30 December 2007

Podcast Episode #0109 Available! Too much news...
VegettoEX @ 12:00 am EDT -- Episode #0109 of the podcast is available for download! This week, we simply couldn't arrange our 2007 retrospective (Julian took off to Tokyo, and there was too much news from the last two weeks). So what did we do? Well, instead of a "Catching Up On E-mails" episode... we did a "Catching Up On News" episode! That's right, the absolutely ridiculous amount of news from the last two weeks was our news/topic for the episode.

Don't feel like listening? Mad at us for taking a slight holiday break from updating the home page? OK, fine. Here you go!

Kazumi Tanaka Passes Away
While mostly only playing the role of Jheece (of the Ginyu-Tokusentai) in the DB series, Tanaka played a wide range of roles in various series. He passed away on the 20th of this month due to his issues with cor pulmonale.

Bardock/Trunks "Double Feature" Trailer
FUNimation has a trailer available for buffering streaming showcasing their upcoming "double feature" of these two DBZ TV specials. Nothing really spectacular here.

Live-Action Movie News
Emmy Rossum, playing the role of Bulma in the movie, posted up some tidbits in her MySpace blog talking about the movie and her experiences thus far.

Sorry I've been rather quiet for a bit, I've been working on a very exciting new film that I'm shooting outside the US. I'm working with the great Chow Yun Fat and I'm very excited about the role, which is so different than any role I've ever played. I love the character and I'm excited to get to share something so fun with you. In prep for the film I've been training very hard, learning how to fight, fire a gun, weapons training and even some martial arts. It's fun to play such a different character when I am such a pacifist in real life. Speaking of pacifisim and peace, I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy holiday and New Year.

In addition to that, dragonballmovieblog.com is reporting that someone named Luis Arrieta will be playing the role of "Teto", a friend of Goku's in school. He apparently already shot all of his role in the span of two days, so don't expect it to be anything major.

I guess there was also some type of Brazilian prank going around on their version of April Fool's Day that reported the "cancelation" of the movie. Needless to say, this is false.

Limited Edition Japanese Goku Figure
Tanooki Kuribo let us know that there is a supposedly "limited edition" Japanese figure of Goku up for pre-order over on Play-Asia.

It stands around 36 cm / 14 in, comes out in April 2008, and will run you around $16. Not too bad.

D.O.N. (sorta) in Second Life
The heroes of D.O.N. (Goku = DragonBall, Luffy = One Piece, Naruto = Naruto [Shippuuden]) made an appearance in Second Life on December 22-23 as a special promotion for Jump Festa going on over in Japan at that time.

Players could gather the Dragon Balls, win items, and more. If you're into that sort of thing, I guess that was pretty awesome.

DragonBall Z: Burst Limit (Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3)
A promotional video for the game was released this past week (viewable on the official website, but downloadable via gametrailers.com) showcasing all sorts of awesomeness from the upcoming game, including yet another all-new vocal song! Performed by the man himself (Hironobu Kageyama, if you haven't figured it out), "Kiseki no Honô yo Moeagare!!" ("Flare Up, Miraculous Fire!!") sounds to be going in a much different direction than "Super Survivor" (the opening theme from Sparking! METEOR)... but it's amazing, none-the-less.

While we're impressed with the motion and movement of the characters, we're not quite sold on the art style yet, and we're extremely concerned about playing through the Saiya-jin saga in a console-based fighting game for the seventh year in a row.

DragonBall Z: Sparking... 4...?
Some random video games blog we've never heard of isn't really helping their credibility with suspicious talk of an additional Sparking! game coming in the future, supposedly with a create-a-character mode. I wouldn't give this much of a second-thought.

Jump Festa
That's right, the event to end all fanboy events took place in Japan last week, and our old buddy Greg was there to take it in with style. Julian, on the other hand, couldn't be bothered to go :P. Check out Greg's video of Masako Nozawa performing the Kamehameha, and also you'll find a video of Hironobu Kageyama performing "WE GOTTA POWER" live for the audience! It appears that next year the Japanese public will be able to check out episodes of DBZ on their cell phones via the website 5958.jp. Interesting.

So there you go! That's all the news. Interesting in hearing more of our opinions on everything? Definitely check it out.

Oh yeah... Meri and I are engaged. Officially. Yep. Whee!

23 December 2007

Podcast Episode #0108 Available!
VegettoEX @ 4:13 pm EDT -- Episode #0108 of the podcast is available for download! We're kinda cheating this week, since we're not even in town at the moment. This episode was recorded earlier in the week! It's pretty short, but it's definitely got the right holiday feel to it. Meri and I discussed some of our fondest holiday memories that somehow involve the series. Whether it's waiting on specific presents that you know are in the house, or spending too much time playing video games over the break, we covered it all. Actually, we didn't. However, what we didn't cover was covered by you... the fans! Definitely check it out.

19 December 2007

Chow Yun-Fat Joins Live Action Movie
VegettoEX @ 6:43 am EDT -- You know, my feeds starting rolling in this news around 10:30 pm last night, but all of the sources were down. Turns out it was indeed accurate, though!

Chow Yun-Fat has indeed joined the cast of the live action movie! He will be playing Kame-Sen'nin (Master Roshi), lending a little more authority to the cast.

Apparently, director James Wong also tried to get some more Asian talent, including Edison Chen and Jitty Zhang Yuqi.

Oh, man... if they throw in a Chow Yun-Fat (Kame-Sen'nin) vs James Marsters (Piccolo) with a totally dramatic failed Mafuba in there... dammit, the rest of the movie could be crap for all I care... I'll be happy!

17 December 2007

DragonBall Z: Burst Limit (Dimps, Website, etc.)
VegettoEX @ 5:49 pm EDT -- Now that an official website has been set up for the game, we actually have some confirmation on stuffage, rather than wild fanboy speculation.

The upcoming fighter for the Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3 is indeed being developed by Dimps and has actually been in development for a bit (Dimps isn't exactly rusty; the Shin Budokai and Arcade Impact games have kept them busy). As Julian stated in the latest podcast episode, it will be featured in playable form at the upcoming Jump Festa this coming weekend. There are two screen-caps over on the website; one looks like something either from a cut-scene or super-move, while the other is that Goku vs. Freeza shot we've seen.

Yes, we've all seen the "first photos" from the upcoming live action movie. Nothing really special yet. Honestly, it looks more like "hey, the guy has arrived on the set" more than "images from the movie". And yes, Emmy Rossum was confirmed as playing Bulma.

Honestly, I'm more interested in your holiday memories :P. Read below!

DragonBall Holiday Memories Request!
VegettoEX @ 6:53 am EDT -- Next episode of the podcast we are going to discuss and re-live some of our favorite DragonBall holiday memories. Be it receiving a special present, or just doing something in particular with the series over a break, we're going to share it all!

Do you have any specific DragonBall holiday memories? Want to share them with us? Have a microphone?

Send us a little recording and we'll play it on next week's show! Keep it between 30 seconds and one minute, say your name, where you're from, and what your memory is. We'd love to hear it! Send all recordings to:

We are not looking for text; we want an actual audio recording. Thanks! Look forward to next week's show!

Also just wanted to mention that the cover of Budokai Tenkaichi 3 can clearly be seen in the latest Gamefly commercials, and is even the featured PS2 game on their home page.

I guess it's still that big, huh?

16 December 2007

Podcast Episode #0107 Available!
VegettoEX @ 3:26 pm EDT -- Episode #0107 of the podcast is available for download! We took it back to a character-specific topic, and again focused on the changing voices of that character. Unlike Cell, for example (where Norio Wakamoto remained through all transformations), this character doesn't really have voice changes due to transformations... rather, the original seiyuu passed away in 1995, and several others have stepped up to take over the role. Who are we talking about...?!?

That's right! Kame-Sen'nin has been played by Kouhei Miyauchi, Hiroshi Masuoka, Masahara Satou, and Kinya Aikawa. Check out the episode for examples and our thoughts on all voices, as well as a recap of the ridiculous amount of news from the week. Definitely check it out.

15 December 2007

DBGT R2 DVD Singles Full Release Schedule
VegettoEX @ 2:41 pm EDT -- We're keeping you on your toes today! Between updating the site and playing with you guys on Xbox Live, I'm not exactly getting any podcast editing done :P

ect5150, in diligent ever-scanning-Amazon-Japan fashion, has discovered the full release schedule for the upcoming DBGT R2 DVDs. As with DB & DBZ, these are individual discs based off of the previous Dragon Box sets (non-faux-remastered, nice sound, progressive, full-screen, etc.). Remember, these are from Japan, and while they are NTSC, they are encoded as Region 2 and have no subtitles.

• 06 February 2008: Volumes 1 & 2
• 05 March 2008: Volumes 3 & 4
• 02 April 2008: Volumes 5 & 6
• 09 May 2008: Volumes 7 & 8
• 04 June 2008: Volumes 9, 10, & 11

So there you have it. After this, all that's left will be the movies for single-disc releases... and those TV specials...

More Live Action Movie Castings
VegettoEX @ 12:04 pm EDT -- Thanks to the one and only the original ero-sennin for the heads-up. SuperHeroHype is sourcing The Hollywood Reporter on this one. Apparently Eriko Tamura will be joining the cast as Mai (Pilaf's female lackey), and Joon Park will be playing Yamcha (I guess James Kyson Lee didn't get the role?). We also have Emmy Rossum joining the cast in some unknown role. So if we know we have James Marsters as Piccolo, and we've got Mai in here now, it sounds like we can definitely expect some sort of adaptation of the Piccolo-Daimaô arc.

Of course, the real question is who's going to play Pilaf (if he's actually in there), and how...? :P

Look forward to a news-filled and pretty overall awesome podcast episode tomorrow.

13 December 2007

DragonBall Z: Burst Limit (360/PS3) & More!
VegettoEX @ 9:13 pm EDT -- Ugh. When there's news, I really oughta post it right away... even when it's just something little. Unfortunately, I've waited to put up a few things, and now they'll all be bombarded upon you combined with some additional (huge) news. I apologize. For giving you news. News that happens to be awesome.

"NEW BATTLE FOR GOKU AND FRIENDS!"
DragonBall Z: Burst Limit (Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3)

It's true; a new game has already been announced for sometime-in-2008, and this time they're hitting "next-gen" with everything they've got. No specific developer beyond Bandai-Namco has been listed, but DragonBall Z: Burst Limit is heading to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next year to give all of us fighting game fans yet another box to find space for.

Big props to NeoGAF for breaking the news on this one. The preliminary info and images come from next week's Jump. More info will be available in the February 2008 issue of V-Jump, so look forward to that. Good thing we've got Julian over in Japan...!

Meanwhile, in Germany...

Our buddy Timo wrote in to let us know that there are some shenanigans going on over in Germany. Carlsen Comics (who released the manga over there) announced that they will be putting out the so-called "animanga" for the TV series. There is a little bit of information (and now cover-art) over on a specific page of their site.

The "Saiyajin Saga" will be released in five volumes in paperback format (mirroring the Japanese original). In addition to this, the Carddass trading card game has actually been coming out since around July this year. The artwork and layout are similar to the French release, and the rules are the original Japanese. So far, two editions have been released, and a third is on its way. In a nutshell, if you're over in Germany, there's some new stuff for you to check out.

At the same time, back in the good ol' U.S. of A...

Podcast hosting man and news anchor extraordinaire godofchaos put up some info listing all sorts of things.

• DBZ Movies 1 & 2 Blu-Ray May 27th - Remastered
• DBZ Movies 1 & 2 DVD May 27th - Remastered
• DBZ Season 5 boxset May 27th
• DBGT Season 1 boxset June 10th

Hrrrmmm. New boxsets, eh? Yeah, let's ignore the movie info for a second. There's no information on whether or not this DBGT boxset is "remastered" in the same way that the DBZ season boxsets are "remastered". It doesn't really add up, since a "Lost Episodes" boxset just recently came out on November 13th (covering the actual first "season", or rather, episodes 1-16), and there's already been a boxset of their so-called first "season" back in October 2005 (or rather, their volumes one through five). So with all that in mind... I have no logical conclusion to draw.

So what about this Movie 1 & 2 double feature news, huh? Interesting. Looks like the upcoming Bardock/Trunks disc (which will be coming out in a special tin case, by the way) was only the tip of the iceberg, and Movies 1 & 2 will come out on both standard DVD & Blu-Ray. Interestingly, this completely contradicts what ToonZone reports was stated at the recent FUNimation panel at NYC Anime Festival:

FUNimation was one of the few anime companies at the New York Anime Festival that is releasing high-definition material on Blu-ray DVD. Sheehan started with the Dragon Ball Z: Broly on Blu-ray, which puts 2 Broly features on 1 disc. Sheehan asked the rhetorical question of, "Why buy a Blu-ray edition of a 20-year old show?" and answered himself by saying that the show looked, "Beyond pure...like a cel animation framed on my TV." However, during the Q&A, Sheehan said that they had no plans for more Blu-ray or HD DVD at this time, but that they were satisfied with their results for Dragon Ball Z. He also said that they were settled on the Blu-ray format for now.

Never trust what's said about the future at panels. They're only saying what they're told they're allowed to say. Information leaks out all the time ahead of their planned schedule, as seen back in mid-2006 with the Season 1 / "Remastered" fiasco.

Phew. I think that's it. Time to relax. Talk amongst yourselves.

11 December 2007

IGN Reviews Budokai Tenkaichi 3
VegettoEX @ 9:50 pm EDT -- IGN (Bozon in particular) has finally put up a review of Budokai Tenkaichi 3, focusing on the Wii version, though mentioning the PS2 version where appropriate.

Honestly, I couldn't agree more with the review. If you check out what we've been saying on the podcast (just this week with our final thoughts, and back on Episode #0099 with our initial thoughts), you'll pretty much hear a mirror of what good ol' Bozie's written up. He concludes it with a very fair score of 8.0

There have been a few very unprofessional reviews floating around on other gaming sites, and even though those reviews have been much more "independent" in nature than IGN's, I definitely feel this was the most thorough and accurate of the bunch.

Right now, the metacritic.com score is hovering at 75/100, while the user score is 9.8/10...

10 December 2007

Atari vs. FUNimation: Settled...?!
VegettoEX @ 5:39 pm EDT -- Aww, already? It was too easy a solution! All after we went and made such a great image, too.

According to Atari's latest press release, all disputes have been settled and they will continue onwards as the exclusive US rights holder. All it did was cost them another $3.5 million.

Atari, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATAR), an interactive entertainment company, announced today that it settled its previously reported dispute with FUNimation Productions Ltd. with respect to an audit of amounts due to FUNimation under certain sublicense agreements and other matters.

Under the terms of the settlement, Atari, Inc. paid to FUNimation $3.5 million, comprised of a cash payment of approximately $2.7 million and a reduction of $0.8 million in the amount of the recoupable royalty advance made to FUNimation. Atari, Inc. originally paid FUNimation $10 million in January 2004 to secure the exclusive interactive U.S. rights for the Dragon Ball Z franchise through January 2010. As previously disclosed in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, the Company reserved the settlement as of September 30, 2007.

"With this dispute behind Atari, Inc. we look forward to continuing our relationship with FUNimation and continuing to deliver to our consumers exciting products from the Dragon Ball Z franchise," said Curtis G. Solsvig III, Chief Restructuring Officer of Atari, Inc.

Long story short, as we've seen with Atari in the past, their ability to count money hasn't exactly been top-notch. Looks like FUNimation called them out on it, and demanded the rest of the money they were owed. They collected, everyone's on friendly terms again, and unless Atari goes out of business, they're going to keep distributing DBZ games until 2010. BTW, it looks like the other of the "two" license disputes FUNimation had with Atari was with Yu Yu Hakusho.

Atari also announced some additional restructuring today, but nothing seems to affect the DB license all that much.

09 December 2007

Podcast Episode #0106 Available!
VegettoEX @ 11:45 pm EDT -- Episode #0106 of the podcast is available for download! It's everything you've been waiting for, and so much more. I actually wasn't sure if I was going to have it done in time to say it actually came out on Sunday... but it looks like I pulled it off. I'll just require extra coffee in the morning, I think. So here's your "final thoughts" (well, our "final thoughts") on Sparking! METEOR, which you're perhaps playing as Budokai Tenkaichi 3. I think we'll go both directions from what you would expect us to say, so certainly tune in for that.

In addition, we had all sorts of other great discussions pop up during the recording. A fun time for all! Definitely check it out.

Live Action Movie To Begin Shooting In January...?
VegettoEX @ 12:18 am EDT -- IESB.net is reporting that the upcoming live action movie will begin filming on January 7th. However, as you read through the news, you'll notice that the tip is just coming in via an e-mail from someone in the area. They may trust the person, but to me it's not quite as official as I would expect from such a legitimate source. Regardless, it makes a bunch of sense.

It's getting really hard to deny this movie will ever get made, now... :P

We've got most of the next podcast episode recorded... Meri and I just need to do the topic. Look forward to the episode and our final thoughts on Sparking! METEOR much later in the evening.

06 December 2007

Bardock/Trunks DVD Cover Art, IGN Feature, etc.
VegettoEX @ 5:40 pm EDT -- Some guy I've never met and has never sent info to me before dropped me a line this afternoon to let everyone know that the cover art for the upcoming Bardock/Trunks "double feature" has come on out (via AAA Anime Distribution):

In case you didn't know (and you should since you read this site... and we've mentioned it many times before), this is a re-release of these two DBZ TV specials (titled by FUNimation Bardock: The Father of Goku and The History of Trunks). They were originally released in late 2000 / early 2001, and have been extremely hard to track down as-of-late. This re-release combines both TV specials on one disc, albeit in the faux-"remastered" format that the rest of the DBZ TV series is currently undergoing. It drops on 19 February 2008 for an MSRP of $29.98 (cheaper many places online for pre-order).

IGN's been showing some DBZ minor bits of love lately. This time around, their "Anime" section (which I never knew existed) has a "DragonBall Z: Top 10 Plot Twists" feature.

Thanks to The S for the heads-up on that list. It's extremely dub-centric, but the author (David Smith) has a pretty good grasp on things. Sound off in the forum thread with your thoughts on their list, and what your own top plot twists are. I'm with Adamant... Piccolo killing Shenlong was pretty twisty.

Live Action Update: Chi-Chi Role Cast (Jamie Chung)
VegettoEX @ 7:30 am EDT -- ANN (via The Hollywood Reporter) has delivered the news that the role of Chi-Chi has been cast for the upcoming live-action DragonBall movie. Jamie Chung, who has apparently been involved with The Real World in the past, will be taking on the role of Chi-Chi.

04 December 2007

Live Action Movie Open Casting Call
VegettoEX @ 9:52 pm EDT -- Live near Durango, Mexico? Want to be in the live action DBZ movie? IESB.net has the dirt on what's on the up and up and who's who. Something like that, anyway. Apparently the call is out there for extras of all types. Julio Toledo is handling the extras casting. If you're in the area and can work all day from 11 am to 6 pm, drop them a line.

No experience is necessary! Yep, this is definitely looking better every day...

02 December 2007

Podcast Episode #0105 Available!
VegettoEX @ 6:47 pm EDT -- Episode #0105 of the podcast is available for download! Long time no see... there just hasn't been any real news to speak of over the last week, or anything. But that's OK...! We have a new episode for you, as well as some content. This episode contains Volume 11 of our "Manga Review of Awesomeness" where we almost come to a close of the 22nd Tenka-ichi Budokai. Good times are had by all, and we seem to be in agreement that the series has hit its highest point since it began. Definitely check it out.

We promised something like this back on #0104, and now we're delivering:

[ Chinese DragonBall Live-Action Movie Comparison: Clip #1 ]

The is the first of (hopefully) many that showcases the difference between the original release of the Chinese live-action movie (The Magic Begins) and the new "remastered" version (Ultimate Edition). This time we focus on the Oolong character's attempted escape and subsequent transformation. Which do you prefer? The sock or the CG?