Amazon Japan has posted the cover art for the new Kai CD release, officially titled "Soundtrack 3 & Songs". The album is due out in Japan on 22 September 2010 for ¥2,940 (~$35).


Again, the entire track listing for the album hasn't been revealed yet. Besides the new background music to be included, here's what vocal tracks we do know will be included on the release:
In the meantime, you can still pre-order a copy for yourself at CDJapan or Amazon Japan.

Shueisha's official listing website has been updated with all of the final information for the "JSAT Edition: DragonBall - Heya! Son Goku and Friends Return!!" anime comic. The listing includes the books cover and some additional details about the book. You can grab the book from both CDJapan and Amazon Japan at the full retail prices.


Some additional images and details should be available in the next few days, so be sure to check back for those. If you'd like more information about the special itself, you can read more about that here.

In addition, Shueisha has also listed its October release schedule. It looks like that for the first time in a very long time, October will actually have no DragonBall book releases. In a way, I'm glad we can finally take a break from buying all these books.


Shueisha has posted a brief preview of the anime comic, which you can view here. As expected, the comic will be printed in full-color and feature screen shots taken from the animated special. The story has been split up into three main chapters with a short ending chapter. Besides the brief character profiles at the front of the comic, the only other supplemental information available is the "Staff & Cast List" at the end of the comic.

So, long ago, we actually used to have a "Character Guide" on the site, but not liking how generic it was, I sent it to the bowels of the internet. Finally, all these years later, we finally have something I'm content with putting on the site for good. Of course, it's not your typical "DragonBall Biographies" section that you'll find other places. Think of it as more of a "Character Index", or listing, if anything. You won't find any lengthy biographies with fan speculation here, but what I think most of you have come to expect from us; just the facts. Of course, we've added some unique notes about specific characters from various official guidebooks, specifically anything obscure or not well known.


Over time this guide will evolve and contain just about every conceivable character, but for now, it only lists characters up through the Red Ribbon Army arc of the series. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean we've remembered every single character. So if you can think of any we missed, please let us know. However, I should note that some discretion should be used, as it's impractical to include every character ever shown. Many have no relevant information, or even a name. So just because you think a character should be added doesn't mean we always will.

You'll also note that the guide is organized a tad differently than most you've probably seen. So be sure to familiarize yourself with the guide's introduction, as it should explain everything. With that, go enjoy the new guide, and we'll be back with some more content and news shortly... I hope.

Happinet's official release website has unveiled the cover art for the next set of DragonBall Kai DVD volumes, both of which are set to be released on 27 August 2010 for ¥2,940 (~$30). Volume #17 will contain episodes 49-51, while Volume #18 follows with the next three episodes, 52-54. This will be the last set of the Freeza arc DVDs, with the first DVD volume of Artificial Human & Cell arc coming this October. It seems they've run out of new ideas for cover art anyway... And for those of you that have been asking for the new DVD placeholder image, here you go!


Finally, since we're on the subject of Kai, we have translated the series' second ending theme, "Kokoro no Hane". And when I say we translated, I of course mean Herms. Enjoy~!

Columbia Music's official website has been updated and is now listing the recently announced Kai CD release, officially titled "Soundtrack 3 & Songs", which is due out in Japan on 22 September 2010 for ¥2,940 (~$35). Early reports indicated that the album would be a continuation of previous Kai albums and would include TV versions of both the opening and ending themes, new background music from the series, and new image songs, which I believe is now solidly confirmed. While Columbia's listing doesn't provide the entire track listing for the album yet, it does list three of the image songs that have already been recorded and are set to be included on the release.
For all you Trunks fans out there, Kusao Takeshi has recorded an image song, about Trunks, which to my knowledge has never been done before! In addition, cAnON., who previously gave us the insert song "Over the Star", is returning with "My 18th Magic". And unfortunately it appears that mine, and many others, have had their dreams crushed, since Wakamoto Norio will not be doing an image song about Cell. Instead, rock singer Ootsuki Kenji will be covering that image song.

As of right now, there is no cover art for the release, so we'll keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, you can pre-order a copy for yourself at CDJapan or Amazon Japan.

Here we go again, it's time for another Kai episode update, since we've gotten way behind! This time we have five new episodes for you, with another one hopefully coming very soon. After being handily defeated by the artificial humans, Piccolo heads to fuse with God. Meanwhile, a mysterious time machine has been discovered, but how did it get there and what mysteries does it hold?! Here's a run-down of all the new episodes now available in the "Episode Guide".


So as we always do, we have a lot of supplemental material to go along with these episodes. With this update you'll find eight episodes of DragonBall Z, and eleven chapters of the manga in their respective guides. All of the chapter title pages have also been posted in the "Picture Archive". In addition to all that, you'll find all of the re-animated scenes are listed within their respective Kai episode pages and the new eyecatches are now listed in the "Theme Guide".

Check back soon, for some other updates...

The next three episode titles have been leaked online early for DragonBall Kai, and are now appropriately listed in the "Episode Guide". Here's a quick run-down of what to expect in the upcoming weeks:


It's amazing to think that they're already up to the Cell arc and will have reached an episode count of 70. Anyway, to go along with all this Cell goodness, we've added a biography for Wakamoto Norio, the voice of Cell, to the "Cast Guide". If you don't know anything about the man already, I highly suggest you give it a read. The man is just so awesome!

Toei's official DragonBall Kai website is reporting that it has started a "Become Dragon Ball Kai" campaign in conjunction with Bandai. The campaign includes a new children's clothing line which will run from now until the end of January 2011. The first 590 people to buy an item and return the postcard included will win a free life-size pillow of Kinto-Un. In addition, the first seven people to buy any Son Goku cosplay apparel and submit a photo of themselves wearing it will receive an original photo of them as Goku placed in a famous DragonBall photo or screen shot. I guess that's... neat? And finally, don't forget to buy your DragonBall underwear!


Lastly, if you live in Japan, AnimeJan is holding a contest to allow a very lucky fan to attend a Kai recording session on 9 September 2010 in Tokyo. You'll also have the chance to tour the premises and witness the production process! If you'd like to go on the tour for me and take tons of notes and photos, you can sign-up here. The contest ends on 31 August 2010. If only Herms was still in Japan...