12.8K
Downloads
125
Episodes
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 Nov 07, 2023
Tuesday Nov 07, 2023
Everything you never knew about Chiaotzu! Is he the darkest character in Dragon Ball? Let's discuss!
Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 91, 92, 93, 94, and 95, "Counting Controversy," "Goku Enters the Ring," Tien Shinhan vs. Jackie Chun," "Stepping Down," and "Goku vs. Krillin" We continue discussing the 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi, and delve into the topic of zombies (kind of) in Dragon Ball.
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney are faced with a veritable ocean of molten rock
- We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments
- Some notes on Panputto and the less important matches that happen herein
- We begin discussing Chiaotzu with how his name is derived
- Breaking down language to explain who and what Chiaotzu is
- The topic of zhiren in Japanese culture and how Toriyama may have been inspired by the Bruce Lee film, Fist of Fury and the Sammo Hung film The Dead and the Deadly
- The concept of jiangshi in Chinese and Japanese (and Daoist) culture
- How jiangshi are akin to Western zombies
- How jiangshi relate to the concepts of shishen and yuanshen as well as fengshui
- Toriyama's possible inspiration points for bringing a jiangshi into Dragon Ball, including the Sammo Hung films Ghost Beats Ghost and Mr. Jiangshi, and a 1985 film known as Kung Fu Wonder Child
- How Chiaotzu is also inspired by Prince Nezha, whom we had previously covered in our Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle commentary
- 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.
https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast
https://twitter.com/finalforumpod
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
Tuesday Oct 31, 2023
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 continue our October/Halloween Festivities and on this episode, it's all about FEAR, because it's almost Halloween and there's nothing like a good scare to get you ready for the season.
So, who will make Jelli's Top Ten Scariest Dragon Ball Moments? The pool to choose from is ENORMOUS:
Vegeta in his early years had many moments
Bulma can be fearsome when she gets mad
Oolong used to try to scare villagers
Master Roshi's perversions would scare most women in the MeToo era
Emperor Pilaf...uh probably not
Giran is a literal monster
Eighter (Android 8, 8-chan) evokes Frankenstein and his monster
Tao Paipai's villainy knows no end
Mister Popo could strike fear into the hearts of anyone insisting that Dragon Ball is culturally sensitive
Fortune Teller Baba communicates with ghosts
Demon King Piccolo is a literal demon (kind of...at least until we learn what Namek is)
Nappa creates seed people (saibamen) and uses them to murder our heroes
Frieza is the ruthless emperor of the galaxy and his henchmen Zarbon, Dodoria, and the Ginyu Force are no slouches in the nasty department either
Chi-chi
Android 19, Android 20, Dr. Gero, Android 17, Android 18, Android 16 - Will any of the artificial humans make the cut?
King Cold is Frieza's father and perhaps even more ruthless
What about any of the movie villains? Cooler, Turles, Lord Slug, Super Android 13, Garlic Jr, Janemba, Bojack, or the like?
Cell, Perfect Cell, Semi-Perfect Cell...they eat people!
Majin Buu, Fat Buu, Evil Buu, Kid Buu, Buuhan - The shapeshifting monster could make anyone shudder in fear
Dabura is the king of the demon world
Babidi and his father Bibidi are evil wizards
Beerus is a literal destroyer god who almost blows up the Earth because he can't get pudding
Mr Satan, probably not, but he has SATAN in his name...
Jiren's quest for absolute power and emotionless focus may take one aback
Goku Black, or Zamasu - bodysnatching Goku and murdering your best friends is definitely a scary thought
Hit is a trained assassin
Caulifla goes Berserk
Speaking of Berserk, Broly's power can be scary
Many antagonists have scary moments 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?
Stay tuned to find out!
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Would Jackie Chan have been the best live-action Goku?
Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular!
In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney are joined by Trevor Snyder of the Failure to Franchise Podcast as well as Days of Future Podcast Examining the X-Men for a fun break from format and into the world of kung fufilms. 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 favorite movie of all-time and the film that helped create Dragon Ball (we've told the story about Toriyama's wife helping he and Kazuhiko Torishima coming up with the idea...and we tell it again here): Drunken Master, starring Jackie Chan.
In this episode:
- We get right into syncing because it's a longer movie and commentary track.
- Stats on the movie including release date (pre-dating Dr. Slump and even Toriyama's first official publishing credit with Wonder Island), box office and key personnel
- Dragon Ball connections as it being Toriyama's favorite movie, the connections to Jackie Chun, Drunken boxing fighting style, and more including some surprise Master Crane similarities and Master Roshi inspiration points
- An introduction to the studio behind the film, Season Film Corporation, founded by Ng See-Yuen as he left Shaw Brothers to create this competitor and build a third studio behind Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers
- A brief BRIEF history of Brucesploitation where actors who had a passing resemblance to Bruce Lee were passed off as him appearing in a posthumous feature
- Connections to Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain
- Connections to Jean Claude Van Damme, Michelle Yeoh, and Cynthia Rothrock
- A dive into the life and career of Jackie Chan, from his beginnings in the Peking opera, to his early film roles, on through his breakout to stardom in Asia, his run-in with the Triad, his attempts to gain fame in Hollywood (finally captured when Rumble in the Bronx and Rush Hour broke through in a major way), and even his later career and current persona
- A dive into the life and career of the film's director Yuen Woo-ping, having worked with Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat and more, from his beginning working with his father on to his own Hollywood success working on the Matrix trilogy of films as well as Kill Bill, Kung Fu Hustle and later work with War Kong-Wai
- How Woo-ping worked on the Once Upon a Time in China series, helped launch the career of Donnie Yen (Star Wars: Rogue One and John Wick Chapter 4)
- The real-life cultural inspiration for this movie, an a discussion of Wong Fei-hun, a well-known Chinese folk hero and real-life master of martial arts, who worked with the Ten Tigers of Canton to create a style still taught in Chinese martial arts schools today
- The importance of Wong Fei-hun to China and Chinese film with over 100 films featuring the character and having been played by actors such as Gordon Liu, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Sammo Hung, Eddie Peng, and Vincent Zhao
- An introduction to the Beggar So character, So Chuan, and his status as one of the Ten Tigers of Canton
- How Yuen Siu-tien became known as THE most famous person to play Beggar So, and is Yuen Woo-ping's father
- A brief history of Drunken Master's home video releases
- A discussion of the film's many imitators and homages, including those found in Naruto, the works of Edgar Wright, and Mortal Kombat
- ...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 Drunken Master Franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event!
https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast
https://twitter.com/finalforumpod
https://failuretofranchise.libsyn.com/
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
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 FEAR, because it's almost Halloween and there's nothing like a good scare to get you ready for the season.
So, who will make Bekinney's Top Ten Scariest Dragon Ball Moments? The pool to choose from is ENORMOUS:
Vegeta in his early years had many moments
Bulma can be fearsome when she gets mad
Oolong used to try to scare villagers
Master Roshi's perversions would scare most women in the MeToo era
Emperor Pilaf...uh probably not
Giran is a literal monster
Eighter (Android 8, 8-chan) evokes Frankenstein and his monster
Tao Paipai's villainy knows no end
Mister Popo could strike fear into the hearts of anyone insisting that Dragon Ball is culturally sensitive
Fortune Teller Baba communicates with ghosts
Demon King Piccolo is a literal demon (kind of...at least until we learn what Namek is)
Nappa creates seed people (saibamen) and uses them to murder our heroes
Frieza is the ruthless emperor of the galaxy and his henchmen Zarbon, Dodoria, and the Ginyu Force are no slouches in the nasty department either
Chi-chi
Android 19, Android 20, Dr. Gero, Android 17, Android 18, Android 16 - Will any of the artificial humans make the cut?
King Cold is Frieza's father and perhaps even more ruthless
What about any of the movie villains? Cooler, Turles, Lord Slug, Super Android 13, Garlic Jr, Janemba, Bojack, or the like?
Cell, Perfect Cell, Semi-Perfect Cell...they eat people!
Majin Buu, Fat Buu, Evil Buu, Kid Buu, Buuhan - The shapeshifting monster could make anyone shudder in fear
Dabura is the king of the demon world
Babidi and his father Bibidi are evil wizards
Beerus is a literal destroyer god who almost blows up the Earth because he can't get pudding
Mr Satan, probably not, but he has SATAN in his name...
Jiren's quest for absolute power and emotionless focus may take one aback
Goku Black, or Zamasu - bodysnatching Goku and murdering your best friends is definitely a scary thought
Hit is a trained assassin
Caulifla goes Berserk
Speaking of Berserk, Broly's power can be scary
Many antagonists have scary moments 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!
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Does Master Chief have anything to do with Dragon Ball? Can we make that tenuous connection?
Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular!
In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney break down the Halo franchise, with specific focus on three pieces: the short film Halo Landfall, the animated anthology Halo Legends, and the new Paramount+ streaming show, Halo. 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 Daisuke Nishio, director of a segment on Halo Legends (Odd One Out) and Dragon Ball.
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney say hello to Halloween
- We discuss our introductions through Halo, whether that be playing Halo 2 in college, or just gaming in general, and if we've experience other Halo media outside the games prior to this episode.
- Breaking down the origins of Halo from creative studio Bungie with Halo: Combat Evolved and through Halo Infinite
- Discussion of the lore of Halo, discussing the Covenant, the Flood, Forerunners, humanity's place in the universe, Halo's importance in the franchise, and who the Master Chief is.
- We talk about Daisuke Nishio, and give a biography, from his birth in Miyoshi City in Hiroshima in 1959 to current day, covering his entry into Toei, working with directors who also worked on Sailor Moon, Digimon, and Dr. Slump.
- Discussing Nishio's strengths as a director and looking at some interviews he gave talking about how he approaches production, as well as his work on Gegege no Kitaro
- Introduction some of the mythology in order to contextualize the franchise for listeners including a history of the Forerunners, what the Halo installations are, what the Ark is and its function, and breaking down the races of the Covenant
- Talking about how the Prophets, Drones, Grunts, Jackals, Hunters, Elites and Brutes all work together (or don't) to begin what they call the Great Journey
- The role of a special Elite known as the Arbiter
- Who the Master Chief is
- An introduction to the AI Cortana
- A discussion of Neill Blomkamp's short film Halo Landfall with special assistance from Weta Workshop.
- A discussion of Halo Legends, first discussing its role in the Halo franchise as Microsoft's first attempt to expand the franchise beyond the confines of the Xbox under the newly created 343 Industries banner when Microsoft acquired the IP from Bungie
- Talking through each entry in the anthology
- Origins, by Studio 4C directed by Hideki Futamura (Akira, Gundam, Vampire Hunter D, The Animatrix)
- The Duel, from Production IG and directed by Hiroshi Yamazaki (Ghost in the Shell)
- Homecoming from Bee Train directed by Koji Sawai (Parasyte, Ranma 1/2)
- Odd One Out from Toei and directed by Daisuke Nishio
- Prototype from Bones (Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, My Hero Academia) and directed by Tomoki Kyoda (Rebuild of Evangelion, Eureka Seven)
- The Babysitter from Studio 4C and directed by Toshiyuki Kanno (Dragon Ball)
- The Package from Casio Entertainment and directed by Shinji Aramaki (Ultraman)
- Discussing the Halo series on Paramount+ with showrunners Kyle Killen and Steven Kane, who worked on The Beaver, Netflix's Death Note, The Closer, Alias, and Curb Your Enthusiasm as well as Amazon's Jack Ryan show
- Some of the creation history behind the series including originally thinking it would be helmed by Rupert Wyatt and Steven Spielberg
- ...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 Halo trans-media franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event!
Tuesday Sep 26, 2023
Tuesday Sep 26, 2023
Why did flying get introduced to the Dragon Ball universe? What's the deal with characters who can fly vs those who can't?
Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 87, 88, 89, and 90, "Yamcha vs. Tien," "Yamcha's Big Break," "Full-Moon Vengeance," and "The Dodan Wave." We continue discussing the 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi, and delve into the topic of flight in Dragon Ball.
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney try to chart their course
- We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments
- Some notes on the techniques Tien uses during his battle against Yamcha
- Revealing how Jackie Chun is able to hypnotize Man Wolf using a method similar to that employed by General Blue
- Defining buku jutsu and how it is the name for the cloud dancing flight technique employed in Dragon Ball
- Unveiling how xianren (senin) became associated with the ability to fly, along with red crowned cranes, thus deepening the connection for the Crane School and Master Shen's Crane Hermit abilities
- Talking about lingzhi mushrooms and their ability to make you believe you can fly
- How flight as buku-jutsu is different from Puar's ability to fly
- Then we discuss how Dragon Ball flight may be similar to or different from that employed by Superman or Peter Pan, we get off on a tangent about Mr. Satan, and we discuss whether we would want to be able to fly
- 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.
https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast
https://twitter.com/finalforumpod
Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
Tuesday Sep 12, 2023
What happens when Akira Toriyama takes inspiration from an ancient animal kingdom rivalry to bring a new foe into Dragon Ball?
Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 83, 84, 85 and 86, "Which Way to Papaya Island?" "Rivals and Arrivals," "Preliminary Peril," and "Then there Were Eight." We begin discussing the 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi, and delve into the Crane Hermit, or Master Shen.
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney prepare to leave Kemani
- We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments
- How Toriyama became among the first manga ka to incorporate a time skip into a Shonen Jump manga
- The possible origins of Konkichi, the green fox
- Jelli throws out some movie recommendations including Battle Royale, Kwaidan, and Godzilla's Revenge
- How Dragon Ball continues to borrow from Journey to the West
- A discussion of durian and papaya, two of the most controversial fruits (if such a thing can be called controversial)
- A brief biography of Andre the Giant
- Some things to be on the lookout for as the 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi ramps up
- And then we delve into the Crane Hermit, his design inspirations from Hideyo Amamoto and Christopher Lee as Fu Manchu, and why Toriyama chose a crane
- We wrap up by saying some predictive thoughts about the forthcoming 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.
https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast
https://twitter.com/finalforumpod
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
Tuesday Aug 29, 2023
What's the deal with these Dragon Ball movies? Would they have been fun theatrical experiences?
Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by ...jumping off the manga and onto our second feature film commentary!
In this episode:
- Jelli and Bekinney roast some food over a crackling fire
- We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners
- We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castl such as its 1987 release at the Toei Manga Matsuri film festival, the film's box office, and the production team working on the film
- We talk about the other films released alongside the movie: Metalder, Super Sentai, and Saint Seiya
- We delve into the background behind the Toei Manga Matsuri – Toei Cartoon Festival and its inception in 1969 and other such festivals around the country such as Toho's Champion Festival
- Contextualizing the box office of the film in terms of a modern-day episode of The Simpsons
- Shedding light on Keiju Terui - a Toei staff writer who also worked on Dr Slump and Legend of Zelda
- Discussing the film's producer: Chiaki Imada and his career at Toei which began with the release of Tower of Lilies
- We discuss the different dubs created for the film by studios such as Creative Products, Speedy, and Funimation
- The difference between the 2005 original Funimation release and the 2010 remastered version
- Discussing the characters Lucifer and the hunchback and their inspirations from Dracula, Frankenstein and Dr Slump
- Breaking down Ghastel from his appearance to his cultural background as a Prince Nezha interpretation from Journey to the West
- Talking about Minoru Maeda's career as a character designer for Dragon Ball
- and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this wickedly fast-paced film
Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.
https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast
https://twitter.com/finalforumpod
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Tuesday Aug 15, 2023
Our shortest run of manga-anime comparison ever! Will we have enough material to do a full episode?
Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 78, 79, 80, 81 and 82, "The Eternal Dragon Rises," "Terror and Plague," "Goku vs Sky Dragon," "Goku Goes to Demon Land," and "The Terror of InoShikaCho." We continue discussing the Fortune Teller Baba mini tournament and a few unexpectedly interesting filler episodes, as well as round up with a discussion of the Baba arc in the manga.
In this episode:
- Jelli is on an ant-hunt
- We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments
- The hidden meaning behind Baba's chanting as she intones the final dragon ball's location
- Kazuhiko Torishima's take on Goku's pants being burned
- Some Voltron and Power Rangers comparisons
- Terror and Plague's similarities to both Journey to the West and Seven Samurai
- Jelli and Bekinney discuss Seven Samurai, The Magnificent Seven, and....A Bug's Life? Also The Three Amigos.
- The similarities between Goku's clash with Sky Dragon and the films Tiger and Crane Fists and Fist of Fury
- The movies being borrowed from for Goku's trip into Demon Land
- How Shura looks like the destroyer Shiva, and how Shiva may be repurposed in Super later on
- InoShikaCho's inspirations from a popular card game and the influence of said game on anime, including Naruto
- And we round it all out with a discussion of the manga and do our usual comparison to the anime
- 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.
https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast
https://twitter.com/finalforumpod
Tuesday Aug 01, 2023
Tuesday Aug 01, 2023
Is this the most emotionally charged moment in Dragon Ball history?
Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 74, 75, 76 and 77, "The Mysterious Fifth Man," "The Strong Ones," "True Colors of the Masked Man," and "Pilaf's Tactics." We continue discussing the Fortune Teller Baba mini tournament and break down the identity of the fifth fighter, Grampa Gohan, as well as his importance culturally and to the story.
In this episode:
- Jelli is on an ant-hunt
- We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments
- How Toriyama is subverting expectations by pivoting from Western-Themed monsters to an Eastern-inspired hermit for his fifth fighter
- The meaning of Gohan, being cooked rice, how it's colloquially "Let's Eat" in Japan, and how Gohan comes to clash with Toriyama's Sun Wukong-inspired Monkey King
- The importance of hermits in Eastern culture and a brief mention of the film Amongst the White Clouds
- How Gohan has some minor parallels to Star Wars
- An explanation of why a dead fighter needs money
- Baba's status as an onmyoji
- We talk about Obon, the Japanese festival built around paying homage to one's deceased ancestors, and how important it is to Buddhist culture and future characters in Dragon Ball (Enma Daio, aka King Yemma)
- How Toriyama repurposed halos for Dragon Ball
- Why Gohan wears a fox mask
- An elaboration on Kitsune (fox) in Japanese and Chinese culture
- How kitsune are similar to tanuki
- Why Japanese culture views foxes as more benevolent than Japanese culture and how foxes became intermingled with the concept of the Shinto god Inari as well as a symbol of Shintoism itself
- The importance of a fox fighting a monkey in Eastern culture as a clash of kitsune and saru or even Shintoism vs Buddhism
- How foxes relate to No Theater
- A Pokémon connection to Ninetails and Vulpix
- A Miles "Tails" Prower reference
- Toriyama repurposing the fox mask from Dr. Slump
- And we look for further examples of the importance of foxes in Japanese pop culture and get into a tangent on the film Pom Poko
- 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.
https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast
https://twitter.com/finalforumpod