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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 Jun 17, 2025
Tuesday Jun 17, 2025
Could Akira Toriyama have pulled inspiration from The Thing for Dragon Ball Z? What would the effects of Saiyan space travel be if it were real? What happens when we come across five stellar episodes of DBZ?
Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 21 through 25: "Counting Down," "The Darkest Day," "Saibamen Attack!" "The Power of Nappa," and "Sacrifice." We continue discussing the Saiyan Saga and talk about some new foes: The Saibamen. We also talk about the Saiyan Space Pods, or Attack Balls.
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney's situation has become most desperate
- Just how good are these episodes? For real.
- Were Saibamen inspired by the Bio Men from This Island Earth? Or perhaps by The Thing from Another World? Maybe by the Xenomorphs of Alien? Perhaps by the titular monsters from The Day of the Triffids? Maybe the pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers? More? None? All?
- Are there any ties between the Saibamen and The Red Ribbon Army? (not really, but there is a minor reference made by the hosts)
- A possible pull from Osamu Tezuka's manga, Lost World
- Potential inspiration from Dragon Quest
- Other variants of Saibamen that appear in video games and a tangent on their naming conventions
- How fast do Saiyan space pods travel? Is that speed feasible?
- What does Saiyan deep space exercise look like? Something to think about when we talk about the exercise requirements of astronauts in space.
- The gooification of people inside the Attack Balls when they land and the Iron Man problem
- A possible tie back to Journey to the West, as well as the Chinese emperor Yu the Great
- A discussion of Soyuz rockets, used by Russian cosmonauts for space travel
- A brief look at Vostok-1 and Yuri Gagarin's historic feat
- The Rule of Cool
- and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, 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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