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THE SECRET IN Z
The unknown "Z"
Introducing various secret stories and confidential data about the anime version! Program audience rating, collaboration with the original author, Akira Toriyama, valuable materials that have been released for the first time, etc. are arranged in alphabetical order. You can see the truth of "Z" that no one knows!
Animation
A general form of video expression that gives movement by taking pictures and puppets and projecting them continuously.
Hundreds of TV animations are aired in Japan every year, but a work like "Dragon Ball Z" that is a story and has been aired for more than 10 years is extremely rare.
Influence of the anime on the original
For example, the coloring method of Toriyama-sensei's color illustrations has changed to a method of adding shadows clearly like anime (see discussion page from page 90), so the influence of the anime is not small.
Bardock's design: Mr. Toriyama was deeply moved by Bardock's story, and he became such an important character that he even appeared in the original work.
Anime only costume
In the anime version, which depicts a lot of the daily life of super warriors, there are costumes that do not appear in the original. In addition to Goku wearing an Hawaiian shirt on the right, Goku also showed off his suit in the movie version of "Burn Up!!~".
Goku's Hawaiian shirt design: From episode 125. It may or may not suit you....
Piccolo's design: From episode 125. It's the outfit he wears when he goes to driving school.
Kid Vegeta design: On page 102, a rough setting picture of Boyhood Vegeta is also posted.
Anime-only techniques
An original technique that appeared in the movie "Dragon Fist Explosion!!~". Goku's ki takes the form of a dragon and pierces through the enemy, a bold move called "Dragon Fist". In addition, the movie version of "The Dangerous Duo!~" also depicts the three-father and sons Kamehameha between Goku, Gohan, and Goten, which did not appear in the original work.
Dragon Fist struggling Hirudegarn image: Dragon Fist is used by Super Saiyan 3 Goku against Genmajin Hirudegarn. It may not be activated unless it is a Super Saiyan 3!?
Dubbing
Post-recording for "DBZ" was held every Thursday at Tabak, a studio in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Originally, the recording was from the evening to the night, but due to the good teamwork of the staff and many meetings after the recording, the schedule was changed so that the recording would end from the middle of the program to the evening.
Color designation
A setting material that shows what color to paint where on the character. The symbols written as "BG", "W", etc. are all anime color numbers. Since the coloring was outsourced overseas, the character names and body parts are also written in English.
Freeza's sheet creation: In addition to the basic color of each part of the character's body, the color of the highlights (the parts that are exposed to light) is also specified.
Meetings
Anime meetings by Shueisha, Toei Animation, and Fuji Television were held almost every week. At this meeting, the editors gave us an overview of the development of the original work, and we took the method of reconciling it with the development of the anime and asking the teacher (Toriyama) to create an original design. It is rare for different companies to team up to this extent to create a single program.
opening & ending
The opening film and ending film are roughly divided into two types, the early stage and the late stage (see page 188 ~). Daisuke Nishio directs the initial version, and character designer Minoru Maeda directs the animation. Mitsuo Hashimoto was in charge of directing the late version, and Tadayoshi Yamamuro of character design was in charge of animation director.
Goku fisting and gretting teeth image: The initial opening film was a production that emphasized the success of Goku and Gohan.
Gohan, Goten and Trunks image: In the late opening film, Goku and Vegeta's sons were the main composition.
Orange
Why is the orange color of Goku's costume slightly different from the original? This was because the number of orange-based colors for cel animation at the time was limited. At the time, it was difficult to reproduce the subtle tones that Toriyama-sensei drew.
SSjin Goku image: Efforts were made to match the colors of the original work as closely as possible within the limited number of colors in the anime.
Related Books
There are many books related to the anime version, the first of which is "Dragon Ball Z Anime Special" released in October 1989. The book contains many contents, such as reproductions of famous scenes newly illustrated, introduction to the story, and Toriyama's top-secret memos. After the completion of the original story, a seven-volume "Dragon Ball Complete Collection" was also released, which compiled all the characters, worldviews, and illustrations.
Daizenshuu's cover image: "Dragon Ball Complete Works", which has a cover illustration drawn by Mr. Toriyama, perfectly follows the original version as well as the anime version.
(Currently difficult to obtain)
Character settings
In the anime, a character table is drawn for each character that appears. There are more than 200 characters in "Dragon Ball Z", including nameless people, and the main character grows, transforms and merges repeatedly, and their appearance changes one after another. Since the character table is drawn each time, no one knows how many hundreds of character tables have been drawn..
SSjin 3 goku's sheets image: In addition to the front view of the character, side and back views, face close-ups and facial expressions are also created.
Character comparison table
In the anime where many people are involved, a comparison table is always drawn to maintain a sense of unity in comparison. Although the ratio may change for the sake of production, it is basically drawn based on this table. Characters who we thought were short were surprisingly tall, and their bodies changed depending on the time of year... it's quite interesting.
Character comparison table image: The upper part is the Majin Buu version, and the lower part is the character comparison table for the Anoichi Budokai version. It can be seen that the fusion character becomes taller.
Movie version
A total of 17 "Dragon Ball" movie versions have been produced.
Three of them are "Dragon Ball," 13 are "Z," and the remaining one is "The Road to the Strongest" (see table on the right), which is a compilation of the first eight volumes of the original comics based on the concept of remaking "Dragon Ball" with the latest technology after the anime ended.
Most of the films were shown as one of the "Toei Anime Fair" films. The "Dragon Ball Z" movies were also an annual spring and summer tradition.
NOTE: the table on the right just names the 3 Dragon Ball movies, the 13 Dragon Ball Z movies, and the 10th years anniversary "Dragon Ball The Path to the Strongest" along with their respectively titles, release dates and enemies of each movie
Movie title
The title of the movie version was foggy, and the staff first of all gathered and decided on the "title" first and for most. "If the title is decided, the content is decided". For example, after deciding on the title "The Strongest Man in the World," they would decide on the enemy, and then think about the development of the story, expanding it. In "Dragon Fist Explodes!!", it was decided to develop the technique by thinking about the technique from the point of "What is Dragon Fist?" Also, in fact, the topic of the time is sometimes reflected, for example, "Burn Up! ~" was named after the F-1, which was popular at the time.
Original Drawings and Animations
The original drawings of "Dragon Ball Z" are shown on the right. A typical 30-minute animation program requires 2,500 to 3,500 original drawings and animations per episode. In the case of "Dragon Ball Z," which has a total of 291 episodes, a simple calculation shows that approximately 730,000~1,020,000 original drawings and animations were drawn. The pile would be about 100 meters high.
SSjin 3 Goku's drawing image: Although it is difficult to see in this photo, the shadows are designated with colored pencils. Also, the cut number is marked on the top.
Sound Effects
In the original story, the sound effects are expressed by drawn characters, but in the animated series, the actual sounds must be created. In "Dragon Ball Z," for example, the sound of Goku and his friends flying was created by processing the jet fighter jet sounds, and the sound staff's ingenuity is evident throughout the film.
Saiyans
In the TV special "A Final Solitary Battle~" and the movie version "The Whole Earth~", there was a setting that was not drawn in the original, "Saiyans don't have many types of faces." In fact, this is the world view of the back setting that Toriyama-sensei was secretly thinking about.. The staff at Toei Animation who heard this directly from Sensei said, "It's interesting to have the same enemies as Goku,'' and created Bardock and Turles..
Subtitles
Dragon Ball Z" has a jinx that viewer ratings increase when the subtitle of each episode includes the nuance that "Goku is finally going to play an active role. This episode shows how much the viewers wanted to see Goku's appearance and activity.
Audience rating
The average audience rating of "Dragon Ball Z" for 9 years is a whopping 20.5%, and the highest audience rating is 27.5% as shown in the chart on the right. It is said that the minute-by-minute audience rating for one episode even exceeded 30 percent.
Rating Chart
1. Episode 218: "Exposed!! The Saiyaman is Son Gohan" 27.5% rating
2. Episode 219: "A Slithering Conspiracy!! Gohan's Power is Stolen" 26.8% rating
3. Episode 213: "Now What, Satan?! The Greatest Pinch in History" 26.7% rating
4. Episode 220: "The Man Behind the Curtain Appears!! The Evil Wizard Babidi" 26.5% rating
5. Episode 215: "What's the Matter, Piccolo?! An Unheard-of No-Fight Forfeit" 26.2% rating
6. Episode 205: "Goku's Also Resurrected?! He's Participating in the Tenka'ichi Budōkai!!" 26.1% rating
7. Episode 80: "The Tide Suddenly Turns!! Piccolo, the Warrior Who Came Late" 25.9% rating
8.Episode 63: "Is This Some Super-Magic or Just a Trick!? Mr. Gurd is Angry!" 25.7% rating
8. Episode 67: "Lightning Balls of Red and Blue! Jheese and Butta Attack Goku" 25.7% rating
8. Episode 131: "A Present More Terrifying Than the Future?! Trunks' Suspicions" 25.7% rating
11. Episode 214: "The Match-Ups Are Decided!! Hurry and Hold the First Round" 25.6% rating
12. Episode 122: "My Dad is Vegeta… Confessions of the Mysterious Boy" 25.5% rating
12. Episode 126: "Murderers Who Leave No Trace — Which Ones Are the Artificial Humans?!" 25.5% rating
12. Episode 204: "A Robbery Case!! The Culprit is Saiyaman?!" 25.5% rating
15. Episode 77: "The Birth of the Strongest Warrior?! Nail and Piccolo Merge" 25.4% rating
16. Episode 211: "It's My Turn!! Goten's Anxious First Fight" 25.3% rating
16. Episode 216: "Undyingly Unpleasant?! The Mystery of Spopovitch" 25.3% rating
18. Episode 124: "I Will Overcome… Goku!! The King of the Saiyan Warrior Race" 25.2% rating
19. Episode 207: "Ah, I Flew!! Videl's Introduction to Flight" 25.1% rating
19. Episode 222: "Don't Toy With Me!! Vegeta Breaks Through the First Fight in a Fury" 25.1 rating
21. Episode 177: "Goku's Bout!! The Super-Tense Cell Games" 24.9% rating
22: Episode 29: "Father is Awesome! The Ultimate Finishing Technique: Kaiō-Ken" 24.8% rating
22. Episode 200: "7 Years Since That Event! Starting Today, I'm a High Schooler" 24.8 rating
24. Episode 206: "Even Gohan is Surprised! Goten's Explosion of Power" 24.6% rating
25. Episode 68: "At Last, a Direct Confrontation!! Captain Ginyu Takes the Field" 24.5% rating
25. Episode 69: "Incredible Force!! Did You See It, Goku's Full Power?" 24.5% rating
27. Episode 66: "Uncommon Strength!! The Legendary Super Saiyan, Son Goku" 24.4% rating
29. Episode 123: "Goku's New Finishing Technique?! Watch This, My Instantaneous Movement" 24. 3% rating
29. Episode 190: "From Goku to Gohan… A Father's Spirit is Passed Down" 24. 3% rating
29. Episode 203: "Gohan, Get Moving Quick! Rescue Videl!!" 24. 3% rating
We picked up the top 30 viewership ratings for "Dragon Ball Z." Even at No. 30, the ratings were surprisingly over 24 percent.
Scenario
A scenario is required for every week's broadcast. Of course, there are 291 volumes for "Dragon Ball Z" alone, 13 theatrical versions, and if you include the two scenarios for the strategy video introduced on page 32, there are a total of 306 volumes, and if you stack them up, it will be about 80 centimeters high. If you include all 153 TV volumes and 3 theater volumes of "Dragon Ball" there, the total is 462 volumes, and the stacking height is about 1 meter and 20 centimeters.
BoZ Gohan image: Scenario of the first episode of "Dragon Ball Z". Based on this, a storyboard (illustration of the production) is created.
Weekly Shonen Jump
A weekly shonen manga magazine published by Shueisha. 2003 marked the 35th anniversary of the publication. In 1984, when Dragon Ball began to be serialized, popular works of that time were included, such as "This Is a Police Box in Front of Kameari Park in Katsushika Ward", "Fist of the North Star", "Wing-Man," "Kimagure Orange Road", and "Silver Fang -The Shooting Star Gin-".
Boo Saga poster
Weekly Shonen Jump 1995 No. 7 cover was a poster specification.
Super Saiyan
The Super Saiyans are characterized by their blond hair and aura. In the animation, these were expressed by special effects such as "brushes" that sprayed paint on the celluloid, and "transmitted light" that filmed the light itself.
SSjin Goku design: The idea of "transforming when fighting" was inspired by Toriyama-sensei's special effects TV program that he was watching with his children at the time.
Staff Room
During the production of the "Dragon Ball" series, a staff room was set up at Toei Animation in Oizumi, Tokyo.
Characters wall image: At that time, the walls of the staff room were pasted with character coloring samples, program posters, and other production materials.
Meaning of Z
The idea of adding a "Z" to "Dragon Ball" came from Mr. Toriyama, and it was decided to be the official title because of its strength and ease of expression. The previous work, "Dragon Ball," was a popular program that lasted for three years, and the purpose of ending it was that by treating it as a new program, it would be recognized by the general public again. This is because there were advantages such as the increase in the number of companies and the ability to reconstruct the surrounding environment of the program and advance the program to the next step. “Z” had these various “meanings”.
Celluloid pictures
As is well known, celluloid is a transparent board on which pictures were drawn and then layered on top of each other. Although celluloid pictures are no longer used in the animation industry due to digitalization, "Dragon Ball Z" was entirely produced using celluloid pictures.
SSjin 3 Goku image: Like the cartoonist's original manuscripts, celluloid pictures are also precious, one-of-a-kind pieces of artwork.
Son Goku
Son Goku is the main character of the Dragon Ball series. He was 12 years old at the beginning of the series and nearly 50 years old at the end. No other animated television series has depicted the life of a single person for nearly 40 years.
Goku's design: Goku's setting was redrawn several times to match the changes in the original story's design. This is only possible in a long-term series.
TV Specials
Two "Dragon Ball Z" TV specials were produced: "A Final Solitary Battle" and "Defiance in the Face of Despair". The staff had the idea of airing one TV special a year, but they were unable to do so due to the schedule constraints of maintaining the quality of the main TV series, producing two movie versions a year, and producing commercials for related goods.
Future Trunks' image: The story of Trunks' childhood, "Defiance in the Face of Despair", is based on the extra chapter "Trunks the Story" in the original work.
Toei Animation
Toei Animation is the animation production company that created "Dragon Ball Z" (the company name at that time was Toei Doga), which was established in 1956 and is also known as the Disney of the East. The company has also produced many Shonen Jump works such as "One Piece" and "Dr. Slump".
Toei's studio image: The exterior of Toei Animation Oizumi Studio at the time when "Dragon Ball Z" was being produced.
Dragon Ball
The original story began in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in issue 51, 1984. Although it did not gain as much popularity as expected at first, its popularity quickly grew as the action and battle elements were pushed to the fore. The anime started in February 1986, about a year after the original, and ran until March 1989, when the title was changed to "Dragon Ball Z".
Kid Goku with a Dragon Ball image: Although the animation "Dragon Ball" is based on the original, there were many original developments.
Dragon Ball GT
An original story produced by Toei Animation after the completion of "Dragon Ball Z". After the battle with Uub, the rejuvenated Goku goes on adventures and battles in space and on Earth. It started in February 1996 and aired until November 1997, a year and a half later.
DBGT image: Boy Goku, Trunks, Pan, and Goku's spaceship were designed based on Toriyama-sensei's drawings.
Dragon Ball Z
The anime "Dragon Ball" was re-titled and started as a new program in April 1989. The story was based on the episode in the 17th volume of the original comics, in which Goku appeared as the father of Gohan. The anime staff thought that Son Gohan would be the main character, so the proposed title included "Dragon Ball: Gohan's Great Adventure," but unfortunately the subtitle was dropped because there was already a movie version of the series.
Goku's smiling image: The animation "Dragon Ball Z" ended in January 1996, about eight months after the original ended in May 1995.
Akira Toriyama
Manga artist. Creator of the Dragon Ball series. Resident of Aichi Prefecture. The TV animation version of the series was so shy that he could only catch glimpses of it.... The TV animation version of the series was so shy that he could only catch glimpses of it...
Akira Toriyama's Ideas
Even the original TV story portions of the show use ideas from Mr. Toriyama. These include the Snake Princess episode and Yamcha's part-time job as a baseball player. In the movie version of "Super Saiyan Son Goku," there is an episode in which the enemy, Slug = Namek, hates whistling. This was also Toriyama's idea.
Slug holding Piccolo image: The whistling, which Slug hates, was played by Gohan in the play, but in reality it was a recording of a song played by a professional musician.
Akira Toriyama Rough Designs
As shown in the "Akira Toriyama Anime Design Collection" starting on page 134 of this book, Mr. Toriyama drew many designs for the anime. Although not included in this book, there are also designs for Gregory, Kaio's butler, and Upa, who has grown up.
Names
It is a well-known episode that the staff of the anime received Mr. Toriyama's names (a rough draft showing the panel layout and story content) by fax from the editorial department before it was published in Shonen Jump, and created the scenario based on it.
Promotional Poster
As the name suggests, a poster used to advertise a program. In the case of "Dragon Ball Z," posters were made when the title was changed from "Dragon Ball. They are distributed to program sponsors, publishers, and related companies, but they are valuable materials that are rarely seen by the general public.
DBZ promotional poster image: The front side has image illustrations of the main characters, and the back side has character introductions, story introductions, and information such as internet stations.
Art settings
This is the setting material for the background of each scene.
Although often thought of as mere pictures, the size, layout, function, etc. of the structures are actually considered in three dimensions, and materials and other details are often set in detail.
Art setting drafts: The art setting of the Cell Games ring. Below is an anime-original setting, inside the secret base of the Ginyu Special Sentai.
Fuji Television Network, Inc.
Fuji Television Network, Inc. is the TV station that broadcasts the "Dragon Ball" series. In 1989, when "Dragon Ball Z" started, the company building was located in Kawadacho, Tokyo, but in 1997, it moved to Odaiba, Tokyo.
Every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
This is the time slot for the "Dragon Ball" series on key stations.
Including "Dr. Slump Arale-chan," which began airing in April 1981, the "Dragon Ball" series, and the new "Dr. Slump," this time slot has aired Akira Toriyama's works for a total of 18 years and 6 months.
Mechanical setting
Even mecha that appeared in only a few cuts in the original work are set up in the anime. The internal structure that was not drawn in the original work was also examined, and it is said that Mr. Toriyama was often impressed, saying, "Oh, so this is what the back side looks like."
Saiyan's spaceship draft: Setting of the capsule for Vegeta and his family. In a separate setting, a detailed diagram of the gimmick illustration and panels related to the opening and closing of the door is also drawn.
Airplane draft: A drawing of Videl's anti-gravity plane. Even if only a part of it is drawn in the original work, the whole picture is set in the anime.
Advance notice narration
A familiar notice narration that begins with "Hey, it's me Goku".
Masako Nozawa, who played the role of Goku, remained alone in the studio to record this after the main recording was finished every week. By the way, the lines in the trailer are said to have been written by the staff of Toei Animation at that time pretending to be Goku (?).
Logo
A "logo" is a drawing of the title of a program. When the title of the program was changed to "Dragon Ball Z", the logo was of course renewed, and the design emphasized "Z".
Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z logos image: The top is the title logo of "Dragon Ball" and the bottom is the title logo of "Dragon Ball Z". "Dragon Ball Z" was designed based on the title logo that was often used in the original work at the time.
