Dragon Ball AF / Dragon Ball Hoshi

About

Dragon Ball AF (also known as Dragon Ball Hoshi) refers to the name of a purported new series in the Dragon Ball franchise. The name has been used by numerous people, typically on YouTube, to try and gain viewers through deceiving said viewers into believing they are watching clips from a new Dragon Ball series, when in fact they are viewing clips from lesser known Dragon Ball properties. These usually come in the form of Dragon Ball games released in Japan. Both Dragon Ball AF and Dragon Ball Hoshi have been written off as hoaxes by the majority of the Dragon Ball fanbase.

History

The exact origin of AF is unknown, but, according to The Dao of Dragon Ball: ^[1]

Dragon Ball AF was originally the creation of an unknown fan that evidently had a strong desire for a fourth Dragon Ball anime series.

Is believed that this same fan also created an image which showcases series protagonist Son Goku in a white haired hypothetical “Super Saiyan 5” form which began circulating the web around the same time. (shown below).

With the release of Dragon Ball Super, the first official Dragon Ball series since the end of Dragon Ball GT, both Dragon Ball AF and Dragon Ball Hoshi will most likely no longer be able to hold any sense of validity within the Dragon Ball community.

Online Relevance

On YouTube there are around 74,300 results for Dragon Ball AF, and around 20,100 results for Dragon Ball Hoshi. ^[2]^[3] Various YouTubers use clips from other Dragon Ball properties in order to trick others into viewing their video(s). The earliest known video to use this technique on YouTube was a video entitled “Dragon Ball AF Opening” uploaded by YouTuber superkakarotto on August 23, 2006 (shown below, left). Since then various other YouTubers have done the same, with the most viewed video having over 17 million views (shown below, right).

On Tumblr there are various results for Dragon Ball AF and Dragon Ball Hoshi under various tags. ^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] There are also various fan blogs which use the series’ names as their own, such as Dragon Ball AF Webcomic ^[9] and Offical DBAF. ^[10]

Fan Animations

There are various content creators whom have taken the name Dragon Ball AF as a name for their fan-made videos. The two most viewed of these both have over 9 million views as of July 2015. The earlier of these two was uploaded on June 24, 2010 by YouTuber SuperDBAF and mixes clips from other Dragon Ball series and the uploaders own original work (shown below, left). The latter was uploaded on May 11, 2011 by YouTuber Canal de pameliitahv which is composed entirely of original art (shown below, right).

On November 30, 2012 YouTuber Mellavelli uploaded the first episode in his fan series Dragon Ball Absalon which takes many of the concepts and characters from other Dragon Ball AF series (shown below)

Fanart

On DeviantArt there are over 5,500 results for Dragon Ball AF, and around 100 images on the Japanese art site Pixv. ^[11]^[12]

Related Memes

Super Saiyan 5

Super Saiyan 5 (often abbreviated as SSJ5) is a fanmade transformation that was created in the first Dragon Ball AF image. Since then many official and original characters have been made using the transformation. Super Saiyan 5 has also inspired a slew of other numbered Saiyan transformations.

Xicor

Xicor (also known as Zaiko) is a fanmade character whom appears in many of the various fan interpretations of Dragon Ball AF. Throughout most of his interpretations Xicor is the child of Goku and the Western Supreme Kai and was conceived during his time off-world in between the Namek and Android sagas.