Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 20/05/2025While the DBS manga remains on hiatus, next month’s V-Jump will include a special poster by Toyotaro celebrating the 10th anniversary of the manga’s debut (plus a DB Legends 7th anniversary card). But again, no new chapter next month. 0122
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 11/04/2025With Daima done and Kinnikuman between seasons, I’ll be taking a social media hiatus for awhile. Take care everyone. 3323
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 04/04/2025Kinnikuman Perfect Origin Arc, ep.22: a great end to the Warsman/Polarman fight, and a somewhat abrupt but still good end to the season as a whole. See you again in Season 3! Whenever that is… #Kinnikuman #ep22 1103
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 03/04/2025I thought DBS vol.24’s “Toriyama’s World Forever” image looked familiar, and sure enough it’s a collage of Toyotaro’s past drawings from his monthly “Toyotaro Drew It” column, which has featured many of Toriyama’s non-DB characters. Thanks to Magnificent Ponta for pointing this out. 1194
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 03/04/2025Toyotaro’s postscript for DBS vol.24 details the creation process of the ch.104 one-shot: originally this was a text prologue he got from Toriyama, which he revised and put into manga form. And now the Super Hero arc is really, truly done: “Look forward to future developments!” 24815
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 27/03/2025Kinnikuman Perfect Origin Arc, ep.20-21: personal tragedy makes for a nice pair of episodes, first with Robin going under, then with Warsman’s origin (adapted from a side-story rather than the manga’s Perfect Origin Arc, this might be the best ep yet) #Kinnikuman #ep20 #ep21 1102
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 19/03/2025This month’s V-Jump notes that the DBS manga will still be on hiatus next month. Yu-Gi-Oh! OCG Stories is likewise on hiatus but scheduled to start up again in the “July” issue (ie next next issue, due out in May)…so implicitly DBS isn’t scheduled to be in that issue either. 3131
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 13/03/2025In 1995’s Shenlong Times 2, Toriyama had a roundtable discussion with his three editors over the course of DB. He mentions how Yu Kondo critiqued Cell’s first two forms, and how earlier Kazuhiko Torishima had called him up to do the same for the androids. www.kanzenshuu.com/translations... 1162
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 08/03/2025Back in February, Daima’s executive producer Akio Iyoku was interviewed on the site Mantan Web. The article writer (not Iyoku himself) said how DB has “developed many different stories”, while Iyoku called Daima a direct continuation of the Buu arc. mantan-web.jp/article/2025... 1134
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 07/03/2025Dragon Ball Daima, eps.1~20: the production quality is consistently excellent, with fun new characters like Kuu and Duu (and underutilized ones like Degesu), a great spirit of adventure, but a repetitive final battle and somewhat slow pace throughout. 2.4/3 Demon Worlds. #DAIMA 2604
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 07/03/2025Actually, I think there might be an answer after all: the red letters hinted at Daima having 20 episodes (before this was announced), and ep20 aired near midnight right before March 1st, the anniversary of Toriyama’s passing. Were the letters meant to point towards this tribute? 1131
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 07/03/2025Later today I’ll post my overly long Daima general review/wrap-up thread, but before that: I’ve officially thrown in the towel on extracting any message from the episode titles’ red letters. As I feared, it was simply about using all 20 dakuten letters and nothing more. #DAIMA 1164
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 05/03/2025Kinnikuman Perfect Origin Arc, ep.18-19: the central fight of Season 2 along with the origin myth that has now become the cornerstone of Kinnikuman lore. The latter is a bit shortened, but on the flipside we get a neat extended Robin flashback. RIP GR. #Kinnikuman #ep18 #ep19 295
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 01/03/2025Doddorusie in katakana is ドッドルシー. Remove the extra ドッ and you get ドルシー/dorushī/dorusie, which is an anagram of シールド/shīrudo/shield. Neva says this chant when removing the light shields. So dorusie=shield. I really should’ve figured this out weeks ago. 0141
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 28/02/2025Dragon Ball Daima, ep.20: it’s the end, but the moment has been prepared for. The fight with Gomah is samey but looks amazing and is over soon enough for Kuu to ascend the Iron Throne, plus other fun wrap-up stuff. Thanks for everything Toriyama, and farewell. #DAIMA #ep20 19317
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 26/02/2025Kinnikuman Perfect Origin Arc, ep.16-17: hands down the saddest slinky death scene you’ll ever see. The overall animation quality feels below Season 1, but there’s still plenty of movement in the tag team attacks, and the voice work is uniformly great. #Kinnikuman #ep16 #ep17 1114
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 24/02/2025Thanks to the Super Warrior Sticker series, we now know that the official name for Gomah’s giant form is…Giant Gomah (ジャイアントゴマー). I’m certainly glad that’s finally settled. en.dragon-ball-official.com/news/01_3257... 0253
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 21/02/2025Dragon Ball Daima, ep.19: it’s nice seeing (and hearing) the cast as adults again, and Glorio gets some good moments triple-crossing Arinsu. Buff Gomah is beyond repetitive, but we finally get adult Super Saiyan 3 and 4. Plus more interesting facts about Vegeta. #DAIMA #ep19 17510
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 20/02/2025I’ve been doing threads on Kinnikuman Season 2 in two episode chunks, but this time around I’ll have to postpone and cover episodes 16, 17, and 18 all next week. #Kinnikuman 171
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 19/02/2025In V-Jump, the final page of DBS ch.104 concludes with おわり/“The End”, and the preview for next issue gives no indication that it will contain a new DBS chapter. Viz’s English release though ends with “to be continued” 1257
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 14/02/2025Dragon Ball Daima, ep.18: Goku does some killer GT cosplay, which ultimately doesn’t matter because Gomah goes giant, which doesn’t really matter either, because red Porunga is all-powerful. Hard to take it all in, but the visuals sure are topnotch. #DAIMA #ep18 3442
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 13/02/2025#dbspoilers The roughs are out for DBS ch.104, the special one-shot “Birth of Saiyaman X!” Earth faces a new threat: aliens hellbent on dirtying up the planet so it’ll be easy for them to live on. But a gold deck-brush wielding hero comes to the rescue. dragon-ball-official.com/news/01_3222... 1283
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 11/02/2025Executive producer Akio Iyoku discusses Daima’s origin: 6 years ago during DBS: Super Hero’s production, they decided to do a new TV series. At first Toriyama’s involvement was going to be minimal, but he really got into it and ended up creating most of it. mantan-web.jp/article/2025... 25519
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 07/02/2025Dragon Ball Daima, ep.17: Gomah does his best Jiren impression, while Kuu+Duu make the switch from enemy to ally in record time. It’s great seeing everybody (even the Tamagami) fighting together, but I would’ve liked a bit more of the Goku/Duu 1-on-1 fight. #DAIMA #ep17 3293
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 06/02/2025Kinnikuman Perfect Origin Arc, ep.14-15: Black Hole’s summoning of Pentagon looks pretty cool! The end of the Ramenman/Marvelous fight…doesn’t. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. Isn’t that what wrestling’s all about? #Kinnikuman #ep14 #ep15 274
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 31/01/2025Dragon Ball Daima, ep.16: Finally, Degesu’s time to shine!…for about three minutes, before getting hit with a hat. It’s fun seeing Vegeta stomp the Gendarmerie Force, even if they totally just reused the same group introduction from ep.14. #DAIMA #ep16 2202
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 25/01/2025Dragon Ball Daima, ep.15: the biggest and probably best mook battle so far…but I’m ready for them to retire mook battles as a recurring feature. While the truth behind Hybis’ belt buckle isn’t surprising, the LotR style flashback is cool, and I like his new hat. #DAIMA #ep15 1203
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 23/01/2025Kinnikuman Perfect Origin Arc, ep.12-13: a decent start to the second season, with the loving attention to Ramenman’s kung fu moves an animation highlight. The new opening and ending are full of more OG flavor. #Kinnikuman #ep12 #ep13 3124
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 17/01/2025Dragon Ball Daima, ep.14: it’s the Ginyu Force! Again! Which I’m pretty much OK with. This week it’s Neva’s turn to earn his keep, and the gang reaching the final Demon World makes it feel like things are racing towards a climax. #DAIMA #ep14 2285
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 10/01/2025Dragon Ball Daima, ep.13: a plot cul-de-sac with mammoth GT similarities, but the forests look quite lovely, and the sound work and other effects really sell the gigantic scale. Also, I guess Degesu did technically do something. #DAIMA #ep13 1234
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 03/01/2025This month’s Saikyo Jump includes Eiichiro Oda’s remake of the original DB volume 42 cover, as part of the DB 40th anniversary’s Super Gallery series. Oda of course is a huge DB fanboy…but apparently wasn’t a fan of this cover back in the day… 2308
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 02/01/2025Each Daima episode title is a single Japanese word with one katakana letter in red. Executive producer Akio Iyoku hints that these have some meaning but can’t say more yet. The red letters so far: ボグダべジヅビガゾバデヂズ (bo gu da be ji zu bi ga zo ba de ji zu) #DAIMA 35511
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 31/12/2024Dragon Ball Daima, ep.12: obviously Vegeta’s best episode in Daima so far, and probably the coolest Super Saiyan 3 has been since DBZ Movie 13. Kuu and Duu continue to be a great duo. On the flipside, when is Degesu going to do anything? #DAIMA #ep12 2283
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 27/12/2024Daima is on break next week, so ep.13 won’t air until January 10th. And I’m busy with holiday stuff, so I won’t be posting my notes on ep.12 until probably next week. So that works out, I guess. #DAIMA 0183
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 21/12/2024The DBS manga will come back with a one-shot in the “April” issue of V-Jump, on sale February 20th: “What was the trigger that made Trunks admire heroes…?” 18019
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 21/12/2024Dragon Ball Daima, ep.11: Duu’s fighting style and relationship with Kuu are lots of fun, and it’s nice finally seeing Vegeta battle non-mooks. Disappointed Neva’s return didn’t bring any major revelations (so far), and what’s up with Piccolo’s lousy language skills? #DAIMA #ep11 1234
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 14/12/2024Dragon Ball Daima, ep.10: the genesis of the DB World! It’s a lot to process all at once, let alone the rest of the episode. The kraken’s a bit boring in comparison, but Kuu’s an amusingly good-natured jobber. Plus we learn some interesting facts about Vegeta... #DAIMA #ep10 25311
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 08/12/2024Dragon Ball Daima, ep.9: they get into a bar fight and have their plane stolen…Vegeta Edition. Panzy gets some time to shine (and Fairouz Ai seems to be having fun with her voice), but it’s not until the last few minutes that anything really new sprouts up. #DAIMA #ep9 1121
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 06/12/2024The name “Majin Kuu” doesn’t have any flower or Cinderella connections that I can see offhand. It might come from 食う/kuu/“eat”, and/or a visual gag on ブウ/Buu vs クウ/Kuu (since ブ/ク look semi-similar). #DAIMA #ep9 3464
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 05/12/2024Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai is getting a digital release for its “refurbished” manga. Like the DB Kanzenban, this has the color chapters in actual color (rather than greyscale like the prior digital release), but isn’t a full-color release. www.dqdai-official.com/articles/7803 #DragonQuestdqdai-official.com『ダイの大冒険』新装彩録版1巻～5巻が電子書籍で発売！ | ダイの大冒険 ポータルサイト『ダイの大冒険』の新装彩録版が電子書籍でも登場！週刊少年ジャンプ連載時のままで、名場面がカラーで楽しめるぞ！ 221
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 03/12/2024Dragon Ball Daima, ep.8: the most well-animated cup-shuffling in DB history (the main fight looks pretty nifty too). The plot’s finally begun to thicken like a spit-filled witch’s brew. Bulma, Vegeta, and Piccolo also continue to exist. #DAIMA #ep8 1324
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 30/11/2024Friday has spent ten years training in an alternate time dimension! 3233
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 22/11/2024Dragon Ball Daima, ep.7: Shin does stuff! Him joining the fray makes the umpteenth mook fight feel fresh, and freeing Panzy from her collar is a nice moment. The cast continues to burn through ships at a rapid rate (to squeeze in all of Toriyama’s vehicle designs?) #DAIMA #ep7 2434
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 20/11/2024Trying to cross-post my DB 40th anniversary thread on Theads (herms108), but I can’t get past 2020 without further posts being removed as spam. Anyone know a fix for this? 031
Todd Blankenship @herms98.bsky.social · 20/11/2024It’s November 20th in Japan, which means Dragon Ball has officially reached its 40th anniversary. In case you weren’t paying attention and/or born at the time, here are some highlights from the first 40 years of DB history… #DragonBall40th 4461197
