Away We Go! Yamcha, Oolong, and Pilaf (S1E3)

What's in an antagonist? What about Dragon Ball's earliest attempts to get under Goku's skin? Why are we talking about Pinball Wizard? 

Join Jelli and Bekinney as they delve further into Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the anime ("The Emperor's Quest," "The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi," "Oolong the Terrible," and "Yamcha the Desert Bandit" and then have a discussion about the antagonistic characters Pilaf, Oolong and Yamcha.

In this episode:

• Our hosts prepare to leave for their mission, again.
• Brief plot synopsis of the episodes listed above
• Brief discussion of favorite moments from the episodes
• A talk about whether the sexuality and sexual humor presented in these episodes are problematic
• A quick look at some of the readily obvious differences between the manga and anime
• An explanation of Flying Nimbus and its Japanese name Kintoun, which means Somersault Cloud.
• An explanation of the effects of Oolong's diarrhea pill, including the differences between the English "piggy piggy" and the Japanese "pipipi"
• A look at Emperor Pilaf, and his inner and outer hypocrisy and self-contradictions, most notably his Napoleon complex
• A discussion of what Pilaf's clothing means, including its reference to The Who, Tommy and Pinball Wizard.
• Who are Mai and Shu, Pilaf's underlings?
• We talk about whether Pilaf is a good or bad antagonist.
• Deep dive into Oolong, his name inspiration, from a Chinese tea, his connections to the Tang Dynasty, and his literary connections to the character Zhu Bajie from Journey to the West and how this character normally interacts with Sun Wukong and Xuanzang vs. how he interacts with Goku and Bulma
• Oolong's ability to transform and his connection to Japanese Oni demons
• A debate about whether Oolong is meant to represent communism, Mao Zedong, and/or Kim Jong Il (or Kim Jong Un, or North Korea)
• Yamcha, Bekinney's favorite character, and his connection to Journey to the West via the character Sha Wujing a man-eating sand-demon, who is known more as a river-bound character and how Akira Toriyama is subverting the expectation by having Yamcha be a desert bandit
• Bekinney's assertion that Yamcha is a Jobber
• A discussion of whether Yamcha is a joke and whether that's a bad thing
• Puar, Yamcha's constant companion, whose name is also based on a tea
• A discussion of Yamcha's status as a Lone Wolf, and his Wolf Fang Fist

Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise by analyzing these original antagonists

 

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