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News
Voice Actor Jōji Yanami Passes Away
Published by 14 December 2021, 10:48 AM ESTComment

Jōji Yanami, best known as both the voice of the Narrator and Kaiō (the northern “Lord of Worlds”) in the Dragon Ball franchise, has passed away at age 90 as reported by his agency, Aoni Production:

Jōji Yanami, who was affiliated with our company, passed away at 10:59 p.m., Dec. 3, 2021, aged 90 years.
A funeral and memorial service, for close family members only, were held soon after.
While we regret to relay this news, we would also like to express our heartfelt appreciation for the kindness he gave us during his life.

Following two decades of already-legendary work in the industry, Yanami’s performance in the Dragon Ball series began with the narrator in the very first episode in 1986, and continued onward into the modern era through 2009’s “refreshed” television series Dragon Ball Kai (though the role of Bobbidi would shift to Bin Shimada in 2014’s eventual airing of the Boo arc), 2013’s theatrical film Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods, and then beginning into the Dragon Ball Super television series in 2015. After only a dozen episodes, it was announced that Naoki Tatsuta (Oolong’s voice actor) would take over the role of Northern Kaiō and the narrator due to Yanami’s ongoing health issues, marking the end of his work on the series.

Yanami played other roles — some credited, others uncredited — throughout the Dragon Ball franchise, including Doctor Frappe, Doctor Brief, and Bobbidi.

In an interview printed within the 2004 anime guidebook Dragon Ball: Tenka’ichi Densetsu, Yanami noted that he had been specifically chosen for the role of the narrator, and then once again for the role of Kaiō, and that he was, “…truly thankful for everyone’s many years of support!!”

Many of Dragon Ball‘s voice actors have told stories of Yanami’s warm and welcoming demeanor, as well as his penchant for ad-libbing and joking around during recording sessions. In a separate interview between Akira Toriyama, Takao Koyama, and Masako Nozawa printed in Tenka’ichi Densetsu, Nozawa relayed her own story of Yanami:

Now that you mention it, during young Gohan’s training, it seemed like Piccolo was picking on Gohan, didn’t it? At that time, all the performers were really into their roles, so Jōji Yanami-san got angry at Piccolo’s voice actor, Toshio Furukawa-san, and shouted, “Hey, knock it off. He’s just a child!” (laughs) Furukawa-san was perplexed, and said, “I’m just voicing the character…” (laughs)

Toshio Furukawa shared his condolences and memories this evening on Twitter:

Learning of the sad news about Jōji Yanami, who was my great senior both at Aoni Production and in the industry, has struck me with emotions that are hard to describe. I had the honor of working together with him on a great many titles over a long span of time. I cannot adequately express the joy I felt to have had the privilege of sharing the same time and space with him. I am truly thankful.

Tōru Furuya (Yamcha’s voice actor) likewise shared his condolences on Twitter this evening:

Jōji Yanami-san has passed away at the age of 90. Starting with Star of the Giants, he helped me greatly on a number of productions. In his later years, he was extremely happy that I took up golfing and even joined me on many occasions. He was always very gentle and friendly, and admired by everyone. Goodbye, Yanami-san, and thank you for everything. I pray with all my heart that you may rest in peace.

Scriptwriter Takao Koyama also shared a post on Twitter (responding to writer Getsuto Yūki, the alter ego of voice actor Yutaka Aomori):

Thank you, Yūki-san. Just the other day, I lost a senior colleague who had looked after me, and now Yanami-san… He was truly good to me. He was of course in the “Bokan” series, but he was also Inchiki the Great (Shigeru Suzuki) in “Doteraman”, and both Kaiō and the Narrator in “Dragon Ball”. He saved my butt time and time again with his brilliant ad-libs. Rest In Peace.

Content
New (Old) Translations: Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z Daizenshuu 5-Disc Set Comments
Published by 30 November 2021, 4:42 PM ESTComment

The latest additions to our ever-growing “Translations” archive come in the form of four comments from the Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z Daizenshuu. Don’t confuse this with the guidebook series of the same name — what we’re pulling from here is the Dragon Ball franchise’s (at the time) largest CD set, released in 1994 covering a wide swath of the series’ vocal songs and background music across its five discs.

Son May — one of the largest Taiwanese bootleg operations of the day — released their own unlicensed version of the Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z Daizenshuu, which was complete and comprehensive enough to trick many an unsuspecting fan into believing it was a legitimate product. Alas, the Son May version did not include the full packaging of the original Columbia Japan release, nor did it replicate the enclosed booklet in its entirety.

Kanzenshuu is currently producing a complete translation of the entire original Columbia Japan Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z Daizenshuu booklet, with most of it already complete and added to the respective — and ever-forthcoming — wiki pages. This booklet translation includes commentary of the background music suites, including their usage, placement, M-numbering, and more.

As part of this complete translation, we are separately and pre-emptively releasing here the aforementioned four comments: those of Yū Hayakawa, Kōzō Morishita, Shigeru Miyashita, and the late-and-great Shunsuke Kikuchi.

Yū Hayakawa Comment

Kōzō Morishita Comment

Shigeru Miyashita Comment

Shunsuke Kikuchi Comment

Each of these comments have been added to our “Translations” archive. Enjoy this peek into the production of Dragon Ball‘s music!

Content
Translation Update: “Special Project: Toyotarō Drew It!” Image #48
Published by 29 November 2021, 10:28 AM ESTComment

Each month, Toyotarō provides a drawing of a Dragon Ball 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 November 2021 entry, Toyotarō has contributed a drawing of Resident Number TKM118755 Bulma:

Resident Number TKM118755 Bulma

One of only three people named Bulma in West City. She only appears in one panel and only her face is shown, so I designed her clothes based on the other residents. I wonder what kind of person the remaining Bulma is…?

The character originates in Dragon Ball chapter 68, where after a series of unfortunate events for everyone that Goku runs into in West City, our hero eventually asks a policeman where his friend Bulma lives. It turns out there are actually a few people named “Bulma” living in West City, but the second one that they look up on the policeman’s computer — the daughter of the owner of Capsule Corporation! — is the correct one.

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

News
40th Anniversary Tribute “Dragon Ball Super Gallery” #4: Ryūhei Tamura
Published by 29 November 2021, 10:00 AM ESTComment

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 three entries, this month’s December 2021 issue brings us Ryūhei Tamura (Beelzebub, Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin) and his take on the series’ 38th volume cover:

Tamura commented:

Congratulations to Dragon Ball on its 40th anniversary! The first time I saw Goku’s sons, I thought they were so unbelievably cute that I drew them like crazy. I love both Gohan and Goten. Being reminded once again that that was where my passion for drawing children came from, I chose to redraw the cover to volume 38. I am so honored to have gotten the chance to participate in this project!!

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 this fall (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: Big Bang Mission!!! and the Dragon Ball GT Anime Comic. 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
Bandai Namco Announces “Dragon Ball: The Breakers” Closed Beta Details
Published by 24 November 2021, 11:41 AM ESTComment

Bandai Namco has announced that the closed beta for the forthcoming Dragon Ball: The Breakers video game will be held next weekend (03 December to 05 December 2021 depending on / according to local time zones), exclusively on the PC via Steam. Registrations are required for the closed beta (separate sign-up links are available for Japan, Europe and North America), with registrations closing next Tuesday, 30 November 2021, and selected users being notified ahead of the beta timeframe.

Alongside the closed beta details, Bandai Namco shared a combination “Closed Beta Test Trailer” and “Game Systems Overview” trailer:

Developed by Dimps, Dragon Ball: The Breakers puts a small group of seven survivors up against a “raider” in an asymmetrical race to survive. Currently scheduled for release some time in 2022, The Breakers will release on the Sony PlayStation 4 (also playable on PlayStation 5), Microsoft Xbox One (also playable on Series S|X), Nintendo Switch, and the PC via Steam. The game will be released an an “accessible pricing” and shares a world with Dragon Ball XENOVERSE 2.

News
“Dragon Ball Super” Manga Chapter 78 Released
Published by 19 November 2021, 1:40 PM ESTComment

Continuing onward from previous chapters, Shueisha and Viz have added the official English translation of the Dragon Ball Super manga’s seventy-eighth chapter to their respective Manga Plus and Shonen Jump services, continuing the brand-new “Granolla the Survivor arc”. 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 January 2022 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 monthly in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ seventy-eighth chapter coming today in the magazine’s January 2022 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” and “Granolla the Survivor” arcs. Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017. The fifteenth collected volume is due out in January 2022.

The Dragon Ball Super television series concluded in March 2018 with 131 total episodes. 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 last year.

News
Voice Actor Announcements Coming at Jump Festa ’22 “Dragon Ball Super” Panel
Published by 19 November 2021, 12:59 PM ESTComment

The Dragon Ball Official Site has announced the roster of voice actors scheduled for this year’s Dragon Ball Super panel at Jump Festa ’22, which will be held at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, Japan between December 18th and 19th. After last year’s event was held virtually due to the pandemic, this year’s Jump Festa will feature in-person programs which will also be simultaneously streamed online.

The Dragon Ball Super panel is scheduled for 4:20 PM JST (2:20 AM EST) on the Jump “Super Stage” and will feature voice actors Masako Nozawa (Son Goku) and Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo), with Nozawa attending remotely. Joining them will be the yet-to-be-announced voice actors for the characters Gamma 1 and Gamma 2, set to debut in the upcoming Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie, who will officially be revealed at the event.

The story, script, and character designs for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero are being crafted by original manga author Akira Toriyama. Shueisha’s executive producer Akio Iyoku has noted that the movie’s story will take place after the events in Dragon Ball Super: Broly, but before the 28th Tenka’ichi Budōkai, and feature the revival of an old foe. The movie’s main staff and cast have yet to be revealed, but it has been noted that the Japanese cast recorded their lines in early October 2021 and the movie itself is being produced almost exclusively with CG. The movie is currently slated for release in Japan sometime in 2022, with no definitive release date set at this time.

News
“Dragon Ball: The Breakers” (PC/PS4/XBO/Switch) Announced For 2022 Release
Published by 16 November 2021, 4:52 PM ESTComment

Bandai Namco has announced Dragon Ball: The Breakers, an “Asymmetric Online Multiplayer Survival Coop” video game developed by Dimps set for release in 2022 for the PC, Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

Alongside official posts and press articles in Japanese, an official English-language website for the game is open at:

www.bandainamcoent.com/games/dragon-ball-the-breakers

Developed by Dimps, Dragon Ball: The Breakers — widely being compared to the 2016 game Dead by Daylight — puts a small group of survivors up against a “raider” such as Freeza, Cell, or Boo in a quest to do just that: survive. The game will see a closed beta on PC prior to release.

BANDAI NAMCO ENTERTAINMENT AMERICA INC. UNVEILS DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS; A NEW SURVIVAL ACTION EXPERIENCE SET IN THE DRAGON BALL UNIVERSE
In the Temporal Seam, No One Can Hear Your Screams

SANTA CLARA, Calif., (November 16, 2021) – Leading video game publisher and developer BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. today announced DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS which is scheduled to release in the Americas for PlayStation®4, PlayStation®5 (Compatible), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (Compatible), Nintendo Switch, and PCs via STEAM® in 2022. DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS is an eight-person online multiplayer game that combines both cooperative and competitive dynamics to create a revolutionary asymmetrical online survival action experience set in the DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE universe. A Closed Beta Test will be organized on PC, enabling players to get their hands on the game. More details regarding Closed Beta Test registration will be shared soon.

DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS consists of 7v1 matches where seven normal “Survivors” have been sucked into a mysterious phenomenon called the “Temporal Seam” and must contend with the overwhelming power of the eighth player, the franchise iconic rival “Raider,” whose task is to obliterate the Survivor team. The Survivors don’t have any superpowers and must rely on various power-up items, weapons, and pilotable vehicles to battle and evade the Raider while searching for the Super Time Machine to escape oblivion. Concurrently, the Raider will be able to play as Cell, Buu, or Frieza and amass overwhelming power to destroy the Survivor team throughout the match, ensuring complete dominance.

DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS also features a Survivor character customization mode which enables players to design their match avatars by using familiar DRAGON BALL Survivor skins and decorative equipment earned with in-game credits or via optional in-game purchases. Additionally, DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS will link save data with DRAGON BALL XENOVERSE 2. Stay tuned for more updates in the future.

“The DRAGON BALL series has been a global fan favorite for over 37 years and DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS takes the classic over-the-top action formula and offers an innovative twist with its online survival gameplay,” said Lin Leng, Senior Director of Brand Marketing at BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. “Both new players and long-time fans can expect an extremely fun and engaging experience; whether playing as a Raider hunting down fellow gamers or as a Survivor, playing cooperatively to team-up against an iconic rival.”

Steeped in a wealth of DRAGON BALL lore and featuring innovative survival action gameplay, DRAGON BALL: THE BREAKERS will be available in the Americas for purchase digitally and at brick & mortar retailers for PlayStation®4, PlayStation®5 (Compatible), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (Compatible), Nintendo Switch, and PCs via STEAM® in 2022. For information on this and other products from BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc., please visit www.bandainamcoent.com or follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BandaiNamcoUS, or join the conversation on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/BandaiNamcoUS

Alongside similar information in the game’s press release, a video from producer Ryosuke Hara notes that the game will be released an an “accessible pricing” and that it shares a world with the company’s existing Dragon Ball XENOVERSE 2 video game, with plans for linking save data between the two games.

Bandai Namco is currently supporting a range of Dragon Ball video games across various consoles and gaming devices, including three major console titles (Dragon Ball XENOVERSE 2, Dragon Ball FighterZ, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot), two major mobile titles (Dragon Ball: Dokkan Battle, Dragon Ball Legends), as well as the Dragon Ball Heroes franchise largely exclusive to Japan (which is currently celebrating its 11th anniversary). The company recently announced that Dragon Ball XENOVERSE 2 and Dragon Ball FighterZ have sold 8 million copies.

News
Bandai Namco Holdings Q2 Fiscal 2022 Figures
Published by 10 November 2021, 2:08 PM ESTComment

Bandai Namco Holdings has posted a ¥39.527 billion (approximately $347 million) profit for the first half of fiscal year 2022, compared to a ¥31.715 billion profit at this same point last year.

namco_bandai_logo_resaved

Dragon Ball remains the company’s best-performing franchise, pulling in ¥61.2 billion this half fiscal year (a slight drop from ¥63 billion at this point last year), though the company is projecting a full fiscal year total of ¥133.5 billion, up from last full fiscal year’s ¥127.4 billion.

In terms of general toys and hobby merchandise (non-video games), the franchise grew from ¥7.4 billion last fiscal half-year to ¥10.1 billion this half-year, with a projected full year jump from ¥15.4 billion last year to ¥17 billion this year.

News
Viz “Dragon Ball Super” Manga English Translation Collected Edition Volumes 15 & 16 Schedule
Published by 08 November 2021, 9:15 AM ESTComment

Viz is set to slowly dish out additional collected volumes of the Dragon Ball Super manga over the course of 2022, with two volumes currently announced for next year.

Volume 15, covering chapters 65-68, is due out 04 January 2022 for $9.99 in print (with a digital version also coming alongside it). These chapters comprise the end of the “Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc” and kick-off the (currently ongoing) “Granolla the Survivor” arc:

Goku finally manages to activate the complete version of Ultra Instinct, and he’s got Moro on the ropes. However, Moro has one more trick up his sleeve… Having stocked Merus’s Ultra Instinct, Moro is about to give Goku a taste of his own medicine! Can Goku win against another user of that divine power?!

Volume 16, covering chapters 69-72, is due out 02 August 2022 for $9.99 in print (with a digital version also coming alongside it), moving onward into the “Granolla the Survivor” arc:

Granolah is the last Cerealian, a people who were wiped out by the Saiyans and Freeza’s army many years ago. When he finds out that the observatory on his planet has found the long-lost twin to the pair of Dragon Balls from planet Cereal that the old Namekian Monaito keeps in their home, Granolah steals it and makes a wish that will allow him to start his quest for revenge against the Saiyans—to become the strongest being in the whole universe! Meanwhile, the Heeters work behind the scenes to put Granolah out of his misery once and for all…by enlisting Goku and Vegeta’s help!

Both Volume 15 and Volume 16 are available for pre-order at Amazon.

Viz is also on tap to release “Akira Toriyama’s Manga Theater” next month, a compilation of the three volumes in the Akira Toriyama’s _____piece Theater (鳥山明○作劇場; Toriyama Akira Marusaku Gekijō) series, themselves collections of various Akira Toriyama one-shots and short series.

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 monthly in Shueisha’s V-Jump magazine, with the series’ seventy-eighth chapter coming later this month in the magazine’s January 2021 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” and “Granolla the Survivor” arcs. Viz is currently releasing free digital chapters of the series, and began their own collected print edition back in 2017. Japan is set to receive its seventeenth collected volume next month.

The Dragon Ball Super television series concluded in March 2018 with 131 total episodes. 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 last year.