Final Forum: A Dragon Ball Podcast

What happens when an independent artist unofficially adapts a Dragon Ball-free adaptation of a Dragon Ball video game into a light novel? Did that question even make sense?

 

Jelli and Bekinney are taking a quick break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at a novelization of the NES game: Dragon Power, inspired by the Worlds of Power book series.

In this episode:

Jelli and Bekinney pass through an asteroid belt

The Worlds of Power Book series, from its inception as an idea inspired by Seth Godin's conversations with his nephew about reading to its ultimate success

Nintendo's decision to pass on the Worlds of Power licensing

Random House's Godzilla books

A discussion of Quan Millz and Chuck Tingle

and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual 

Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

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What if… Dragon Ball were to implement a Secret Invasion type of story, with a race of Ginyu type aliens body swapping into various bodies? How would swapping two beings into the same body at the same time?

Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 71 through 75: "Goku is Ginyu and Ginyu is Goku," "Calling the Eternal Dragon," "Gohan, Defeat Your Dad," "Captain Ginyu…the Frog" and "Password is Porunga." We continue talking about the Ginyu Force, and this episode, zero in on Captain Ginyu, the namesake of the group.

In this episode:

Jelli and Bekinney pass a certain ringed planet

A decent batch of episodes

Vegeta’s outfits and the internal consistency (or lack thereof) of Saiyan armor stretching to fit its wearer

The man (?) of the hour: Captain Ginyu

Ginyu’s personality resemblances in WWE, including Ric Flair and the Ultimate Warrior

Ginyu’s physical resemblance to the Talosians of Star Trek

Whether Ginyu’s body is his original, which spirals into a conversation about how multiple body swaps would work simultaneously

What if: Ginyu’s species could ALL do the body swap and we had a Secret Invasion type of story in Dragon Ball with the Ginyus acting as the Skrulls

Should we have done a Frieza episode before a Ginyu episode?

Are Ginyu and Frieza stand-ins for Mephistopheles and Satan?

Nio, a pair of wrathful dharmpala who are guardians of Buddha and destroy obstacles to enlightenment, also known as Agyo and Ungyo

And invitation to be corrected on the connections we’re making

Ginyu and Frieza’s comparability to Orcus, Sauron and Galactus

and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual 

Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

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Prepare for Trouble! And make it...two. Two of the...the bad guys. Two of them. At the same time. A tag team of cosmic proportions, when the fastest man in the universe and...another guy team up to take on the forces of good.

Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 66 through 70: "Goku's New Power," "A Legend Revealed," "Ginyu Assault," "Incredible Force!" and "Frieza Approaches." We continue talking about the Ginyu Force, and this episode, zero in on Jeice and Burter, the two who operate as a tag team withing the unit.

In this episode:

The season is over...?

A good bunch of episodes again

Some trivia about Burter, his height and his involvement in Dragon Ball GT

A tangent into Ultraman Leo

Jessie the Body Ventura

The idea of punctuality and time management as it pertains to Japanese culture, and how the country was not always thought of as the bullet-train-driven hyper-efficient society it is now

Jeice or Jheese

Sticking with WWF/WWE bit of comparison with Jeice and Burter being like The Rockers, where Shawn Michaels betrayed Marty Jeaneatty, or a visual comparison point of The Road Warriors, especially with Road Warrior Hawk looking somewhat similar to Burter

Revisiting the history of punk in Japan

Tracing punk's history in Japan from Maruhachibu and Zuno Keisatsu into The Stalin and Hantarash and how punk's emphasis on visual style in Japan gave way eventually to Visual Kei

A brief history of visual kei, via the band X Japan and some American comparison points like Twisted Sister or Kiss

Jeice as a glam rock superstar

and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual 

Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

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They appear as a full team for approximately 1% of the franchise, and yet the Ginyu Force leave an indelible mark up Dragon Ball. How do they do it? Is it their flashy poses, their sense of style, their group dynamic? What is it about these five warriors that make them so memorable?

Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 61 through 65: "Hidden Power," "New Ally, New Problem," "Guldo's Mind Binds," "Recoome Unleashed," and "Let the Battle Begin." We are officially into the GINYU Saga and we're taking a look at the eponymous Ginyu Force, especially zeroing in on Recoome and Guldo.

In this episode:

Jelli and Bekinney are looking out the window. Still.

A much better batch of episodes

The Ginyu Force as a microcosm of Toriyama's sensibilities - subversive, parody, colorful, fun, powerful, self-contradictory, everything he likes

Breaking down the name Ginyu Tokusentai into a discussion of what toku and sentai might mean to American audiences

Talking about Super Sentai, including Shotaro Ishinomori, the creator of Kamen Rider and Super Sentai

Ishinimori as the Japanese counterpart to Jack Kirby

The impact of Super Sentai on the pop culture landscape and the more well-known American counterpart, Might Morphin Power Rangers

The Ginyu Force as a classic Disney trope of a second-in-command villain who's more of a bumbling oaf than a genuine threat

Breaking down Ginyu Puns; Ginyu - Dairy, Recoome - Cream, Guldo - Yogurt, Burter -Butter, Jeice - Cheese

Delving into Guldo or Gurd

His function as the Saibaman of the Ginyu Force

Possible comparisons to Herve Jean-Pierre Villechaize, who played Nick Nack in Bond film, the Man with the Golden Gun, and Tattoo on Fantasy Island

Possible comparisons to Danny Devito, due to the movie Twins with Arnold Schwarzenegger coming out at this time

Diving into Recoome

Is Recoome a robot?

Recoome as a blend of Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren, due to the popularity of Rocky IV at the time

and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual 

Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

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Have you heard that Dragon Ball Super Season 2 is coming soon? What about new movies? The continuation of the manga?

It’s that time of year where “Dragon Ball Super Season 2” ‘announcements’ plague the rumor mills and every talks about what to expect for 2026, so we’re here to, frankly…ruin everyone’s fun. It’s time to do some rumor control.

Join Jelli and Bekinney as we do a casual check-in with our friend Lux Edwards.

We talk about Dragon Ball Daima now that it has finished its Toonami airing, and we get into some rumor control. We break down what facts we know about Akio Iyoku, president of Capsule Corporation Tokyo, and his past history with Shueisha. We get into his friendship with Akira Toriyama, and into the ongoing legal stalemate between Capsule Corporation and Shueisha. We don’t out-and-out DEBUNK rumors, but we do tell you to bring some salt to sprinkle on all these rumors. We also bemoan the current lack of a successor to the Goku Black arc’s most hilarious dub line, that has to do with Trunks shouting “Don’t shoot!”

We also talk about Predator Badlands, The Chair Company, I Think You Should Leave, Tim Robinson, put a bow on Halloween, discuss upcoming Thanksgiving plans, and just kinda ramble. It’s a casual conversation and nobody felt much like editing, so just come hang with us.

Join us for this more casual conversation as we dig through our lives.

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