Final Forum: A Dragon Ball Podcast

2023 March Madness Tenkaichi Tournament (2 of 2) (S2E4)

Jelli and Bekinney continue their break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun!

In this episode:

• It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 32 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical game of one-on-one Halo.
• We discuss the system used for determining outcomes.
• We break down our opponents in each matchup.
• In the Saiyan Region: Will Tarble topple Kale?, Will Kid Trunks defeat his best friend Goten?, Who will win when Gohan encounters Cabba? Can Caulifla beat Paragus?  
• In the Earthling Region:
  • Krillin vs Bulma, Android 17 vs Android 18, Yamcha vs Tien, Videl vs Master Roshi
• In the Villains Region: Can Frieza out-fox Hit? Will King Cold throttle Pilaf? Who is more nefarious, Ginyu or Android 19? Will Dr Gero smash Cell? 
• In the Deity/Ally Region:
  
  • Who will win when Beerus, Korin, Elder Kai, King Kai, Dende, Puar, Kami and Jacco all face off?
• What happened to Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Future Trunks, Jiren, Mr Satan, Majin Buu, Broly, and other popular characters? Listen to episode 1, to hear why they lost.
• We take if from the round of 32, down to the Sweet 16, Head into the Elite Eight, jump into the Final Four, and then choose our champion!
• Who will reign supreme and be declared the number one under heaven in 1-on-1 Halo?

Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

2023 March Madness Tenkaichi Tournament (1 of 2) (S2E3)

Jelli and Bekinney take a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun!

In this episode:

• It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 64 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical game of one-on-one Halo.
• We discuss the system used for determining outcomes.
• We break down our opponents in each matchup.
• In the Saiyan Region: Will Goku topple Tarble, will Vegeta defeat Paragus, who will win when Broly encounters Goten? Will the timeline handle Future Trunks facing off against his younger self? Can Gohan defeat King Vegeta?  Can Cabba beat Bardock? Can Kale topple Nappa? Will Caulifla be able to defeat Raditz?
• In the Earthling Region:
  • Krillin vs Yajirobe, Bulma vs Chiaotzu, Android 17 vs Ox King, Android 18 vs Mr Satan, Yamcha vs Chichi, Tien vs Nam, Android 16 vs Videl, Master Roshi vs Launch
• In the Villains Region: Can Frieza out-fox Mercenary Tao? Will Hit topple Recoome? Will Zamasu throttle King Cold? Who is more nefarious, Cooler or Pilaf? Who has the mad skills, Ginyu or Dabura? Will Buu beat down Android 19? Will Jiren smash Dr Gero? Can Cell prove to be more perfect than Garlic Jr?
• In the Deity/Ally Region:
  
  • Who will win when Beerus, Oolong, Korin, Mr Popo, Nail, Elder Kai, Supreme Kai Shin, Puar, King Kai, Gregory, Dende, Kabito, Kami, King Yemma, Piccolo, and Jaco all face off?

Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

Further West and Capsule Corp (S2E2)

What happens when Toriyama inverts Dragon Ball's entire fish-out-of-water dynamic?

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 44 and 45, "Master Thief, Hasky," and "Danger in the Air." We continue discussing the Red Ribbon Army,  break down some trivia on a few filler episodes, and have a discussion about how society is basically just the worst.

In this episode:

• Your cohosts remain missing
• We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments (spoiler: we don't have a lot of favorite moments)
• Mentioning Toriyama's love of inversions, reminding listeners about his Frankenstein inversion with Android 8 (8er) and how he's going to continue that with a "fish out of water" motif on Goku
• We discuss the destruction of Kintoun/Flying Nimbus and remind listeners about Kume Sennin and the inspirations behind Master Roshi
• We talk about how Daoist mentality suggests that as society becomes more complex, the magic fades from the world
• We talk about West City's design and its inspiration points including the Jetsons, Star Wars, and Blade Runner
• Inspiration points behind the Bruce Lee fight in West City including Bolo Yeung's King Boxer (and how Yeung ties into Enter the Dragon), and infamous Three Card Monty games
• We discuss the film The Idiot by Akira Kurosawa, albeit briefly
• We talk about Legend of Korra
• Possible inspiration points behind the design of Capsule Corp, including the film, Gamera vs Guiron (and then we divert into talking about Mystery Science Theater 3000 - MST3K - and how the crew reacted to the Daiei movie)
• Dr Brief's cat, Tama, is brought up, and all the cultural inspiration that goes behind naming a cat "Tama" in Japanese
• We talk about Dr Brief's potential inspiration points, including the original Godzilla film and the movie Terror of Mechagodzilla, which features a character who looks almost exactly like Dr. Brief
• We discuss the potential inspiration behind Tiny Bulma, from the show Ultra Q
• We talk about Bulma's mother and how her name is not OFFICIALLY Panchi
• And then we get into our main topic for the day, and discuss how Goku's incorruptibility in the face of the failings of a complicated and uncaring society make him an inspirational character that we really enjoy seeing
• 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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Clue: Dragon Ball Edition (S2E1)

Can a shameless board game tie-in still be a fun time?

Jelli and Bekinney have no time to continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime Dragon Ball.

In this episode:

• Jelli and Bekinney are MISSING!
• Audio from when your heroic hosts first met one another and played Dragon Ball Z Clue
• We discuss the pieces inside the Clue box, and talk about the classic whodunit game.

Join us and find out if we will ever continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

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Season One Finale - Climactic Battle (S1E30)

Jelli and Bekinney have no time to continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime Dragon Ball.

In this episode:

• The climactic battle!

Join us and find out if we will ever continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

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Muscle Tower Manga vs Anime Comparison (S1E29)

Will the Dragon Ball manga continue to impress?

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 42 and 43, "The Secret of Dr. Flappe," and "A Trip to the City." We dig further into the Red Ribbon Army,  break down some trivia on a few filler episodes, and compare the Muscle Tower manga chapters to the episodes of the anime.

In this episode:

• The battle rages on...and a new fighter emerges!
• We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments
• We talk about the inspiration points for Dr. Flappe, as best we can guess them, comparing him to Leon Trotsky, and mildly infamous Soviet scientist Ivanovich Ivanov
• We discuss how the character of Dr. Flappe contradicts statements made later in the show by Dr. Gero about the creation of the androids
• We talk about inter-species hybridization (yes, really)
• We get into a few design elements from the Trip to the City episode, including the Bruce Lee lookalike character, and a re-use of the General White character model
• We discuss whether the show Dragon Ball exists in this universe, and we do a brief detour into The Seven Year Itch
• We talk about the decision to do a wrap-up episode here, vs a few episodes of anime later
• And then we get into comparing the anime to the manga, including the differences between Major Metallitron and Full Metal Jacket, Buyon and The Jiggler, Ninja Murasaki and Sergeant Major Purple, and the destruction or non-destruction of Muscle Tower
• 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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Android 8 and General White (S1E28)

What does EVERYONE get wrong when discussing Androids in Dragon Ball?

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 39, 40 and 41, "Mysterious Android No. 8," "Horrifying Buyon," and "The Fall of Muscle Tower." We dig further into the Red Ribbon Army and Goku's challenges as he continues along, the Frankenstein-like Android Number 8, the Pink Blob monster Buyon and finally General White himself.

In this episode:

• The battle rages on...
• We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments
• We talk about the obvious inspiration points from Frankenstein (Frankenstein's Monster) in Android 8
• We highlight Toriyama's subversion of expectations 
• We tease out the idea that there will be future scientists and androids from the Red Ribbon Army
• Jelli discusses some of the translation issues with regards to Android 8 aka Jinzoningen Hachigo aka Man-Made Man Number 8 aka Artificial Man-Made Human Number 8 (more is explained herein)
• The original of 8er (Eighter) as a nickname being translated from the Japanese Hachan. 
• We discuss why 8er is reluctant to fight
• Bekinney discusses some of the East-West ideology conflicting within 8er and highlights how Goku passes some of his learnings from Master Roshi on to 8er
• We draw connections between Goku's tutelage under Roshi to that of his real world experience and how that drives his encounters with Vegeta, Frieza and Beerus later on. 
• We remind everyone of a connection to Xuanzang and Journey to the West
• We discuss some of our favorite adaptations of Frankenstein and how 8er ranks
• Jelli highlights the clashing opposites of the village elder and General White
• We talk more about James Bond, and You Only Live Twice, reminding our listeners how that led to Murasaki, and informs this arc
• We highlight a brief connection to Curse of the Blood Rubies and our commentary from a couple months back
• We do a wrap-up of some of our final thoughts on Muscle Tower's anime arc
• 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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Early Dragon Ball Video Games (S1E27)

Can early-era video games hold the attention of people with more modern sensibilities and demands of their games?

Jelli and Bekinney take a break from Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon (because we don't do enough of that, right?) by breaking down some early video games. We're talking about Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyō, aka Secret of the Dragon from the Super Casette Vision; Dragon Ball: Shenlong no Nazo aka Dragon Power for the Nintendo Entertainment System; and Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu  aka Dragon Ball: Great Demon King's Revival, also for the NES.

In this episode:

• We perform mop up duty on straggling invaders
• We discuss the background of Dragon Ball video games, specifically that of developer Epoch, who created the first game
• We talk about what the Cassette Vision console was, and Epoch's big hits Barcode Battler and TV Tennis Electrotennis
• Epoch's current state of existence, which is largely making baseball trading cards for the Nippon Pro Baseballe league and little tchotchke toys.
• We talk about Dragon Daihikyo and its similarities to overhead shooters like 1942
• We begin for the first time ever discussing Bandai and their stranglehold over the Dragon Ball franchise universe in terms of marketing
• We discuss TOSE Software, the programming company behind Dragon Power
• TOSE's credits, including Bases Loaded, Mappy-Land, Toxic Crusaders, Tetris 2, Yoshi's Cookie, Resident Evil Survivor, Resident Evil Zero, Scarlet Nexus, Dragon Quest, WWE and Metal Gear Solid
• The Famicom entertainment system and how it compared to the NES
• How Dragon Power's US port differed from the Japanese version and why the changes were made
• Dragon Power gameplay and how it walks you through the Pilaf Arc, including the Bear Thief, Master Roshi's desire to see Bulma's panties, Oolong, Yamcha, Ox King, Monster Carrot (Boss Rabbit) and Pilaf's Castle...and how there are still 8 stages to go, including the Tenkaichi Budokai, with combatants being Krillin, Major Metallitron, Yamcha and Buyon, fighting through Muscle Tower, and how the game's wishes to the eternal dragon Shenron work
• Then we get into Dragon Ball Daimao Fukkatsu, and how it has never been ported to the US
• We discuss early Nintendo RTS (real time strategy) games, and how this game walks one through the Demon King Piccolo story arc and the changes it makes, including returns to Muscle Tower, General Blue, Korin Tower, fighting members of the Crane School of martial arts (when Tien Shinhan studied) and Fortune Teller Baba
• 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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Ninja Murasaki (S1E26)

Is it racially inappropriate if a Japanese creator makes every ninja joke under the sun?

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 37 and 38, "Ninja Murasaki is Coming," and "The Five Murasakis" and we dig further into the Red Ribbon Army and Goku's challenge on floor 4: a deadly ninja assassin

In this episode:

• INVASION!
• We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments
• We discuss the origin of Murasaki's name and why it's different than other members of the Red Ribbon Army who have color-based names
• We break down Murasaki's design
• There is a brief detour into Akira Kurosawa's films such as Seven Samurai, Ikiru, and One Wonderful Sunday (and Ran, Yojimbo, Sanjuo, Throne of Blood, Kagemusha, etc)
• The importance of language in Murasaki's speech patterns and how it changed from Japanese to English
• The connections to James Bond, especially the film You Only Live Twice
• We talk about some of the James Bond influences, like You Only Live Twice
• How Toriyama is blending cultures: A Japanese Ninja, working for a James Bond Villain, controlling a Red Army, to defeat a Hindu Monkey Demigod - to create new things
• The use of all the ninja jokes that exist
• We talk about Akira Toriyama's use of stereotypes
• We break down the tatami mat joke, which neither of us understood prior to researching this episode
• More discussion of opposites colliding, and subversion, which have definitely become Toriyama signatures at this point
• Connections to Journey to the West, including a clash between Sun Wukong and Laozi
• Explanation of shuriken
•  Explaining the Murasaki Brothers and how the five of them come together to form one person
• How Murasaki's personality and style reflects those of General White
• Is Murasaki a social commentary? What is he saying about salary man culture? Is Toriyama making a statement about Japan in the post-war years? Is this a statement made about the past, present, and future of Japan?
• If you've been listening along, you can probably guess the answers to some of this
• 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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Don Dracula (Dragon Ball-o-ween) (S1E25)

It's the last episode of Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular! Can we connect an Osamu Tezuka manga to the world of Dragon Ball? Listen NOW!

In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney break down Osamu Tezuka's manga and anime Don Dracula. It's part of our October/Halloween Festivities where we're taking a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon and delving into times our franchise's creators have "put on a costume" and worked on other shows and movies. In this case, it's Takao Koyama, screenwriter on both Don Dracula and Dragon Ball.

In this episode:

• Jelli and Bekinney say farewell to Halloween
• We discuss our experiences with various versions of Dracula including the Universal Dracula movies, Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Dracula Untold, Van Helsing, Blade Trinity, Bram Stoker's Dracula (the movie and the book), Gary Oldman, we debate whether Interview with the Vampire and Twilight should count (they shouldn't because they don't have Dracula - Jelli), Claes Bang's portrayal in BBC's Dracula adaptation on Netflix, and more.
• Breaking down the episodes of Don Dracula, including how it adapts Dorian Gray, The Gillman (Creature from the Black Lagoon), ghosts, and Van Helsing.
• We discuss Osamu Tezuka and his career briefly, and how Don Dracula served as a bridge for him to return to more light-hearted fare like Astro Boy after he had spent several years on an adult work, Black Jack
• We discuss whether Disney ripped off Kimba the White Lion (a Tezuka manga) for The Lion King
• We talk about Takao Koyama, his biography, and his philosophy with adapting manga for screenplays
• We briefly touch on the influence Koyama had on Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Shamploo (Champloo?)
• Discussion of Koyama's other works, including stories "In the Name of Piccolo Daimao," "Great Pride! The Saiyan Prince Vegeta," his Dr. Slump follow-up and his Cashman remake.
• What Koyama's experience working with Akira Toriyama was like
• Koyama's thoughts on Toriyama's noted propensity towards being a hermit
• How Koyama almost left the industry in the early 2000s
• Then we discuss our thoughts and feelings on Don Dracula, highlighting our favorite episodes and provide some thoughts and feedback
• ...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....or in this case, the Osamu Tezuka trans-media franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event!

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