There's nothing that gets DragonBall fans more riled up than some awesome sticker books! Luckily, there are three new sticker books coming out over the next two months. The books are being released in conjunction with three new One Piece sticker books, so it appears they are aiming for the new, and much younger, "Dream 9" audience.

Each series' three books are divided up into a "Character Book", "Story Book", and "Quiz Book". The "Story Book" is due out on 23 July 2010 for ¥780 (~$8.50) and will contain character and backdrop stickers so you can recreate your favorite scenes from Kai thus far. The "Character Book" and "Quiz Book" are both due out on 20 August 2010 for ¥780 (~$8.50). The "Character Book" will contain stickers of the main characters that have appeared in Kai, while the "Quiz Book" will have quizzes, puzzles, and mazes that involve stickers. All six DragonBall and One Piece sticker books were originally set to be released in July, but have now been awkwardly split up over two months.


Moving on to some sad news, as you've probably already read on Daizenshuu EX, veteran seiyuu Mizutori Tetsuo passed away on 14 June 2010 at the age of 71. DragonBall fans will remember him as the voice of Zald, one of Garlic Jr.'s henchmen in the TV series. However, he is probably more widely known for his roles in the Kinnikuman series.

Now for something a little happier... I will be attending Otakon in Baltimore, Maryland this year! I have yet to really officially announce it on the site, but I'm getting super excited and if you follow us on Twitter, then you probably already know all about it. While I'm there, I will be joining up with our buddies from Daizenshuu EX to put on a fun DragonBall fan panel. For more information about our "10 Things You Didn't Know About DragonBall" panel, check out our promo site. I hope to see all of you there!

DragonBall Kai episode 063 is now available in the "Episode Guide" for your viewing pleasure. After No. 20 flees the scene, Bulma informs everyone that No. 20 is actually Dr. Gero, and our heroes give chase hoping to beat him to his hidden laboratory. Vegeta plans to try and stop the artificial humans all by himself, but Trunks insists they should wait for Goku to recover, as a Super Saiyan can't even match their terrifyingly strength. Can our heroes stop Dr. Gero from activating No. 17 and 18?! Be sure to check back in two weeks to find out, in another exciting episode of DragonBall Kai!


As always, we have some supplemental material to go along with this episode. With this update you'll find a single episode of DragonBall Z, and two chapters of the manga in their respective guides. All of the chapter title pages have also been posted in the "Picture Archive". In addition to all that, you'll find all of the re-animated scenes are listed within their respective Kai episode pages.

The sixth volume of the Majin Buu Battle arc was released tody, 2 July  2010, and has been added to the TV animation comics section of the "Manga Guide". You can grab it for ¥730 (~$7.50) from either Amazon Japan or CDJapan if you'd like. This is the final volume of the arc, and the final volume of the series. So after roughly four and a half years and 39 volumes later, the TV Animation Comics have come to an end. At this point there is still no word as to whether Shueisha will be having similar releases for either the DragonBall or DragonBall GT anime series.


Today also saw the release of the new Extreme Battle Collection guide book. Shueisha has posted a brief preview of the guide book, which you can view here. It appears to be printed in full-color for the majority of the book, with the last third of the book printed in gray scale. They have also announced a Round 02, which will cover the battles from the Cell to Majin Buu arc. It is set to be released 4 August 2010 for ¥700 (~$7.70). For now I will be holding off buying the first volume until the second one is released, so don't expect a review anytime soon.

After some time, the listing on Happinet's official release website has finally been updated with the upcoming Kai Blu-ray and DVD releases. We've known for quite a while now that there would be 33 DVDs and 8 Blu-ray box sets, but now they've unloaded tons of new information via their website and a press release to distributors. They will now be classifying releases by arc rather than a continuous numerical count from 1 to 33 (DVD) or 1 to 8 (Blu-ray). This makes sense if you consider that they stuck a 5th disc onto Blu-ray box set #04 to finish out the Freeza arc of the series.

The previously announced Blu-ray box sets have now been re-titled as box sets #01-04 of the "Artificial Humans and Cell arc", and the same has been done with DVDs #19-33. They're also now listing all of the release dates up through August 2011. Along with the update came some beautiful new artwork from Yamamuro Tadayoshi, which is being used as the new place holder image on various retail sites.


The episode count has also been updated from the "planned" 99 episodes down to a solid 98 episodes. However, with episodes 55-98 being released under the "Artificial Humans and Cell arc" title, I think we can infer that the Majin Buu arc will begin with episode 99. This indicates that the series, which was originally rumored to only have around 100 episodes, will indeed be going much farther past that mark. A rough estimate would now put the series at somewhere around 140-150 episodes. In addition, since these two arcs are comprised of 44 episodes, each Blu-ray box set will now contain 11 episodes instead of the typical 12 as was previously done with the first portion of the series. The last disc of each Blu-ray box set will only contain 2 episodes, while the others will again contain 3. Similarly, the last DVD volume will also only contain 2 episodes.

The listing on CD Journal states that the Dragon Book included in the first "Artificial Humans and Cell arc" Blu-ray box set will contain another interview with a cast member, and an interview with Team Dragon (AKB48), the group responsible for Kai's new ending theme. It will also come with a non-credit version of both the new opening and ending animations that premiered in Kai episode 55. The first "Artificial Humans and Cell arc" Blu-ray box set and DVD are due out on 2 October 2010. The Blu-ray box set will run you a pretty ¥14,679 (~$168), which is a tad cheaper than before due to having one less episode, while the DVD is staying at the standard ¥2,940 (~$30).

It will be interesting to see if the cover designs for both releases will change at all. The Blu-ray box sets in the first portion of the series were printed in a light blue, and when placed side-by-side on your shelf, the spines combined to form the light blue kanji for Kai (改). I imagine they will stick with the same design, but simply change the color to clearly distinguish between the different portions of the series. We could probably also insinuate that the DVD colors will change from red to royal blue, as that's what happened on Happinet's site, but that may be a bit of a stretch. The one thing we do know is that Yamamuro Tadayoshi will continue to provide the artwork, so don't plan on that changing anytime soon.


The appropriate sections of the "DVD Guide" have been updated to reflect all of the details noted above. Thanks to both Desire Campbell and Dan_the_Rebirth for their image help.

Shueisha's official listing website has been updated with all of the final information about the upcoming Extreme Battle Collection guide book. The listing includes the books cover and some other details about the book, which I'm sure you already read in our previous update.


You can grab the book from Amazon Japan at the full retail price, and as soon as I have my own copy, I'll be sure to give it a full review. There still is no word yet as to whether the book will be printed in color like previous anime-related guides. You'll also note that book specifically notes it will cover both DragonBall and DragonBall Z, but makes no mention of DragonBall Kai. I assume this means the guide will not be covering the Kai anime series at all. In the meantime, I anticipate we will be hearing something about "Round 2" sometime soon, so we'll keep you posted about that.

Here we go again, it's time for another Kai episode update! This time we have two new episodes for you, with another one hopefully coming very soon. Vegeta finally arrives on the scene to face the artificial humans, but what tricks does he have up his sleeve? Meanwhile, Trunks returns to the past only to make an astonishing discovery... How much has his coming back altered the future?! Here's a run-down of all the new episodes now available in the "Episode Guide".


So as we always do, we have a lot of supplemental material to go along with these episodes. With this update you'll find three episodes of DragonBall Z, and six chapters of the manga in their respective guides. All of the chapter title pages have also been posted in the "Picture Archive". In addition to all that, you'll find all of the re-animated scenes are listed within their respective Kai episode pages.

Finally, as another friendly reminder, there will be no new Kai episode this coming weekend. Instead, if you'd like, you can watch some FIFA World Cup highlights in Japanese. The next episode, which will feature the first appearance of No. 17 and 18, is scheduled to air 11 July 2010.

The fourth DragonBall Kai Blu-ray box set was released yesterday, along with the next two DVD volumes. The Blu-ray box set contains episodes 40-54, which are presented in fullscreen and broken up onto five discs with three episodes per disc. The box set will set you back a pretty ¥19,950 (~$225), costing just a bit more than normal due to the extra 5th disc. I will note that the next Blu-ray box set isn't scheduled to be released until sometime this October, which is one of the longest gaps between Blu-ray releases yet. Now in comparison to the Blu-rays, the Kai DVDs will run you a "measly" ¥2,940 (~$30), and instead are presented in the broadcast's original widescreen aspect ratio. Picking up right where they left off last time, Volume #13 contains episodes 37-39, while Volume #14 contains the next three episodes, 40-42.


In addition, Happinet and Amazon Japan have already unveiled the cover art for next month's set of Kai DVD volumes, both of which are set to be released on 27 July 2010 for ¥2,940 (~$30). Volume #15 will contain episodes 43-45, while Volume #16 follows with the next three episodes, 46-48. Again, these DVDs are presented in the broadcast's original widescreen aspect ratio.


Moving on from the home video releases, our buddies over at Daizenshuu EX have updated with the cover art for the various "Kokoro no Hane" (Kai's 2nd ending theme) CD singles which were revealed on Columbia Entertainment's official Team Dragon release page. You'll remember that Team Dragon is group formed by seven members of the idol group AKB48.


As we've stated before, there will be a whopping 11 CD singles released with two versions available; the "DragonBall Kai Version" and the "Team Dragon Version". The Kai version of the album will come in both a regular and limited edition, with the limited edition containing a bonus DVD and three exclusive "Miracle Battle Cards". The Team Dragon version will also come in a regular edition, but will have eight different limited editions, one for each member of Team Dragon and one for the regular edition. Each limited edition release will contain a bonus DVD featuring a live performance of the title track, a music video of the title track, and the recording session of that respective member. All 11 of the singles are set to be released on 21 July 2010 with all of the limited editions set at a price point of ¥1,600 (~$18.00) and the regular editions set at ¥1,260 (~$14.00). So to buy all 11 singles, it would cost roughly $190, or about the same price as Kai Blu-ray box set...

DragonBall Kai Version (CD Only)

DragonBall Kai Version (CD + DVD)

Team Dragon Version (CD Only -or- CD + DVD)

Lastly, there will be no new episode of DragonBall Kai on 4 July 2010. Fuji TV is listing that they will be airing "2010 FIFA World Cup Highlights" over the normally scheduled Dream 9 anime block that day. So we will have to wait an extra week to see the appearance of Artificial Humans No. 17 and 18.