2023, to be quickly followed by subsequent volumes in the coming weeks.

Alongside each new volume, the surrounding obi comes with a new comment from a contemporary/prominent manga artist, with volume one’s comment coming from none other than Dragon Ball‘s own Akira Toriyama himself:

The bold, catchy story! The detailed and impactful artwork! At the time, this manga was both my most reliable ally and my biggest rival with the Shōnen Jump editorial team.

The first volume of the new edition is available for purchase on Amazon Japan. Other manga authors already announced for comments on additional volumes include Hirohiko Araki (Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure) for volume two, Osamu Akimoto (KochiKame) for volume three, and Masanori Morita (Rokudenashi Blues) for volume four.

Viz is currently releasing premium hardcover editions of the original Fist of the North Star manga, with volume ten due out later this month.

Fist of the North Star predated Dragon Ball in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump, debuting in 1983 and then running contemporary with Dragon Ball into 1988.

News
40th Anniversary Tribute “Dragon Ball Super Gallery” #26: Shuichi Aso
Published by 10 September 2023, 4:45 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 twenty-five entries, this month’s October 2023 issue brings us Shuichi Aso (The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.) and their take on the series’ 37th volume cover:

Aso commented:

My friends used to bring all 42 volumes to our secret base and we’d go around reading them until it got dark outside. Whenever I bought a Carddass booster pack, I’d quickly flip through all the common cards, but then burst into dance if I got a foiled Gohan card. In Super Butōden, I’d quickly press all the buttons at random and then unexpectedly launch a secret move. I’d line up with my parents under the blistering heat to go and see the Toei Anime Fair. I’d draw Super Trunks on the blackboard in the back of class and get praised by my teacher. If I think back on my childhood days, the one constant running through all of it is definitely Dragon Ball. Congratulations on its 40th anniversary!!

Aso’s comments on the blackboard refers to the fact that many Japanese classrooms have two blackboards: the regular one in front of the class, and then a smaller one on the back, which is frequently used by students for doodling (like Asō did here). One prominent example in popular culture would be the classroom of the main character in Persona 5, where students would also frequently draw doodles related to the Phantom Thieves.

Aso also shared news of the drawing on Twitter, saying they wish they could tell their childhood self about it:

I drew the Dragon Ball illustration included in the back cover of this month’s Saikyō Jump! I’m so happy ☺️ I wish I could go back in time to tell myself as a child…! If you see it on store shelves, I’d be really happy if you checked it out for yourselves!

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: Ultra God 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.

News
“Dragon Ball Special Panel” Scheduled For New York Comic Con 2023
Published by 08 September 2023, 9:50 AM EDTComment

A “Dragon Ball Special Panel” has been announced for New York Comic Con this year. The panel will be held on the Empire Stage at the Javits Center in New York City from 12:45 to 1:45 pm (EDT) on 12 October 2023.

Delivering the latest information on the world-famous manga and anime franchise, “Dragon Ball”.
We will talk about new developments in the Dragon Ball series, along with a mysterious new teaser. Also the appearance of special guests!

The upcoming Dragon Ball presence at New York Comic Con has been promoted across many of the related official social media channels and websites, including the Japanese Dragon Ball website.

News
New Akira Toriyama Comment Released Alongside 15-Minute YouTube Preview of “Sand Land” Theatrical Film
Published by 01 September 2023, 2:44 PM EDTComment

In promotion of its recent release, the first 15 minutes of the new Sand Land theatrical film have been shared on YouTube. Alongside this video promotion, original author Akira Toriyama shared a new comment (alongside a drawing of the Swimmers’ Papa):

To all of you wonderful people that have already seen the movie Sand Land: thank you so very much!

Not all that many people have seen it yet, but thankfully, the reviews have been pretty good, and some wonderful people even said that they were unexpectedly moved by it! People seem to have particularly enjoyed the machine models, and that is entirely thanks to the animation staff.

If you still haven’t decided whether you want to go see the movie or not, or if you have decided and just don’t feel like going… don’t say that, and please go see the movie!

— AKIRA TORIYAMA

Following Dragon Ball‘s completion, 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. 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 Sand Land theatrical film debuted 18 August 2023 in Japan with animation produced by Sunrise, Kamikaze Douga, and Anima.

Content
Translation Update: “Special Project: Toyotarō Drew It!” Image #69
Published by 01 September 2023, 2:13 PM EDTComment

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 August 2023 entry, Toyotarō has drawn Rao from Akira Toriyama’s Sand Land manga series (and new theatrical film):

Rao
A Human Sheriff

Rao, who takes responsibility for everything, is a pretty cool guy!! I especially liked the additional scenes penned by Toriyama-sensei that were not in the original comic!

If you manage to experience the movie in 4DX or MX4D, the tank scenes make you feel like you’re riding an actual tank! And in MX4D, it looks like you can smell the cactus and Thief’s hairspray!

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

News
Head of the “Dragon Ball Room” and V-Jump Editor-in-Chief Akio Iyoku Leaving Shueisha to Form New Company: “Capsule Corporation Tokyo”
Published by 31 August 2023, 2:46 PM EDTComment

An exclusive report from Bunshun Online reveals that Akio Iyoku — editor-in-chief of V-Jump as well as head of the “Dragon Ball Room,” an interdepartmental collaborative group shaping the ongoing production of the Dragon Ball franchise — is leaving Shueisha in favor of running his own company, which he created back in May of this year.

Key highlights from the article include (as previously covered in detail by Kanzenshuu Admin Emeritus “Herms” on Twitter):

  • Iyoku is leaving Shueisha as of this month (August 2023)
  • The new company name of “Capsule Corporation Tokyo” — clearly taking the name “Capsule Corporation” form the world of Dragon Ball itself — was decided upon by Iyoku himself
  • Iyoku has planned this move for some time, having set up the new company back in May
  • The new company’s stated goal is to manage intellectual property content creation and distribution
  • Iyoku intends to recruit two of his prior subordinates — a man and a woman — to his new company
  • Iyoku declined to comment to Bunshun Online
  • Akira Toriyama largely declined to comment to Bunshun Online, instead referring them back over to Shueisha
  • Kazuhiko Torishima likewise largely declined to comment and referred Bunshun Online back over to Shueisha
  • Shueisha initially declined to comment to Bunshun Online, though later acknowledged by phone that Iyoku was indeed leaving the company
  • According to anonymous sources within Shueisha, Iyoku’s attitude and possessiveness over the Dragon Ball franchise had been seen as problematic, and there had been talk at least as of June 2022 about moving him to a non-Dragon Ball-related position, which he refused
  • Also according to an anonymous source within Shueisha, Iyoku intends for his new company to handle non-manga-serialization production and management for the Dragon Ball franchise (such as video games), and negotiations as to how that arrangement would work are in process with Shueisha remaining the ultimate rights-holder of the franchise

Iyoku is a prominent and visible figure in the world of Dragon Ball, regularly appearing at conventions and press events, as well as adopting the mascot moniker “King Iyoku” for his V-Jump-related publications and appearances.

Over on Twitter, we’ve shared a bit of a guided tour listing various examples of editorial influence and the collaborative shaping of Dragon Ball Super, inclusive of the television series, movies, and manga:

Podcast
Podcast Episode #0505
Published by 28 August 2023, 2:05 PM EDTComment

Show Description

Episode #0505! Mike, Ken, and Randy return once again to “Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot” to review its fifth paid downloadable content pack, this time covering the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai. Switching things up with ground-based battles and a rigid tournament structure, how does it fare compared to previous DLC releases, and what else might be on the horizon for this game?

How to Listen

Our podcast is available via Apple Podcasts and/or Google 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 or YouTube. We invite you to discuss this episode on our forum.

 

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