Dragonball Legends

IGN has posted their own preview for the Dragonball : Evolution video game for the PSP from New York Comic Con.

A fighter through and through, Dragonball Evolution packs several modes of play — network battle, training, mission, and more — but the main one I got to try at the New York Comic-Con tells the tale of the film. Story Mode starts you in the shoes of Goku and introduces you to the world via some weird-looking dialogue screens. See, the game has the likenesses of the actors and actresses from the movie, but the developers went in and tweaked the colors of the real life photos. Basically, you’ll fight someone and then have peach-colored photos of the actors pop up with text along the bottom of the screen. You’ll get your dose of information, and then have to go duke it out with whomever the game just set you up to fight. My time as Goku had me training with grandfather Gohan and his deadly cane, going to high school, and getting my first Dragonball. According to gramps, if I collect all seven Dragonballs I’ll be given “one perfect wish.”

Don’t hit him in the Dragonball.

If you’ve played a Dragonball outing before, the actual fighting mechanics should be second nature. The face buttons are your rush, sneak, and special attacks as well as your block button, while the Left Shoulder Button will charge you Ki so that you can do devastating special moves. When I took Bulma into a mission battle, she was shooting her guns during all sorts of moves, using Ki, and dropping motorcycles on Fu Lum’s gray, spiky body. Mastering these techniques will be key to cracking your opponent’s skull in one-on-one competition. As you hurl fireballs and move throughout the environment, the percentage of damage you’re inflicting will pop up on the screen and you’ll get a rank at the end of your battles.

If you’re used to the manga that Dragonball Evolution is based on, it might be odd to see the character models are 3D and made to look like their movie counterparts. How much do the characters look like the actors? Well, the real life photo of every character is placed next to the in-match health bars, and when I took Master Roshi into battle with Chi Chi, the creepy old man kept staring at her legs to the point that even she commented on the creepy old man staring at her legs.

DBMB has also posted spoilers from the game. Beware of game and MOVIE spoilers.

- The High School scenes are so short. I can’t imagine them taking up more than 10 minutes of the film. Seriously. There’s the parking lot scene, the classroom scene, the locker scene, and then the party scene. That’s it.

- Goku rides to school in his scooter thinger, then her and Fuller crash.
“You wrecked my bike” says Goku.
“Agundas, did you just fart?” Says Fuller.
“No, it was that kid squealing”, Agundas replies.

-Agundas and Fuller think Goku is just a skinny weakling, which I thought was funny since almost all the villains in DBZ think that about Goku.

-Chi Chi can’t get her lockers open. Goku focuses his ki and the all open. Chi Chi notices he used his ki.

“You know about ki?”
“Just because my name is Chi Chi doesn’t mean i’m a complete idiot!”
“Of course, I mean there are worse names.. I mean. uh…”

-Goku doges all of Fuller and his buddies attacks and they end up beating each other up.

Chi Chi: “Goku!”
Goku: “It was self defense! You saw!”
Chi Chi: “I guess it was”
*they laugh*

-Piccolo kills Gohan.

Piccolo: “You are trembling. Do you fear me, human?”
Gohan: “If I am trembling it is with excitement, not fear”

-Gohan dies, Goku takes his gi and says he’ll go find Master Roshi. Then Bulma shows up.

Goku: “Are you Piccolo? Did you kill my grandpa?”
Bulma: “If I were a “piccolo” I would have killed you by now. Are you the one who stole my promethium orb? Give it back”

Bulma says that it belongs to her father and that he has kept it for over 10 years. Hers has 5 stars so when she sees that Goku’s has 4 she is surprised to see that there are more.

Bulma: “I always knew there were more!”
Goku: “Seven, to be exact. How did you find this one.”
Bulma: “I track the energy with this device I created”
Goku: “You have a Dragon Ball locating device?”
Bulma: “Well, I always called it a Promethium Energy Extracor.”
Goku: “PEE, that’s gross!”

Then Goku says that she should help him find Master Roshi, and he’ll help her find the Dragonballs.

Bulma: “Why do you think I need your help?
Goku: “Because it’s dangerous”
Bulma: “I see”
Goku: “See this house, the people who destroyed it are also looking for the dragonballs. The killed my grandfather. WHo knows what they’ll do to you. We may not even make it”
Bulma: “Spare me the sales pitch, you had me at ‘dangerous’.

-Then they find Roshi, and he thinks there criminals so he attacks Goku, but Roshi recognizes Goku’s technique, as he was Gohans master. Then they explain the situation and Roshi talks about the prophesy and all that stuff. Then he says they can go to this private place where he and Gohan used to train, and he would train Goku.

-They continue on their journey. They get to the place Roshi was talking about as find that it is no longer private. There is a school of fighters there (including Chi Chi).

Bulma: “I thought you said this place was private?”
Roshi: “Times have changed. They even have a snack bar!”.

Goku meets Chi Chi, she tells him that this is wear all the fighters come to train for the tournament. Then she tells Goku that she has always secretly been a fighter. Then they have a sparing match.

Gamespot has posted a video demo of the Dragonball Evolution video game from New York Comic Con.

Update – Gametrailers has more footage!

DBMB has also posted screenshots of Oozaru from the video game. Oozaru looks very accurate to the anime.

Dragonball Live got the chance to speak with one of the storyboard writers/artist (Joseph Strachan) for Dragonball Evolution. Here is that interview and a sample from the actual storyboard.

- You have apparently worked with Dan Fraga on the storyboard for DBE, how do you work together ? Is this an easy process ?

We were hired at different times, and by the time I came on the show, he had already drawn quite a few scenes. Then I got hired and had to draw different scenes. In other words, we did share the same space office-wise, but we were working on very different things. He wouldn’t need to touch my scenes, and I never got involved in his. Make sense? The workload was just split in two, and we each had to focus on our own assigned sequences. So, we did work together geographically, so to speak, but we didn’t work on the same sequences. Imagine splitting the script in two, you have the beginning to the middle point, and then you have the middle to the ending. From what I gathered, he worked on the first half of the script, and I worked on the middle to last scenes. Not all was boarded out though, just the bigger, more complicated stuff. Dialogue scenes rarely get drawn.

- Was it an easy process?

This answer depends on whether you’re asking if working with Dan was easy, or if the process in general was easy. The way it goes is that I sit down with the director, he explains to me his ideas, I roughly sketch it all out, and then clean it all up for everyone to see. That’s the process in a nutshell. On some days it was a breeze, and it was particularly fun drawing it all out at first. It became kind of tedious reworking and modifying what you had already drawn afterwards, but that’s always going to be a natural part of the storyboarding process. Other than that, it was pretty cool, and that makes it relatively easy.  And to answer this the other way, working alongside Dan was pretty damn fun, and I love the guy to pieces. We just hit it off straight away. That actually made working on this project even better for me, personally.

- Were you inspired in any way by the manga or the anime, for the fight scenes mainly ?

Actually… no. But the writer of the script sure was, and all I did was to illustrate the director’s ideas (based on his interpretation of the script), so it was all already laid out for me, and the spirit of the anime was already there. And from what I understand, what made this series so popular was the fighting sequences, so, it would be idiotic from everyone if there wasn’t a heavy influence of the series for translating it into live action.

- Did you meet any difficulties creating this storyboard? If so, could you tell us what ? What did you enjoy the most in your work on Dragonball ?

Well, I wouldn’t say difficulties, I’d say that there were some pretty laborious frames I had to draw, mostly with vehicles, as they can be time consuming. The other one was that late in the process people would have a hard time understanding the geography of where the characters were in my boards (I drew them just as they were designing the sets, so I had very little idea), and I’d be just as unclear as they would be sometimes. But it all got figured out eventually. And what did I enjoy most? Bulma’s bike was pretty damn sweet, being in this kind of production in and of itself was quite a treat, and the people I met and worked with made this the most enjoyable film I’ve worked on, and that actually matters more to me, because those relationships go beyond any one project, and they go on after the film is over. There was just something pretty rewarding about it for me on many levels. Truly a one of a kind experience.

- How much time did you spend working on the storyboard ?

You know? It’s amazing to me how often I get this question. The basic answer is that it ALWAYS varies. Drawing faces is pretty quick, as in a dialogue heavy scene, for instance, while drawing architecture and/or vehicles can eat up more time. The basic speed of the individual artist is also a factor. So, there isn’t a specific timeframe set in stone. I will say that action sequences take more time to render, and I estimate about 20 to 25 minutes per frame, and I can do about 30 of those on any given day. Sometimes less, sometimes more. And another variable is how soon the production needs it. I remember on my first film, they were in such a rush that I had to draw at least 120 frames per day just to meet the deadline. It was pure punishment for me, but I got it done somehow.

- Can you reveal any exciting details for us without spoiling anything ?

I do have a few things I’m really looking forward to seeing on the finished film, but alas, I would be giving away some of the goods.

- Have you seen the final cut of the movie ? If so, is it faithful to your drawings ? Are you satisfied about the final result ?

I have not seen ANY cut of the film. I’ve seen only very small bits here and there, and I guess they were pretty accurate to some of my drawings, but the shots go by so fast, you hardly notice they were based on anything you drew. It happens to me all the time. The pre-visualization guys did actually rely pretty heavily on my storyboards, and those were basically all that I drew, only in motion. It’s pretty neat, but as for the final version of the film, it’s pretty hard to say, since I’ve seen very little of it to make an accurate judgement.

- Are you a fan of the anime ?

You know, not so much at first, but it grows on you, and then you find yourself more interested than usual in the series. It happened to a lot of people on the X-Men films as well, where you’re not particularly a hardcore fan, but then you become quite fond of it, and in a way, it becomes a part of you, and after my involvement with the show was over, I’d find myself staying up late at night to catch some episodes on TV. I was very much aware of Dragonball when I was in high school, because everyone and their mothers were always talking about it, and had the action figures, and the video games, and so, I’m no stranger to the series, but now I AM an actual fan.

- And to conclude, If you had a few words to encourage us to see this movie, what would they be ?

It’s a bit crass, but you have to see Mai’s outfit. She’s SO sexy. And you got Chow Yun Fat! You get babes, you get Chow, and some pretty cool action sequences that hopefully will entertain many. And given that Dragonball is such a huge franchise,  with such a phenomenal following, I don’t think you need any further encouragement… do you?

J. Strachan

With 2009 now upon us and the film being only 2 months and 13 days until initial release (in Japan) I have decided to recap on some of the best Dragonball : Evolution news stories. I tried to cover every news breaking event until it all broke down into a “Top Five List”. So, view the top five best DB Evolution news stories of 2008!

5. Title Change
In early December, we found out that 20th Century Fox may have extended the title of its upcoming “Dragon Ball” adaptation to Dragonball Evolution. This was later proven to be true.

4. Goku’s Orange and Blue Gi
After many news articles showing Goku in normal clothes and being in high school, we finally got to see some clothing that actually relates to the anime. First shown was Goku’s infamous blue gi from Dragonball.

Then when the teaser trailer was shown, Goku’s full blown orange gi with the Kame symbol was revealed.

3. Screenshots/Expo Trailer
First we got some brand new and amazing screenshots and soon after the Expo Teaser Trailer. The teaser, although not the official and final one, gave us fans something great to look forward to in 2009. This was the first real footage of the movie we have seen.

2. Piccolo Revealed
When Piccolo was first revealed, many fans were not satisfied with his look. This was soon changed when he was fully revealed in the International Trailer.

1. Dragonball Evolution International Trailer
After nearly a decade of waiting, the official Dragonball trailer was released (This is not counting the first shown expo teaser). The second and actual official Dragonball movie trailer was released towards the end of 2008 and revealed a lot more of the movie.

We get this new promo poster from the current convention from our affiliate Dragonballfilm that shows some interesting bits of news. The movie will be promoted at this event, but not only that, a contest will occur that will give a lucky fan the chance to win a pre screening of the actual Dragonball film.

“Release date is April 2009″. Feel the Vital Energy. Win your very own pre-screening of the film. Kamhameha!”

We will keep you informed if anything else new pops up from this event.

With the recent viewing of the Dragonball teaser shown at Brand Licensing Europe Expo, a new teaser was shown a couple days ago at the recent FOX 2009 line up show. Here is the description.

On October 23rd, 20th Century Fox Korea held a 2009 line-up road show at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hannam-dong, Seoul. At this time, X-MEN and Dragonball special trailers were shown. But unfortunately Joon Park didn’t appear in this trailer. The trailer was edited centering around lead actor Justin Chatwin, Yun-Fat Chow and Emmy Rossum.

Source

Another source states that another Dragonball will have its own panel at the upcoming expo known as Ficomic. The convention will be held October 30th through November 2nd. Rumor has it that another Dragonball teaser trailer will also be shown at this event (most likely the same one most of us have seen).

But that’s not it. Rumor has it that during Jump Festa (same tour that showed the new Dragonball Z anime special) 20th Century FOX will show a secret Dragonball movie trailer on the date of December 20th. This trailer will most likely be the full blown teaser trailer that we have yet to see (since FOX is aiming for the actual trailer to be released 12/12).

We will update this post if we hear about any more expos/events that Dragonball will be held at.

Thanks goes to dbthemovie.com for providing some of this information.

New York Anime Festival has begun and we pretty much get confirmation that Dragonball The Movie will get its own panel tomorrow. There will be a “top secret” panel, so maybe we will get the trailer tomorrow? There is also a Dragonball autographing session, so expect a few of the actors from the movie to be there.

Day Two of the 2nd New York Anime Festival promises to be full of interesting and newsworthy events, including appearances by special guests Yoshitaka Amano, Hideyuki Kikuchi, the designers of Baby the Stars Shine Bright, and a “Top Secret” panel at 2:15 pm at the Anime News Network Theater. Now why on earth is there a picture from the Dragon Ball movie next to that panel’s description, plus an autograph session at 3:30 pm for Dragon Ball, I’m guessing it might be about… oh heck, just go check it out and see if this is one of the worst kept secrets in NYAF history or a very clever red herring.

Keep informed tomorrow for any possible movie news, spoilers, and media.

Source and thanks to dbthemovie.com for the heads up!

Update

This blog has stated that the top secret panel won’t be meant for Dragonball, but a secret guest that isn’t even Dragonball related. You can all thank this blog for providing false information. Now, this doesn’t mean all hope is lost for Dragonball to appear at NYAF. There is supposely a Dragonball autograph session going on as we speak, so we will keep you informed on that issue.

James Marsters spoke in an interview at Dragon Con ‘08 and mentioned a bit about his role in the Dragonball movie.

The character he most liked was Piccolo. He said that with “Dragonball” he was more involved (he said he didn’t really offer a lot of ideas, etc. to the directors of “P.S. I Love You” and just wanted to do a good job unlike all the other stars of the show) and that he was constantly hashing things out with the director. He also mentioned that his stunt double did only one stunt for him and that the rest of the time he was the one making those leaps, etc. He mentioned that he was showing off for his girlfriend and the room kinda deflated. *grin* Then, after all that, he was like, “I liked Spike too.” (So do we, James. So do we.)

Not sure what question was asked, but he mentioned that he had a fear of being smothered. Apparently the helmets he wore while being an astronaut got him panicked. That he’d go back to his room and have the shakes and a good cry. (Poor guy. But, I can sooo relate to that feeling.)

He was asked about his height being a problem. (This was asked at the Q & A prior to his concert in London.) He gave the same answer, for the most part. Saying that he’d commented to his son that if he was six feet tall, his son would be going to Harvard. He added that A’s were going to be needed for him to get in now.

He mentioned that he was more comfortable on stage, and that it was a lot more fun. That with film, you didn’t perform/act, but were just yourself.

He was asked how he prepared for Piccolo. He mentioned that he’d seen all the episodes with his son, sometimes more than once, that he liked the “message” of the show. That peaceful, humble men =/= weak. Said it was a good message for young men growing up in today’s world, especially in the US.

Source

Geeks of Doom and Live Journal reports from the second day of Dragon Con with another Marsters Q&A.

He said that the most enjoyable show to shoot of all was DragonBall because he didn’t really have a stunt man and did 99% of the stunts himself and he was scared to death the entire time (he said he has a weird sense of fun ).

“I didn’t have to do very much research,” he said of the film. “I have a son, so I’ve probably watched every single episode of Dragon Ball.”

 

The story was something Marsters really identified with, he said, adding that Goku’s nature to choose violence only as a last resort was a trait all young boys should be exposed to.

“Having said that, the hyper-violence of Dragon Ball has to be there, but in the right context,” he said. “I’ve had debates with my son about it.”

Dragon Con 2008 starts 14 days from today. Sadly, there will be no Dragonball panel this year. However, James Marsters (role of Piccolo) will in fact be there. There is also a high possibility that he will doing an interview or two as well. So hopefully this event won’t be totally worthless. Here’s a quote from James Marsters’ Website.

Dragon*Con Private Party / Concert
Be one of the lucky few to join James at an intimate concert and dinner reception

James Marsters will be the guest of honor at a limited sit down buffet style dinner and concert Saturday, August 30, 2008. Limited to only 60 guests, the evening will consist of an acoustic guitar performance and a round robin meet and greet and mingle. Also joining James will be Torchwood’s own Gareth David Lloyd!

The complete schedule for the event will be online August 19th.

Plus, we got these anime conventions to look forward to.

- Anime Festival (August 15-17)
- Anime Evolution (August 22-24)
- MatsuriCon (August 22-24)
- AnimeFest (August 29 – September 1)
- New York Anime Festival (September 26-28)

Click here for the complete list…

On a side note, the Dragonball movie was originally set to release today before the delay.

Here are a few videos capturing the Dragonball Z cosplayers that attended Otakon 2008. Although they are quite corny, they are somewhat humorous.

Cosplayers powering up!?

Mr. Satan