For most manga, chapters start with その or 其の. In Dragon Ball, they start with 其之. I looked up the second kanji and it’s quite rare. Is this just because Dragon Ball takes inspiration from Chinese literature and movies? What is the denotation behind 之?
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之 and 乃 are the Kanji for の. Whereas 之 is specifically for the possesive marker の.
其之 is just the full Kanji version of その. Same as 迄 for まで and 有り難う for ありがとう.
In old Japanese literature (which I’m researching right now) 其之 can also be written as only 其. Happens with この as well.
乃 and 之 are used in certain contexts (mainly place or company names) somewhat often because they have a more “literary” or “old fashioned” and thus “official” vibe (these ways of writing の pre-date kana and in fact [の and ノ are based on 乃](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kana#/media/File:FlowRoot3824.svg)). Titling chapters that way is just giving it a certain aesthetic (similar to how Demon Slayer uses the more formal versions of numbers like 壱, 弐, 参, etc in attack names).
It looks like Z ?
Yes, it’s intended to feel inspired by Chinese literature – the story starts as a retelling of 西遊記 after all. The numbers of the Dragon Balls use Chinese readings for the same reason.