May 9th, 750: after spending the night in Jingle Village, Goku reunites with Bulma in West City, then goes after pirate treasure in the south seas. This leads to a big chase between him and General Blue, which leads to... #HistoryofEver
That’s right, it’s Penguin Village! The setting of everyone’s favorite Akira Toriyama series, Dr. Slump! After the requisite crossover hijinks, Arale sends Blue packing and Goku goes on his merry way before anyone can think too deeply about continuity issues
In his Adventure Special Q&A from the middle of the Piccolo arc, Toriyama answered two questions about Arale, saying she probably wouldn’t appear again (true until the Super anime) and that she’s probably stronger than Goku (by Super they seem about even) kanzenshuu.com/translations/a…
Daizenshuu 4’s map of DB Earth places Penguin Village on an island far east of Kame House. In Slump itself, Penguin Village is on Gengoro Island and is part of Japan (with other countries such as China and America mentioned too), which is naturally a tough fit for DB continuity
The anime paints Goku and Blue’s trip in psychedelic colors, almost to suggest the two are traveling into another dimension, although the Penguin Village police are still well aware of the Red Ribbon Army. Overall, it’s best not to try and rationalize Dr. Slump.
But back to our main story: Goku reaches the holy land of Karin, where he befriends father/son guardian duo Bora and Upa and finally finds the 4-Star Ball (according to Daizenshuu 7 this is the same day as all the General Blue stuff; the manga doesn’t really specify a timeframe).
Fed up with the repeated failure of Red Ribbon personnel (not to mention Gero’s useless androids), Commander Red calls in an independent contractor: Crane Hermit’s younger brother, the former office worker and current assassin Tao Pai Pai. Thankfully he comes cheap this year!
Tao makes short work of Bora and Goku and leaves them both for dead, then rather carelessly takes off with some but not all of Goku’s dragon balls (you really can’t get good help these days). Bora actually is dead, but Goku survived thanks to the 4-Star Ball blocking Tao’s attack
Goku has suffered his first crushing defeat, but luckily he happens to be right smack next to Karin Tower, home of the world’s very best non-fake non-lethal power-up water (or so the legend says). He begins climbing up and up and up...so far up that he makes a night of it.
Bright and early on May 10th, Goku finally reaches the top of the tower, and begins a seemingly endless struggle to defeat a talking cat (this will become the dominant theme of his later years). Can he wrap this up before Tao comes back for the 4-Star Ball?
Tomorrow: Black is the new Red!
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Toyotaro’s postscript for DBS vol.24 details the creation process of the ch.104 one-shot: originally this was a text prologue he got from Toriyama, which he revised and put into manga form. And now the Super Hero arc is really, truly done: “Look forward to future developments!”
Toriyama also designed the Red Pharmaceutical Company air truck for the Super Hero arc epilogue:
Toyotaro’s vol.24 author’s comment explains how Toriyama’s corrections were typically about how manga ought to be, rather than simply how DB should be. He was a manga artist above all. “I will never forget the approach to manga which sensei taught me, and continue to do my best!”
Dragon Ball Daima, ep.20: it’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for. The fight with Gomah is samey but looks amazing and is over soon enough for Kuu to ascend the Iron Throne, plus other fun wrap-up stuff. Thanks for everything Toriyama, and farewell. #DAIMA #ep20
Since Daima airs at 11:40 PM in Japan, the final episode on February 28th ended right as the date ticked over into March 1st, marking the one year anniversary of Toriyama’s death. So far there’s no word on if this was intentional on the part of the production team, though.
The title ゼンカイ/Zenkai comes from 全開, meaning “full power”, hence the translation “Maximun” (see also the DBZ ending theme ZENKAI Power). I’ll give it another week, but if there’s no further clues on the red letters, I’ll assume it was just about using all 20 dakuten letters
Executive producer Akio Iyoku discusses Daima’s origin: 6 years ago during DBS: Super Hero’s production, they decided to do a new TV series. At first Toriyama’s involvement was going to be minimal, but he really got into it, creating most of it in the end. mantan-web.jp/article/202502…
Iyoku says Daima was intended as a show that parents could watch with their children, so it was made to appeal both to kids and adults in their 30s who were kids back when DBGT first aired. So yes, making Goku and co kids was specifically done to appeal to the GT generation.
While making Goku a kid was seen as making the series accessible to a wider audience, it was Toriyama’s idea to turn the entire main cast into kids too. Toriyama was also concerned many people wouldn’t know DB’s story, hence the general overview at the start of each Daima episode
It’s already November 20th in Japan, which means Dragon Ball has officially reached its 40th anniversary. In case you weren’t paying attention and/or born at the time, here are some highlights from the first 40 years of DB history… #DragonBall40th
1984: gag manga superstar Akira Toriyama concludes megahit Dr. Slump, and in November debuts its follow-up in Weekly Jump. This Journey to the West-inspired kung-fu adventure kicks off as inventor girl Bulma recruits monkey boy Goku to track down the titular dragon balls.
1985: after last year’s tail-end teaser, things begin in earnest. The initial “quest for the dragon balls” arc wraps up in May, and Toriyama shifts gears to a tournament arc (always a fan favorite in his Dr. Slump days) with the lecherous Roshi and Goku’s new cueball-esque BFF.
According to Bunshun Online, Dragon Room head honcho Akio Iyoku has stepped down from Shueisha and established his own company, Capsule Corporation Tokyo. Supposedly he wants Shueisha to keep DB’s manga publishing rights but for CC Tokyo to handle DB games/anime/etc.
As you might imagine, Shueisha is reluctant to part with DB to any extent, and negotiations are still ongoing. According to this article, anyway. Shueisha has apparently confirmed that Iyoku is stepping down, but not confirmed any of the particulars so far.
Bunshun Online reached out to Toriyama and asked if he would be working with Iyoku in future, but Toriyama said he couldn’t comment publicly, only through Shueisha. He also said the company name “Capsule Corporation Tokyo” was Iyoku’s idea, not his own.
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai ep.41: Pissed Myst’s great and the logistics of Dai’s sword are interesting, while the castle’s just there to be knocked down. But it knocks down well. 4/5 #DragonQuest#ep41