THIS WAS THE "RUMOR GUIDE" AS SEEN ON 1 APRIL 2004.
This was to go with our DragonBall AF prank, the results of which you can find over on our "Feature" page. We've left the text on this page the same as it was on April 1st, just so you can see exactly what everyone else saw.

You can also check out the REAL "Rumor Guide."

DragonBall has easily lent itself to some of the weirdest, worst, and most bizarre rumors over the years. Early on in many people's fandom, there wasn't much access to the original Japanese version beyond shady "fansubs" and other fansites. Due to these and a wide variety of other factors, strange rumors began to pop up all over the internet, and even into everyday conversations between fans!

Ever hear the one about how Akira Toriyama died of a heart attack? How about that weird "Super Saiyan 5" picture? And what's up with Pan & Trunks?

No matter who you are, you've probably come across rumors like these at some point. Our attempt with this page is to completely clear them up... and to do it on as comprehensive a scale as we can! Whether it's a rumor, a myth, or just plain ol' misinformation, we'll do our best to accurately answer the question at hand and clear it up for all the fans.

If you have anything you'd like to contribute, be sure to read over this thread on our message board. If you think you have something golden, post it in that thread (don't e-mail us; we'll ignore the e-mails).

[ General ] [ Movies / TV Specials ] [ Characters ] [ Dub Mistakes ]

[ General ]

"General" rumors are typically those wacky "internet rumors" that, once spread, never seem to be fully solved or killed off. You've probably read them all on message boards, and even though you think they're... well... lacking intelligence, you can't help but think in the back of your head that there may be substance to them. Is Gotenks *really* a playable character in Final Bout? What's really up with that "Toriyama's dead" nonsense?

RUMOR: There's a new series coming out called DragonBall AF, in which Goku goes Super Saiyan 5, etc.

STATUS: Absolutely and unbelievably True.

EXPLANATION: Images of a "Super Saiyan 5" Goku began surfacing online back in the late 1990s. For a long time, it was widely speculated that they had come from a dôjinshi (fan-made comic), but no-one actually managed to provide evidence of a real "DBAF" dôjinshi, so even THIS was speculation. If said dôjinshi existed, why had no-one been able to come up with a physical, ink-and-paper product? Well, incredibly... that's because it's a new series coming out this fall.

It's now clear that this was being worked on for quite some time in Japan, and at some point, some of the conceptual artwork (like the "SSJ5 Goku" image to the right) got leaked to the web. Fans, eager for something new, jumped on these new images, but many others were (wrongly) very skeptical. It turns out that, yes, DBAF was a secret project being kept under wraps; they just didn't want it shown until it was ready.

Of course, since the series did not surface for so long after the original leak, fans were bound to start embroidering on the images, creating their own stories to go along with them and new characters, transformations, and images to match.

Most of these fan-made "AF" images are altered screengrabs from existing materials, but some of them are much more convincing. You've probably come across this SSJ4 Gohan (with glasses) image, which you can see on the left (there's also a Vegeta image with the Prince all decked out like the King). While fans have cited these two images as character designs for the new series, they were actually hoaxes. These ones were created by "Studio Tomita," a fanart group. However, those working on AF did eventually get to them, because there is a (poorly written) English message at the bottom of the page that says:

If you accessed this homepage in order to obtain an image of "DRAGON BALL", you will be discouraged. I do not put an image of "DRAGON BALL" in this homepage currently. And I reply to a request of somebody and do not intend to send an image. I'm sorry.

Though the language barrier leaves it somewhat opaque, the basic message is this: they got in trouble for purporting their images to be from DBAF, and consequently got cease-and-desisted by the real AF people.

So, then... what do we know about DragonBall AF, thus far? Well... not much, just yet. There's only one commercial and one print ad for it that were aware of, so details are a bit slim. But still, here's what we've got up to now:

• Future Trunks, having gone mad, comes back from the future to challenge Goku
• Goku reaches SSJ5 for the first time, and may even go beyond that stage
• New fusions (like "Vegetunks") will appear)

RUMOR: Akira Toriyama died of a heart attack.

STATUS: Very, very False (the man's not even dead!).

EXPLANATION: Another rumor that began surfacing in the late 1990s. Frankly, it seems odd to us that so many people who've heard it just accept it, without trying to come up with any sort of "proof" to back it up. Of course, if they did, there wouldn't be any need for this guide, so maybe it's not as odd (or at least uncommon) as it seems.

Still, there's really nothing more to say, other than that he's still doing character designs for Dragon Quest games and writing a few one-shot manga here and there, not to mention drawing all of the new DB kanzenban cover images. In 2003 alone, he granted at least three interviews to the American Shonen Jump and German Banzai! magazines, and even made a personal appearance in the US to promote the domestic edition of Jump. If that qualifies as "dead," I haven't got a clue what it takes to be alive! The truth of the matter: Akira Toriyama may normally be a somewhat reclusive man, but he's alive and well.

RUMOR: Gotenks and Pilaf are playable characters in DragonBall: Final Bout.

STATUS: False (the "Pilaf" part is kind of our fault...).

EXPLANATION: The rumors that Gotenks is a playable character in Final Bout go back a long way; there have even been corresponding "codes" to go along with this rumor (such as beating the game nine times in a row on hard difficulty with Trunks). However, Final Bout came out in 1997. It's currently 2004. That means the game came out over six years ago. You would think that, over the course of a six year period, someone would have:

• a screen shot
• hacked the game's coding

...to reveal some images, some sound files... something. Alas, there isn't. Meri (of Temple O' Trunks) took advantage of people on 1 April 2002 with a screenshot showing Gotenks and Pilaf as playable characters on the character selection screen. You would think having Pilaf on there would give it away (never mind it being April Fools' Day), but unfortunately... people are NOW asking how to play as Pilaf when they ask how to play as Gotenks!

RUMOR: Saffron Henderson would be returning to voice young Gohan with FUNimation's cast for season three.

STATUS: False (this one's COMPLETELY our fault!).

EXPLANATION: We at Daizenshuu EX take credit for this one. Back before season three began, I decided a fantastic prank to pull would be with my friend Matt, who at the time was capable of doing fantastic Saffron Henderson impressions. We recorded some low-quality files using dialogue similar to the original Japanese script for episodes during the SSJ Goku era, claimed they were from preproduction tapes, and a legend was born.

Chris Psaros (of DBZ: Uncensored) was actually the first person to figure out the fallacy, noticing some discrepancies between what was being said in the dialogue and where we claimed them to be in the show.

Of course, after DBZ dub season 3 premiered, it was pretty obvious that it wasn't Saffron Henderson playing Gohan; instead, it was FUNimation's own Stephanie Nadolny (whom everyone is familiar with, by now, as both young Gohan and Goku). But for a time, this rumor was huge. Whether this joke was funny or not is your own decision.

RUMOR: Capcom will be producing a DBZ game (similar to "Marvel vs. Capcom")

STATUS: False.

EXPLANATION: Capcom never has owned the rights to DBZ video games in either the US or Japan, and never will. Bandai has exclusively produced DBZ games in Japan since the beginning; Atari (formerly Infogrames) currently holds the US rights, and this looks to be changing no time soon. This rumor is no more than wishful thinking, transmitted as fact.

RUMOR: Akira Toriyama is drawing a new DragonBall manga.

STATUS: Not quite (but he is doing an awful lot...see below).

EXPLANATION: There are three possible causes that this rumor stemmed from. The first one is early advertisements for the DB kanzenban manga re-release. These ads were extremely vague, noting that there would be something new and DB-related from Akira Toriyama. If you take a look at the image here, you can see how easily it could have been mistaken. In particular, there's a line in the bottom left, which reads, "At the end of 2002, the masterpiece will be revived / reborn!!" (NOTE: For a full-sized version of the advertisement, you can click the image on the right). The ambiguity of the word "fukkatsu" (which can mean either "rebirth" or "revival") sparked tons of speculation, between September and November of 2002, that Toriyama would be writing new DB stories. What actually came to be released, however, were condensed versions of the original manga, with new cover art drawn by him; nothing more (ads from November 2002 and later were much more specific, and clear that there would be no new chapters).

There is also the Neko Majin manga that Toriyama has been putting out every so often, three chapters of which (Neko Majin Z - NMZ 3) are DragonBall parodies. Don't get us wrong; the most recent chapter has revealed that Kuriza is Freeza's "son" (he even appears as a playable bonus character in the Japanese version of Budokai 2), and Vegeta makes a (halfhearted) guest appearance as well. However, the presence a cat who does the "Nekohameha," as well as the lack of a real plot (aside from getting in some self-referential jokes), should give it away as nothing more than a gag.

However, the third time is the closest. With today's announcement of DragonBall AF, it has been revealed that Akira Toriyama won't be writing the new series, but he will be providing character designs and story direction. Little has been revealed about the plot as of yet, aside from Trunks turning evil and Goku reaching SSJ5, but we'll be sure to keep you posted about what's new in the world of Akira Toriyama!!!

RUMOR: There are "lost episodes" to DragonBall / DragonBall Z / DragonBall GT.

STATUS: False (but there is reason to be confused, on several levels...)

EXPLANATION: Trust us; if there were any actual "missing" episodes, fans would have tracked them down ages ago (remember, even DBGT ended in 1997; you'd think we'd have found all of the episodes in all this time!). However, on the other hand, there are plenty of reasons fans may think there are some "lost episodes."

The first "lost episodes" fans tend to point out would be the animation from the PlayDia video game, Gaiden: Saiya-jin Zetsumetsu Keikaku ("Side Story: The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans"). The animation was actually released on two VHS volumes in Japan, which certainly doesn't help the argument (note that it was also later released, albeit not remastered, on the second "Dragon Box" DBZ DVD boxset in Japan)! Fansubs can be tracked down (downloads are usually split into two or three parts, despite it all being one story). So, since we know what it is, and it actually had a legit release in Japan (twice!), it's not entirely "lost."

Then we have FUNimation's release of the various shows in North America. The first two seasons of DBZ were cut from 67 episodes all the way down to 53; so technically, there are some "missing" episodes in this series. However, with the first two seasons being completely re-dubbed and re-released on DVD with both English and Japanese languages, they won't be "lost" for all that much longer. Look for these sometime in 2004.

Making things even worse is FUNimation's decision to give a surname to the first 16 episodes of DragonBall GT... "The Lost Episodes." FUNimation originally began releasing DBGT in 2003 starting with episode 17 of the series (plus a re-cap episode) so they could get straight into the action (with, of course, some clever marketing creating vast demand for early episodes, as well...). Now that they are done recording to the end of DBGT, they have gone back to dub and release the first 16 episodes on DVD. While most DBGT discs have the *-ion naming convention, FUNimation decided to just call these series of five discs "The Lost Episodes" (whether or not they will have further titles is yet to be seen).

RUMOR: There is a DragonBall Z 2.

STATUS: True (but it's only the Japanese title of a video game!)

EXPLANATION: The name DragonBall Z 2 has been floating around on message boards and Japanese sites for a few months, now. You'll even find it on such fine sites as amazon.co.jp! If such reputable sites are mentioning / offering such an item, there must be a new series, right?

Wrong.

DragonBall Z 2 is simply the Japanese title of DragonBall Z: Budokai 2 (the PlayStation 2 fighting game, the second in its series, thus far; the original Budokai on PS2 was simply called DragonBall Z in Japan, and thus, the DragonBall Z 2). Here, you can even order it from Amazon, if you wish!

So yes, while there's technically an actual DragonBall Z 2, it's only a video game. (For an actual new series, see the top of the page.) There's some extra stuff in the game (such as the addition of Kuriza, Freeza's son, who is a gag character that can be found in Toriyama's Neko Majin Z series; see an above rumor), but it's essentially the same game, under a very misleading title.