Jelli and Bekinney continue their break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun! In this episode: It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 32 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical game of one-on-one Halo. We discuss the system used for determining outcomes. We break down our opponents in each matchup. In the Saiyan Region: Will Tarble topple Kale?, Will Kid Trunks defeat his best friend Goten?, Who will win when Gohan encounters Cabba? Can Caulifla beat Paragus?   In the Earthling Region: Krillin vs Bulma, Android 17 vs Android 18, Yamcha vs Tien, Videl vs Master Roshi In the Villains Region: Can Frieza out-fox Hit? Will King Cold throttle Pilaf? Who is more nefarious, Ginyu or Android 19? Will Dr Gero smash Cell?  In the Deity/Ally Region: Who will win when Beerus, Korin, Elder Kai, King Kai, Dende, Puar, Kami and Jacco all face off? What happened to Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Future Trunks, Jiren, Mr Satan, Majin Buu, Broly, and other popular characters? Listen to episode 1, to hear why they lost. We take if from the round of 32, down to the Sweet 16, Head into the Elite Eight, jump into the Final Four, and then choose our champion! Who will reign supreme and be declared the number one under heaven in 1-on-1 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 game of one-on-one Halo. We discuss the system used for determining outcomes. We break down our opponents in each matchup. In the Saiyan Region: Will Goku topple Tarble, will Vegeta defeat Paragus, who will win when Broly encounters Goten? Will the timeline handle Future Trunks facing off against his younger self? Can Gohan defeat King Vegeta?  Can Cabba beat Bardock? Can Kale topple Nappa? Will Caulifla be able to defeat Raditz? In the Earthling Region: Krillin vs Yajirobe, Bulma vs Chiaotzu, Android 17 vs Ox King, Android 18 vs Mr Satan, Yamcha vs Chichi, Tien vs Nam, Android 16 vs Videl, Master Roshi vs Launch In the Villains Region: Can Frieza out-fox Mercenary Tao? Will Hit topple Recoome? Will Zamasu throttle King Cold? Who is more nefarious, Cooler or Pilaf? Who has the mad skills, Ginyu or Dabura? Will Buu beat down Android 19? Will Jiren smash Dr Gero? Can Cell prove to be more perfect than Garlic Jr? In the Deity/Ally Region: Who will win when Beerus, Oolong, Korin, Mr Popo, Nail, Elder Kai, Supreme Kai Shin, Puar, King Kai, Gregory, Dende, Kabito, Kami, King Yemma, Piccolo, and Jaco all face off? Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 44 and 45, "Master Thief, Hasky," and "Danger in the Air." We continue discussing the Red Ribbon Army,  break down some trivia on a few filler episodes, and have a discussion about how society is basically just the worst. In this episode: Your cohosts remain missing We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments (spoiler: we don't have a lot of favorite moments) Mentioning Toriyama's love of inversions, reminding listeners about his Frankenstein inversion with Android 8 (8er) and how he's going to continue that with a "fish out of water" motif on Goku We discuss the destruction of Kintoun/Flying Nimbus and remind listeners about Kume Sennin and the inspirations behind Master Roshi We talk about how Daoist mentality suggests that as society becomes more complex, the magic fades from the world We talk about West City's design and its inspiration points including the Jetsons, Star Wars, and Blade Runner Inspiration points behind the Bruce Lee fight in West City including Bolo Yeung's King Boxer (and how Yeung ties into Enter the Dragon), and infamous Three Card Monty games We discuss the film The Idiot by Akira Kurosawa, albeit briefly We talk about Legend of Korra Possible inspiration points behind the design of Capsule Corp, including the film, Gamera vs Guiron (and then we divert into talking about Mystery Science Theater 3000 - MST3K - and how the crew reacted to the Daiei movie) Dr Brief's cat, Tama, is brought up, and all the cultural inspiration that goes behind naming a cat "Tama" in Japanese We talk about Dr Brief's potential inspiration points, including the original Godzilla film and the movie Terror of Mechagodzilla, which features a character who looks almost exactly like Dr. Brief We discuss the potential inspiration behind Tiny Bulma, from the show Ultra Q We talk about Bulma's mother and how her name is not OFFICIALLY Panchi And then we get into our main topic for the day, and discuss how Goku's incorruptibility in the face of the failings of a complicated and uncaring society make him an inspirational character that we really enjoy seeing and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. 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: Jelli and Bekinney are MISSING! Audio from when your heroic hosts first met one another and played Dragon Ball Z Clue We discuss the pieces inside the Clue box, and talk about the classic whodunit game. Join us and find out if we will ever continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. 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. 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 42 and 43, "The Secret of Dr. Flappe," and "A Trip to the City." We dig further into the Red Ribbon Army,  break down some trivia on a few filler episodes, and compare the Muscle Tower manga chapters to the episodes of the anime. In this episode: The battle rages on...and a new fighter emerges! We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments We talk about the inspiration points for Dr. Flappe, as best we can guess them, comparing him to Leon Trotsky, and mildly infamous Soviet scientist Ivanovich Ivanov We discuss how the character of Dr. Flappe contradicts statements made later in the show by Dr. Gero about the creation of the androids We talk about inter-species hybridization (yes, really) We get into a few design elements from the Trip to the City episode, including the Bruce Lee lookalike character, and a re-use of the General White character model We discuss whether the show Dragon Ball exists in this universe, and we do a brief detour into The Seven Year Itch We talk about the decision to do a wrap-up episode here, vs a few episodes of anime later And then we get into comparing the anime to the manga, including the differences between Major Metallitron and Full Metal Jacket, Buyon and The Jiggler, Ninja Murasaki and Sergeant Major Purple, and the destruction or non-destruction of Muscle Tower and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. 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 39, 40 and 41, "Mysterious Android No. 8," "Horrifying Buyon," and "The Fall of Muscle Tower." We dig further into the Red Ribbon Army and Goku's challenges as he continues along, the Frankenstein-like Android Number 8, the Pink Blob monster Buyon and finally General White himself. In this episode: The battle rages on... We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments We talk about the obvious inspiration points from Frankenstein (Frankenstein's Monster) in Android 8 We highlight Toriyama's subversion of expectations  We tease out the idea that there will be future scientists and androids from the Red Ribbon Army Jelli discusses some of the translation issues with regards to Android 8 aka Jinzoningen Hachigo aka Man-Made Man Number 8 aka Artificial Man-Made Human Number 8 (more is explained herein) The original of 8er (Eighter) as a nickname being translated from the Japanese Hachan.  We discuss why 8er is reluctant to fight Bekinney discusses some of the East-West ideology conflicting within 8er and highlights how Goku passes some of his learnings from Master Roshi on to 8er We draw connections between Goku's tutelage under Roshi to that of his real world experience and how that drives his encounters with Vegeta, Frieza and Beerus later on.  We remind everyone of a connection to Xuanzang and Journey to the West We discuss some of our favorite adaptations of Frankenstein and how 8er ranks Jelli highlights the clashing opposites of the village elder and General White We talk more about James Bond, and You Only Live Twice, reminding our listeners how that led to Murasaki, and informs this arc We highlight a brief connection to Curse of the Blood Rubies and our commentary from a couple months back We do a wrap-up of some of our final thoughts on Muscle Tower's anime arc and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney take a break from Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon (because we don't do enough of that, right?) by breaking down some early video games. We're talking about Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyō, aka Secret of the Dragon from the Super Casette Vision; Dragon Ball: Shenlong no Nazo aka Dragon Power for the Nintendo Entertainment System; and Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu  aka Dragon Ball: Great Demon King's Revival, also for the NES. In this episode: We perform mop up duty on straggling invaders We discuss the background of Dragon Ball video games, specifically that of developer Epoch, who created the first game We talk about what the Cassette Vision console was, and Epoch's big hits Barcode Battler and TV Tennis Electrotennis Epoch's current state of existence, which is largely making baseball trading cards for the Nippon Pro Baseballe league and little tchotchke toys. We talk about Dragon Daihikyo and its similarities to overhead shooters like 1942 We begin for the first time ever discussing Bandai and their stranglehold over the Dragon Ball franchise universe in terms of marketing We discuss TOSE Software, the programming company behind Dragon Power TOSE's credits, including Bases Loaded, Mappy-Land, Toxic Crusaders, Tetris 2, Yoshi's Cookie, Resident Evil Survivor, Resident Evil Zero, Scarlet Nexus, Dragon Quest, WWE and Metal Gear Solid The Famicom entertainment system and how it compared to the NES How Dragon Power's US port differed from the Japanese version and why the changes were made Dragon Power gameplay and how it walks you through the Pilaf Arc, including the Bear Thief, Master Roshi's desire to see Bulma's panties, Oolong, Yamcha, Ox King, Monster Carrot (Boss Rabbit) and Pilaf's Castle...and how there are still 8 stages to go, including the Tenkaichi Budokai, with combatants being Krillin, Major Metallitron, Yamcha and Buyon, fighting through Muscle Tower, and how the game's wishes to the eternal dragon Shenron work Then we get into Dragon Ball Daimao Fukkatsu, and how it has never been ported to the US We discuss early Nintendo RTS (real time strategy) games, and how this game walks one through the Demon King Piccolo story arc and the changes it makes, including returns to Muscle Tower, General Blue, Korin Tower, fighting members of the Crane School of martial arts (when Tien Shinhan studied) and Fortune Teller Baba and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. 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 37 and 38, "Ninja Murasaki is Coming," and "The Five Murasakis" and we dig further into the Red Ribbon Army and Goku's challenge on floor 4: a deadly ninja assassin In this episode: INVASION! We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments We discuss the origin of Murasaki's name and why it's different than other members of the Red Ribbon Army who have color-based names We break down Murasaki's design There is a brief detour into Akira Kurosawa's films such as Seven Samurai, Ikiru, and One Wonderful Sunday (and Ran, Yojimbo, Sanjuo, Throne of Blood, Kagemusha, etc) The importance of language in Murasaki's speech patterns and how it changed from Japanese to English The connections to James Bond, especially the film You Only Live Twice We talk about some of the James Bond influences, like You Only Live Twice How Toriyama is blending cultures: A Japanese Ninja, working for a James Bond Villain, controlling a Red Army, to defeat a Hindu Monkey Demigod - to create new things The use of all the ninja jokes that exist We talk about Akira Toriyama's use of stereotypes We break down the tatami mat joke, which neither of us understood prior to researching this episode More discussion of opposites colliding, and subversion, which have definitely become Toriyama signatures at this point Connections to Journey to the West, including a clash between Sun Wukong and Laozi Explanation of shuriken  Explaining the Murasaki Brothers and how the five of them come together to form one person How Murasaki's personality and style reflects those of General White Is Murasaki a social commentary? What is he saying about salary man culture? Is Toriyama making a statement about Japan in the post-war years? Is this a statement made about the past, present, and future of Japan? If you've been listening along, you can probably guess the answers to some of this and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

It's the last episode of Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular! In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney break down Osamu Tezuka's manga and anime Don Dracula. It's part of our October/Halloween Festivities where we're taking a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon and delving into times our franchise's creators have "put on a costume" and worked on other shows and movies. In this case, it's Takao Koyama, screenwriter on both Don Dracula and Dragon Ball. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney say farewell to Halloween We discuss our experiences with various versions of Dracula including the Universal Dracula movies, Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee, Dracula Untold, Van Helsing, Blade Trinity, Bram Stoker's Dracula (the movie and the book), Gary Oldman, we debate whether Interview with the Vampire and Twilight should count (they shouldn't because they don't have Dracula - Jelli), Claes Bang's portrayal in BBC's Dracula adaptation on Netflix, and more. Breaking down the episodes of Don Dracula, including how it adapts Dorian Gray, The Gillman (Creature from the Black Lagoon), ghosts, and Van Helsing. We discuss Osamu Tezuka and his career briefly, and how Don Dracula served as a bridge for him to return to more light-hearted fare like Astro Boy after he had spent several years on an adult work, Black Jack We discuss whether Disney ripped off Kimba the White Lion (a Tezuka manga) for The Lion King We talk about Takao Koyama, his biography, and his philosophy with adapting manga for screenplays We briefly touch on the influence Koyama had on Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Shamploo (Champloo?) Discussion of Koyama's other works, including stories "In the Name of Piccolo Daimao," "Great Pride! The Saiyan Prince Vegeta," his Dr. Slump follow-up and his Cashman remake. What Koyama's experience working with Akira Toriyama was like Koyama's thoughts on Toriyama's noted propensity towards being a hermit How Koyama almost left the industry in the early 2000s Then we discuss our thoughts and feelings on Don Dracula, highlighting our favorite episodes and provide some thoughts and feedback ...and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise....or in this case, the Osamu Tezuka trans-media franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event! 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 looks, because looks are similar to costumes and costumes are a big part of Halloween. AND we've already established that it makes sense so just go with it. Sure. So, who will make Bekinney's Top Ten Best-Looking Dragon Ball Character Designs? The pool to choose from is ENORMOUS: Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, Yamcha, Tien Shienhan, Oolong, Puar, Master Roshi, Emperor Pilaf, Nam, Jackie Chun, Giran, Launch, Puar, Ninja Murasaki, Grandpa Gohan, Teen Gohan, Upa, Bora, General Blue, Tao Paipai, Commander Red, Mister Popo, Master Korin, Fortune Teller Baba, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, King Piccolo, Kami, Raditz, Nappa, Vegeta, Krillin, Yajirobe, Frieza, Dende, Dodoria, Captain Ginyu, Zarbon, Jace, Burter, Recoome, Guldo, Chi-chi, Android 19, Android 20, Dr. Gero, Android 17, Android 18, Android 16, King Cold, Cooler, Turles, Lord Slug, Super Android 13, Garlic Jr, Trunks, Future Trunks, Goten, Dr Brief, Cell, Perfect Cell, Semi-Perfect Cell, Majin Buu, Dabura, Videl, Babidi, Fat Buu, Evil Buu, Kid Buu, Buuhan, Vegito, Gogeta, King Kai, Supreme Kai, Beerus, Whis, Lord Zeno, Mr Satan, Jiren, Goku Black, Zamasu, Hit, Cabba, Kale, Caulifla, Kefla, Bergamo, Frost, Magetta, Botamo, Top, Dyspo, Cell Max, Moro, Granolah, Gas, Elec.... ....and more...? Bekinney threw all these in a pile and picked out just TEN of his favorites. Who will they be? And will Bekinney get himself into more trouble than he bargained for...? Stay tuned to find out!

Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular! In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney are joined by Kyle Byrd and Matt Parmley of the Kaiju Transmissions Podcast for a fun break from format and into the world of Godzilla films. It's part of our October/Halloween Festivities where we're taking a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon and delving into times our franchise's creators have "put on a costume" and worked on other shows and movies. In this case, it's Akira Toriyama's EXTREMELY BRIEF cameo in a Godzilla movie: The Return of Godzilla (aka Godzilla 1984, aka Godzilla 1985, aka Godzilla, aka Gojira). In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney place a call to Byrd and Matt from Kaiju Transmissions We each talk about our initial experiences with this movie Breaking down the production facts, including director Koji Hasimoto's vision with a Screenplay by Shuichi Nagahara, production by Tomoyuki Tanaka, and score by Reijiro Koroku. The effects sequences were handled by Teruyoshi Nakano and we talk about his general philosophy when it comes to making movies We discuss how the 1970s treated Godzilla with Terror of Mechagodzilla, and re-releases of Godzilla vs. Monster Zero and Mothra vs. Godzilla We mention the inclusion of a script draft that introduced a never-to-appear kaiju named Bagan We unveil the history behind the film's genesis, from an idea by Steve Miner and a script from Fred Dekker Ishiro Honda's decision to decline the offer to direct based on his ongoing work with Akira Kurosawa The film's setting during the Cold War and high tensions between the United States and Russia/Soviet Union and how this affected the film when it came time to dub it and adapt it for American audiences Highlighting the differences in the American version, Godzilla 1985 How the 1976 King Kong film led to this movie being released and influenced the creation of the 20-foot-tall Godzilla Cybot We highlight the cast, including Yosuke Natsuki, Keiju Kobayashi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Ken Tanaka, Hiroshi Kamayatsu, and a cameo from director Shinpei Hayashiya We discuss the cultural and historical significance of Mt. Mihara, where the film's climax takes place The short, Bambi Meets Godzilla, by Marv Newland, which was associated with this film theatrically and for years on television, as well ...and more, including some general pop culture, how the movie preceded Jurassic Park, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise....or in this case, the Godzilla franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event! 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 Jelli-only mini-sode we take a complete break from format, and from breaking down Akira Toriyama's manga and anime smash success to begin our October/Halloween Festivities and on this episode, it's all about looks, because looks are similar to costumes and costumes are a big part of Halloween. That makes sense right? Right? Sure. So, who will make Jelli's Top Ten Best-Looking Dragon Ball Character Designs? The pool to choose from is ENORMOUS: Goku, Vegeta, Bulma, Yamcha, Tien Shienhan, Oolong, Puar, Master Roshi, Emperor Pilaf, Nam, Jackie Chun, Giran, Launch, Puar, Ninja Murasaki, Grandpa Gohan, Teen Gohan, Upa, Bora, General Blue, Tao Paipai, Commander Red, Mister Popo, Master Korin, Fortune Teller Baba, Chiaotzu, Piccolo, King Piccolo, Kami, Raditz, Nappa, Vegeta, Krillin, Yajirobe, Frieza, Dende, Dodoria, Captain Ginyu, Zarbon, Jace, Burter, Recoome, Guldo, Chi-chi, Android 19, Android 20, Dr. Gero, Android 17, Android 18, Android 16, King Cold, Cooler, Turles, Lord Slug, Super Android 13, Garlic Jr, Trunks, Future Trunks, Goten, Dr Brief, Cell, Perfect Cell, Semi-Perfect Cell, Majin Buu, Dabura, Videl, Babidi, Fat Buu, Evil Buu, Kid Buu, Buuhan, Vegito, Gogeta, King Kai, Supreme Kai, Beerus, Whis, Lord Zeno, Mr Satan, Jiren, Goku Black, Zamasu, Hit, Cabba, Kale, Caulifla, Kefla, Bergamo, Frost, Magetta, Botamo, Top, Dyspo, Cell Max, Moro, Granolah, Gas, Elec.... ....and more...? Jelli threw all these in a pile and picked out just TEN of his favorites. Who will they be?

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 35 and 36 of the show, "Cold Reception," and "Major Metallitron" and we dig further into the Red Ribbon Army as well as their current base of operations for this portion of the arc: Muscle Tower In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are preparing for invasion We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments We talk about whether the Japanese would say the "h" in White We introduce the General White character Muscle Tower resides in a snowy landscape that Akira Toriyama said was like Siberia, does that mean the setting is Northern Russia? The hosts discuss Suno/Snow and where the name came from, whether it was inspired by the anime or if the mangaka gave it to the anime We talk about some of the James Bond influences, like You Only Live Twice An anecdote is shared from Masako Nozawa about her reaction to the episodes We talk about the inspirations behind Muscle Tower, being, surprise Kung Fu Films, namely Game of Death We discuss the game Spartan X that was released for Famikon, which was ported to the United States as "Kung Fu" and is inspired by Game of Death, not Spartan X (aka Meals on Wheels) as might be expected Surprise, a part of Dragon Ball is inspired by Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee We talk about pagodas and their importance in traditional Chinese culture Major Metallitron, who is totally not Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator, appears We discuss Goku "killing" Metallitron and praying, as Nam prayed in the Tenkaichi Budokai We talk about the psychological examination of General White via Muscle Tower as a metaphor and how Goku interacts with that We talk about what might have inspired Toriyama to start bringing in so much Western Culture into his manga The state of cinema in Japan in the 1970s and how it affected companies like Toho, and bankrupted the studio Daiei, including stressful situations on the set of Gamera films We talk about how the desperate state of Japanese cinema in the 70s led to importation of American films We remind our listeners about Toriyama's westernized style catching the eye of Kazuhiko Torishima Is Dragon Ball (or Dragonball Z) responsible for creating a sort of homogenized Japanese culture that Americans understand? Toriyama is at the forefront of bringing Western inspirations to his story, does the rest of the Japanese pop cultural spectrum follow suit? Just ask Godzillla, who brings in references to Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, James Bond, and more ten years after Toriyama had done so. The pop culture news shift and how things have sped up over the decades, and an anecdote about Jurassic Park Quick aside: is it a problem that Goku uses the Power Pole to skip only the first floor of Muscle Tower? (Answer: shut up) and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  This is a breezy, quick episode, and we hope you enjoy! Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney take a break from Akira Toriyama's manga/anime once again to discuss a NEW MOVIE!  In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney discuss Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero but FIRST We have some news items to discuss We talk about the collaboration between Swatch and Dragon Ball Z and discuss the watches for Goku, Vegeta, Master Roshi, Frieza, Cell, Gohan, and Majin Buu and which one is an unfortunate miss The news items then turns to discussion of the new arcs of the Dragon Ball Super manga that have been completed since the anime went on hiatus in 2019 including the Moro arc and the Granolah arc We have a hot rumor about the return of the Dragon Ball Super anime Talk then turns to discussion of studio amalgamation and the Warner Brothers-Discovery merger and the fallout from their decisions around HBO Max, including the cancellation of the Bat Girl movie, the reaction from the creator of Tig n' Seek, and the company's staunch refusal to denounce Ezra Miller or delay the Flash movie Bekinney discuss the show Megas XLR We talk about the upcoming game Dragon Ball The Breakers Then we get into the movie, we break down a plot synopsis, and we discuss our general feelings on Gamma 1, Gamma 2, Cell Max, Magenta, Doctor Hedo, Carmine, Beast Gohan, Orange Piccolo, and the decisive bout between Goku and Vegeta This is a more loose and goosey episode than usual, as it's more reaction-based and less research-based, but if you're a fan, sit back and enjoy as we delve into some RECENT Dragon Ball items. 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 34 of the show, "Cruel Commander Red" and we dig into the Red Ribbon Army In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are finally safe(?) on a Frieza Force planet We recap Cruel Commander Red and discuss our favorite bits Bekinney talks about how Toriyama once again inverts the narrative of Dragon Ball and Goku We talk about some of the upcoming references that we will come across such as James Bond, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Terminator, Alien, and other favorites of the eccentric manga ka Jelli discusses Goku's new two-fold goal and how he for the first time, has some agency of his own in the story in his pursuit of Grandpa Gohan's Four-Star Dragon Ball We break down some of the psychology of Dragon Ball and how Goku is always a positive force who interacts with others who have one major character flaw, and how Goku's nature brings this character flaw to light Goku shows us how confidence can overcome doubt, how strategy can overcome strength, how humility can overcome pride, and we're here to talk about that Does Dragon Ball have a deeper message? We take a peak at that question We discuss how the anime and manga start bleeding into one another a little bit, as this arc of the manga takes place as the anime finally begins airing We discuss how the Red Ribbon Army was influenced by the red armies of China, and the USSR as well as the fascist Nazi Party, as well as its fictional sources of inspiration such as from the crime syndicate Shocker of the Kamen Rider series and Spectre of the Bond franchise We talk about whether this Red Ribbon Army is a political statement and if Toriyama is propagating some US-Japan alliance propaganda, as well as some capitalism over communism ideals, or if this is just fun nonsense 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 back into the show, and delving into how filler is important when creating an anime based on a manga. We discuss the episodes "The Roaming Lake", "Pilaf and the Mystery Force", "Wedding Plans?", "The Flying Fortress Vanished!", and "The Legend of a Dragon" and we dig into why filler exists, as well as some of Asian culture's wedding traditions. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are once more drifting through space We break down the episodes and scrape where we can, looking for homages and cultural references We come up pretty sparse, despite thinking there might be some significance to a roaming lake We find some Star Wars and Death Star references, within an episode We discuss some of the music and its importance We talk about the FIFA World Cup from 1986, which was hosted by Mexico The difference between Toriyama's approach to the real world vs the anime is made clear via a reference to Alexander the Great We talk about marriage traditions in China and Japan A discussion of September 11, 2001 and the attacks on the World Trade Center due to a bit of censorship Notes on contradictions between things that appear in these filler episodes and the true canon of Dragon Ball The meat of the episode: filler Is filler necessary?  How much filler is necessary per chapter of manga? How does filler work in Dragon Ball? We get into the nitty-gritty of tracking how the anime caught up to the manga and also how filler was used judiciously to maintain pace...or not used judiciously until the animators got themselves into trouble, how far behind the anime was than the manga, and how much it caught up when things got dire for the animators and filler became an absolute necessity 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 remaining off the show itself, and delving into some background information on Dragon Ball, specifically, by tackling the genesis of Dragon Ball, and its prototypes via some of Akira Toriyama's one-off manga he created leading up to Dragon Ball's inception In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney encounter a massive power reading in the deep recesses of space We talk about WHY we're jumping back, to uncover some of Dragon Ball's genesis We discuss the brainstorming between Toriyama and Kazuhiko Torishima (Toriyama's Editor) The spark of idea from Toriyama's wife, Nachi Mikami, that clicks a tumbler into place and makes Torishima push Toriyama to create a kung-fu manga We discuss the concept of yomikiri manga, which are essentially akin to comic one-shots such as Marvel's What If...? or DC's Elseworlds. We talk about the manga Dragon Boy and its similarities to Dragon Ball We mention the existence of Viz Media's Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater, a collection of his early works and yomikiri manga spanning his career We also shed light on Tong Poo's Great Adventure about a young boy traveling through space and meeting a human girl We unveil the similarities between Dragon Ball and his yomikiri Pola & Roid, from 1981 We talk about the 1982 story Pink: The Rain Jack We discuss how Dr. Slump helped Toriyama develop his style and voice and build an audience over the decades We discuss the similarities between Akira Toriyama and Peter Jackson, and how one can be somewhat popular from their previous work, before exploding into massive popularity from Lord of the Rings, and how the differ, as Jackson's early works such as Braindead/Dead Alive, Meet the Feebles, and Bad Taste belie his abilities in epic storytelling, as opposed to Toriyama's work very much being in his style We discuss how Toriyama is pretty similar to Stan Lee (and Jack Kirby) in creating prototypes for various characters in comics headlined by other characters (ie, Punisher in Amazing Spider-Man or Wolverine in Incredible Hulk) We discuss Stan Lee's awesome response to "Who would win in a fantasy fight?" We talk about how Toriyama and Torishima's relationship is different from "Batman creator" Bob Kane and his collaborations with Bill Finger  We talk about Toriyama's building of a shared universe and how that's similar in some ways to Stephen King's crafting of his Dark Tower 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. 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 a feature film commentary for the first time ever! In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney find themselves adrift in space We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Curse of the Blood Rubies such as its 1986 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: Gegege no Kitaro Gekitotsu Ijigen Yokai no Dai Hanran (Kitaro of the Graveyard) and Kinnikuman – Seigi Choujin vs Senshi Choujin and talk about Shigeru Mizuki's yokai-based manga (Kitaro) as well as Yoshinori Nakai and Takashi Shimada's superhero wrestling property (Kinnikuman) 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 We talk about director Daisuke Nishio and his work, spanning Dr. Slump, Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, GeGeGe no Kitaro, Kindaichi Case Files, One Piece, Pretty Cure and Halo Legends. We shed some light on Toshiki Inoue – the screenplay writer, who also worked on Dr Slump, and live action films including Kamen Rider, Jetman, and work with Hideaki Anno (creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion) We talk about composer Shinsuke Kikuchi, albeit briefly, who has worked on Gamera, Doraemon, Getter Robo, Jumborg Ace, and Sister Street Fighter as well as composer Peter Berring, who has a surprising family history We discuss the Harmony Gold dub and its method of changing character names as well as the many dubs done by Funimation of the years and how that changed the roles for Ted Cole and Chris Sabat as the voice of Yamcha We talk about punny character names We discuss the similarities to the studio Ghibli film Castle in the Sky, one of Hayao Miyazaki's earliest film efforts 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 comparing the manga for the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai tournament to the anime episodes. We'll be recapping the storyline and expounding on the similarities and differences. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney find themselves attempting to leave the planet where they've been stuck Brief plot synopsis of the Dragon Ball manga for the next several chapters Brief discussion of favorite moments from this arc Explanation of Krillin and Launch and their name differences Kururin and Lunch We expose a character who's in the "background" (he's actually in the foreground) of a panel drawn in by Toriyama who was actually a tour guide during a trip taken by the manga ka to Bali We very briefly discuss the importance of the gi as given to Goku and Krillin by Roshi We take a look at Toriyama's claim that all women he draws look the same We talk about how a Capsule might work if a person were inside when it was transformed Launch as a character in the manga vs the anime A discussion about a common complaint with regards to the shugyo (training) undertaken by Goku and Krillin Discussion of Krillin's innate pessimism and his character development We talk about some of the potential differences between the Viz Big version of the manga and the other editions and translations We resolve a major plot thread from the podcast's past! (it's a bit of trivia we forgot to answer in a previous episode) We continue talking about Akira Toriyama's "all time favorite movie" the count on which is now up to at least 5 Our main discussion points, the genre known as wuxia, which has many of the calling cards of Dragon Ball, and a discussion of Yamcha and his usage in the manga including his relationship with Bulma vs the way he's portrayed in 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 return to format and continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 24-28 of the anime. "Krillin's Frantic Attack," "Danger from Above," "The Grand Finals," "Number One Under the Moon?" and "The Final Blow". We'll be discussing the contrasts between the characters and their motivations, and unveiling the secrets behind the success of the Tournament arc. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney find themselves stuck outside under strange circumstances Brief plot synopsis of episodes 24-28 of the Dragon Ball anime Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes A talk about whether Dragon Ball has any hidden messages or meanings We discuss the nuts-and-bolts of the battles and what the attacks mean More discussion about the Japanese honorifics and how those subtleties clue the viewer in to the characters' relationships with one another We talk about Goku and Roshi's Kamehameha battle  We discuss the appearance of the Ozaru in the battle and how it is named for the first time The importance of the moon in Japanese culture and its use in making mochi as well as Master Carrot (Monster Carrot) and what happens to him The references to the Jackie Chan film Drunken Master Whether Toriyama had any plans coming into the tournament and how those plans may have changed based on popular opinions and perception at the time We discuss wuxing, genji, go, and other cultural concepts from Chinese traditions that influence the understanding of the tournament We talk about the learning curves along the ways from novice to intermediate to master and how one idolizes different levels of people along the way and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual. Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

Jelli and Bekinney return to format and continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 20-23 of the anime. We're taking on "Elimination Round," "Smells Like Trouble," "Quarterfinals Begin," and "Monster Beast Giran", and then having a discussion about the characters we meet, specifically Bacterian, Jackie Chun, Nam, Ranfan, and Giran, their inspirations from cultural and literary history as well as where Toriyama may have been introduced to these concepts via film or television. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are on a new planet and face all new challenges Brief plot synopsis of episodes 20-23 of the Dragon Ball anime Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes A talk about some of the Easter Eggs in the episodes We talk about jokes that may not have translated well, characters who appear in the backgrounds, and the importance of the backgrounds and backdrops and settings we see A possible explanation of where the two monks who face Krillin come from and their roots as a manzai comedy duo Bacterian's inspirations from professional wrestling Jackie Chun's inspirations and how his name might have been different if Toriyama had been introduced to Jackie Chan via different means Ranfan's inspirations from Toriyama's time drawing lingerie ads Nam's inspirations from Buddhism Giran's inspirations from kaiju films Our opinions on the quarterfinal matches and their level of interest Whether the subversion of expectations in the brevity of Giran vs Goku works The inspiration for the tournament itself from the popularity of baseball in Japan and Fist of the North Star History of actual martial arts tournaments over the years, including similar winner-takes-all battles that took place in China hundreds of years ago and also a Chinese novel, Water Margin How Toriyama was likely not inspired by these actual tournaments or literary history but rather movies like King Boxer and Master of the Flying Guillotine The legacy of the Budokai Tenkaichi and how it impacted future manga moving forward and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual. Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

Jelli and Bekinney return to format and continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 15-19 of the anime. We're taking on "Look Out for Launch", "Find that Stone!", "Milk Delivery", "The Turtle Hermit Way" and at least part of "The Tournament Begins", and then having a discussion about the character of Launch (or Lunch, aka Ranchi) and her inspirations from cultural and literary history as well as where Toriyama may have been introduced to these concepts via film. Then we're dealing with Goku and Krillin's training, or Shugyo, and again, delving into where these concepts begin in literary and cultural history. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are adrift in space, with things looking more and more dire Brief plot synopsis of episodes 15-19 of the Dragon Ball anime Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes A quick aside about a couple moments towards the end of episode 19, where Goku and Krillin are wearing suits, and the setting for the tournament We explain where Launch's signature look came from We break down the confusion over her name and discuss why she's known as both Launch and Lunch We debate whether her good or bad side is the "normal" side, and draw a comparison between the bad side and a previous Toriyama character, Polly Buckets We talk about hammerspace We editorialize about Launch and her value to the story, whether we'd like to see her back and whether we're upset that she was more or less forgotten We discuss the Shugyo, or austere training, of Goku and Krillin at the hands of Master Roshi We talk about whether the training via unorthodox methods has any real-life parallels, and a bit about its connections to films a la The Karate Kid We compare the idea of Shugyo to the Chinese concept of xiulian, or refinement through fire We have a brief aside about calling it Shugyo vs simply training, and why we're for this episode at least, going with the former We compare the idea of self-cultivation and self-salvation as espoused in Eastern culture with the more traditionally Western idea of salvation through external means, and more pointedly, Christianity We discuss how there is no standard, set, single path in a shugyo method of training and cultivation. One can become a Buddha via multiple paths of self-cultivation There's an in-depth discussion of how the concept of Shugyo and ever-increasing challenge is the key to Dragon Ball's ability to steadily increase the stakes and keep the franchise going essentially forever; there's always a higher level We compare this concept of training and increasing stakes with the idea of getting into "the zone" or "a groove" when it comes to things in our day-to-day lives and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual. Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

Jelli and Bekinney are bored. So, they're pivoting once again from simply breaking down and discussing Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon and looking at a couple episodes of the show, and instead they're doing something BRAND NEW! They're interviewing a special guest In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are adrift in space We place a call to Dragon Ball scholar, Derek Padula, author of the Dragon Ball Culture series, as well as the books It's Over 9000! When Worldviews Collide, and Dragon Soul: 30 Years of Dragon Ball Fandom Derek's career accomplishments are highlighted, and we breeze through his resume as an author and content creator Derek provides his "origin story" as a fan of Dragon Ball A powerful moment, as Derek lays bare a low moment in his life and how the philosophy of Dragon Ball and mindset of Goku helped him to continue on Derek discusses how being a fan of Dragon Ball led to him studying the shaolin arts, and accumulating decades of knowledge about East Asian culture We ask Derek what inspired him to become an author and he unsurprisingly says it is his way of attempting to give back and help contextualize Dragon Ball for people to help everyone understand why it is so beloved. We discuss the writing process, the editing process, what self-publishing looks like in the 21st century for an author, how reviews can be so important to up and coming content creators (hint hint: leave us a review while you're at it) Derek gives insight into the level of detail to which he has studied Dragon Ball...every panel on every page, compared to hundreds of hours of pop culture content, movies, games, tv shows, books, and ancient history We talk about Toriyama's Dragon World and its escapism, and compare his mentality of crafting a world of fantasy opposite his own personality to other creative types Derek hints at other ideas he has including books on the anime, a Dragon Ball cook book, physics and math problems based on the feats of Goku and the Z Warriors, and even more commercial applications of his work We wrap up by asking Derek: What makes Dragon Ball still so popular and relevant today and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual. Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.   For more from Derek, feel free to follow him on Twitter @DerekPadula (https://twitter.com/derekpadula) , seek him out on Facebook, and make sure to visit https://thedaoofdragonball.com to stay up to date on Derek's pursuits.

Jelli and Bekinney return to format and continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episode 14 of the anime, "Goku's Rival" then have a discussion about the character of Master Roshi and his inspirations from cultural and literary history as well as where Toriyama may have been introduced to these concepts via film In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are adrift in space Brief plot synopsis of episode 14 of the Dragon Ball anime Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episode A quick aside about the state of the Dragon Ball franchise after the conclusion of the Pilaf arc We talk about how Kazuhiko Torishima wanted some changes made and the steps he and Akira Toriyama took to change Dragon Ball to make it more popular including looking at Yoshiyuki Okamura's (aka Buronson) manga hit Fist of the North Star for inspiration in not only tone, but paneling We discuss Master Roshi aka Muten Roshi aka The Turtle Hermit aka Kame-Sennin and what all these names mean We take a look at the legend of Kume Sennin, a Daoist monk who could once fly through the clouds until impure thoughts made him crash down to Earth (sound familiar?) We discuss how Daoism became intermingled with the idea of having concubines and being obsessed with young women There's extensive discussion down this line of thought, including the propensity for old men in fiction to be depicted as dirty old men, and a lengthy discussion about where we stand on Master Roshi's lecherous ways as viewers in more modern times We talk about the Toshiro Mifune movie The Great Bandit aka The Lost World of Sinbad aka Samurai Pirate which features a lecherous old hermit whose biggest weakness is boobs and discuss whether a young Toriyama may have seen that movie as Mifune was Japan's most popular actor when Akira Toriyama was a child (Jelli forgets to recall the name of the movie...and another similar movie known as Adventure in Kigan Castle which ALSO features a hermit helping a swashbuckling Mifune, though much less lecherous this time; apologies to director Senkichi Taniguchi and screenwriter Takeshi Kimura) We briefly touch on the legacy of Master Roshi and how a dirty-old-man mentor has become a trope in Shonen manga to this day, including in the popular manga/anime Naruto and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual. Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

Jelli and Bekinney take a break form looking at the creations of Akira Toriyama and instead talk about the man himself! Who is Akira Toriyama? Where did he come from? How did he get into manga?  In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney try to escape the caves We talk about Derek Padula, an author who has crafted the first English-language biography on Akira Toriyama in his book Dragon Ball Culture Volume 1 We talk about Toriyama's childhood life We learn about Toriyama's early obsession with drawing and animation The influences of a young Toriyama are discussed, especially his enjoyment of Showa-era television and movie entertainment including Godzilla, Ultraman, Osamatsu-kun, Astro Boy, Iron Man Number 28, Doraemon and some early manga by creators such as Osamu Tezuka, and Fujiko Fujio despite not being a big reader of manga himself. Toriyama's realization that to be a popular anime, you should have a popular manga Discussion of how Toriyama writes and creates while watching TV and movies We discuss Toriyama's initial years out of college in a salaryman job and how his non-professional attitude caused him to seek out something more fulfilling Toriyama's passion for building models and how that allows him to get a 360-degree view of things in order to learn how to draw them Toriyama's well-known antisocial tendencies and his desire to live as near a hermit lifestyle as possible Discussion of Toriyama's procrastination tendencies How a young, budding Toriyama got his first big shot from Kazuhiko Torishima, an editor with Shonen Jump The fusion of a manga-ka (Toriyama) who doesn't read manga, and an editor (Torishima) who also does not read much manga, and how that led the two of them to create a unique presentation Brief discussion of some of Toriyama's earliest publications in Shonen Jump including Wonder Island, Today's Highlight Island, Tomato Girl Detective, and ultimately, Dr. Slump How Arale-chan's glasses became part of her iconic look How Dr Mashirito, the villain, came to be designed after Torishima Discussion of Akira Toriyama's Crummy Manga Lab, a series of funny, short manga that were intended to semi-jokingly teach people how to be a manga-ka. How Toriyama creates Toribot, because of his desire to never be seen in pictures and avoid being recognized by people in public Toriyama falling in love, getting married, and how a snafu with press on his wedding day leads to his vow to never show his face in public An anecdote from Chris Sabat, the American voice of Vegeta, about meeting Toriyama in a public setting We discuss the pros and cons of Toriyama's near-hermitage and whether he owes his fans more A comparison between Stephen King's approach to writing and that of our titular manga-ka A comparison between Hideaki Anno's (creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion) approach to creation and that of Toriyama How Torishima had to push Toriyama along the way to be productive and ultimately create Dragon Ball How Yoshimi Kato, Toriyama's wife, helped create Dragon Ball with an off-hand comment to Torishima about the manga-ka's work habits A very brief discussion of how Dragon Ball Super is crafted, as a collaboration between Toriyama and his chosen successor, Toyotarou and more, including some general pop culture and editorializing, as usual. Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

With our March Madness Tenkaichi Tournament behind us and Future Trunks crowned the Basketball Tenkaichi, Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling the first arc of the manga, and then have a discussion of the Pilaf Arc to wrap up their review of the initial arc of Dragon Ball. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney find themselves trapped after an unfortunate encounter Brief plot synopsis of the end of the Pilaf arc and recapping the arc as a whole A few words about how this was almost the end of Dragon Ball, including sales figures as compared to Dr. Slump, Toriyama's first manga hit. We ruminate on whether the comparisons to Journey to the West will continue, now that the story will be spinning off into more uncharted territory. We briefly discuss how Toriyama and Torishima put their heads together to re-invent Dragon Ball moving forward and the lessons they learned from the sales and interest in the manga at this point We talk about the "arcs" of Dragon Ball and how they differ between manga and anime, because Toriyama himself has never organized or talked about the story in terms of arcs There is debate about the best name for the Pilaf Arc given that Pilaf is a more minor player overall, and we discuss whether it should be the Goku Arc, lumped into the Training Arc (along with what comes next) or dubbed some version of "The Journey to the West Arc" We break down the manga in detail, discuss what it did better or worse than the anime, and give some overall scores and ratings and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual. Join us, as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

Jelli and Bekinney continue their break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun! In this episode: It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 32 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical game of one-on-one basketball. We discuss the system used for determining outcomes. We break down our opponents in each matchup. In the Saiyan Region: Will Goku topple Nappa, will Vegeta defeat Caulifla, who will win when Broly encounters Future Trunks? Can Gohan defeat Bardock?   In the Earthling Region: Krillin vs Bulma, Android 17 vs Mr Satan, Yamcha vs Nam, Master Roshi vs Android 16 In the Villains Region: Can Frieza out-fox Hit? Will King Cold throttle Cooler? Who is more nefarious, Ginyu (in Dabura's body) or Buu? Will Jiren smash Cell?  In the Deity/Ally Region: Who will win when Beerus, Mr Popo, Nail, Puar, King Kai, Kabito, King Yemma, and Piccolo all face off? We take if from the round of 32, down to the Sweet 16, Head into the Elite Eight, jump into the Final Four, and then choose our champion! Who will reign supreme and be declared the number one under heaven in 1-on-1 basketball? Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

Jelli and Bekinney take a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun! In this episode: It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 64 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical game of one-on-one basketball. We discuss the system used for determining outcomes. We break down our opponents in each matchup. In the Saiyan Region: Will Goku topple Tarble, will Vegeta defeat Paragus, who will win when Broly encounters Goten? Will the timeline handle Future Trunks facing off against his younger self? Can Gohan defeat King Vegeta?  Can Cabba beat Bardock? Can Kale topple Nappa? Will Caulifla be able to defeat Raditz? In the Earthling Region: Krillin vs Yajirobe, Bulma vs Chiaotzu, Android 17 vs Ox King, Android 18 vs Mr Satan, Yamcha vs Chichi, Tien vs Nam, Android 16 vs Videl, Master Roshi vs Launch In the Villains Region: Can Frieza out-fox Mercenary Tao? Will Hit topple Recoome? Will Zamasu throttle King Cold? Who is more nefarious, Cooler or Pilaf? Who has the mad skills, Ginyu or Dabura? Will Buu beat down Android 19? Will Jiren smash Dr Gero? Can Cell prove to be more perfect than Garlic Jr? In the Deity/Ally Region: Who will win when Beerus, Oolong, Korin, Mr Popo, Nail, Elder Kai, Supreme Kai Shin, Puar, King Kai, Gregory, Dende, Kabito, Kami, King Yemma, Piccolo, and Jaco all face off? BUT FIRST: A little bit of news about the upcoming film Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 12 and 13 of the anime, "A Wish to the Eternal Dragon" and "The Legend of Goku" then have a discussion about the Great Ape, Oozaru, and its inspirations from kaiju film and television In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney find themselves trapped after an unfortunate encounter A call is placed for outside assistance Special Guest: Matt Parmely from the Kaiju Transmissions podcast joins our discussion Brief plot synopsis of episodes 12 and 13 of the Dragon Ball anime Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes Breaking down the most obvious influence of Oozaru, King Kong and his popularity in Japan, which bolstered that of Godzilla A debunking of the claim that Kong was Japan's first kaiju via an unearthing of some facts about the films King Kong Made in Japan and King Kong Appears in Edo What leads most people to claiming these are Japan's first kaiju films, and what we know to the contrary, despite the films being lost forever due to the bombing of Hiroshima A recommendation to check out the book, Kong Unmade, by John Lemay How King Kong influence Donkey Kong and Godzilla and Eiji Tsuburaya and Akira Toriyama The original name of Oozaru, kaibutsu-zaru, and its meaning How the Wolf Man (1941) influenced Oozaru Discussion of Sun Wukong's transformation abilities and how those literary roots influence Oozaru as well What Eastern mind-sets about one's consciousness and subconsciousness have to say about Goku's transformation Why cutting off the tail is the method of de-transformation A discussion of how the Oozaru form has ceased to be used in more recent years A bit of praise for Dragon Ball GT for bringing the form back to use A very brief discussion of what 'canon' is in the Dragon Ball franchise How the appearance of Oozaru affects all the characters, even the Pilaf gang, and makes them work together to survive What the most memorable moments of the Oozaru are How the form does some inversion of tropes and ideas, and potential ideas for how it could further be used for Toriyama's favorite idea of subverting expectations A plug for Kaiju Masterclass, an online convention, which includes interviews with Ryhuei Kitamura, Bear McCreary, Shusuke Kaneko, and more creators behind the Godzilla, Ultraman, Gamera, Evangelion, and other kaiju, tokusatsu, and related franchises. and more, including some general pop culture, kaiju trivia, and editorializing, as usual. Join us, and Matt,  as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 11 and half of 12 of the anime, "The Penalty is Pinball," and "A Wish to the Eternal Dragon" and then have a discussion about the character Shenron, and the concept of being granted a single wish. In this episode: Bekinney deals with his carnivorous ear slug Brief plot synopsis of episodes 11 and 12 of the Dragon Ball anime Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes An analysis of the pinball portion, which is filler and its potential inspiration point from the rock opera, Tommy, by The Who and Elton John's appearance in the movie A cultural background on East vs West views of dragons How Shenron is the same as and different from traditional Chinese Shenlong dragons How traditional Eastern ideas of Dragons lends to the idea of there being magical orbs The differences between kanji, katakana, and hiragana and how Toriyama uses these systems to give immediate visual cues to listeners Shenron's potential title as the dragon of god and what that might mean for the future The significance of the number of toes on Shenron, his antlers, and other aspects of his design Where the idea of dragons granting wishes originates What a person's wish reveals about who they are, especially each character in the show Jelli and Bekinney break down their ideal wishes The hosts argue about what immortality means in the context of a wish, including how it relates to potential physical damage and ones psychology How the idea of immortality plays into the concept behind the show The Good Place How Jelli's wish may tie in to the concept of a character in the Watchmen universe How the first wish of the show differs from the rest throughout the duration of the show The fallout of this first wish, and how it influences future actions, including a nod given to Dragon Ball GT and a bit of praise thrown the way of that oft-maligned show and more, including some general pop culture, Toriyama's use of setting (again), 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.

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 8, 9, and 10 of the anime, "The Kamehameha Wave," "Boss Rabbit's Magic Touch," and "The Dragon Balls are Stolen" and then have a discussion about the character Boss Rabbit/Monster Carrot, and Akira Toriyama's penchant for subverting tropes and expectations. This episode, released just 3 days after the beginning of 2022, features a discussion of Japan's New Year's traditions! In this episode: Our hosts find themselves on a windswept desolate wasteland and report on their findings Brief plot synopsis of episodes 8, 9, and 10 of the Dragon Ball anime Brief discussion of favorite moments from the anime episodes Importance of what these episodes reveal about Goku, including his ability to understand and immediately master the Kamehameha Wave Goku's inner awareness of his self and his truth The cultural influence behind the Bansho Fan and how it plays into the quest of Sun Wukong and Tang Sanzang from Journey to the West Discussion of the pop culture references from the episodes, including Gamera and how he's a play on Godzilla Recommendation to check out Arrow Video's releases of Gamera and Daimajin, particularly and especially Shusuke Kaneko's 1990s Heisei Gamera trilogy of films Discussion of Japan's Mochi Making Rabbit on the Moon, including the legend behind the story and how East Asian cultures see a rabbit in the craters on the moon We break down the mochi festival that takes place in Japan on New Year's every year How the episode may reference the Ultraman Taro episode "The Father of Ultra and Son Big Mochi-Making Strategy" and the kaiju Mochiron How Toriyama employs subversion and his ability to craft both familiar and simultaneously unpredictable narratives Comparison of Toriyama's use of subverting expectations to those of Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Avengers: Infinity War Who is better? David Benioff and Ben Weiss or Akira Toriyama?  How subversion of expectations can be done well, with an example using The Shining and Dr. Sleep and the books vs the movies, and comparing it to Toriyama's use of the mochi making rabbit on the Moon. and more, including some general pop culture, Toriyama's use of setting, 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.

Join Jelli and Bekinney as they delve further into Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 6 and 7 of the anime ("Keep an Eye on the Dragon Balls," and "The Ox King on Fire Mountain" and then have our typical in-depth discussion, focusing on the character of Chichi, and ultimately, the use of Fan Service and sexuality in Dragon Ball and anime as a whole. In this episode: Our heroes (or cowardly hosts) prepare to land on their first new planet Brief plot synopsis of the episodes listed above Brief discussion of favorite moments from the episodes Discussion of Fire Mountain and its basis in the Turpan Mountain range which is made of red sandstone and through which Xuanzang traveled. Literary inspiration behind Frypan Mountain from Journey to the West, including parallels between the story of Sun Wukong and that of Goku We discuss the Ox King and his titles as Demon Ox King and Emperor of Devils, and whether these are official titles. How the Ox Hermit of Journey to the West compares to the Ox King and how that influences his relationships to Goku and Master Roshi In-depth analysis of Chichi, Goku’s future wife. Our ill-conceived notion that she’s a simplistic character, little more than a love interest and wife/mother before understanding how she is more than that An analysis of how she fits as Goku’s love interest, including their similar dialects and slightly similar backgrounds How Chichi’s initial appearance is inspired by the Ultraman character, Ultraseven; a character created by tokusatsu legend Eiji Tsuburaya Recommendations on some Ultraman viewing, including Ultra Q and Neo Ultra Q The popularity of Lollicon in Japan in the 80s in particular and how that influenced Chichi’s design. Discussion of Lollicon, the Lolita Complex, a term coined due to the popularity of Vladimir Nobokov’s 1955 novel, Lolita, adapted into a 1962 film by Stanley Kubrick A discussion about sexuality and fan service in Dragon Ball, and whether the show’s more problematic elements have been acknowledged and/or corrected as the show has pushed forward into new decades, centuries, and millennia. We try to be unafraid to get our hands a little dirty on this one, and take an unflinching look at one of the more controversial elements of Dragon Ball and in truth, anime in general, and try to contextualize the use of sexuality while also not excusing it when it’s utilized poorly. Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise by analyzing Chichi and the use of sexuality in the franchise.

Welcome Super Elite Warriors to Final Forum! A podcast for the discussion of all things Dragon Ball. Join Jelli and Bekinney as they delve further into Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling episodes 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the anime ("The Emperor's Quest," "The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi," "Oolong the Terrible," and "Yamcha the Desert Bandit" and then have a discussion about the antagonistic characters Pilaf, Oolong and Yamcha. In this episode: Our hosts prepare to leave for their mission, again. Brief plot synopsis of the episodes listed above Brief discussion of favorite moments from the episodes A talk about whether the sexuality and sexual humor presented in these episodes are problematic A quick look at some of the readily obvious differences between the manga and anime An explanation of Flying Nimbus and its Japanese name Kintoun, which means Somersault Cloud. An explanation of the effects of Oolong's diarrhea pill, including the differences between the English "piggy piggy" and the Japanese "pipipi" A look at Emperor Pilaf, and his inner and outer hypocrisy and self-contradictions, most notably his Napoleon complex A discussion of what Pilaf's clothing means, including its reference to The Who, Tommy and Pinball Wizard. Who are Mai and Shu, Pilaf's underlings? We talk about whether Pilaf is a good or bad antagonist. Deep dive into Oolong, his name inspiration, from a Chinese tea, his connections to the Tang Dynasty, and his literary connections to the character Zhu Bajie from Journey to the West and how this character normally interacts with Sun Wukong and Xuanzang vs. how he interacts with Goku and Bulma Oolong's ability to transform and his connection to Japanese Oni demons A debate about whether Oolong is meant to represent communism, Mao Zedong, and/or Kim Jong Il (or Kim Jong Un, or North Korea) Yamcha, Bekinney's favorite character, and his connection to Journey to the West via the character Sha Wujing a man-eating sand-demon, who is known more as a river-bound character and how Akira Toriyama is subverting the expectation by having Yamcha be a desert bandit Bekinney's assertion that Yamcha is a Jobber A discussion of whether Yamcha is a joke and whether that's a bad thing Puar, Yamcha's constant companion, whose name is also based on a tea A discussion of Yamcha's status as a Lone Wolf, and his Wolf Fang Fist Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise by analyzing these original antagonists