Neko Majin is a series of one-shot manga written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. Spanning eight total installments published irregularly between 1999 and 2005 in Weekly Shōnen Jump and Monthly Shōnen Jump, they were collected into a single kanzenban volume in April 2005 by Shueisha. Its later portion is named Neko Majin Z and is a self-parody of Toriyama's Dragon Ball.
Plot
The series revolves around the adventures of the Neko Majin, a race of cat-creatures who enjoy practical jokes and martial arts. At least two use Dragon Ball-style attacks such as the "Nekohameha", while one in particular, named "Z", wears an outfit like Dragon Balls Son Goku, and carries a nyoi-bo. As the series transitions to Neko Majin Z, it becomes increasingly intertwined with the Dragon Ball world as regular characters join the cast, including an overweight Saiyan named Onio, and Frieza's son Kuriza. There are also guest appearances by Vegeta, Majin Buu, Son Goku and his family members.
Akira Toriyama originally drew Neko Majin as a single one-shot, enjoying the relaxed and silly feel it has. He suggested that the reason it became a Dragon Ballparody was probably because he ran out of material and moved away from its original premise.
Manga
Neko Majin is a series of one-shots written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama that were published irregularly in both Weekly Shōnen Jump and Monthly Shōnen Jump. The first, "Neko Majin is Here", was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1999 #22-23, the second in 1999 #37-38. Although there were some similarities, it did not become a self-parody of Dragon Ball until Neko Majin Z in Monthly Shōnen Jump 2001 #6, published in May 2001. After the second Neko Majin Z in Monthly Shōnen Jump 2003 #9. "Neko Majin Mike" was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump 2003 #37-38, concurrently with "Neko Majin Z 2". "Neko Majin Z" was published in Monthly Shōnen Jump 2004 #3, while the final two "Z" chapters were published back-to-back in Monthly Shōnen Jump 2005 #1 and #2. All eight chapters were compiled into a single kanzenban volume on April 4, 2005 by Shueisha. On April 4, 2013, the chapters were fully colored and the kanzenban was released digitally. In the October 2007 issue of the North American version of Shonen Jump, Viz Media included a translation of Neko Majin Z 5; however, no other chapters and no collected release have been made legally available in English. The kanzenban was published in France by Glénat in 2006. In February 2007, Italian publisher Star Comics also released the kanzenban, using a green background cover instead of the original yellow.
Chapter list
Other media
Neko Majin characters have appeared in Dragon Ball related video games. In the Japanese version of the video game', Freeza has an alternate outfit where he assumes the form of Kuriza and has a chestnut-shaped Death Ball attack. Neko Majin Z appears as a secret support character in the Japanese version of '. In Dragon Ball Super the character majin buu can be seen reading neko majin
