Weekly Shonen Jump 50th Anniversary

Today we have received in the mail this Weekly Shonen Jump issue dated January 29, 1986 in which Goku was about to enter Red Ribbon's Muscle Tower. What makes us remember that the first issue of WSJ was published on August 1, 1968 and the magazine is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month. To celebrate the anniversary, this week issue, both the Japanese and the USA digital editions come full of bonus material such as a talk between manga authors Akira Toriyama and Takehiko Inoue. Toriyama has also contributed with a drawing of Goku and a note  congratulating the anniversary.

To celebrate the event, the publisher of the magazine, Shueisha has organized an exhibition divided in 3 volumes by periods of time. It started last summer and will last until September this year. The exhibition was divided in these phases:

Shonen Jump-Ten vol. 1: July 18, 2017  to October 15, 2017

Shonen Jump-Ten vol. 2: March 19, 2018  to June 17, 2018

Shonen Jump-Ten vol. 3: July 17, 2018  to September 30, 2018

A huge amount of merchandise featuring all the series that have been published in the WSJ all over the years was created for this events. Aaron visited Japan last sumer when the exhibition opened, so he managed to buy some cool stuff. For those like me that haven't been able to travel to Japan yet, the catalogues that come packed with lengthy interviews with the featured manga authors luckily are written in Japanese and English and are a great way to take a glimpse of what was exhibited.

Official Shonen Jump sites:
Shonen Jump Japan: http://www.shonenjump.com
Shonen Jump USA: https://www.viz.com/shonenjump
Shonen Jump Ten Exhibition: https://shonenjump-ten.com
Shonen Jump Ten Exhibition News: https://sp.shonenjump.com/j/50th/news/

Most of the merchandise is available in the Jump Character Store:
https://jumpcs.shueisha.co.jp

DRAGON BALL SHŌSHŪHEN

Today it was published the last volume of DRAGON BALL SHŌSHŪHEN (総集編) in Japan. Shueisha began to re-publish a new collected edition of Akira Toriyama's classic manga in an 18 volume collection released every two Fridays in Japan, starting on May 13th 2016.

First published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from December 1984 to May 1995 and originally serialized in chapters of 15 pages, with a weekly periodicity Dragon Ball became a phenomenon and busted the  magazine to surpass the 6 million issue circulation in the 90's. Dragon Ball shared pages in the WSJ  with other classic mangas such as Captain Tsubasa and Saint Seya. With a JIS B5 (7 ×10 inch or 18.2 × 25.7 cm) size and around 400 pages, most of them in  black and white  and sporadical color chapters of the featured series, WSJ had a phonebook kind of feeling. Due to the volume, size and and lack of print  and paper quality, Japanese magazine are not something readers keep, but rather read and throw away to the recycle bin. That is why popular series such as Dragon Ball are later collected in books. Here a look back at the different Japanese editions published in Japan over the years:

DRAGON BALL  - TANKŌBON

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Finalized in about ten years and totalling 520 chapters, during the serialization of Dragon Ball every three month or so, the manga was collected in smaller size (4.5 × 7 inch or 11 × 17 cm), and 180 page books called TANKŌBON (単行本) they were all printed in black and white, totaling 42 volumes with a price tag of ¥360 around $4 of the time. This edition was refreshed in May 2009 with newly designed covers.

DRAGON BALL  - KANZENBAN

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In December 2002, Dragon Ball was collected in a 34 volume collection called KANZENBAN (完全版) in a bigger size A5 (5.7 × 8.3 inch or 14.5 × 21 cm) with the color pages that were missing in the previous edition, with a better paper quality, new cover illustrations by the author and a slightly different ending. Each volume costed ¥933 about $9 and had around 230 pages.

DRAGON BALL  - ALL COLOR

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In 2013, Dragon Ball was fully digitally colored and released both in digital e-book and paper format in tankōbon size volumes. The series was divided in 6 mayor arcs and each volume was numbered within these arcs. The whole series was collected in 32 volumes, each with 260 pages and a price tag of ¥630 around $6.

DRAGON BALL  - SHŌSHŪHEN

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The latest edition is the SHŌSHŪHEN (総集編) and collects the whole series in just 18 volumes. It brings back the same size in which the series was printed in the WSJ, in a glorious 7 × 10 inch size and for the first time the chapters were collected in relation to the plot arcs of the series, so each volume has a different page count and price. Prices vary from 550¥ to 700¥ ( $5-$6.5) and as far as number of pages is concerned from 400 to 600. This edition was desingned to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series and the goal was to resemble what was like reading Dragon Ball for the first time when published in WSJ. The thickness of the volume, keeping the chapter covers before each chapter, instead of putting them all together at the end (as the previous editions did), maintaining the color pages in a glossy paper and the B&W in a more of a brown paper stock and including for the first time since it's original serialization the foot notes that preceded  each chapter help in creating that feeling. Apart from this, the books come full of tidbits, such as timelines of Dragon Ball product releases, insert posters and special cards. All this together makes this one the greatest Dragon Ball editions ever.

New Dragon Ball movie coming soon

Akira Toriyama himself has written a message to introduce the latest Dragon Ball animated movie that will be released in march 2012. What's exciting about this new movie is the involvement in the script by the original author of Dragon Ball. It seems that after the disappointing Hollywood live action version of Dragon Ball, he decided it was about time to return to his characters and present them the way they were meant to be seen. It's soo nice to read some words of the original author promising us some good old times.

Dragon Ball as envisioned by his author ended with the final chapter published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine back in 1995. Since then, the series has keep on growing as successful franchises do. Shortly after its conclusion, the animated series continued for a while with the adventures narrated in Dragon Ball GT and video games have continue to hit the modern video game consoles for al this years too, buut it was a long time we didn't have a brand new Dragon Ball movie.

Say tunned in the official website. If you really want to dive deep into Dragon Ball, check out Kanzenshuu a website born from the recent merge of Kanzentai and DaizenX two of the most complete Dragon Ball english sources out there. I recently discovered this topic about animation directors involved in the original series aired in the 80's and the 90's. Fantastic.

Toriyama Today

The japanese seem to be concerned about the future. At least that is what it seems looking at this Biosphere project I just found surfing the net. You don't need to know japanese to get an idea of what is this about. The cute drawings of Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and DrSlump comunicate it amazingly well.

Dragon Ball Daizenshū #6

Today I ordered the sixth volume of the Daizenshū Dragon Ball encyclopedia.

DRAGON BALL大全集 (6)

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Shueisha / 214 pages / Japanese
Language: 日本語, 日本語
ISBN: 978-4087827569
Release Date: 1995.12.09

Dragon Ball Daizenshū #3

The third volume of Dragon Ball Daizenshū enciclopedia. Just one left to complete the collection

DRAGON BALL大全集 (3)

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1995-IX-9
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 233
Size: 10.5 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
Retail price: ¥1,888
ISBN-10: 4087827534
ISBN-13: 978-4087827538

Dragon Ball Daizenshū #5

Another Dragon Ball encyclopedia book found on  Amazon Japan Marketplace. Added to shopping cart.

DRAGON BALL 大全集 (5)

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1995-XI-7
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 233
Size: 10.5 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
Retail price: ¥1,888
ISBN-10: 4087827550
ISBN-13: 978-4087827552

CASHMAN SAVING SOLDIER

Today I found a rare comic by Akira Toriyama in Amazon Japan Marketplace. Cashman, based on a character developed by Toriyama for a threepart story originally published in Shueisha's V-Jump magazine in 1990 and 1991 and collected for the first time in Akira Toriyama's Maru Saku Gekijo #3 and re-released in Akira Toriyama's Makan Zenseki 2. In this book the story continues but this time Toriyama  left the script in hands of Takao Koyama while Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru did the drawings. The resulting work is visually stunning. Toriyamas pure style but kind of different, in a way is hard to explain. 

貯金戦士キャッシュマン

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1998-VII-1
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 184
Size: 7 x 4.6 x 0.6 inches
Retail price: ¥514
ISBN-10: 4088725867
ISBN-13: 978-4088725864

Author / revision: Akira Toriyama
script: Takao Koyama
drawings: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru

Dragon Ball Daizenshū #1

I have been buying many of Dragon Ball Daizenshū books this past months and it seems I'm going have all of them soon. Today I found the first volume on Amazon Japan. Just when the Dragon Ball publication came to its end in Spain Planeta de Agostini released this book same book among the short stories of Akira Toriyama, "Teatro Manga" (Maru Saku Gekijo) and "Taller de Manga" (Hetappi Manga Kenkyujo) as well as announcing the publication of Dr. Slump for the first time in Spain. I remember that time with special nostalgia,  after all, it was the first illustration book I bought and I believe one of the first manga illustrations books released in Spain. That was ten years ago.

DRAGON BALL大全集 (1) Complete Illustrations

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1995-VI-25
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 217
Size: 10.5 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
Retail price: ¥1,572
ISBN-10: 4087827518
ISBN-13: 978-4087827514

Dragon Ball Daizenshuu Carddass Perfect File 1

Continuing the collection of Dragon Ball Books today I ordered the Carddass Perfect File Part 1. This softcover book its a special supplement of the Daizenshū collection focusing on the Dragon Ball Carddass cards. 

DRAGON BALL 大全集 (8) Carddass Perfect File Part 1

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1996-II
Language:
Number of pages: 134
Size: 10.2 x 7.2 x 0.3 inches
Retail price: ¥1,027
ISBN-10: 4081020167
ISBN-13: 978-4081020164

Dragon Ball Daizenshū #7

It looks that it's Dragon Ball Daizenshū month, just a week ago I ordered the second volume of the Dragon Ball encyclopedia and I just found a copy of the seventh volume that ships internationally from Amazon Japan Marketplace.

DRAGON BALL大全集(7) Dragon Ball Encyclopedia

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1996-II
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 313
Size: 10.4 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
Retail price: ¥1,888
ISBN-10: 4087827577
ISBN-13: 978-4087827576

Dragon Ball Daizenshū #2

A couple of months ago, I ordered  the Dragon Ball Daizenshuu #4 on the Amazon Japan marketplace. The fourth volume of The DB encyclopedia published a decade ago in Japan. The book was in a pristine condition, so today, when I found out that someone else was selling the second volume and taking into account that you never know when those hard to find books are going to be available to ship internationally, I had to buy it.

DRAGON BALL 大全集 (2) STORY GUIDE

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Publisher: Sgueisha
Release date: 1995-VIII
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 265
Size: 10.5 x 6.7 x 0.9 inches
Retail price: ¥1,572
ISBN-10: 4087827526
ISBN-13: 978-4087827521

Dragon Ball ¡Dossier Definitivo! + Daizenshū #4

I still remember the first time I read about Dragon Ball Daizenshū, a collection of books that was released in Japan when the manga Dragon Ball came to its end. It was in the Dragon Ball ¡Dossier Definitivo!, a  book I purchased for Christmas in 1995. I was eleven at the time, I remember vividly that the lack of information related to anything manga related was huge in those days, specially for someone living in a small town. I felt lucky to have found that ¡Dossier Definitivo! book, a hard cover Dragon Ball book published in Spanish, with a cool Goku image on its cover and so much information inside.

That book was, and maybe it's still today, one of the best not official Dragon Ball data books published in Spain. Thanks to that book, I started to have a vague idea about how things worked in the manga industry in general, and in Dragon Ball in particular. I knew nothing about Shueisha (the Japanese publisher of Dragon Ball) or Weekly Shonen Jump (The weekly magazine in which Dragon Ball was published) I didn't even know that Dragon Ball Tankōbon (the pocket size books where  manga was collected after its serialization) existed. I was specially interested in the chapter related to the Dragon Ball related publications in Japan. For some reason, I have always been more interested  in printed material than anything else. I have never had an interest in the figures or the rest of the merchandise, but books... I wanted them all! I was so mind blown by the fact that there was so much printed material of Dragon Ball in Japan and so fascinated with all this information around Akira Toriyama that I even wrote about it for a school presentation project. I digested all the information I had on hand and vomited in front of the class. I guess it was a chaos and no one understood anything. But I had a great time writing all that. 

 Two pages covering the Japanese publications of  Dragon Ball  from the book ¡Dossier Definitivo!

It was also around the year 95 when a neighbor friend purchased a Japanese Tankōbon of Dragon Ball, the volume 40, featuring an awesome cover that paid justice to its content. A never before seen transformation of Goku in super saya jin with long hair. None of us read Japanese so we just though Goku turned to evil or something. The little pocket size book contrasted so much with the Spanish publications, the cover art was beautifully colored and the original Japanese reading and sound effects were amazing. I wanted to have one of this Japanese books for a long time but that didn't happen until some years later, in 1998, when I saw a commercial of a store in Catalonia in a manga magazine. Its name was Tot de Jocs. There was no internet yet so the only way to go was calling them by phone. Luckily they had some Japanese dragon Ball volumes at good prices. I ordered the volume 38

Some years later, in 2004 I discovered Amazon Japan, and after a while figuring out how to navigate through the site that was starting to be partially translated to English, I found out that  the books Akira Toriyama The World and The World Special were still on print, so I didn't thought twice and bought both of them. That was my first ever order to Amazon Japan. And finnaly today, april 24, 2007, fter realizing that the second hand marketplace on Amazon works great, I diecovered that someone is selling the fourth volume of Dragon Ball Daizenshū published over a decade ago, so I ordered it immediately. 

Finally, after twelve years, I got the chance to have one of this books on my hands. What once seemed impossible, now has become an easy chore. Sitting in front of a computer, surfing a website, copy-pasting some Japanese characters here and there and swiping the credit card. Then, somebody in Japan that is trying to get rid of that book, would pack it up,  and ship it. All for less that 30€. It's impressive how the world evolves and companies like Amazon push the bar higher and higher every time, to  make everything more easy and convenient for everyone.

DRAGON BALL大全集 (4) WORLD GUIDE

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Publisher: Shueisha
Release date: 1995-X
Language: Japanese
Number of pages: 167
Size: 10.5 x 7.6 x 0.7 inches
Retail price: ¥1,572
ISBN-10: 4087827542
ISBN-13: 978-4087827545

Otomo, Toriyama, Nakamura & Kon

Today, I ordered nine books from Amazon Japan.

TWILIGHT by Takashi Nakamura

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The early manga works by Takashi Nakamura collected for the first time. Nakamarura worked as animation director in Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA and has directed such remarkable anime films as Catnapped!  and Tree of Palme among anime series like Peter Pan no Boken. An article about the book and interviews with author in style.fm

An adventure story of STEAMBOY movie script by Katsuhiro Otomo

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The script of the Steam Boy film written and directed by Otomo.

SteamBoy Adventure Book

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This book is a complete story digest of the movie and design sketches.

Domu  by Katsuhiro Otomo

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An epic manga by Katsuhiro Otomo awarded with the 1983: Japan Science Fiction Grand Prix. The first time a manga was awarded in this category.

Dragon Ball Landmark 

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The perfect companion for the Dragon Ball manga re-reelase in Kanzenban format. 

Dragon Ball Forever

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Even more data about Dragon Ball

Neko Majin by Akira Toriyama

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The latest manga by Toriyama collected in kanzenban format. The adventures of Neko Majin and Neko majin Z.

Kon's Tone by Satoshi Kon

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First order to Amazon Japan

I've been desiring to order something from Amazon Japan for a long time, and now that the site seems to be translated to english I decided to do so. My first order is conformed by three great books. Two by Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump. And One by Katsuhiro Otomo the mind behind the manga and the movie AKIRA.

Akira Toriyama The world

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A 96 page soft cover book published in 1990 that collects some of the authors illustrations done for Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball, plus many rare things like a short story named WOLF and some of the models that Toriyama does is his free time among other stuff.

Akira Toriyama The World Special

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A beautiful, hard cover book that even it seems, as one can guess for its title, a special edition of the prior one, it's a pretty different bread. This one is more focused on Dragon Ball and even many illustrations are repeated, it includes a full color short story titled SCAPE, a sequence of pictures showcasing Toriyama working on the cover illustration and many more things that make the book worth the money. There are not so many illustration books about Toriyama so both books are a must  if you appreciate this author's work.

AKIRA Animation Archives

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Published in 2002, one of the latest Katsuhiro Otomo's AKIRA related books that came out at the same time that the DVD almost 13 years after the movie hit the theaters in Japan. The book is a look back to the creation of the classic movie including layouts, backgrounds  and designs of the film that will blow anyone's mind. A masterpiece movie deserved a masterpiece book like this and finally, here it is.

The end of Dragon Ball Serie Roja

A couple of years ago Dragon Ball came to it's end in Japan, so now it's time to say good bye to the Dragon Ball serialization in Spain too. With this Serie Roja #58 (number 211 including the Serie Blanca) ends the first edition of Dragon Ball in Spain. This last number came with a golden metallic printed title and a poster. It has been great pleasure following Dragon Ball for three years.

Bye Bye Dragon Ball

With this title has ended Dragon Ball today in Japanese Weekly Shonen Jump. Akira Toriyama has decided to finish Dragon Ball, the story he started publishing back in December 1984, more than ten years ago. I feel really fortunate for having follow the story all this years almost at the same time it was been published in Japan thanks to the Spanish edition of Planeta de Agostini. It has been also so great to see it translated to Basque, as animated feature on Basque TV. But is not time to be sad, we still have time to enjoy Dragon Ball in here. The  Spanish edition (Serie Roja) is still being published  at a rate of 48 pages per month, so we still have two years of adventures with Goku and his friends to ahead. Here the Goodbye letter by Akira Toriyama as published in the last Tankoubon #42 on August 9, 1995.

Dragon Ball Tankoubon #40

This is the first ever Dragon Ball Tankoubon I saw. A neighbour friend has bought it on a comic book store. There are no many stores like this around so this kind of material it's pretty difficult to find in the Basque Country. As it's all written in Japanese, we have no clue on what's going on. The value of it for us resides fully in the pictures. The storyline is far ahead of what we are reading in Spanish edition and watching on Basque TV, so we were just amazed by every single frame. The thing that shocked us most was a full page of Goku transformation in a super saya with long hair. We thought he was evil because of the eyes, I guess. Months later when it was finally published in Spain we end up knowing what was really happening. 

Dragon Ball on Weekly Sonen Jump Issue #51

Dragon Ball by Japanese author Akira Toriyama started its serialization in Japanese Weekly Shonen Jump magazine today. After Dr. Slump, the first long series,  that ran from January 1980 to August 1984, Akira Toriyama is back with a kind of a different manga. This time a boy Goku and a girl Bulma will run into the search of Dragon Balls in an amazing adventure road-movie style manga.