General Information
Originally a one-shot bearing little relation to Akira Toriyama's other series, the first chapter of Neko Majin appeared in Weekly Shōnen Jump in April 1999 (WJ #22-23). Though there were some similarities, it did not become a self-parody of the Dragon Ball manga until Neko Majin Z, which had cameos of characters from the author's magnum opus. As of 2005, the series was completed with eight total chapters (five of which are Dragon Ball parodies). These chapters were compiled into a "kanzenban"-style package for release in Japan on April 4, 2005. The last chapter of Neko Majin Z was released in an issue of the North American monthly Shonen Jump magazine as a bonus to the special Dragon Ball collectors issue.
The series revolves around the adventures of various characters from the "Neko Majin" race, a group of cats that can use a little bit of magic, but seem to enjoy practical jokes and martial arts even more. It eventually spins off into Neko Majin Z, centralizing around "Z", a cat-like version of Son Goku complete with nyoi-bo and typically Dragon Ball-style attacks, such as the "Neko-Hameha", an attack that the Neko Majin from the first chapter also used. Other familiar motifs show up during the course of the series, including Freeza's son Kuriza, a fat Super Saiyan named Onio (following the Saiyans' vegetable pun trend, this one is an obvious pun of onion), and even cameos by actual Dragon Ball characters Vegeta, Majin Boo and Son Goku. Although the connection is tenuous, several references to Neko Majin Z were added as Easter eggs to the Japanese version of the video game Dragon Ball Z 2 (notably in the form of Kuriza as an alternate outfit for Freeza, complete with a chestnut-shaped "Death Ball" attack), and Z makes an appearance as a secret support character in the Japanese version of Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors 2.
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