| DragonBall
has easily lent itself to some of the weirdest, worst,
and most bizarre rumors over the years. Early on in many
an individual's fandom, there was not 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! Due to the incestuous nature of information on the internet, even some of the (now seemingly) most absurd rumors still continue onwards to this day.
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 have 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 is a rumor, a myth, or just
plain ol' misinformation, we will do our best to accurately
answer the question at hand and clear it up for all the
fans.
If you think you have anything to contribute, be sure to let us know!
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[
General ]
"General"
rumors are typically those wacky "internet rumors"
that, once spread, never seem to be fully solved or killed
off. You have probably read them all on message boards,
and even though you think they are... well... lacking intelligence,
you can not help but think in the back of your head that
there may be substance to them.
RUMOR:
There's
an official new series (manga or anime) coming out called DragonBall AF,
in which Goku goes Super Saiyan 5, has a son named Xicor, etc.
STATUS:
Absolutely
and patently False.
EXPLANATION:
Images of a "Super Saiyan 5" Goku began
surfacing online back in the late 1990s. To this day,
no-one has been able to track down an ACTUAL SOURCE, but
it is widely speculated that they come from a dôjinshi
(fan-made comic) or some other type of compilation of fan-created artwork. As noted, though, no-one has been able
to actually provide evidence of a real "DBAF"
dôjinshi, so even THIS is speculation.
If said dôjinshi exists, why has no-one
been able to come up with a physical, ink-and-paper product from said time period?
 DragonBall
GT ended in Japan in September of 1997 after only 64 episodes. Other than a recent revival
in merchandising in Japan (including a re-release of the
manga with new cover art and a slightly tweaked ending, but no new chapters), there
has been no indication from Shueisha, Toei, or even Akira
Toriyama himself, that there is any interest whatsoever in creating
new DragonBall (Toriyama has, in fact, stated
on numerous occasions that he has absolutely no interest
in continuing the story).
This
rumor became so widespread (and was so persistent) that FUNimation
(the company responsible for the series' distribution in North America) was forced to address the question of "AF" during
panels at conventions, and even resorted to posting an
answer in their official FAQ on dragonballz.com.
You may even have come across "episode guides" for the series listing full episode titles and descriptions, which also drop hints at new characters. For example, one of the most-cited "new characters" in these episode titles goes by the name of "Xicor". It is unknown where this name came from, what it is based on, or may possibly be a reference from. It may be of some relation to "Xizor" from the Star Wars expanded universe, though the pronunciations may be quite different ("zai - kor" vs "shee - zor"). Absolutely no mention of the name "Xicor" appears throughout the history of alt.fan.dragonball (a popular DragonBall discussion newsgroup), which leads us to believe that the name possibly came after approximately 2002-2003 (when the newsgroup began to decline in activity). Indeed, searching through the internet and various fansites / forums will reveal that the name "Xicor" in conjunction with DragonBall AF took off in popularity sometime around 2004.
One of the "giveaways" of these episode lists is their style — they go with naming conventions and listings that make more sense for a FUNimation English release, rather than an original Japanese release. While the typical Japanese DragonBall-series episode title will typically follow the format of "(insert exclamation or question here)?! (insert statement here)", these supposed "AF" episode titles tend to be very short statements of only two to four words (such as "Xicor Attacks!"), and even feature FUNimation-only name spellings (such as "Tien" instead of "Tenshinhan"). Needless to say, the Japanese would not follow these conventions.
 But
what about those really pretty, official-looking pictures?
You have probably come across the SSJ4 Gohan image, which you can see on the left. There is also a Vegeta
image with the Prince all decked out looking more like a
king. Fans have consistently cited these two images
(SSJ4 Gohan and "King" Vegeta) as hard proof
that "AF" existed, and even had character designs. Why, then, have you never heard of "Studio
Tomita", whose logo is clearly visible on these images? That is because Studio Tomita is really nothing more than a Japanese fanart group
(or perhaps individual), with absolutely no connection to DragonBall
other than drawing some random pictures. If you look at their website, you will
find a wide variety of fanart... but (to confuse things even further) you will not find any
DragonBall fanart. If they did the aforementioned images, why
are they not on the studio's site? Despite the site being in Japanese,
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're a fanart studio that used to do images based on DB,
but for whatever reason, they took them down from their site and will not
put them back up (possibly because of the uproar they caused). The bottom
line, here, is that "Studio Tomita" is no more "official"
than the next fan-artist; it is simply that they put more work into their images
than the average DB fan.
Finally,
let us examine the big picture. If "DBAF" were to exist, the
rumors having begun so many years ago... why has nothing
surfaced? These days, one would definitely expect to see
all of the following:
- screen
shots / movie clips from episodes
- articles
/ reviews from Japan
- advertising
(such as in Weekly Shônen Jump)
- merchandise
(books, soundtracks, etc.)
- downloadable
fansubs ("digisubs")
 ...and
yet, none of these things exist for the supposed "new
series." Honestly, we would not hide something like
this from the fans, and if there was something
reported in Japan about a new series, we guarantee that
we would be among the first sites with translations and details.
In fact, we took advantage of this on April Fool's Day 2004,
with a massive prank "announcing" the new series;
we even had a "commercial" and a "print ad," just as we outlined above for the real deal! Nevertheless, we'd still be just as excited as the next fan about any
new DB coming out of Japan. But the fact of the matter is that
there is not, and probably will not be, anything new. It is really just
common sense; DB is over, and looks like it will stay that way for at least some time to come.
 Normally we would just stop there, but as-of late 2006 it would be incongruous for us to ignore and not describe a web-comic/dôjinshi by a Japanese fan named "Toyble". Amusingly named DragonBall AF, this story takes elements of the "rumors" from over the years (such as the name "Xicor") and weaves a new storyline after the events of DragonBall GT.
The story was initially put up in 20-page batches on Toyble's blog, but has since moved to a somewhat normal schedule of a few pages every month. There are even additional images and stories (such as an embellished background on Tapion) that tie into Toyble's DragonBall AF storyline. As-of 2008, the story continues to go strong.
An English fan-translation project began on our very own forum and each page can be downloaded and read soon after their Japanese premier on Toyble's blog over on the website of our buddy Desire Campbell.
Especially with the explosion in popularity of Toyble's (perhaps anti-productively named) DragonBall AF, this one's not dying any time soon, huh...? Whether it is After Future, Alternative Future, or even just good ol' April Fools, DBAF's popularity and notoriety continues to evolve... despite not being real.
RUMOR:
Akira Toriyama had nothing to do with filler.
STATUS:
False (and there are some interesting
things, here!)
EXPLANATION:
A common fan tactic in arguments is to dismiss things one does not
like, does not agree with, or one feels does not belong
(in general) by saying "Well, the author had
nothing to do with that!" In the past, we have
been able to confirm Toriyama's initial involvement in
DragonBall GT via his early character and landscape
designs in the daizenshuu and DBGT Perfect
File books. Daizenshuu 6 ("MOVIES &
TV SPECIALS"), in particular, showcases Toriyama's
character designs for the likes of Coola (and his henchmen),
movie 7's jinzôningen, Broli, Bojack, etc.
What about the general filler material in the TV show?
It can be contradictory, and typically has less-than-stellar
attempts at storytelling. Toriyama had nothing to do
with any of that, right...?
Not quite.
It is
certainly not the case that Toriyama wrote and "drew" every single episode
in the TV series, but the recent anime guide Son Gokû
Densetsu finally gives us a little glimpse into the
clearly-overworked man's involvement in the TV series.
There
were many character designs Toriyama came up with for
filler material, including Paikuhan, Dai-Kaiô, and
the beginnings of King Vegeta. We also learn that for
many story points, Toriyama would typically come up with
a vague idea and leave a memo for the TV series staff
to, essentially, go wild with and develop a full story
from said idea. Some of these items included the back-history of
the Saiyans and the Tsufurus for DBZ episode 20, the Z-Senshi's
training with the "Ancient" Saiyans via Kami's
Palace, and Lunch's persistent chasing of Tenshinhan.
Even Yamcha's job as a baseball player was Toriyama's
idea!
Also
remember cases such as Bardock, who was essentially a
joint-collaboration between Akira Toriyama and Katsuyoshi
Nakatsuru. In fact, Toriyama liked the idea so much, he
ended up integrating it into his own canon storyline in
the manga. For more information on this joint-collaboration,
check out
our respective "Tidbit".
So
again, while it is not the case that Toriyama went and did the entire
TV series by himself, it is also not the case that he had
no involvement with it. If anything, this quite clearly
shows why the man has taken such an extensive break since
the end of the DragonBall series, only putting
out short one-shots when he
feels like it.
RUMOR:
Akira Toriyama died of a heart attack.
STATUS:
Very, very False (the man's not dead!).
 EXPLANATION:
This is another rumor that began surfacing in the late 1990s (especially during the time of Tobal No.1's release on the original PlayStation).
Frankly, it seems odd to us that so many people who have
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 is not as odd (or at least uncommon) as it
seems.
Still,
there is 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 that he drew all of the DB manga's 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," we 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:
Saffron Henderson would be returning to voice young Gohan
with FUNimation's cast for season three of the English-dubbed DragonBall Z TV series.
STATUS:
False (this one's COMPLETELY our
fault!).
EXPLANATION:
We at Daizenshuu EX take credit for this one.
Back before season three began in 1999, we decided a fantastic
prank to pull would be with internet-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 pre-production
tapes, and a legend was born.
Chris
Psaros (of DBZ: Uncensored) was actually the
first person to figure out the fallacy (in a post on alt.fan.dragonball), 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 three premiered, it was pretty
obvious that it was not Saffron Henderson playing
Gohan; instead, it was FUNimation's own Stephanie Nadolny
(whom dub fans will be familiar with, by now, as both young
Gohan and Goku). For a time, this rumor was
huge. Whether this joke was funny or not is your own decision.
RUMOR:
Sonny Strait (FUNimation's "Krillin"; 1999-present) prank called Terry
Klassen (Ocean Group's "Krillin"; primarily 1996-1998), recorded the phone conversation,
and posted an MP3 online. This is the infamous "prank call"
MP3 you always see on P2P programs!
STATUS:
False
EXPLANATION:
Back in 2000, FUNimation was still partly allowing its
voice actors to conduct their own personal interviews
with the fan-base, and more specifically, fan-sites. After
a successful interview with Sean Schemmel (FUNimation;
Goku), Jon Allen (a former staff member of Daizenshuu
EX) conducted another interview with Sonny Strait
(FUNimation; "Krillin").
The
interview, as a text document, in its written entirety
as it appeared on Daizenshuu EX in November of
2000
(no changes have been made to the text, including
any possible typos)
In
addition to the transcript of the interview, Jon Allen
also posted some MP3 audio files from the phone interview
to go along with it, partly as an attempt to put a real
"face" (if you will) with these voice actors,
but also just to have fun! As you will notice, this so-called
"prank call" can be found at the very end of
the interview, and is in no way any type
of real prank call. It is all just good fun being had during
an interview. Besides... didn't you ever wonder why the
other guy on the phone was laughing? If it was
indeed Terry Klassen, wouldn't he be insulted and... err...
NOT laughing?
Combine
Jon Allen's amusing practice of never ID3ing his MP3 files
with the very nature of DBZ fans on the internet, and
you have yourself a new urban myth!
Click
here if you would like to download the MP3 file (correctly
ID3 tagged!). It is approximately 600 KB in file size,
and should be the exact file you have no doubt downloaded
before.
RUMOR:
Akira Toriyama is drawing a new DragonBall manga.
STATUS:
False (but there is some new stuff...see
below).
EXPLANATION:
There are two (maybe three) possible items that this rumor stemmed
from. The first 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, you can see how easily it could
have been mistaken for a new series. In particular, there is a line at 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).
One side-issue relating to "new material" from the kanzenban re-release is that Toriyama actually slightly tweaked the ending to the series with a series of re-written / re-drawn panels. You can compare both the original and new kanzenban endings over in our "Images" area. While it leads in exactly the same way, the new ending makes more of a point to focus on the "passing down of the torch", so to speak, with Goku and Uub.
 There
is also the Neko Majin manga that Toriyama released over the span of a few years, five chapters of which
(Neko Majin Z - NMZ 5) are DragonBall
parodies. Do not get us wrong; one chapter in particular 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, and not (as some fans would have
it) a continuation of the DB story. As much as we may
want it to exist in the Dragon World... sorry!
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 would think we would 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 OVA / 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 does not 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). Since we know what it is, and it actually
had a legit release in Japan (twice!), it is not entirely
"lost" (irrelevant of the fact that a legit release in North America will never see the light of day).
Another set of items that actually saw the light of day via the original DragonBall's "Dragon Box" set in Japan were the two public safety videos, Goku's Traffic Safety and Goku's Fire Fighting Regiment. Taking place during the early part of the series, these two short features showcase the DB cast instructing children on, for example, the proper way to handle fireworks. They are (obviously) well outside the normal series continuity, and are just fun little features to help children develop the necessary skills they will need in order to not burn down their home.
There was also a third DBZ TV special that aired in Japan, though it was nothing like the Bardock or Trunks TV specials. This special was more of a compilation of footage introduced by Goku and Gohan (dressed up all nicely) to celebrate the show. 「全部見せます 年忘れDRAGONBALLZ」 aired on 1993 December 31 and has not been included on any home releases in Japan thus far (including extras on Dragon Box sets and individual DVD releases). You can watch a VHS-capture on YouTube, and will see for yourself that it is not so much a "lost episode" or "lost movie" than it is just a little, toss-away, special New Year's Eve programming.
This bring us to FUNimation's release of the various shows in North
America. The first two seasons of DBZ were originally cut from 67
episodes all the way down to 53 back in 1996-1998; technically, there
are some "missing" episodes (or rather, parts of episodes; no single episode was removed in its entirety) in this release of the series.
However, with the first two seasons being completely re-dubbed
and re-released on DVD with both English and Japanese
languages (and having aired in their uncut-dub-entirety
on Cartoon Network), they did not remain "lost" for all that long. Now-a-days, every bit of content from every DBZ TV episode can legally be purchased on DVD in North America.
Taking the cake, however, was 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 recap episode of their own creation) so they could get straight
into the action (with, of course, some clever marketing
that created vast demand for those early episodes, as
well...). Once they had finished recording through to the end
of DBGT, they went back to dub and release the first 16
episodes on DVD (the first of these discs, Reaction,
was released on 13 July 2004). Of course, since FUNimation
intended all along to release this part of the series
(having now generated the level of interest they wanted),
they were never really "lost"...
they were just conveniently "set aside," while
FUNimation sat back and let irate fanboys do the rest.
RUMOR:
There is a DragonBall Z 2.
STATUS:
True (but it is only the Japanese
title of a video game!)
 EXPLANATION:
The name DragonBall Z 2 had been floating around
on message boards and Japanese sites for a few months back in 2003,
thoroughly confusing fans. One could even find it on such
fine sites as amazon.co.jp!
If such reputable sites were 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 / Gamecube fighting game, the second in
its series; the original Budokai was simply called DragonBall Z in Japan,
and thus, the DragonBall Z 2).
So
yes, while there is technically an actual
DragonBall Z 2 (and later a DragonBall Z
3), it is only a video game. There is some extra material
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 a
separate rumor), but it is essentially the same game
under a very misleading title.
Interestingly enough, when Dimps and Bandai (the Japanese developer and distributer) would move on to the PSP continuation of the series, they adopted the American Budokai naming convention with the Shin Budokai series.
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