May 12th, Age 750: on his third day atop Karin Tower, Goku finally manages to nab the magic water, learns that the real magic was the skills he built along the way, and heads back down to face Tao again. Things go better this time. #HistoryofEver
Meanwhile, sideways in time, things go even worse for Tao. No matter which universe, the conclusion is clear: Tao will never trouble Goku or his friends or family again!
With Tao now totally and completely dead, Goku charges Red Ribbon HQ. His army in ruins, Red spills the beans about his true motives for going after the dragon balls, which Black fails to appreciate. Elsewhere, Gero does...something, presumably.
With Red now totally and completely dead, Black takes on Goku, loses, and that’s that. The Red Ribbon Army will never trouble Goku again! The world is forever safe from their threat!
But Goku is still short one dragon ball, which is a shame since he now wants to revive Bora. When even the Dragon Radar fails to picks up the final ball, Goku goes to Roshi’s psychic sister for help.
Long story short, Goku wins and has a touching reunion with his ghost grandpa. Baba figures out the final ball’s location, which turns out to be in the hands of Pilaf and co.
As if beating Tao, the RR, and three of Baba’s five fighters all in one day weren’t enough, now Goku has to fight Pilaf’s stupid robots. He wins and that’s that. Pilaf will never trouble Goku again! The world is forever safe from his...threat? Something like that.
With all the balls, Goku summons Shenlong (his second appearance) and resurrects Bora (the first person in the series to get revived like this). He make sure to grab the 4-Star Ball so that he won’t have to bother with this whole song and dance again next year.
While Goku’s off wishing, Baba makes a startling prediction: one day that goofy kid will save the world! Clearly Baba foresees Goku’s key role in halting Moro’s attempt to devour Earth.
Meanwhile Roshi decides to take Yamcha under his wing as a new pupil, and once Goku returns the group closes out this long day by promising to meet again at the next tournament...which will thankfully be only three years later rather than five, thanks to its rising popularity.
So yeah: the entire final portion of the RR arc and the entire Baba mini-arc occur over the course of a single rather jam-packed day. This puts the total timespan of the arc (in the manga anyway) at five days, from May 8th to May 12th in the daizenshuu dates.
Tomorrow: world tour!
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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