We couldn't do this one alone, so we reached out to some new friends. Joining us on Final Forum this week, we have Vince and Aaron of Kame House Party and Randy of We Gotta Podcast as we tear into the original Dragon Ball one more time and wrap up the first 153 episodes (194 manga chapters). We run through the arcs, talk about favorite moments, funniest bits, best animation and give our rankings along the way. Who's got the hot takes? What's a show like with five voices on it? Tune in and find out! We also discuss Dragon Ball Daima and Dragon Ball Sparking Zero at the end, so make sure to listen all the way through! Kame House Party Links: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnRm6TPfFd6lnfA_JWz0SOQ  https://moonshotpods.com/kame-house-party/  https://www.instagram.com/kamehouseparty/  We Gotta Podcast Links: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCitidhDC9ExX7sVtytQc9Lg  https://x.com/wegottapod  https://open.spotify.com/show/6CIbbgkAwkma5nR7sramSt https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-gotta-podcast-dragon-ball-from-a-to-z/id1554086515    Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

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 villainy. Because dastardly evildoers are a big part of Halloween. That makes sense right? Right? Sure. So, who will make Jelli's Top Ten Dragon Ball Villains? The pool to choose from is ENORMOUS: Vegeta, Tien Shienhan, Oolong, Emperor Pilaf, Giran, Ninja Murasaki, General Blue, Tao Paipai, Commander Red, Piccolo, King Piccolo, Raditz, Nappa, Frieza, Dodoria, Captain Ginyu, Zarbon, Jace, Burter, Recoome, Guldo,  Android 19, Android 20, Dr. Gero, Android 17, Android 18, Android 16, King Cold, Cooler, Turles, Lord Slug, Super Android 13, Garlic Jr, Cell, Perfect Cell, Semi-Perfect Cell, Majin Buu, Dabura, Babidi, Fat Buu, Evil Buu, Kid Buu, Beerus, Jiren, Goku Black, Zamasu, Hit, Frost, Cell Max, Moro, Gas, Elec.... ....and more...? Jelli threw all these in a pile and picked out just TEN of his favorites. Who will they be?

Why are we talking about Castle in the Sky and Studio Ghibli on our Dragon Ball show? Tune in to this episode to find out! It's time for Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular! In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney break down the 1986 movie, Castle in the Sky directed by Hayao Miyazaki and released by Studio Ghibli via a watch-along commentary. 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 episode: Jelli and Bekinney get right into it, with no time for frivolousness. This movie is two hours long. There's no time for silliness. Contextualizing Castle in the Sky and why we're covering it on a Dragon Ball podcast Where Castle in the Sky fits into the timeline of Dragon Ball, notably during the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai in the anime, and the Red Ribbon Army Saga (specifically during Tao Paipai's appearance and the training with Master Korin) in the manga How Miyazaki was inspired by a trip to Wales and the Coal Miner's Strike in the UK Shindo Productions, who did keyframe animation for this movie....and Curse of the Blood Rubies A brief biography of Mitsuo Shindo, and his worko n Dragon Ball, Dr Slump and Dragon Ball Z Tadayoshi Yamamuro, and his career in Dragon Ball, including his work as lead character designer for Dragon Ball Super How Yamamuro's style differs from that of Minoru Maeda What drew Yamamuro to Dragon Ball and his thoughts on characters such as Goku, Frieza, Bojack, and Janemba Yamamuro's thoughts on the most difficult thing to draw Voice actress Mayumi Tanaka, voice of Pazu, Yajirobe, and of course, One Piece's Monkey D Luffy How Tanaka utilized a career in theater, to break into the world of voice acting via Urusei Yatsura, and leveraged her part as Pazu to become cast as the voice of Luffy in One Piece Other Dragon Ball notables from the voice cast: Keiko Yokozawa, voice of Sheeta here and Anin from the Bansho Fan filler episodes we just discussed; Ichiro Nagai, voice of the General here and Crane Hermit and Master Korin; Ryuji Saikachi, voicing the engineer here, and Grand Kai in the Other World Tournament filler arc; Tomomichi Nishimura, voice of the Supreme Kai of Universe 4 in Dragon Ball Super's Tournament of Power arc Notable actors from the dub cast including Eddie Frierson, voicing the train engineer here, but Tienshinhan in the Harmony Gold dub of Dragon Ball, as well as Ken in the Street Fighter II animated movie Anna Paquin, Jim Cummings (leading to a lot of Winnie the Pooh talk), Mandy Patinkin (Hallo, my name is Inigo Montoya), Richard Dysart (The Thing), Tress Macneille (a million things including Mom in Futurama and Agnes Skinner in The Simpsons); and Cloris Leachman aka Frau Blucha Mark Hammill...ever heard of him? Discussing Studio Ghibli, their start, and how a double bill of Grave of the Fireflies and My Neighbor Totoro finally led to them breaking out; their partnership with Disney; Disney helping propel Ghibli to Miyazaki's first Oscar win at the 75th Academy Awards Ceremony for Spirited Away; and how GKids wound up swooping in due to a disagreement between Ghibli and Disney over From Up on Poppy Hill We also talk about how Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was edited for a movie called Warriors of the Wind, give thoughts on Only Yesterday, Ocean Waves, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, When Marnie was There, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Pom Poko, Whisper of the Heart, Princess Mononoke, The Cat Returns, Howl's Moving Castle, Tales from Earthsea, Ponyo, Arrietty, The Wind Rises and Earwig and the Witch throughout the episode, as well as our plans to eventually watch The Boy and the Heron Miyazaki's career, including his work on The Wonderful World of Puss in Boots (and Toei's mascot Pero), Wolf Boy Ken, Doggie March (and helping to launch the Toei Manga Matsuri), and Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro Miyazaki's philosophical disagreements with Takashi Yamazaki (director of Godzilla Minus One and The Eternal Zero) as well as Naoki Hyakuta (author of The Eternal Zero) Miyazaki's influences including Osamu Tezuka, Lewis Carroll, Nick Park (Wallace and Gromit), Roald Dahl and the 1957 animated Soviet film, The Snow Queen.  Miyazaki being dubbed the Disney of Japan as well as the Kurosawa of Animation ...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 Sand Land trans-media franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event! https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod https://www.facebook.com/kaijutransmissionspodcast  

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 villainy. Because dastardly evildoers are a big part of Halloween. That makes sense right? Right? Sure. So, who will make Bekinney's Top Ten Dragon Ball Villains? The pool to choose from is ENORMOUS: Vegeta, Tien Shienhan, Oolong, Emperor Pilaf, Giran, Ninja Murasaki, General Blue, Tao Paipai, Commander Red, Piccolo, King Piccolo, Raditz, Nappa, Frieza, Dodoria, Captain Ginyu, Zarbon, Jace, Burter, Recoome, Guldo,  Android 19, Android 20, Dr. Gero, Android 17, Android 18, Android 16, King Cold, Cooler, Turles, Lord Slug, Super Android 13, Garlic Jr, Cell, Perfect Cell, Semi-Perfect Cell, Majin Buu, Dabura, Babidi, Fat Buu, Evil Buu, Kid Buu, Beerus, Jiren, Goku Black, Zamasu, Hit, Frost, Cell Max, Moro, Gas, Elec.... ....and more...? Bekinney threw all these in a pile and picked out just TEN of his favorites. Who will they be?

It's time for Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular! In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney break down Akira Toriyama's manga, anime, and video game Sand Land. 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 episode: Jelli and Bekinney get right into it, with no time for frivolousness. We have a manga, a movie, a tv series, and a game to talk about here, people. Contextualizing Sand Land and the later years of Akira Toriyama's career Talking about his mindset in creating Sand Land, Beelzebub, and the tank which features in much of the story Breaking down some Toriyama inversions and plays on culture including: Beelzebub - the role of the Lord of the Flies, or Lord of All That Flies as in Judeo-Christian mythology and the origins coming from Baal and the Philistines Rao - Where Toriyama may have taken inspiration from, either Dungeons and Dragons or Fist of the North Star Another meaning for Rao, coming from Indian culture and how that might tie into the character's other name: Shiva Shifu or Thief and that character's name and role Where the names Zeu, Apo, and Are come from (Zeus, Apollo and Ares) Talking about the production of the anime and its release as well as the voice cast behind it Briefly discussing the video game Breaking down the story and our thoughts on the Sand Land franchise ...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 Sand Land trans-media franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event! https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod https://www.facebook.com/kaijutransmissionspodcast  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by jumping into comparing the Dragon Ball anime to the Dragon Ball manga. We continue discussing Piccolo Jr arc, and talk about Goku's character growth. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are almost back to their ship We recap the story a little bit Goku's character growth from being overly impetuous and rash to a little more measured and intentional with his fights and how this is doled out over thousands of pages, making it subtle How Goku becomes the stand-in for Sun Wukong and Xuanzang as the series progresses and that feeding into his character development meant Brief discussion of Toriyama's editors as the series progressed A callback to Jelli's theory about the gods being like middle management Comparing the manga to the anime, as we do when we wrap up an 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 149, 150, 151, 152, and 153: "Dress in Flames," "The Fire-Eater," "Outrageous Octagon," "Mystery of the Dark World," and "The End, The Beginning." We continue discussing the Piccolo Jr. Saga, and talk about the filler that ends the original Dragon Ball series. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are trying to get back to their ship and escape We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Some notes on our assumptions when it comes to breaking down these episodes Talking about Azuchi Castle, Oda Nobunaga, the FX series Shogun, and Octagons The Basan, Japan's legendary fire bird, similar to a phoenix and how the Pokemon Moltres took inspiration from this as well Hakkakke's name, meaning literally chipped-tooth The yuki-onna, or Snow Woman, a yokai of Japanese folklore A brief tangent into Kwaidan, Tales from the Darkside and Akira Kurosawa's Dreams The five elements of Chinese and Japanese culture and how they compare to the four elements of Western thought The Bansho Fan and its inspirations from the Banana Leaf Fan of Journey to the West A discussion of Daode Tianzun, one of the Three Pure Ones of orthodox Daoism and his connections to Journey to the West, Laozi, and Annin 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 144, 145, 146, 147, and 148: "Super Kamehameha," "Junior No More," "Goku's Trap," "Goku Hangs On," and "The Victor." We continue discussing the Piccolo Jr. Saga, and talk about the ending of the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai. We wrap up our last mystery reveals, and spend some time talking about Piccolo's regeneration ability. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are trying to get back to their ship We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Some notes on weighted clothing Goku's abs A discussion on the use of nuclear blast imagery Piccolo vs Piccolo Jr vs Piccolo Daimao vs Demon King Piccolo - What's the difference? The announcer's actions are inspired by kaiju cinema, especially Godzilla movies like King Kong vs Godzilla Piccolo's size growth is both a role reversal from the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai when Goku went Oozaru to fight Roshi and a reference to both Ultraman and Super Sentai (aka Power Rangers) Goku's trip into Piccolo's mouth and a parallel to Journey to the West Goku's surprise reveal that he can fly Why Kami can create clothes from nothing Discussion on Piccolo's regeneration 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 140, 141, 142 and 143: "Goku Gains Speed," "The Four Faces of Tien," "Kami vs Piccolo," and "Battle for the Future." We continue discussing the Piccolo Jr. Saga, and talk about Kami, who he is, what his goals are, and whether he's bad at his job. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are attempting to relax We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Some notes on weighted clothing A discussion of the Namekian language  All things Kami Why Kami looks like Piccolo Why Kami's design is the way it is What the name Kami means The importance of kami in Shintoism The significance of the titles Kami-sama and Chikyu no Kami The introduction of the bureaucracy of Dragon Ball's afterlife How this all differ from Judeo-Christian beliefs in God Thoughts and discussion about whether Kami, as "guardian of the Earth" is bad at his job 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 136, 137 and 138 : "Tien Shinhan vs Mercenary Tao," "Anonymous Proposal," and "THe Mysterious Hero." ...and the Jelli realizes he wanted to do one more, so we also cover episode 139, "Rematch." We continue discussing the Piccolo Jr. Saga, and talk about characters chasing Goku in his growth. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney make a final approach to a new planet We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Why Tsuru Senin suddenly reappears now Theorizing on the training of Yamcha, Krillin, Tien Shinhan, and Chiaotzu A note about love angles in Dragon Ball and the push-pull between Toriyama and Torishima More about Tien's tenme Ties between Tao Pai Pai and Ultraman, Kamen Rider, and Enter the Dragon Briefly delving into Tien's lifelong scar received from this battle and whether we want to draw a correlation between Vegeta's now-infamous consistently injured left arm. Talking about the significance of Chi Chi withholding her name Ties between Piccolo and tokusatsu Jelli takes a totally unusual (sarcasm) side trek into kaiju fandom with a parallel between Shen (Kami's human vessel) and Ichiro Arishima's character Mr Tako from King Kong vs. Godzilla and Japan's salary man culture We talk about the sokidan An interesting corollary between the anime's use of the movie Zu, Warriors from the Magic Mountain, and Toriyama's own use of a motif from the film Talking about whether Piccolo's disguise is acceptable A brief discussion of the history of wolves in Japan, including a mention of Haiyao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, and its inspirations from the Emishi people and their conquest by the Yamato tribe, and how the movie draws on the Meiji restoration policy of slaughtering wolves in order to stem the spread of rabies throughout Japan A brief discussion of whether Yamcha, Krillin, Ten Shinhan, and Chiaotzu being stated as having trained with Korin and likely drinking the various divine waters undermines Goku's accomplishments in having done so.   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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 133, 134, and 135: "Changes," "Preliminary Peril," and "Battle of the Eight." We continue discussing the Piccolo Jr. Saga, and talk about consistency of character development In this episode: Bekinney is crawling around the duct work while Jelli "encourages" him We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Some notes about the tournament as a whole and our new Budokai Tenkaichi theme: Mysteries The significance of everyone's outfit changes: Goku exemplifying his connection to nature, Chiaotzu and Tien exemplifying their commitment to their own values instead of Crane Hermit's, Yamcha's new scars, and Krillin's relative lack of change A note about the shift in tone and style A discussion of whether the change is a good thing (it is) A whole bunch of word play with paper, god, kami, and drawing lotteries or fortunes, and Toriyama's subversion of expectations A probably longer-than-necessary discussion of Piccolo saving two children A detour into the world of WWE, including the films The Wrestler, and Iron Claw. 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 128, 129, 130, 131, and 132: "Secret of the Woods," "The Time Room," "Goku's Doll," "Walking Their Own Ways," and "Hotter than Lava." We continue discussing the Piccolo Jr. Saga, and talk about another controversial Dragon Ball topic: Filler In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are heading to a new planet We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Some notes about the episode Quicker than Lightning, on the character of Chuu Lee, and the Sacred Crown (more on this later) Talking about delicious desserts, and the cream puff franchise Beard Papa's A brief note on the Japanese custom of Yaochun Why The Time Room episode doesn't work for us Possible inspiration behind Goku's Doll from the Phantos as seen in Super Mario Bros. 2 (or Doki Doki Panic) A brief history of Doki Doki Panic, how it became Super Mario Bros. 2, and its connection to the 1987 festival: Yume Kojo 87 A brief note on the Odango Hairstyle sported by the Street Fighter character Chun Li (as well as many other kawai anime girls) An in-depth discussion of Sun Wukong's golden headband, and whether it matters that Goku does not have this feature Why we're not going to talk about Kami-sama, Piccolo Jr, the dragon being repaired, or other items that are debuted in these episodes...yet Jelli crams in Godzilla references by brining both Godzilla Minus One and Shin Godzilla to the table 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 125, 126, and 127, , "Earth's Guardian Emerges," "Eternal Dragon Resurrected," and "Quicker than Lightning." We continue discussing the Piccolo Jr. Saga, and talk about one of Dragon Ball's most controversial topics: Mr. Popo. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are cataloging a new species We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Trigger warning: This episode contains in-depth discussion of racial stereotypes and problematic depictions of people of color. While it is only our intention to discuss and educate, and not at all to condone, there are non-flinching discussions of potentially upsetting items. Why we're not going to talk about Kami-sama, Piccolo Jr, the dragon being repaired, or other items that are debuted in these episodes...yet Then we do it, we talk about Mr. Popo First, we contextualize his appearance using the setting and similar characters in 1001 Arabian Nights Then, we discuss the story of Little Black Sambo, and its popularity throughout the world and in Japan We talk about minstrel history We discuss whether Mr Popo is a problem Jelli crams in Godzilla references by brining both Godzilla Minus One and Shin Godzilla to the table 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 123 and 124, , "Lost and Found," and "Temple Above the Clouds." We begin discussing the Piccolo Jr. Saga, look at Kami's Lookout and discuss what makes the gods of Dragon Ball unique (hint: they suck). In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are on a new planet We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Talking about getting started on a new saga Why the decision was made to go to gods Why Krillin, Chiaotzu, and Master Roshi don't get to meet King Yemma or receive an invitation to train with King Kai (aside from those characters not having been introduced yet) The meaning of "kami-sama" How the upper realm of jokai has existed all this time with nobody knowing about it How the nyoi-bo or power pole compares to the vajra, a Buddhist weapon  The significance of the bell Korin hands Goku, and its inspiration from Suzu The importance of formlessness vs form Kami's Lookout - how its appearance mirrors Korin's Tower and draws further on the inspiration from Bespin from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Kami's shrine, or shinden and what a typical Shinto shinden looks like vs that of Kami-sama's Freudian analytics Why fighting is the bar to meet god Parallels to Jackie Chan Of course Jelli manages to sneak in references to Ultraman Blazar and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris Why the gods of Shintoism and Eastern philosophy in general are different from the Judeo-Christian God. 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by ...jumping off the manga and onto our third feature film commentary! In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are nearing the end of Frieza-controlled space We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Mystical Adventure such as its 1988 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: Bikkuraman, Tatakae Ramenman, and Kamen Rider Black Terrifying the Phantom House of Devil Pass 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 Shedding light on co-directors Kazuhisa Takenouichi (who worked on Dr Slump, Sailor Moon, One Piece and Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, which is a companion piece to the Daft Punk album, Destiny) and Minor Okazaki (who worked on Doraemon, Dr Slump, Gegege no Kitaro and others) 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 Harmony Gold, Speedy, and Funimation The difference between the 2005 original Funimation release and the 2010 remastered version A reference to a Godzilla fan film turned "real" movie, Dragon Lizard Lord Super Monsters Really digging into the Speedy Dub Talking about Ceyli Delgadillo, the original voice of kid Goku Discussing the Mifan Empire seen in the film Talking about timelines and continuity 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  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episode 122, "Final Showdown" and then jumping into comparing the Dragon Ball anime to the Dragon Ball manga. We continue discussing Demon King Piccolo, and talk about Piccolo's regeneration. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are on their way to a new planet. We recap the episode and discuss our favorite moments  Comparing the manga to the anime, as we do when we wrap up an 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 118, 119, 120, and 121, , "Prelude to Vengeance," "Battle Cry," "Goku Strikes Back," and "The Biggest Crisis." We continue on with Demon King Piccolo Saga, and discuss the concept of achieving salvation by traveling through hell via the fight between Goku and Piccolo. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are reeling from their call with Frieza We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Comparisons between the moves here and those seen in some Akira Kurosawa movies, Sanshiro Sugata (1 and 2) as well the Ultraman series with Ultraseven Power level tropes being utilized Goku fulfilling Uranai Baba's prophecy Goku taunting Piccolo using a childlike phrase Japanese voice actor Aono Takeshi (for Piccolo) setting a precedent for Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabat by almost passing out in the recording booth The trials of The Buddha, Jesus Christ, and Dante Alleghiri with regards to achieving salvation Discussing saru, Japanese for monkey, and how monkeys are seen as demon repellants Discussing May 9th, Goku Day...or Piccolo Day... How monkeys play into Buddhism Another pivot, slight though it may be, of Dragon Ball's tone and style 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 114, 115, 116, and 117, , "Conquest and Power," "Awaken Darkness," "A Taste of Destiny," and "The Ultimate Sacrifice." We continue on with Demon King Piccolo Saga, and discuss the concept of Senzu beans and how they work. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are prepping to return to their adventures, and a surprise call awaits them at the end... We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  The story of Emperor Win Shihuang who ruled China in the 200s BC The idea of the denshija and how it externalizes Piccolo's innermost fears If there might perhaps be a parallel between Pilaf and Majin Buu...or more accurately Babidi King Furry's resemblance to Teddy Roosevelt The meaning of senzu Tautologies The origin of senzu from Daoist practices Gross. The compounding effects of senzu Ultra Divine Water or Super God Water The root of the terms Connections to Daoist fasting Discussions of alchemy 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

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 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!

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 episode of Iron Chef. 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!

On this episode of Final Forum, we discuss the recent, unfortunate, and untimely passing of Akira Toriyama, and do our best to talk about what his works, from Dragon Ball, to Dr. Slump, to Dragon Quest, to Chrono Trigger, meant to us, and attempt to parse this news as best we can.   We were joined on this episode by our friend Lux Edwards (Soulmass218 Linktree).

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 110, 111, 112 and 113, , "Piccolo Closes In," "Roshi's Gambit," "King Piccolo's Wish," and "Siege on Chow Castle." We continue on with Demon King Piccolo Saga, and discuss the "man" of the hour himself: Great Demon King Piccolo (orPiccolo Daimao). In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are returning to Frieza Force controlled space We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Discussing the puns of Piccolo's name as well as the meaning of Daimao Drawing a parallel between Piccolo's airship and the Hayao Miyazaki movie Castle in the Sky Kazuhiko Torishima's inspiration that led Akira Toriyama to create Piccolo How Piccolo attacking martial artists parallels real life demons fearing Daoist, Buddhist, and Shintoist priests The origins of the Pokopen chant that's done when Piccolo gives birth The importance of Piccolo having only four fingers A discussion of the burakumin, and why the anime staff MAY have changed Piccolo's design prior to animating him in the show 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 108 and 109, , "Goku's Revenge," and "Goku vs. King Piccolo." We continue on with Demon King Piccolo Saga, and break down Piccolo's Children, Tambourine, Cymbal, Drum and Piano (and more). In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are trying to find a way off the planet where they are stranded We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Discussing puns, Piccolo, Drum, Piano, Cymbal and Tambourine Mentioning Piccolo's non-canon children, Ukulele, Harp, Mandolin, Maraca, Organ, Castanets, Harmonica, and Bongo, and their appearances in video games, including Damaio Fukkatsu Breaking down Tambourine, his voice actors Dameon Clarke and Ryusei Nakao and their connections to other characters like Frieza, Cell, Krillin, Nuova Shenron and Eis Shenron Discussing Cymbal, his voice actors Brad Jackson and Daisuke Gori, and their connections to other characters including Ox King, Turtle, Ghastiel, InoShikaCho, Drum, King Yemma, Porunga, Mr. Sata and King Cold Drum, his voice actors Daisuke Gori and Bob Carter, and Carter's voicing of Bojack and Syn Shenron Piano, his voice actors Masato Hirano and Sonny Strait and their connections to Man Wolf, Mummy-kun, Bardock, General Blue, and Krillin The Mazoku race and breaking down the word and how mazoku differ from yokai or oni Why Piccolo's children are not mere Namekian clones 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 105, 106 and 107, "Here Comes Yajirobe," "Terrible Tambourine," and "Tien's Atonement."  We continue on with Demon King Piccolo Saga, and introduce a new character, Yajirobe. In this episode: Jelli digs Bekinney out of the cold, cold ground We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Yajirobe's design inspirations, coming from the Akira Kurosawa film Yojimbo and the actor Daisuke Kato A note about a first when it comes to a fight within Dragon Ball, between Yajirobe and Cymbal Yajirobe's swordsman skills What Yajirobe means in Japanese both as a toy (Circus Sam) and in breaking down the characters that make up the name Yajirobe's status as a Ronin and inspiration from the real life historical figure Musashi Miyamoto How Kurosawa redefined the narrative around Ronin 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 102, 103 and 104, "Enter King Piccolo," "Tambourine Attacks!" and "Mark of the Demon."  We leave the 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi behind, and delve into the Demon King Piccolo Saga, starting out with the idea of the Evil Containment Wave, or the Mafuba. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney collect themselves after a harsh battle We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Some notes on the episodes about translations with Master Mutaito and Master Roshi, timeline items with Master Shen (Crane Hermit) and Chiaotzu, canon issues regarding Piccolo's Namekian heritage, and some censorship notes We talk about Master Mutaito and the origin of his name Looking at Mutaito's gi Mafuba, and breaking down the word and its translation as Evil Containment Wave How Daoists, Buddhists, and Shintoists inspired the Mafuba The origins of sealing demons or foes in general for centuries, with a few examples from Journey to the West (Laozi sealing Sun Wukong within the heavenly crucible and Buddha trapping him under a mountain) The Japanese art of onmyodo How runes become jewelry in Japan Toriyama's playful nature in having Piccolo sealed within the denshi-ja (electric rice cooker) A look ahead at the arc and our initial impressions 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney take a break from format and Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by pivoting and talking about the life and personality and career of one of the most influential creative minds behind Dragon Ball: Akira Toriyama's first editor Kazuhiko Torishima. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are fired upon! We have already discussed the life and career of Akira Toriyama, Daisuke Nishio, Toshiki Inoue, Takao Koyama, Chiaki Imada, and (one of the men who inspired the creation of Goku himself) Jackie Chan...let's talk about one of the key men when it came to the birth of Dragon Ball itself: Kazuhiko Torishima, Toriyama's first editor, the man who pushed and pulled Toriyama all the way from up-and-comer to one of the most successful manga ka of all time, and one of the most important men in the history of Shueisha and Shogakukan. Torishima's birth and childhood in Niigata prefecture His early career, in which he wanted to be an editor for Playboy How he wound up working for Weekly Shonen Jump His initial opinion that manga was a lower form of entertainment His first job working on Doberman Deka, created by Buronson, who would go on to create Fist of the North Star Torishima's role in pushing Akira Toriyama to make Arale the main character of Dr. Slump How Torishima's occasionally harsh style led to the creation of the antagonist of Dr. Slump, Dr. Mashirito Shueisha's desire for a hit to follow up Dr. Slump when it ended How Torishima kept pushing Toriyama to make Dragon Ball better when popularity initially slumped and again and again in order to make it more and more popular How Torishima helped make sure the Dragon Ball anime was more faithful to the manga than most anime at the time Torishima's general philosophy behind storytelling and his preferred reading, including philosophy (like Nietzche and Confucius)  Torishima's work with Nintendo to create a fusion of manga and video games, in Famicon SHinken Other works Torishima helped launch including Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece, Naruto, Dragon Quest, Bleach, Death Note, Gantz II, and Pokemon His rise to being the editor-in-chief of Shueisha and ultimately director of Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions Creatives who have been inspired by Torishima, including the minds behind Tottemo! Luckyman, Momotaro Dentetsu, Yudetamago, and Kinnikuman Why Torishima even became an editor in the first place Some of Torishima's activism as a face of the manga industry as a whole 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episode 101, "The Fallen" and then jumping into comparing the Dragon Ball anime to the Dragon Ball manga. We continue discussing the 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi, and delve into the topic of Tien and his third eye. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are on their way to a new planet. We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  The cliffhanger ending involving Krillin and how shocking it is The physics of the end of the battle Whether Tien or Goku is technically the stronger one and whether latent ability and power level (ugh) determine a battle's outcome Comparing the manga to the anime, as we do when we wrap up an 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by breaking down episodes 96, 97 ,98, 99 and 100, "Tail's Tale," "Final Match: Goku vs. Tien," "Victory's Edge," "Tien's Insurrection," and "The Spirit Cannon."  We continue discussing the 22nd Budokai Tenkaichi, and delve into the topic of Tien and his third eye. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney split up. That will end well. We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Some notes on Toriyama's claims of making it all up as he goes along Parallels in the fighting to Daoist concepts about levels of refinement and control Breaking down the Taiyo Ken, or Solar Flare, and its relationship to ying and yang energy Where the volley ball attack came from, and a brief note about shojo manga being essentially created by the manga Attack No. 1 Breaking down the Shiyo-ken or Four Supernatural Fists Technique How Shiyo-ken ties Tien to Hindu deities such as Ganesh Breaking down Tien, Tien Shinhan, Tenshinhan, Ten, and which is the "correct" pronunciation Tien's ties to the Qing Dynasty Tien's all-important tenme, or third-eye and its metaphysical importance How a tenme is inspired by humanity's pineal gland A brief note on the movie From Beyond, which features the pineal gland as a plot point How Daoists believe it is possible to utilize your pineal gland and open a third eye A note about Tien and his retroactive explanation of being an alien from the Mistume-jin (three-eyed people) Toriyama's possible inspiration from Osamu Tezuka's manga, The Three-Eyed One, and Journey to the West, and the character Erlangshen Comparisons between Erlangshen and Tien Shinhan including uses of a third eye, fighting a monkey child, being able to defeat Sun Wukong (Goku), and more 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, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

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  

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!

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/ https://twitter.com/F2Fpod   

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!

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! https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod

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  

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  

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  

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  

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  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 71, 72, and 73, "Deadl Battle," "Goku's Turn," and "The Devilmite Beam." We continue discussing the Fortune Teller Baba mini tournament and break down the identities of four of Baba's five champions. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney arrive on a new planet We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Fangs the Vampire's inspiration points, which are obviously Dracula and Vlad Tepes How Fangs is a Muai Tai fighter and that is appropriate for his character A discussion of how Japanese pop culture tends to utilize Western (specifically Christian) religious iconography when telling fictional tales More Dracula discussion, as we did when we looked at Don Dracula The Invisible Man and where his name came from, the prime time soap opera Water Door Earth Gate The background of the song Baba sings to distract Yamcha during his fight with Sukesan And discussion of the Invisible Man Universal films Mummy Kun's obvious inspiration points front Boris Karloff's portrayal of Frankenstein and The Mummy How Toriyama subverted expectations with his mummy by making him nimble And discussion of mummies in movies, especially the Universal films of the 30s and 40s and the 1999 Brendan Fraser Mummy film which is called by your cohosts "perfect" Devilman aka Akkuman and his name being derived from Akuma Why Devilman's evil exploitation ray aka evil expansion beam does not work on Goku If Goku is pure of heart or just dumb And a discussion of Devilman, the anime series We finish up with a discussion of how Toriyama subverts expectations by not using further Universal Monsters and ponder why we did not get a Gillman or possibly a Wolf Man. 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  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 69 and 70, "Who is Fortune Teller Baba?" and "We are the Five Warriors." We pick up the trail of the final Dragon Ball and start to bridge Dragon Ball into the afterlife. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney make a bet We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  The first example of Goku inspiring allies to refocus their training efforts Breaking down the contradictions of Baba's Palace and how male and female, living and dead, and beauty and desolation mingle The inspiration behind Obake, Baba's ghost usher, from Obake no Q-Taro and Ultra Q Goku's classic inability to get ceremonial titles correct Whether Baba, which means crone in Japanese, is a pejorative term The history of Fortune Tellers in Eastern culture, including the movie The Lost World of Sinbad (aka Samurai Pirate) How Baba may be mildly inspired by the Baba Yaga And then we discuss our main talking point of the day, which is how we feel about this arc really introducing the concept of the afterlife and spirits living beyond life into the Dragon Ball universe 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  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 65, 66, 67 and 68, "Confron the Red Ribbon Army," "A Real Bind," "The End of Commander Red," and "The Last Dragon Ball." We put a bow on the Red Ribbon Army, get into breaking down the manga as it compares to the anime, and talk about the significance of Goku's gi In this episode: Your cohosts try to unravel a mystery We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Violet's inspiration from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome More Star Wars influences Silver, Purple, White, Blue, Yello, Red, Violet, Brown, Copper, Metallic, Black...all defeated by a little boy in Orange We talk about the importance of Goku's gi, or dogi and why Toriyama chose the color he did, and how the gi he wears is inspired by Chinese dogis and yet differs due to design considerations Why Goku wears his dogi almost constantly Commander Red's sometimes Scottish accent is analyzed More Indiana Jones influences Red's Napoleon Complex Then we get into some manga an anime comparison points and look at some shocking filler moments and a few other notes on things like cover art and at least one great pun A shocking typo (shocking? sure. Why not?) 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  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 61 62, 63 and 64 , "Korin Tower," "Sacred Water," "The Return of Goku," and "The Last of Mercenary Tao." We continue discussing the Red Ribbon Army, and dig deep into the character of Master Korin (or Karin) and the inspirations behind this master hermit cat. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney have been taken aboard a Frieza Force medical vessel We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Korin Tower's inspirations from a fried snack treat in Japanese cuisine to Muscle Tower as well as Buddhist zutapos and pagodas Korin Tower's similarities to Star Wars as well as its Native American inspirations How Korin Tower is similar to a Tree of Life Korin (Karin) and his inspiration points, including Akira Toriyama's cat How Korin is a pun on Corn because the dub staff was unaware of Karinto (the Japanese treat) Why Korin is a cat The inspiration behind the filler sequence with the jars that show past present and future The significance of the centipede in the future jar, including Omukade, a famous yokai Goku's zen teachings continue and his wuxing remains on display Then we discuss Trees of Life, the Bible, Terrence Malick, The Northman, and how Korin fits into the Dragon Ball universe and our thoughts on him as a character and how he compares to Master Roshi as a mentor 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  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 59 and 60, "The Notorious Mercenary," and "Tao Attacks." We continue discussing the Red Ribbon Army, and dig deep into the character of Mercenary Tao. In this episode: Jelli is punishing Bekinney for his insubordination We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Mercenary Tao's points of inspirations, from the films Drunken Master and Snake in Eagle's Shadow Tao's long hair braid and its implications from the Qing Dynasty Tao's Kill You motto and the kanji on his shirt Tao Pai Pai's meaning: Peach White White, and how that impacts his character implications, especially how the Peach is important in Chinese culture The attempt of the dub staff to create a food pun based on the Chinese food dish General Tao's Chicken (aka General Tso's Chicken) The possible inspirations behind the pillar toss The cultural heritage behind the Dodonpa from Shaolin fighting styles and Japanese poetry How Tao and Goku differ, beside the obvious "good vs evil" comparisons" And we discuss other characters throughout fiction who are similar to Tao Pai Pai 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  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episode 58, "The Land of Korin." We continue discussing the Red Ribbon Army, and get into how Indigenous People are portrayed in Dragon Ball and why they are portrayed that way. In this episode: Jelli remains convinced he is having a nervous breakdown as Bekinney attempts to get him to notice that they're standing in the same spot We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  We talk about the locale of Korin Tower Attempting to contextualize where Akira Toriyama's knowledge of indigenous peoples comes from Dunking on Disney, and specifically Peter Pan for their own depictions of American indigenous people Discussion of the Noble Savage trope Whether Bora and Upa are Comanchee or Navajo A bit of Bora trivia including inspiration from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Outlaw Josey Wales Discussion of the problematic depictions of indigenous people in Looney Tunes Whether Bora and Upa have names based on puns, as is typical for anime Our overall discussion for the day, which focuses on how indigenous people have been depicted in media over the years, including modern day depictions such as Reservation Dogs and Prey 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  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 56 and 57, "Strange Visitor, " and "Arale vs. Blue." We continue discussing the Red Ribbon Army, the walking contradiction that is General Blue, continue talking about Dr. Slump, and do our usual end-of-arc manga comparisons. In this episode: Jelli remains convinced he is having a nervous breakdown as Bekinney attempts to get him to notice that they're standing in the same spot We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  We clarify a bit of potentially problematic General Blue trivia We talk about whether Arale is worthy to be judged as acceptable to ride Kinto-un (Flying Nimbus) and whether Arale qualifies as Vision did or did not in Avengers Age of Ultron And then we get into comparing the manga to the anime as we do when we reach the end of an arc, including examining the differences in the West City portion of the story, how the manga drives home the comparisons between the Red Ribbon Army and the Nazis moreso than the anime, and how some of the puns and jokes differ We also talk about faxing And we continue breaking down the crossover 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  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 50, 51, 52, 53, 54 and 55, "The Trap is Sprung," "Beware of Robot," "The Pirate Treasure," "Blue Black and Blue," "Escape from Pirate Cave" and "Penguin Village." We continue discussing the Red Ribbon Army, the walking contradiction that is General Blue, talk about booby traps, and delve into the crossover with Dr. Slump and Goku meeting Arale. In this episode: Your Jelli remains convinced he is having a nervous breakdown as Bekinney attempts to cross the planet We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  Raiders of the Lost Ark references found in these episodes, as well as a very brief Godzilla reference (as usual) this time to 1992's Godzilla vs. Mothra. We talk about how the Pirate Robot looks like a Xenomorph from the Alien franchise, and how that design is pulled in from the one-shot Dragon Boy. More of Toriyama pulling in work from elsewhere for repurposing, as there are some Dragon Quest designs being re-used. We talk about the octopus and it being a Toriyama reference to the films he grew up watching, notably King Kong vs. Godzilla and Frankentstein Conquers the World We discuss the octopus as a figure in Japanese pop culture dating back hundreds of years, and the origin of tentacle-based pornography with the netsuke art called The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife, which features octopus erotica.  We discuss the Legend of Princess Tamatori, a story about a pearl diver that must fight an army of octopuses We debate whether octopus, octopuses, octopi, or octopodes is the correct pluralization A brief connection to the show Mad Men A seemingly out-of-nowhere reference to Hinduism with a statue to Kali (or possibly Shiva) until you contextualize this as the Indiana Jones portion of the story and realize it is likely a reference to Kali Maa, from Temple of Doom Blue's supernatural ability appears We talk about the paralysis technique being similar to Kanashibari, a traditional folkloric Kung Fu power We discuss the idea of sleep paralysis and the film The Nightmare, a documentary about the phenomenon The idea of a crossover with Dr Slump And then we get into our main topic of the day and why Dragon Ball decided to cross over with Toriyama's other manga at this point, and how this crossover differs from the typical crossovers seen in media 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. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 46, 47, 48 and 49, "Bulma's Bad Day," "Kame House - Found!" "Deep Blue Sea," and "Roshi Surprise." We continue discussing the Red Ribbon Army, the walking contradiction that is General Blue, and have a discussion about LGBTQIA+ Representation in Dragon Ball. In this episode: Your cohosts return! We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments  More of Toriyama's love of James Bond, with planes inspired by You Only Live Twice, and underwater sequences inspired by Thunderball We discuss the history of underwater filming in Japan, as innovated by Ishiro Honda Recommendation to watch the movie King Kong Escapes We draw some parallels further to the Red Ribbon army being a stand-in for Nazis. More Journey to the West references General Blue's not-so-secret sexuality General Blue as an ubermensch We talk about the contradictions of having a gay man be the leader of an army that would persecute gays and the real-life inspirations behind this with Hitler having a personal friend, Ernst Rohm, as the leader of the precursor to the SS who was also gay And then we get into our main topic of the day and whether Dragon Ball has any good representation of the community to be found....NOTE: Sadly some of this discussion, where Jelli and Bekinney discussed the possibility of other characters being queer-coded, got cut due to audio issues 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