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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
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
Tuesday Jan 18, 2022
What do mochi-making moon rabbits have to do with Dragon Ball?
Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 8, 9, and 10 of the anime, "The Kamehameha Wave," "Boss Rabbit's Magic Touch," and "The Dragon Balls are Stolen" and then have a discussion about the character Boss Rabbit/Monster Carrot, and Akira Toriyama's penchant for subverting tropes and expectations. This episode, released just 3 days after the beginning of 2022, features a discussion of Japan's New Year's traditions!
In this episode:
- Our hosts find themselves on a windswept desolate wasteland and report on their findings
- Brief plot synopsis of episodes 8, 9, and 10 of the Dragon Ball anime
- Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes
- Importance of what these episodes reveal about Goku, including his ability to understand and immediately master the Kamehameha Wave
- Goku's inner awareness of his self and his truth
- The cultural influence behind the Bansho Fan and how it plays into the quest of Sun Wukong and Tang Sanzang from Journey to the West
- Discussion of the pop culture references from the episodes, including Gamera and how he's a play on Godzilla
- Recommendation to check out Arrow Video's releases of Gamera and Daimajin, particularly and especially Shusuke Kaneko's 1990s Heisei Gamera trilogy of films
- Discussion of Japan's Mochi Making Rabbit on the Moon, including the legend behind the story and how East Asian cultures see a rabbit in the craters on the moon
- We break down the mochi festival that takes place in Japan on New Year's every year
- How the episode may reference the Ultraman Taro episode "The Father of Ultra and Son Big Mochi-Making Strategy" and the kaiju Mochiron
- How Toriyama employs subversion and his ability to craft both familiar and simultaneously unpredictable narratives
- Comparison of Toriyama's use of subverting expectations to those of Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Avengers: Infinity War
- Who is better? David Benioff and Ben Weiss or Akira Toriyama?
- How subversion of expectations can be done well, with an example using The Shining and Dr. Sleep and the books vs the movies, and comparing it to Toriyama's use of the mochi making rabbit on the Moon.
- and more, including some general pop culture, Toriyama's use of setting, and editorializing, as usual.
Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.
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