Final Forum: A Dragon Ball Podcast

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)

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)

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)

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)

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 (S1E25)

It's the last episode of Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular!

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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Dragon Ball-oween MINISODE - Bekinney’s Top Ten Dragon Ball Character Designs!

Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular!
In this special Bekinney-only mini-sode we take a complete break from format, and from breaking down Akira Toriyama's manga and anime smash success to continue our October/Halloween Festivities and on this episode, it's all about looks, because looks are similar to costumes and costumes are a big part of Halloween. AND we've already established that it makes sense so just go with it.
Sure.
So, who will make Bekinney's Top Ten Best-Looking Dragon Ball Character Designs? The pool to choose from is ENORMOUS:
Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, Yamcha, Tien Shienhan, Oolong, Puar, Master Roshi, Emperor Pilaf, Nam, Jackie Chun, Giran, Launch, Puar, Ninja Murasaki, Grandpa Gohan, Teen Gohan, Upa, Bora, General Blue, Tao Paipai, Commander Red, Mister Popo, Master Korin, Fortune Teller Baba, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, King Piccolo, Kami, Raditz, Nappa, Vegeta, Krillin, Yajirobe, Frieza, Dende, Dodoria, Captain Ginyu, Zarbon, Jace, Burter, Recoome, Guldo, Chi-chi, Android 19, Android 20, Dr. Gero, Android 17, Android 18, Android 16, King Cold, Cooler, Turles, Lord Slug, Super Android 13, Garlic Jr, Trunks, Future Trunks, Goten, Dr Brief, Cell, Perfect Cell, Semi-Perfect Cell, Majin Buu, Dabura, Videl, Babidi, Fat Buu, Evil Buu, Kid Buu, Buuhan, Vegito, Gogeta, King Kai, Supreme Kai, Beerus, Whis, Lord Zeno, Mr Satan, Jiren, Goku Black, Zamasu, Hit, Cabba, Kale, Caulifla, Kefla, Bergamo, Frost, Magetta, Botamo, Top, Dyspo, Cell Max, Moro, Granolah, Gas, Elec....
....and more...?

Bekinney threw all these in a pile and picked out just TEN of his favorites. Who will they be?

And will Bekinney get himself into more trouble than he bargained for...? Stay tuned to find out!

The Return of Godzilla Commentary (Dragon Ball-o-Ween) (S1E24)

Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular!

In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney are joined by Kyle Byrd and Matt Parmley of the Kaiju Transmissions Podcast for a fun break from format and into the world of Godzilla films. 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 Akira Toriyama's EXTREMELY BRIEF cameo in a Godzilla movie: The Return of Godzilla (aka Godzilla 1984, aka Godzilla 1985, aka Godzilla, aka Gojira).

In this episode:

• Jelli and Bekinney place a call to Byrd and Matt from Kaiju Transmissions
• We each talk about our initial experiences with this movie
• Breaking down the production facts, including director Koji Hasimoto's vision with a Screenplay by Shuichi Nagahara, production by Tomoyuki Tanaka, and score by Reijiro Koroku.
• The effects sequences were handled by Teruyoshi Nakano and we talk about his general philosophy when it comes to making movies
• We discuss how the 1970s treated Godzilla with Terror of Mechagodzilla, and re-releases of Godzilla vs. Monster Zero and Mothra vs. Godzilla
• We mention the inclusion of a script draft that introduced a never-to-appear kaiju named Bagan
• We unveil the history behind the film's genesis, from an idea by Steve Miner and a script from Fred Dekker
• Ishiro Honda's decision to decline the offer to direct based on his ongoing work with Akira Kurosawa
• The film's setting during the Cold War and high tensions between the United States and Russia/Soviet Union and how this affected the film when it came time to dub it and adapt it for American audiences
• Highlighting the differences in the American version, Godzilla 1985
• How the 1976 King Kong film led to this movie being released and influenced the creation of the 20-foot-tall Godzilla Cybot
• We highlight the cast, including Yosuke Natsuki, Keiju Kobayashi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Ken Tanaka, Hiroshi Kamayatsu, and a cameo from director Shinpei Hayashiya
• We discuss the cultural and historical significance of Mt. Mihara, where the film's climax takes place
• The short, Bambi Meets Godzilla, by Marv Newland, which was associated with this film theatrically and for years on television, as well
• ...and more, including some general pop culture, how the movie preceded Jurassic Park, 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 Godzilla franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event!

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Dragon Ball-oween MINISODE - Jelli’s Top Ten Dragon Ball Character Designs!

Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular!
In this special Jelli-only mini-sode we take a complete break from format, and from breaking down Akira Toriyama's manga and anime smash success to begin our October/Halloween Festivities and on this episode, it's all about looks, because looks are similar to costumes and costumes are a big part of Halloween. That makes sense right? Right?
Sure.
So, who will make Jelli's Top Ten Best-Looking Dragon Ball Character Designs? The pool to choose from is ENORMOUS:
Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, Yamcha, Tien Shienhan, Oolong, Puar, Master Roshi, Emperor Pilaf, Nam, Jackie Chun, Giran, Launch, Puar, Ninja Murasaki, Grandpa Gohan, Teen Gohan, Upa, Bora, General Blue, Tao Paipai, Commander Red, Mister Popo, Master Korin, Fortune Teller Baba, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, King Piccolo, Kami, Raditz, Nappa, Vegeta, Krillin, Yajirobe, Frieza, Dende, Dodoria, Captain Ginyu, Zarbon, Jace, Burter, Recoome, Guldo, Chi-chi, Android 19, Android 20, Dr. Gero, Android 17, Android 18, Android 16, King Cold, Cooler, Turles, Lord Slug, Super Android 13, Garlic Jr, Trunks, Future Trunks, Goten, Dr Brief, Cell, Perfect Cell, Semi-Perfect Cell, Majin Buu, Dabura, Videl, Babidi, Fat Buu, Evil Buu, Kid Buu, Buuhan, Vegito, Gogeta, King Kai, Supreme Kai, Beerus, Whis, Lord Zeno, Mr Satan, Jiren, Goku Black, Zamasu, Hit, Cabba, Kale, Caulifla, Kefla, Bergamo, Frost, Magetta, Botamo, Top, Dyspo, Cell Max, Moro, Granolah, Gas, Elec....
....and more...?

Jelli threw all these in a pile and picked out just TEN of his favorites. Who will they be?

Muscle Tower and 80s Pop Culture (S1E23)

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 35 and 36 of the show, "Cold Reception," and "Major Metallitron" and we dig further into the Red Ribbon Army as well as their current base of operations for this portion of the arc: Muscle Tower

In this episode:

• Jelli and Bekinney are preparing for invasion
• We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments
• We talk about whether the Japanese would say the "h" in White
• We introduce the General White character
• Muscle Tower resides in a snowy landscape that Akira Toriyama said was like Siberia, does that mean the setting is Northern Russia?
• The hosts discuss Suno/Snow and where the name came from, whether it was inspired by the anime or if the mangaka gave it to the anime
• We talk about some of the James Bond influences, like You Only Live Twice
• An anecdote is shared from Masako Nozawa about her reaction to the episodes
• We talk about the inspirations behind Muscle Tower, being, surprise Kung Fu Films, namely Game of Death
• We discuss the game Spartan X that was released for Famikon, which was ported to the United States as "Kung Fu" and is inspired by Game of Death, not Spartan X (aka Meals on Wheels) as might be expected
• Surprise, a part of Dragon Ball is inspired by Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee
• We talk about pagodas and their importance in traditional Chinese culture
• Major Metallitron, who is totally not Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator, appears
• We discuss Goku "killing" Metallitron and praying, as Nam prayed in the Tenkaichi Budokai
• We talk about the psychological examination of General White via Muscle Tower as a metaphor and how Goku interacts with that
• We talk about what might have inspired Toriyama to start bringing in so much Western Culture into his manga
• The state of cinema in Japan in the 1970s and how it affected companies like Toho, and bankrupted the studio Daiei, including stressful situations on the set of Gamera films
• We talk about how the desperate state of Japanese cinema in the 70s led to importation of American films
• We remind our listeners about Toriyama's westernized style catching the eye of Kazuhiko Torishima
• Is Dragon Ball (or Dragonball Z) responsible for creating a sort of homogenized Japanese culture that Americans understand?
• Toriyama is at the forefront of bringing Western inspirations to his story, does the rest of the Japanese pop cultural spectrum follow suit? Just ask Godzillla, who brings in references to Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, James Bond, and more ten years after Toriyama had done so.
• The pop culture news shift and how things have sped up over the decades, and an anecdote about Jurassic Park
• Quick aside: is it a problem that Goku uses the Power Pole to skip only the first floor of Muscle Tower? (Answer: shut up)
• and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual 

This is a breezy, quick episode, and we hope you enjoy!

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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