Archive for Januari 2013
Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師 Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, literally "Alchemist of Steel") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is styled after the European Industrial Revolution. Set in a fictional universe in which alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques known to man, the story follows the brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric, who want to restore their bodies after a disastrous failed attempt to bring their mother back to life through alchemy.
The manga was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan magazine (starting August 2001 and ending June 2010) and was collected in 27 tankōbon volumes. It was loosely adapted into an animated television series of 51 episodes by Bones from October 4, 2003, to October 2, 2004, later followed by a film sequel that concluded the story of the anime. Fullmetal Alchemist would later spawn a second series called Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which directly adapted the manga. Brotherhood first premiered in Japan on April 5, 2009, spanning 64 episodes, and ending on July 4, 2010. A multitude of spin-off novels, original video animations (OVAs), drama CDs, soundtracks, and video games have been adapted from the series. A collectible card game, multiple supplementary books, and a variety of action figures and other merchandise based on the characters of the series have also been released.
The manga has been licensed by Viz Media for publication in the United States, with 27 bound volumes released currently. Although there are no major differences with the Japanese version, some pages have been edited to avoid minor references to western theology. Funimation Entertainment has dubbed the anime episodes in the United States and Canada, and has also released them in all English-speaking DVD regions. The English version of the film premiered in a limited number of U.S. theaters on August 25, 2006, and was later released on DVD. Funimation and Destineer have also been releasing the video games from the series.
In Japan, the Fullmetal Alchemist manga has enjoyed exceptional sales of 50 million volumes sold as of 2010. The English release of the manga's first volume was the top-selling graphic novel during the year 2005. In two TV Asahi web polls, the anime was voted #1 most popular anime of all time in Japan. It was nominated in six of the eight categories for which it was eligible at the American Anime Awards in February 2007, winning awards in five of them. Reviewers from several media generally had positive comments on the series.
Tag :// ANIME JEPANG
Baka and Test (バカとテストと召喚獣 Baka to Tesuto to Shōkanjū, lit. Idiots, Tests, and Summoned Beasts) also known as Baka and Test: Summon the Beasts is a Japanese light novel series created by Kenji Inoue and illustrations by Yui Haga. The first novel in the series was released on January 29, 2007, and as of November 23, 2012, a total of fifteen volumes, including volume 3.5, volume 6.5, volume 7.5, volume 9.5, and volume 10.5, have been published by Enterbrain under their Famitsu Bunko publishing imprint. A manga adaptation by Mosuke Mattaku started serialization in the manga magazine Shōnen Ace on April 25, 2009. Another manga adaptation by namo started serialization in the male oriented web comic magazine Famitsu Comic Clear on October 30, 2009. An anime adaptation by Media Factory was announced the same month. A promotional trailer was released for streaming in August 2009.[1] An anime series adaption began airing on January 7, 2010. Funimation has licensed the anime for release in the United States under the title Baka and Test – Summon the Beasts.[2] A board game/adventure game for PlayStation Portable titled Baka to Test to Shōkanjū Portable was released in December 13, 2012
Tag :// ANIME JEPANG
Eyeshield 21 (アイシールド21 Aishīrudo Nijūichi) is a Japanese manga series written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Yusuke Murata. The series tells the story of Sena Kobayakawa, a introvert boy who joined the American football club. He initially joined the club as secretary, but after being coerced by Hiruma, turns out to play wearing an eyeshield and the number 21, under the pseudonym of "Eyeshield 21". Riichiro Inagaki chose American football as a central theme for Eyeshield 21 after realizing that it fit perfectly with the idea he had in mind for the series.
The manga was originally serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from July 2002 to June 2009. The series consists of 333 chapters collected in 37 tankōbon volumes. In North America, the manga was released for Viz Media from April 2005 to October 2011. An anime adaptation consisting of 145 television episodes was directed by Masayoshi Nishida and Shin Katagai, and co-produced by TV Tokyo, NAS, and Gallop. The television series originally aired on Japan's TV Tokyo network from April 6, 2005 to March 19, 2008. It was later licensed in North America by Toonami Jetstream as a joint effort with NFL Rush and aired on December 17, 2007, but no more episodes was dubbed, as the Toonami Jetstream video-streaming service shut down. The anime series was streamed in English by Crunchyroll. The Eyeshield 21 franchise has spawned two original video animations (OVAs), audio albums, video games, and other merchandise.
In Japan, the Eyeshield 21 manga has been popular, selling over 20 million volumes as of June 2009. The manga and anime have been featured, at various time, in Top Ten of their respective media. The Eyeshield 21 anime has been watched by a large number of television viewers in Japan. Publications for manga, anime and others have commented on Eyeshield 21 manga. Positive response have focused on the artwork and characters from the series, while negative responses concern the non-football scenes.
PLOT
The plot of Eyeshield 21 revolves around a weak and non-assertive boy named Sena Kobayakawa who enters the high school of his choice, Deimon Private Senior High School, where his childhood friend Mamori Anezaki attended school the year before. His only remarkable physical abilities are his running speed and intense agility, the result of a school life spent complying with the demands of bullies. It was revealed later that a friend, Riku, taught him how to run fast to help him against bullies. His abilities quickly catch the eye of the high school's American football team captain Yoichi Hiruma, who forces Sena to join the Deimon Devil Bats as its running back.
To protect his identity from other teams who want to recruit him, Sena is forced to publicly assume the role of team secretary and enter the field wearing a helmet equipped with a green-tinted eyeshield in order to hide his features under the pseudonym of "Eyeshield 21." The makeshift team initially takes part in the spring football tournament hoping to win with through the strength of their new "secret weapon." However, the extremely weak team is eliminated early on by the Ojo White Knights, a powerhouse football team that focuses on defense.
After Deimon's defeat, the spring tournament is revealed as secondary in importance to the fall tournament, where the teams compete for the chance to play in the "Christmas Bowl," the high school football league championship. Hiruma, Kurita, and Sena regroup and slowly build a real team from other misfits and students looking to define themselves, such as Tarō "Monta" Raimon, a baseball player who can only catch, and the Ha-Ha Brothers. Other characters slowly join the team, and the series follows the building and growth of the Deimon Devil Bats and its members as well as various rival teams as they all strive to achieve their goal of playing in the Christmas Bowl.
Following the Christmas Bowl, Japan begins to gather the best football players to form a team that will represent Japan at the American Football Youth World Championship, where an MVP will be rewarded an NFL contract and $3 million. Team Japan manages to make it to the final against Team America. The result is that a final touchdown by Sena at the buzzer ties the score, and both teams are declared winners, since no one expected anyone to win against America; however, the two teams are unsatisfied with this and tear straight back onto the field for their own improvised "overtime," causing chaos with officials. It is unclear which teams won the unofficial extra period but Panther of Team America won the MVP trophy aloft, winning the pro contract with the San Antonio Armadillos.
The series concludes with Sena becoming the captain of the Devil Bats when Hiruma and Kurita go off to college. In his final year of high school, Sena is invited to Notre Dame High School by Clifford, therefore fulfilling Hiruma's proclamation at the beginning of the series: the famous Eyeshield 21 of Notre Dame High has been born. All of the main characters are shown in the final chapter to be in college or playing amateur-league football while maintaining a job.
Production
Before the series starts to be published regularly in the Weekly Shōnen Jump, Inagaki and Murata published two one-shots, called Eyeshield Part 1 (前編 Zenpen) and Part 2 (後編 Kōhen) for 14th and 15th issue of the magazine.[1] Despite having never played American football, Riichiro Inagaki chose this theme after deciding that he wanted to create "a protagonist that was wimpy at the beginning, yet could perform outstandingly in a sports game" and with this premise in mind he decided that American football would be "a very suitable material."[2] When originally creating Eyeshield 21 he said he was wary because he didn't want that his manga becoming "a simulator of football".[3] Inagaki said that Eyeshield 21 is set in Tokyo, specifically, "but perhaps not in the center of the city—more in the suburbs." He added that this is "not very significant" and that aspects of the hometowns of the two creators are reflected in the setting.[4]During the Eyeshield 21's original run in the Weekly Shōnen Jump, Inagaki went several times to the United States. He went to see college football matches;[5] he went to a space center for some reference materials that would serve as the basis for creating the Nasa Aliens.[6] He went also too a military base as he needed to draw one when the Hiruma's background is revelead[7] and watching a NFL game he noted that the players "passed an intimidating and powerful sensation" and said that they "were facing dinosaurs", and created Rikiya Gao.[8]
Before being asked to work in Eyeshield 21 manga, Yusuke Murata had read some Inagaki's manga and noted that "had many cool design concepts of uniforms and equipment" and he stated "it could be turned into a great manga story", and he will "be happy to take the challenge"; eventually he was chosen.[2] While illustrated chapters, Murata was used to make a lot of mistakes and his pollen allergy used to hurt him because whenever he made a mistake he inhaled dust from eraser.[9][10] To drawn the characters' sketchs before sending them to the publisher, he used a mechanical pencil, which he considered special because it was given to him by Masanori Morita.[11]
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Bakugan Battle Brawlers (爆丸バトルブローラーズ Bakugan Batoru Burōrāzu) is a Japanese action adventure[1] anime television series produced by TMS Entertainment and Japan Vistec under the direction of Mitsuo Hashimoto. The story centers on the lives of creatures called Bakugan and the battle brawlers who possess them. Though initially a failure in Japan, the series became popular in the United States and Canada, prompting the creation/order of several follow-up seasons, (New Vestroia, and Gundalian Invaders) which aired in other countries before Japan. The fourth and final season, Mechtanium Surge, was never broadcasted in Japan and instead aired in Canadian and U.S. markets. The Bakugan franchise are co-productions from Nelvana Enterprises, Spin Master, Sega Toys and TMS Entertainment, with animation by TMS Entertainment in association with Sega Toys. On January 15, 2012, CoroCoro Comics announced that a spin-off series is currently in production that will be based and feature the characters from the BakuTech Manga.[2]
Plot
Main article: List of Bakugan Battle Brawlers characters
[edit]Season 1: Battle Brawlers
Dan Kuso's life changed one day when random cards fell out of the sky. He and his friend Shun invented a game called Bakugan with these. Together with his friends Runo, Marucho, Julie, Shun, and Alice, they form the Bakugan Battle Brawlers and its members are accidentally dragged into fighting for the fate of Vestroia (the Bakugan's home dimension) against the Doom Beings. The season is the story of a dimension called Vestroia which loses its natural balance and merges with the Earth and many other alien planets. An evil Bakugan called Naga was tempted and decided to take the Silent Core, a huge ball of negative energy that along with the positive Infinity Core, forms the Perfect Core that balances Vestroia. So Dan and his friends decided to bring back balance by meeting new friends and allies in the other planets, learn more about the origin of the Bakugan; and facing Naga, who seeks the Infinity Core so that he could complete the Perfect Core and have the ultimate power.
[edit]Season 2: New Vestroia
The Brawlers (Dan and Marucho) return to New Vestroia and discover that it has been colonized by an alien race called Vestals, who are unaware that the Bakugan are intelligent beings. Three Vestals: Mira, Ace and Baron, however, encounter Shun, who was an old friend of Dan and Marucho, so he knew the truth about Bakugan and formed the Bakugan Brawlers Resistance. While battling against the evil Vexos, the top Vestal brawlers, the Brawlers destroy each of the three Dimension Controllers that keep the Bakugan in their ball form, liberating New Vestroia. The Resistance part but reunite six months later when they discover that King Zenoheld of Vestal has attacked the Six Ancient Warriors in an attempt to steal the Attribute Energies. In desperation, the Ancient Warriors give the Resistance Bakugan their attribute energies to protect them from Zenoheld, who has the Bakugan Termination System, a machine built to wipe out all Bakugan but needs the Attribute Energies to power it. After losing half the energies, the Brawlers decided to attack instead, engaging a temporary alliance with Spectra Phantom, the former leader of the Vexos, along with his sidekick Gus Grav. However, the remaining energies are taken and the Brawlers rush to New Vestroia to evacuate all the Bakugan. while the Six Ancient Warriors battle with King Zenoheld, they failed and turn to the bakugan risistance by giving them their power and then all evolved. Drago, however, refuses to give up and manages to destroy the BT System and evolves again into Helix Dragonoid. Things quiet down until Spectra resurfaces again to battle Dan and when he loses, he concedes that Dan is number one and joins the Brawlers, returning to his original persona, Keith Clay. Keith reveals that Zenoheld is working on a powerful weapon called the Alternative System and helps construct Battle Gear for Drago. Meanwhile, the Vexos begins crumbling from within as both Volt,Lync and Shadow decide to leave, feeling that Zenoheld and his son Hydron have finally gone too far but are quickly disposed of by Prince Hydron. In the final battle, the Brawlers with Gus, who joins as their newest member, manage to destroy the Alternative and the Resistance go their separate ways.
[edit]Season 3: Gundalian Invaders
After defeating Zenoheld, the Brawlers return to Earth and with the help of newcomer Ren, they set up Bakugan Interspace. However, Ren is not all that he seems to be and reveals that he is a Gundalian in need of help, saying that his planet Gundalia, is under attack by Neathia. Shun is not convinced and discovers, that Ren is lying once Princess Fabia showed and proved Ren's story wrong. The Brawlers agree to help Fabia and head to Neathia to help fight off the Gundalians. Meanwhile, Ren begins showing signs of distrust for Barodius (Gundalia's Tyrannical Emperor) and eventually defects to rejoin the Brawlers. Unfortunately, Jake is captured by Kazarina (Gundalia's leading Bakugan biologist) and brainwashed, so the Brawlers head to Gundalia to rescue him along with Ren's imprisoned team mates(who were imprisoned for failure), joined by Nurzak (a former advisor to Barodious, who turned against him when he saw he would lead Gundalia to ruin) and Mason Brown(a team mate who had escaped imprisonment, who have also sided with Neathia. Once they do, the Twelve Orders mount a final attack on Neathia. The Brawlers rush back in time to defend the planet while Dan and Barodius engage in their final battle. Ren and Mason's team mates Jesse Glenn, Lena Isis and Zenet Surrow are freed from their brainwashed state after Kazarina's demise. Linehalt uses his Forbidden Powers to restore the war torn Neathia, while Barodius and Dharak are destroyed by an overload of power from the Sacred Orb (which they tried to take anyway, despite Dan and Drago defeating them), which grants Drago new powers and evolves him into Titanium Dragonoid and granting him the status of ruler over all Bakugan.
[edit]Season 4: Mechtanium Surge
The Brawlers' reign as number one in Bakugan Interspace is killed by two new powerful teams: Team Anubias and Team Sellon. To make matters worse, Dan and Drago continuously suffer from visions sent to them by Mag Mel and Razenoid. These cause them to lose fans rapidly when Drago loses control in battle several times, threatening the lives of all the children in Interspace. Shun and Marucho find themselves unable to help as Dan is keeping everything to himself. When Dan loses control once again and nearly kills Anubias in battle, all of Dan's fans abandon him and he leaves for New Vestroia to train. Shun, meanwhile, takes the reins of leader of the Battle Brawlers and charges himself with the task of returning the Brawlers to their former glory. He becomes more and more uncaring and brushes off all opinions but his own while Marucho tries to help him be a better leader. Paige and Rafe show up to learn from them, but find them in disarray. Meanwhile, Dan and Drago fix their problem and prepare to come back. Eventually, Dan controls Drago's powers as Marucho and Shun reunite and join up with Paige and Rafe. When the Chaos Bakugan start destroying Interspace, Spectra appears out of nowhere to help the Brawlers out and destroys many of the Chaos Bakugan. Afterwards, Dan returns, but is out of sync and accidentally defeats his fellow brawlers with Zenthon. He tells them later about Mag Mel (Spectra left beforehand, disappointed in Dan having changed). Shun walks out and dismisses Taylean's words. Dan later has a vision (which is true) about Gundalia being attacked by Mag Mel (who is now free). Dan arrives and tells them about Gundalia, which Paige confirms unexpectedly. The Brawlers dismiss Dan and don't let him go, but Dan says somewhat angrily that he's not asking; he's telling them that he is an original brawler and isn't gonna be cut from this fight. They let him come along and save Ren's home world.
Then they face Mag Mel and discover Interspace being destroyed, so they go back to Earth to save it but they are trapped and must figure a way to save the gate, the key, the battlers and Interspace. Just then, Anubias and Sellon reveal themselves as artificial life forms created by Mag Mel to assure his resurrection and succeeded in taking Dan's Key. In a new battle, Dan find out that Mag Mel is actually Barodius, who survived his last encounter on Neathia after being transported to the dark reversed dimension created by Code Eve. He later plans to destroy Earth, Gundalia, Neathia, Vestal and New Vestroia by sending every civilization to the dark reversed dimension. Before "disappearing", he says that his final demise will cause another disaster to befall on Dan and Drago.
A few months later, Bakugan City is shown to have a peaceful start as humans have now communed with the Bakugan from New Vestroia. Not all is well when 4 Mechtogan lead by Coredegon, who have broken free from their bakugan, start terrorizing the place. Not only that, but some new enemy called Wiseman has appeared with ancient Bakugan called the Nonets. At the beginning, The Brawlers get confused because Wiseman somehow had the appearance of Gunz Lazar, the new Haos Brawler who disappeared after the four Mechtogan attacked Bakugan City. But is was later revealed that Wiseman was actually Coredegon in disguise while the real Gunz was put in a coma so his negative energy was absorbed. After Coredegon alongside his pals (in his combined form as a Mechtogan Destroyer) sent the Brawlers to the Doom Dimension, he completely destroyed the Earth and New Vestroia. With Gunz back to his normal state, Dan and the others travel trough time in order to stop Mechtavius Destroyer from killing every human and Bakugan. In the final battle, Dragonoid Destroyer, who is Drago's last Mechtogan, acquires an infinite power that comes from the bond between Bakugan and humans all over the world, which gave them a chance to defeat the nomad Mechtogan and send them back between dimensions. Dan's friends throw him a party, but soon discover Dan is missing. Shun sees Dan and Drago sailing off using a boat borrowed from Kato. Dan says that another adventure is waiting for him and Drago, and that he had enough time in the spotlight, such that he wants to let other Brawlers to rise to his rank.
[edit]
Tag :// ANIME JEPANG
Code Lyoko is a French animated television series created by Thomas Romain and Tania Palumbo. The series centers on four boarding school students Jeremie, Ulrich, Yumi, andOdd who travel to the virtual world of Lyoko to fight against an evil and sinister sentient artificial intelligence/multi-agent computer program called XANA with a virtual humanoid being named Aelita. The series features both two-dimensional animation and CGI.
The series began its initial ninety-five episode run on 3 September 2003 on France'sFrance 3, and ended its run on 10 November 2007. In the United States, the show was first broadcast on 19 April 2004 on Turner and Time Warner's Cartoon Network. On 31 May 2011, production company MoonScoop revealed on Facebook[1] that the show is returning with a fifth season, rebranded as Code Lyoko Evolution, that is set to air in late 2012. The new season will be twenty-six episodes long and contain a mixture of live-action for scenes on Earth and contuine to be CGI for Lyoko scenes.[2][3]
Code Lyoko has spawned an array of related merchandise, including three video games, atie-in book series, figurines, a new MMORPG in development, a Facebook social game due in spring 2012, a few online flash games, and a merchandise store in CafePress. The show achieved ratings success in multiple countries.[2]
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Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール Doragon Bōru) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 individual chapters published into 42 tankōbon volumes byShueisha. Dragon Ball was inspired by the classical Chinese novel Journey to the West. The series follows the adventures of the protagonist, Son Goku, from his childhood through adulthood as he trains in martial arts and explores the world in search of the seven mystical orbs known as the Dragon Balls, which can summon a wish-granting dragon when gathered. Along his journey, Goku makes several friends and battles a wide variety of villains, many of whom also seek the Dragon Balls for their own desires. It contains themes of friendship, rivalry, personal loss and victory.
The 42 tankōbon have been adapted into two anime series produced by Toei Animation:Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z, which together were broadcast in Japan from 1986 to 1996. Additionally, Toei has developed seventeen animated feature films and three television specials, as well as an anime sequel titled Dragon Ball GT, which takes place after the events of the manga. From 2009 to 2011, Toei broadcast a revised, faster-paced version ofDragon Ball Z under the title Dragon Ball Kai, in which most of the original version's footage not featured in the manga was removed. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising based on the series leading to a large media franchise that includes films, both animated and live-action, collectible trading card games, numerous action figures, along with several collections of soundtracks and a large number of video games.
The manga series was licensed for an English-language release in North America by Viz Media, in the United Kingdom by Gollancz Manga, Australia and New Zealand by Chuang Yi and Malay-language release in Malaysia by Comics House. The entire anime series was licensed by Funimation Entertainment for an English-language release in the United States, although the series has not always been dubbed by the same studio. There have been many films of the franchise including the first live-action film adaptation being produced in 1989 in China. In 2002, 20th Century Fox acquired the rights to produce an American-made live-action film titled Dragonball Evolution that received a negative reception from critics and fans; the movie was released on April 10, 2009 in the United States.
Since its release, Dragon Ball has become one of the most successful manga and anime series of all time. The manga's 42 volumes have sold over 156 million copies in Japan and more than 230 million copies worldwide, making it the second best-selling series in manga history. Reviewers have praised the art, characterization, and humor of the story. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest manga series ever made, with many manga artistssuch as Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), Tite Kubo (Bleach), Hiro Mashima (Rave Master, Fairy Tail), Makoto Raiku (Zatch Bell) and Yoshio Sawai (Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo) citing Dragon Ball as a source of inspiration for their own now popular works. The anime, particularly Dragon Ball Z, is also highly popular in various countries and was arguably one of the most influential in greatly boosting the popularity of Japanese animation in Western culture.
Plot summary
See also: List of Dragon Ball characters
The series begins with a young monkey-tailed boy named Goku befriending a teenage girl named Bulma. Together they go on a quest to find the seven Dragon Balls, which grant the user any wish they desire before spreading back out across the world, leading to confrontations with the desert bandit Yamcha, who later becomes an ally, Chi-Chi, whom Goku unknowingly agrees to marry, and Pilaf, who is also collecting them. Goku then undergoes rigorous training regimes under the martial artist Kame-Sen'nin in order to fight in a martial arts tournament that attracts the most powerful fighters in the world. A monk named Kuririn becomes his training partner and rival, but they soon become best friends. After the tournament, Goku sets out on his own to recover the Dragon Ball his Grandfather left him and encounters the Red Ribbon Army, whose leader wants to collect the Dragon Balls for himself. He almost single-handedly defeats the army, including their hired assassin Taopaipai, whom he originally lost to, but after training under Karin, now easily beats. Goku reunites with his friends to defeat the fortuneteller Baba Uranai's fighters and have her locate the last Dragon Ball in order to revive a friend killed by Taopaipai.
They all reunite at the martial arts tournament three years later and meet Kame-Sen'nin's rival and Taopaipai's brother, Tsuru-Sen'nin, and his students Tenshinhan and Chaozu, who vow to exact revenge. Kuririn is killed after the tournament and Goku chases after the killer, leading him to Piccolo Daimao, who easily defeats him. The samurai Yajirobe takes Goku to Karin, where he receives healing and a power boost. Meanwhile Piccolo fights Kame-Sen'nin and Chaozu, leading to both their deaths, and uses the Dragon Balls to regain his youth and then destroys the dragon. Goku then begins his battle with Piccolo Daimao, who just before dying, spawns his son/reincarnation Piccolo. Karin informs Goku that Kami (God), the original creator of the Dragon Balls, might be able to restore the dragon so that he can wish his friends back to life, which he does. He also stays and trains under Kami for the next three years, once again reuniting with his friends at the martial arts tournament. Piccolo Jr. also enters the tournament, leading to the final fight between him and Goku. Goku just narrowly wins and then quickly rides off with Chi-Chi, who surprised him by also competing and maintaining he keeps the promise he made to her as children.
Five years later, now a young adult and father to son Gohan, Goku meets his older brotherRaditz, who reveals to him that they are members of a nearly extinct extraterrestrial race called the Saiyans. The Saiyans had sent Goku (originally named "Kakarrot") to Earth as an infant to conquer the planet for them, but he suffered a severe head injury soon after his arrival and lost all memory of his mission, as well as his blood-thirsty Saiyan nature. Goku refuses to help Raditz continue the mission and has to team up with Piccolo, and sacrifice his life, in order to defeat him. However, Goku is revived a year later by the Dragon Balls, after training in the afterlife with Kaiō-sama, in order to save the Earth from the Saiyan prince Vegeta. However, in the battle Yamcha, Chaozu, Tenshinhan and Piccolo are killed. Due to Piccolo being one with Kami, the Dragon Balls no longer exist, resulting in a group traveling to their home planet, Namek, in order to use the balls there to revive their friends. However, the galactic tyrant Freeza is already there doing the same, leading to several battles with his minions and Vegeta, the latter of which teams up with the heroes to fight the Ginyu Force. After Goku arrives, the final long battle with Freeza himself comes to a close after Goku transform into a legendary Super Saiyan and avenges the lives of billions across the galaxy.
A group of androids from the former Red Ribbon Army appear three years later, seeking revenge against Goku. During this time, an evil life form called Cell emerges and, after absorbing two of the androids to achieve his "perfect form," holds his own fighting tournament to decide the fate of the Earth entitled the Cell Games. However, after Goku sacrifices his own life, Cell is eventually defeated by Goku's first child Gohan. Seven years later, Goku, briefly revived for one day, and his allies are drawn into yet another fight for the universe against a magical being named Majin Boo. After numerous battles and many deaths, Goku destroys Boo having borrowed energy from the entire universe. Ten years later, at another martial arts tournament, Goku meets Boo's human reincarnation, Oob. Leaving the match between the two of them unfinished, Goku takes Oob away on a journey to train him.
Themes
At its core, Dragon Ball maintains the central tenets of the Weekly Shōnen Jump philosophy of "friendship, struggle, and victory". As the series shifts from a more comedic, light-hearted story into a darker action-oriented piece, the protagonists go through an unending cycle of fighting, winning, losing and improving. They continue this cycle by using miraculous devices to achieve life after death and continue to learn lessons as they defeat their challengers.[1] The series also follows the idea that people can better themselves and achieve their goals by constantly challenging themselves.[2]
Production
Wanting to break from the Western influences common in his other series, Akira Toriyama loosely modeled Dragon Ball on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.[3][4] He also redeveloped one of his earlier one shot manga series, Dragon Boy, which was initially serialized in Fresh Jump and released in a single tankōbon volume in 1983.[4] This short work combined the comedic style of Toriyama's successful four-year series Dr. Slump with a more action-oriented plot and paid homage to famous martial art actor Jackie Chan.[4][5] Toriyama notes that his goal for the series was to tell an "unconventional and contradictory" story.[6]
In the early concept of the series, Goku and Piccolo were from Earth. With the introduction of Kami, the idea of having fights from other planets was established and Goku and Piccolo were changed to alien species.[7] For the female characters, Toriyama felt it was not fun to draw "weak females" so he created women that he felt were not only "beautiful and sexy", but also "strong".[6] Going against the normal convention that the strongest characters should be the largest in terms of physical size, he designed many of Dragon Ball's most powerful characters with small statures, including the protagonist, Goku.[6]
The fighting techniques were initially unnamed, but the series editor felt it would be better to name them all. Toriyama proceeded to create names for all of the techniques, except for theKamehameha which his wife named when Toriyama was indecisive about what it should be called.[7] When creating the fictional world of the series, Toriyama decided to create it from his own imagination to avoid referencing popular culture. However the island where the Tenka'ichi Budōkai tournament is held is modeled after Bali. When including fights in the manga, Toriyama had the characters go to uninhabited locations to avoid difficulties in drawing destroyed buildings. In order to advance the story quickly, he also gave most fighters the ability to fly so they could travel to other parts of the world without inconvenience. This was also the reasoning behind Goku learning to use Shunkan Idō (瞬間移動 lit. "Instant Teleport", renamed "Instant Transmission" in Funimation's dub) (thus allowing characters to teleport to any planet in a second).[7]
After the first chapters were released, readers commented that Goku seemed rather plain, so his appearance was changed. New characters (such as Kame-Sen'nin and Kuririn) were added and martial arts tournaments were included to give the manga a greater emphasis on fighting. Anticipating that readers would expect Goku to win the tournaments, Toriyama had him lose the first two while continuing his initial goal of having Goku be the champion and hero. After Cell's death, he intended for Gohan to replace Goku as the series' protagonist, but then felt the character was not suited for the role and changed his mind.[9]
Toriyama based the Red Ribbon Army on a video game he had played named Spartan X in which enemies tended to appear very fast. After the second tournament concluded, Toriyama wanted to have a villain who would be a true "bad guy". After creating Piccolo as the new villain, he noted that it was one of the most interesting parts of the stories and that he and his son became the favorite characters of the series. With Goku established as the strongest fighter on Earth, Toriyama decided to increase the number of villains that came from outer space. Finding the escalating enemies to be a pain to work with, he created the Ginyu Force to add more balance to the series.[9] During this period of the series, Toriyama placed less emphasis on the series' art work, simplifying the lines and sometimes making things "too square." He found himself having problems determining the colors for characters and sometimes ended up changing them unintentionally mid-story.[5] In later accounts, Toriyama noted that he didn't plan out the details of the story, resulting in strange occurrences and discrepancies later in the series.[10]
Media
Manga
Dragon Ball
See also: List of Dragon Ball manga volumes
Written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball was initially serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump starting on December 3, 1984.[4] The series ended on June 5, 1995 when Toriyama grew exhausted and felt he needed a break from drawing.[4] The 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha from November 10, 1985 through August 4, 1995.[11][12][13] In 2002, the chapters were re-released in a collection of 34 kanzenban volumes, which included a slightly rewritten ending, new covers, and color artwork from its Weekly Shōnen Jump rtn. The February 2013 issue of V Jump, which was released in December 2012, announced that parts of the manga will be fully colored and re-released in 2013.[14] Three volumes comprising the "Saiyan arc" (which begins with chapter 195 of the original series) will be released on February 4, 2012, and five volumes of the "Freeza arc" will be released on April 4, 2012. Toriyama also created a short series, Neko Majin, that became a self-parody of Dragon Ball. First appearing in Weekly Shōnen Jump in August 1999, the eight chapter series was released sporadically until it was completed in 2005. These chapters were compiled into one kanzenban volume for release on April 4, 2005.[15]
The Dragon Ball manga was licensed for release in English in North America by Viz Media which has released all 42 volumes. Viz released volumes 17 through 42 under the title "Dragon Ball Z" to mimic the name of the anime series adapted from those volumes, feeling it would reduce the potential for confusion by its readers. They initially released both series in a monthly comic book format starting in 1998, and later began collecting them in graphic novels.[16][17] While releasing Dragon Ball in the monthly format, Viz began to censor the series in response to complaints by parents.[18] In 2001, due to a fan petition that garnered over 10,000 signatures, they announced they would stop censoring the series and instead increased its "rating" to 13 and up, and reprinted the first 3 graphic novels.[18] Later, the first 10 volumes of both series were re-released from March to May 2003 under the "Shonen Jump" format, withDragon Ball being completed on August 3, 2004 and Dragon Ball Z finishing on June 6, 2006.[19][20] However, when releasing the last few volumes of Dragon Ball Z, the company began to censor the series again; translating the sound effects of gunshots to "zap" and changing the few sexual references.[21] In June 2008, Viz began re-releasing the two series in a wideban format called "VIZBIG Edition," which collects three individual volumes into a single large volume.[22][23]
In 2006, Toriyama and One Piece author Eiichiro Oda teamed up to create a single chapter crossover of their individual hit series. Entitled Cross Epoch, the chapter was published in the December 25, 2006 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump.[citation needed] It was published in English in the April 2011 issue of Shonen Jump.[24]
Spin-offs
A manga adaptation of Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! illustrated by Naho Ōishi, was published in the March 21 and April 21, 2009 issues of V Jump.[25]
A spinoff manga titled Dragon Ball SD, also written by Naho Ōishi, has been published in Shueisha's Super Strong Jump magazine beginning in December 2010.[26] A second issue was released in April 2011.[27] This manga is a condensed retelling of Goku's adventures as a child, with many details changed.[28]
Dragon Ball: Episode of Bardock is a three-chapter manga, once again penned by Naho Ōishi, that was published in the monthly magazine V Jump from August and October 2011.[29] This manga is a sequel to the 1990 TV special Bardock – The Father of Gokuwith some key details changed. As the title indicates the manga's story revolves around Bardock, Goku's father, who in this special is featured in a "what-if" scenario in which he did not die at the hands of Freeza and gets to fight his enemy as a Super Saiyan. The fact that Bardock appears as a Super Saiyan is based on the Dragon Ball Heroes card featuring him as one.[30]
Tag :// ANIME JEPANG
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