Konnichiwa Minna-san! welcome to DBZ Central , everything you ever wanted to know about dbz and more.
Updates!
12/23/2001-
The news section has been brought up to date. also check out the newly updated offical dbz site www.dragonballz.com
NEWS
Dragon Ball Z action figures, based on the hit television series produced by FUNimation Productions, Ltd., are among the "Top Ten Best Selling Toys Overall" based on a survey of retailers by PlayDates, Inc. Playdates surveys a broad range of retailers across the country including Toys 'R' Us; toysrus.com, Amazon.com, Electronics Boutique, Zany Brainy/Noodle Kidoole, KB/eToys, Babbages/Funcoland, Walmart, Kmart, CompUSA, Meiers, Blockbuster, and more than a dozen independent toy specialty shops. Based on this research, PlayDate 2001 predicts what toys will be best sellers. Below is the alphabetical listing of PlayDates 2001 "Top 10 Best Selling Toys Overall"
The Dragon Ball Z toy line from Irwin Toy, includes Dragon Ball Z action figures, Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan Warriors and Striking Z Fighters, the Dragon Ball Z Trunks Time Capsule with an exclusive 5-inch Trunks figure, new Dragon Ball Z vehicles with exclusive figures and the popular Dragon Ball Z Energy Blasters.
In January, these figures will be joined by an all new, highly detailed, highly sculpted line of "Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection" figures from IF Labs, a joint venture from FUNimation Productions, Ltd. and Irwin Toy.
Kevin Sayer, Director of Marketing, Irwin Toy Development reported, "The tremendous popularity of Dragon Ball Z reflects the hit Dragon Ball Z show, which tops Cartoon Network's ratings. Irwin Toy's Dragon Ball Z sales are up dramatically signaling strong retail demand through the holidays."
Gen Fukunaga, President of FUNimation Productions, the producers of Dragon ball Z comments, "The entire property is hot. Dragon Ball Z dominates not only toys but also ratings, video sales and collectible card games." _
Exciting News from Japan
The October 2001 edition of the Japanese magazine Animedia includes an exciting article about one of the characters of Yu Yu Hakusho. According to the female readership of Animedia, Kurama was the most popular anime character in all of Japan for 13 months, between November of 1992 and January of 1995. Kurama rated in the top 5 most popular for 26 out of 27 months. Yu Yu Hakusho began airing in Japan at the end of 1992 and concluded in 1995. As you can see in the chart above, Kurama's popularity grew very quickly and continued to rise as the series went on. Gen Fukunaga, President of FUNimation, said, "This speaks volumes about the strength of the brand. Yu Yu Hakusho is a great anime and we are eager to share it with fans in the U.S."
Yu Yu Hakusho is tentatively scheduled to begin airing next spring. FUNimation and Irwin team up to present IF Labs' first line of action figures for the series next March. The line is composed of the four main characters from Yu Yu Hakusho - Yusuke, Kurama, Kuwabara and Hiei.
Stay plugged in here for all the latest from FUNimation
_ -
Dragon Ball Z images and characters ©2000, Bird Studio/Shueisha, Toei Animation. Licensed by FUNimation Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Everything else is copyrighted to its orginal owner(s)
