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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 21, 2022
Tuesday Jun 21, 2022
Can you pull cultural references from seemingly mindless punch fights? Was Toriyama a secret thematic mastermind?
Jelli and Bekinney return to format and continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 24-28 of the anime. "Krillin's Frantic Attack," "Danger from Above," "The Grand Finals," "Number One Under the Moon?" and "The Final Blow". We'll be discussing the contrasts between the characters and their motivations, and unveiling the secrets behind the success of the Tournament arc.
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney find themselves stuck outside under strange circumstances
- Brief plot synopsis of episodes 24-28 of the Dragon Ball anime
- Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes
- A talk about whether Dragon Ball has any hidden messages or meanings
- We discuss the nuts-and-bolts of the battles and what the attacks mean
- More discussion about the Japanese honorifics and how those subtleties clue the viewer in to the characters' relationships with one another
- We talk about Goku and Roshi's Kamehameha battle
- We discuss the appearance of the Ozaru in the battle and how it is named for the first time
- The importance of the moon in Japanese culture and its use in making mochi as well as Master Carrot (Monster Carrot) and what happens to him
- The references to the Jackie Chan film Drunken Master
- Whether Toriyama had any plans coming into the tournament and how those plans may have changed based on popular opinions and perception at the time
- We discuss wuxing, genji, go, and other cultural concepts from Chinese traditions that influence the understanding of the tournament
- We talk about the learning curves along the ways from novice to intermediate to master and how one idolizes different levels of people along the way
- 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.
Tuesday Jun 07, 2022
Tuesday Jun 07, 2022
What do Bastion Booger, Jackie Chan, Lingerie, Buddhist stereotypes, Toho's kaiju Gigan, and Fist of the North Star have in common? Something, something DRAGON BALL. Listen to find out more!
Jelli and Bekinney return to format and continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 20-23 of the anime. We're taking on "Elimination Round," "Smells Like Trouble," "Quarterfinals Begin," and "Monster Beast Giran", and then having a discussion about the characters we meet, specifically Bacterian, Jackie Chun, Nam, Ranfan, and Giran, their inspirations from cultural and literary history as well as where Toriyama may have been introduced to these concepts via film or television.
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney are on a new planet and face all new challenges
- Brief plot synopsis of episodes 20-23 of the Dragon Ball anime
- Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes
- A talk about some of the Easter Eggs in the episodes
- We talk about jokes that may not have translated well, characters who appear in the backgrounds, and the importance of the backgrounds and backdrops and settings we see
- A possible explanation of where the two monks who face Krillin come from and their roots as a manzai comedy duo
- Bacterian's inspirations from professional wrestling
- Jackie Chun's inspirations and how his name might have been different if Toriyama had been introduced to Jackie Chan via different means
- Ranfan's inspirations from Toriyama's time drawing lingerie ads
- Nam's inspirations from Buddhism
- Giran's inspirations from kaiju films
- Our opinions on the quarterfinal matches and their level of interest
- Whether the subversion of expectations in the brevity of Giran vs Goku works
- The inspiration for the tournament itself from the popularity of baseball in Japan and Fist of the North Star
- History of actual martial arts tournaments over the years, including similar winner-takes-all battles that took place in China hundreds of years ago and also a Chinese novel, Water Margin
- How Toriyama was likely not inspired by these actual tournaments or literary history but rather movies like King Boxer and Master of the Flying Guillotine
- The legacy of the Budokai Tenkaichi and how it impacted future manga moving forward
- 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.
Tuesday May 24, 2022
Tuesday May 24, 2022
How does one mix the concept of "austere training" with a girl whose name is a pun on a meal? What makes this girl a gag that's fun, but ultimately forgotten?
Jelli and Bekinney return to format and continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 15-19 of the anime. We're taking on "Look Out for Launch", "Find that Stone!", "Milk Delivery", "The Turtle Hermit Way" and at least part of "The Tournament Begins", and then having a discussion about the character of Launch (or Lunch, aka Ranchi) and her inspirations from cultural and literary history as well as where Toriyama may have been introduced to these concepts via film. Then we're dealing with Goku and Krillin's training, or Shugyo, and again, delving into where these concepts begin in literary and cultural history.
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney are adrift in space, with things looking more and more dire
- Brief plot synopsis of episodes 15-19 of the Dragon Ball anime
- Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes
- A quick aside about a couple moments towards the end of episode 19, where Goku and Krillin are wearing suits, and the setting for the tournament
- We explain where Launch's signature look came from
- We break down the confusion over her name and discuss why she's known as both Launch and Lunch
- We debate whether her good or bad side is the "normal" side, and draw a comparison between the bad side and a previous Toriyama character, Polly Buckets
- We talk about hammerspace
- We editorialize about Launch and her value to the story, whether we'd like to see her back and whether we're upset that she was more or less forgotten
- We discuss the Shugyo, or austere training, of Goku and Krillin at the hands of Master Roshi
- We talk about whether the training via unorthodox methods has any real-life parallels, and a bit about its connections to films a la The Karate Kid
- We compare the idea of Shugyo to the Chinese concept of xiulian, or refinement through fire
- We have a brief aside about calling it Shugyo vs simply training, and why we're for this episode at least, going with the former
- We compare the idea of self-cultivation and self-salvation as espoused in Eastern culture with the more traditionally Western idea of salvation through external means, and more pointedly, Christianity
- We discuss how there is no standard, set, single path in a shugyo method of training and cultivation. One can become a Buddha via multiple paths of self-cultivation
- There's an in-depth discussion of how the concept of Shugyo and ever-increasing challenge is the key to Dragon Ball's ability to steadily increase the stakes and keep the franchise going essentially forever; there's always a higher level
- We compare this concept of training and increasing stakes with the idea of getting into "the zone" or "a groove" when it comes to things in our day-to-day lives
- 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.
Tuesday May 10, 2022
Tuesday May 10, 2022
Jelli and Bekinney are bored. So, they're pivoting once again from simply breaking down and discussing Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon and looking at a couple episodes of the show, and instead they're doing something BRAND NEW! They're interviewing a special guest
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney are adrift in space
- We place a call to Dragon Ball scholar, Derek Padula, author of the Dragon Ball Culture series, as well as the books It's Over 9000! When Worldviews Collide, and Dragon Soul: 30 Years of Dragon Ball Fandom
- Derek's career accomplishments are highlighted, and we breeze through his resume as an author and content creator
- Derek provides his "origin story" as a fan of Dragon Ball
- A powerful moment, as Derek lays bare a low moment in his life and how the philosophy of Dragon Ball and mindset of Goku helped him to continue on
- Derek discusses how being a fan of Dragon Ball led to him studying the shaolin arts, and accumulating decades of knowledge about East Asian culture
- We ask Derek what inspired him to become an author and he unsurprisingly says it is his way of attempting to give back and help contextualize Dragon Ball for people to help everyone understand why it is so beloved.
- We discuss the writing process, the editing process, what self-publishing looks like in the 21st century for an author, how reviews can be so important to up and coming content creators (hint hint: leave us a review while you're at it)
- Derek gives insight into the level of detail to which he has studied Dragon Ball...every panel on every page, compared to hundreds of hours of pop culture content, movies, games, tv shows, books, and ancient history
- We talk about Toriyama's Dragon World and its escapism, and compare his mentality of crafting a world of fantasy opposite his own personality to other creative types
- Derek hints at other ideas he has including books on the anime, a Dragon Ball cook book, physics and math problems based on the feats of Goku and the Z Warriors, and even more commercial applications of his work
- We wrap up by asking Derek: What makes Dragon Ball still so popular and relevant today
- 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.
For more from Derek, feel free to follow him on Twitter @DerekPadula (https://twitter.com/derekpadula) , seek him out on Facebook, and make sure to visit https://thedaoofdragonball.com to stay up to date on Derek's pursuits.
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
Tuesday Apr 26, 2022
What is it about elderly hermit masters in Japanese media that causes them to be problematic when it comes to their pursuits of young women?
Jelli and Bekinney return to format and continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episode 14 of the anime, "Goku's Rival" then have a discussion about the character of Master Roshi and his inspirations from cultural and literary history as well as where Toriyama may have been introduced to these concepts via film
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney are adrift in space
- Brief plot synopsis of episode 14 of the Dragon Ball anime
- Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episode
- A quick aside about the state of the Dragon Ball franchise after the conclusion of the Pilaf arc
- We talk about how Kazuhiko Torishima wanted some changes made and the steps he and Akira Toriyama took to change Dragon Ball to make it more popular including looking at Yoshiyuki Okamura's (aka Buronson) manga hit Fist of the North Star for inspiration in not only tone, but paneling
- We discuss Master Roshi aka Muten Roshi aka The Turtle Hermit aka Kame-Sennin and what all these names mean
- We take a look at the legend of Kume Sennin, a Daoist monk who could once fly through the clouds until impure thoughts made him crash down to Earth (sound familiar?)
- We discuss how Daoism became intermingled with the idea of having concubines and being obsessed with young women
- There's extensive discussion down this line of thought, including the propensity for old men in fiction to be depicted as dirty old men, and a lengthy discussion about where we stand on Master Roshi's lecherous ways as viewers in more modern times
- We talk about the Toshiro Mifune movie The Great Bandit aka The Lost World of Sinbad aka Samurai Pirate which features a lecherous old hermit whose biggest weakness is boobs and discuss whether a young Toriyama may have seen that movie as Mifune was Japan's most popular actor when Akira Toriyama was a child
- (Jelli forgets to recall the name of the movie...and another similar movie known as Adventure in Kigan Castle which ALSO features a hermit helping a swashbuckling Mifune, though much less lecherous this time; apologies to director Senkichi Taniguchi and screenwriter Takeshi Kimura)
- We briefly touch on the legacy of Master Roshi and how a dirty-old-man mentor has become a trope in Shonen manga to this day, including in the popular manga/anime Naruto
- 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.
Thursday Apr 14, 2022
Thursday Apr 14, 2022
Jelli and Bekinney take a break form looking at the creations of Akira Toriyama and instead talk about the man himself! Who is Akira Toriyama? Where did he come from? How did he get into manga?
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney try to escape the caves
- We talk about Derek Padula, an author who has crafted the first English-language biography on Akira Toriyama in his book Dragon Ball Culture Volume 1
- We talk about Toriyama's childhood life
- We learn about Toriyama's early obsession with drawing and animation
- The influences of a young Toriyama are discussed, especially his enjoyment of Showa-era television and movie entertainment including Godzilla, Ultraman, Osamatsu-kun, Astro Boy, Iron Man Number 28, Doraemon and some early manga by creators such as Osamu Tezuka, and Fujiko Fujio despite not being a big reader of manga himself.
- Toriyama's realization that to be a popular anime, you should have a popular manga
- Discussion of how Toriyama writes and creates while watching TV and movies
- We discuss Toriyama's initial years out of college in a salaryman job and how his non-professional attitude caused him to seek out something more fulfilling
- Toriyama's passion for building models and how that allows him to get a 360-degree view of things in order to learn how to draw them
- Toriyama's well-known antisocial tendencies and his desire to live as near a hermit lifestyle as possible
- Discussion of Toriyama's procrastination tendencies
- How a young, budding Toriyama got his first big shot from Kazuhiko Torishima, an editor with Shonen Jump
- The fusion of a manga-ka (Toriyama) who doesn't read manga, and an editor (Torishima) who also does not read much manga, and how that led the two of them to create a unique presentation
- Brief discussion of some of Toriyama's earliest publications in Shonen Jump including Wonder Island, Today's Highlight Island, Tomato Girl Detective, and ultimately, Dr. Slump
- How Arale-chan's glasses became part of her iconic look
- How Dr Mashirito, the villain, came to be designed after Torishima
- Discussion of Akira Toriyama's Crummy Manga Lab, a series of funny, short manga that were intended to semi-jokingly teach people how to be a manga-ka.
- How Toriyama creates Toribot, because of his desire to never be seen in pictures and avoid being recognized by people in public
- Toriyama falling in love, getting married, and how a snafu with press on his wedding day leads to his vow to never show his face in public
- An anecdote from Chris Sabat, the American voice of Vegeta, about meeting Toriyama in a public setting
- We discuss the pros and cons of Toriyama's near-hermitage and whether he owes his fans more
- A comparison between Stephen King's approach to writing and that of our titular manga-ka
- A comparison between Hideaki Anno's (creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion) approach to creation and that of Toriyama
- How Torishima had to push Toriyama along the way to be productive and ultimately create Dragon Ball
- How Yoshimi Kato, Toriyama's wife, helped create Dragon Ball with an off-hand comment to Torishima about the manga-ka's work habits
- A very brief discussion of how Dragon Ball Super is crafted, as a collaboration between Toriyama and his chosen successor, Toyotarou
- and more, including some general pop culture 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.
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
Tuesday Mar 29, 2022
With our March Madness Tenkaichi Tournament behind us and Future Trunks crowned the Basketball Tenkaichi, Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling the first arc of the manga, and then have a discussion of the Pilaf Arc to wrap up their review of the initial arc of Dragon Ball.
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney find themselves trapped after an unfortunate encounter
- Brief plot synopsis of the end of the Pilaf arc and recapping the arc as a whole
- A few words about how this was almost the end of Dragon Ball, including sales figures as compared to Dr. Slump, Toriyama's first manga hit.
- We ruminate on whether the comparisons to Journey to the West will continue, now that the story will be spinning off into more uncharted territory.
- We briefly discuss how Toriyama and Torishima put their heads together to re-invent Dragon Ball moving forward and the lessons they learned from the sales and interest in the manga at this point
- We talk about the "arcs" of Dragon Ball and how they differ between manga and anime, because Toriyama himself has never organized or talked about the story in terms of arcs
- There is debate about the best name for the Pilaf Arc given that Pilaf is a more minor player overall, and we discuss whether it should be the Goku Arc, lumped into the Training Arc (along with what comes next) or dubbed some version of "The Journey to the West Arc"
- We break down the manga in detail, discuss what it did better or worse than the anime, and give some overall scores and ratings
- 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.
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
Tuesday Mar 15, 2022
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 basketball.
- We discuss the system used for determining outcomes.
- We break down our opponents in each matchup.
- In the Saiyan Region: Will Goku topple Nappa, will Vegeta defeat Caulifla, who will win when Broly encounters Future Trunks? Can Gohan defeat Bardock?
- In the Earthling Region:
- Krillin vs Bulma, Android 17 vs Mr Satan, Yamcha vs Nam, Master Roshi vs Android 16
- In the Villains Region: Can Frieza out-fox Hit? Will King Cold throttle Cooler? Who is more nefarious, Ginyu (in Dabura's body) or Buu? Will Jiren smash Cell?
- In the Deity/Ally Region:
- Who will win when Beerus, Mr Popo, Nail, Puar, King Kai, Kabito, King Yemma, and Piccolo all face off?
- 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 basketball?
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!
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
Tuesday Mar 01, 2022
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 basketball.
- 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?
- BUT FIRST: A little bit of news about the upcoming film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
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!
Tuesday Feb 15, 2022
Tuesday Feb 15, 2022
Return to Monke. Reject modernity, embrace ape.
Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 12 and 13 of the anime, "A Wish to the Eternal Dragon" and "The Legend of Goku" then have a discussion about the Great Ape, Oozaru, and its inspirations from kaiju film and television
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney find themselves trapped after an unfortunate encounter
- A call is placed for outside assistance
- Special Guest: Matt Parmely from the Kaiju Transmissions podcast joins our discussion
- Brief plot synopsis of episodes 12 and 13 of the Dragon Ball anime
- Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes
- Breaking down the most obvious influence of Oozaru, King Kong and his popularity in Japan, which bolstered that of Godzilla
- A debunking of the claim that Kong was Japan's first kaiju via an unearthing of some facts about the films King Kong Made in Japan and King Kong Appears in Edo
- What leads most people to claiming these are Japan's first kaiju films, and what we know to the contrary, despite the films being lost forever due to the bombing of Hiroshima
- A recommendation to check out the book, Kong Unmade, by John Lemay
- How King Kong influence Donkey Kong and Godzilla and Eiji Tsuburaya and Akira Toriyama
- The original name of Oozaru, kaibutsu-zaru, and its meaning
- How the Wolf Man (1941) influenced Oozaru
- Discussion of Sun Wukong's transformation abilities and how those literary roots influence Oozaru as well
- What Eastern mind-sets about one's consciousness and subconsciousness have to say about Goku's transformation
- Why cutting off the tail is the method of de-transformation
- A discussion of how the Oozaru form has ceased to be used in more recent years
- A bit of praise for Dragon Ball GT for bringing the form back to use
- A very brief discussion of what 'canon' is in the Dragon Ball franchise
- How the appearance of Oozaru affects all the characters, even the Pilaf gang, and makes them work together to survive
- What the most memorable moments of the Oozaru are
- How the form does some inversion of tropes and ideas, and potential ideas for how it could further be used for Toriyama's favorite idea of subverting expectations
- A plug for Kaiju Masterclass, an online convention, which includes interviews with Ryhuei Kitamura, Bear McCreary, Shusuke Kaneko, and more creators behind the Godzilla, Ultraman, Gamera, Evangelion, and other kaiju, tokusatsu, and related franchises.
- and more, including some general pop culture, kaiju trivia, and editorializing, as usual.
Join us, and Matt, as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.