Well, I guess everyone has waited long enough... Kanzentai's reviews of DragonBall Kai Episodes 011-013 are now available for your viewing pleasure. So, what took so long? Well, without going into too much detail, DBW had some personal things to attend to and didn't have much time to give to the site. I purposely held off updating to try to give him as much time as he needed, but as you'll notice, all three episode reviews are missing their music/voice performance comparisons. We wish him the best and hope he can return soon, but needless to say, all of the missing sections will be added as soon as things get back to normal around here. So in the meantime, enjoy these semi-finished reviews and be sure to check back next week for another exciting episode of DragonBall Kai!

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As usual, DragonBall Z episodes 026 through 030 have been added to the "Episode Guide". Five more episodes of DragonBall Z and we'll be all the way through Saiya-jin arc! In addition, we also have another new eyecatch to add to our collection.

Links: DragonBall Kai Episodes 011-013, DragonBall Z Episodes 026-030 , Theme Guide

Our DragonBall Kai episode reviews of awesomeness are nearing completion, so as a special treat for waiting so patiently, we've translated the "Dream 9" in-between promo videos. For those that have no idea what I'm talking about, "Dream 9" is the title of the one hour block on Fuji TV that contains DragonBall Kai and One Piece. The "9" signifies the time that the block starts; 9:00am on Sundays. These in-between promo videos are shown in-between DragonBall Kai and One Piece, telling the audience to hold on because One Piece is coming up next.

So far (up through episode 013) there have been four in-between promo videos, with each featuring a character from each series. You'll find these videos listed below, along with which episodes of DragonBall Kai they were shown after, the voice actors, and the translated dialogue. Enjoy~!

The DVD and Blu-ray DragonBall Kai releases have been added to the "DVD Guide", and before you start jumping up and down, no we don't have any official cover art for them yet. For now, they are simply place holders on the site. We'll also be adding future releases as they're announced. And speaking of future releases, Happinet's Official Release Website has been updated. They've put up a lot of "Coming Soon" links, but for now there is one that works, and it gives us some new information. But before we get to that, let's look at some old news real quick.

As we mentioned in our last Blu-ray/DVD release update, Amazon Japan had listed the Blu-rays as being presented in the original 4:3 fullscreen aspect ratio. This fact has been confirmed on Happinet's website, which lists the screen size for the Blu-ray releases as 4:3 fullscreen (full HD) and the DVD releases as 16:9 widescreen. So obviously everything was remastered in fullscreen, but cropped simply for broadcast. Which begs the question, why did they crop it to begin with? Is there some television restriction in Japan that requires high definition broadcasts be in widescreen? All of this really raises more questions than anything, especially considering they're now releasing Blu-rays in the original aspect ratio but DVDs in the new cropped widescreen. We're so confused Toei!

So, what is the 4:3 fullscreen going to look like? Well, we actually got a bit of a preview on Fuji TV following the last DragonBall Kai episode when they aired a commercial for the first Blu-ray and DVD releases. Here are some comparisons, and you'll have to excuse the difference in picture quality, but that's the video quality of the live stream.


We also initially mentioned that it wasn't clear if there would be multiple individual Blu-ray volumes, or just the one already announced. Well, according to Happinet's site, there will in fact be only the one individual volume, but confirms that there will be a 4th box set, as we originally only knew about the first 3 box sets. This box set will retail for ¥15,960 (~$166) and is set to be released sometime in June 2010. It is listed to contain 10 episodes, which we assume will be episodes 40-49. Be sure to note this episode count.

From Amazon Japan's listings, we know there will be at least 10 individual DVD volumes, but Happinet's site has now listed an additional 7 volumes, bringing the total to 17. I will note that it mentions nothing about any DVD box sets which I think we can assume means we won't be seeing any, or at least not until after the series ends. Volumes 11-16 will contain 3 episodes each and is retailing for ¥2,940 (~$30), while volume 17 will contain 2 episodes and is retailing for ¥1,995 (~$20). At the moment, there are no set release dates for these volumes. So, with the first 16 volumes containing 3 episodes and volume 17 containing 2 episodes, this brings us to a total of 50 episodes. If you'll remember, this differs from the Blu-ray release, which covers 49 episodes. It makes you wonder why the 4th Blu-ray box set doesn't contain 11 episodes, instead of 10, to bring it up to 50 episodes. Oh well...

Now on to some site news. We've finally gotten around to adding all of the individual disc special presents to the guide. You'll find some beautiful pictures of the presents for each set, along with some behind the scenes development photos from Jump's official blog site. So be sure to check those out!


You may also notice that everything has been re-organized. This will hopefully make the guide a lot easier to navigate, since it has gotten much larger than I had every expected. Initially, the guide was created solely for the Dragon Box releases, but since 2002, Toei Animation just hasn't let up. If you find any issues or errors in the guide, please let me know.

Links: DVD Guide, Happinet's Official Release Website

A big thanks to our buddy Tanooki Kuribo for giving us the heads up on this. The upcoming DragonBall video game for the Nintendo Wii, "Tenkaichi Dai-Bouken (The World's Greatest Adventure)", finally has some cover art. And I dare say, it looks great!


The game is set to be released 23 July 2009 and is retailing for ¥7,140 (~$75). However, Amazon Japan has it available for a pre-order price of ¥5,712 (~$54). I'll admit that I'm glad to finally see a DragonBall game and needless to say, I'll definitely be picking this up at some point!

Links: Pre-order on Amazon Japan

The third feature-length DragonBall Z film, "Super Decisive Battle for Earth", is now available. The Saiya-jin warrior, Tullece, and his minions are scouting Earth to locate Kakarot. The minions plant a seed for the "Tree of Godly Might", which grows very quickly and threatens to destroy the Earth. Goku and friends face off against the Saiya-jin's, but can Goku's new Genki-dama technique save the Earth?


As done with previous movies, we've added our own touch with additional information, video clips, full credits, and all of the movies bonus features included on the "Dragon Box The Movies". Also be sure to check out the rest of the guide, as for the most part, every page has been revamped in some way.

Links: Movie Guide, DragonBall Z Movie 03, "Super Decisive Battle for Earth"

Kanzentai's YouTube Spotlight #021 is now available for your viewing pleasure! This week we're showcasing the music video to Field of View's hit single "DAN DAN Kokoro Hikareteku", which follows a school girl who discovers a "magical" book. You'll recognize the song as the opening theme for all 64 episodes of DragonBall GT. The single was released in March 1996, one month after DragonBall GT began airing on Fuji TV. For those that like the music of GT, I think you'll enjoy the spotlights over the next month. So, with that... Enjoy!


Links: Kanzentai's YouTube Spotlight