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Dragon Ball has a wealth of cultural context and inspiration that’s often overlooked because the fights are cool. Though not averse to fawning over animation and allowing for the Rule of Cool, Jelli and Bekinney delve into the world of Akira Toriyama, and discuss lesser-known facts about the worldwide manga and anime phenomenon that is one of the most well-known and popular Japanese pop culture exports of all-time. Want to learn about the cultural importance of moments, literary inspirations behind scenes and characters, production facts, and more? Whether you‘re a fan of Goku, Vegeta, or any of the cast of characters including Piccolo, Gohan, Frieza, or even Broly, there should be something for you to enjoy as we cover all things Dragon Ball, including DBZ, GT, Super, Daima, and more! We‘ll have discussions, guests, interviews, reviews, and commentaries so grab a senzu bean, power up your fan level to Super Saiyan, and get ready to learn about Kakarot and his friends; and of course, thank you for helping us achieve our FINAL FORUM...We hear it‘s over 9000.
Episodes
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
Wednesday Jan 05, 2022
Fan Service. Love it? Hate it? Unsure what it is?
Join Jelli and Bekinney as they delve further into Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 6 and 7 of the anime ("Keep an Eye on the Dragon Balls," and "The Ox King on Fire Mountain" and then have our typical in-depth discussion, focusing on the character of Chichi, and ultimately, the use of Fan Service and sexuality in Dragon Ball and anime as a whole.
In this episode:
- Our heroes (or cowardly hosts) prepare to land on their first new planet
- Brief plot synopsis of the episodes listed above
- Brief discussion of favorite moments from the episodes
- Discussion of Fire Mountain and its basis in the Turpan Mountain range which is made of red sandstone and through which Xuanzang traveled.
- Literary inspiration behind Frypan Mountain from Journey to the West, including parallels between the story of Sun Wukong and that of Goku
- We discuss the Ox King and his titles as Demon Ox King and Emperor of Devils, and whether these are official titles.
- How the Ox Hermit of Journey to the West compares to the Ox King and how that influences his relationships to Goku and Master Roshi
- In-depth analysis of Chichi, Goku’s future wife.
- Our ill-conceived notion that she’s a simplistic character, little more than a love interest and wife/mother before understanding how she is more than that
- An analysis of how she fits as Goku’s love interest, including their similar dialects and slightly similar backgrounds
- How Chichi’s initial appearance is inspired by the Ultraman character, Ultraseven; a character created by tokusatsu legend Eiji Tsuburaya
- Recommendations on some Ultraman viewing, including Ultra Q and Neo Ultra Q
- The popularity of Lollicon in Japan in the 80s in particular and how that influenced Chichi’s design.
- Discussion of Lollicon, the Lolita Complex, a term coined due to the popularity of Vladimir Nobokov’s 1955 novel, Lolita, adapted into a 1962 film by Stanley Kubrick
- A discussion about sexuality and fan service in Dragon Ball, and whether the show’s more problematic elements have been acknowledged and/or corrected as the show has pushed forward into new decades, centuries, and millennia.
We try to be unafraid to get our hands a little dirty on this one, and take an unflinching look at one of the more controversial elements of Dragon Ball and in truth, anime in general, and try to contextualize the use of sexuality while also not excusing it when it’s utilized poorly. Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise by analyzing Chichi and the use of sexuality in the franchise.
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