Final Forum: A Dragon Ball Podcast

The Yellow Robed Demon King? Who is that? Does he remind us of Goku Black? Or Baby from Dragon Ball GT? OR Captain Ginyu? What makes the 1986 adaptation of Journey to the West so endearing?

In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney take another look at 1986 Chinese television event, Journey to the West. It began as part of our October viewing where we take a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon and delve into times our franchise's creators have "put on a costume" and worked on other shows and movies. Now, it's extending into BONUS ROUNDS, where we'll occasionally look back at the show and see what else we can discuss.

 

In this episode:

Catch-up time! Do we have any further news about Dragon Ball Age 1000 or the return of Dragon Ball Super? What plans do we have for the our show right now? Join us to find out!

We discuss YOUR results from the poll YOU voted in!

We discuss why we chose to look at Journey to the West

The reception of the show and its legacy

Plans to continue breaking down the show in the future

...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 ever wondered why Goku can sometimes punch someone and it blows up a mountain nearby and other times blast someone with a full power Kamehameha and it barely ruffles anyone's hair?

Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 96 through 101: "Explosion of Anger," "Namek's Destruction?" "A Final Attack," "Approaching Destruction," Gohan Returns," and "The Last Wish." As we continue on into the Frieza Saga, we focus on Goku and Frieza's battle and talk about their ability to control their ki.

In this episode:

Jelli and Bekinney are face-to-face with....something new

A slight step back up for the episodes, because despite the pacing still being slow, the plot has things happening

Toriyama's Dragon World as spiritual, rather than religious

Ki as a metaphysical energy

Metaphysics. What is it? Why is it important? What is the difference between a spacetime relativist and a spacetime absolutist?

The difference between energy, ki, and power

Ki as a Daoist idea and the concept of the infinite, both outside ourselves and within

The connotations of Ki

How ki refinement can change one's aura

How the ideas of ki control are built from Dragon Ball's foundations, and how this is important to understand for everything moving forward

Goku's ability to control his ki vs Frieza's inability and how their external struggle is a manifestation of their own internal battles

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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Note: The audio is less than ideal for Jelli during the opening 3 minutes, but improves drastically during the topic-of-discussion.

It's one of anime's most iconic moments, but did you know it has its basis in Buddho-Daoist traditions and the yin-yang cycle of energy? Let's talk about SUPER SAIYANS in today's episode!

Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 91 through 95: "Embodiment of Fire," "Trump Card," "Keep the Chance Alive!" "Power of the Spirit," and "Transformed at Last." As we continue on into the Frieza Saga, we focus on Goku's transformation into a Super Saiyan and the importance of the moment.

In this episode:

Jelli and Bekinney CAN escape...but SHOULD they?

A slight step down for episodes, as the pacing really hurts some of what's happening here

Focusing this discussion on Goku and Vegeta for reasons that will become clear

Dragon Ball as a story about growth, even if that growth is incremental

Why Dragon Ball's spectacle is not empty and how having something underneath spectacle makes the fireworks all the more satisfying

The key conflict of the Frieza Arc

A narrow mind vs an open mind

How Goku brings these two ideas together and how that helps him transform

Goku's philosophy of pushing himself to his limits and beyond and how Frieza's ruthlessness gives Goku no other choice but to transform

A discussion of yin and yang and the taijitu

How older Daoist texts refer not to black and white, but to red and blue

Blue and red make...gold?

Sudden enlightenment in Buddhism, satori, and how that influences the Super Saiyan transformation

Attempting to rank the three biggest/most memorable Super Saiyan transformations against one another

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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You may know Frieza is based on real estate agents, but do you know why? Do his design quirks point to a deeper cultural connection to Japan's history with relating to outsiders (aka foreigners aka 'aliens')?

Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 86 through 90: "The End of Vegeta," "The Ultimate Battle," "Clash of the Super Powers," "Frieza's Boast," and "Bold and Fearless." As we dig into the Frieza Saga, we focus-in on the man himself and dive deep on discussing Lord Frieza.

In this episode:

Jelli and Bekinney are trying to plan an escape from the swirling dimensional vortex

An overall solid batch of episodes, and we discuss why they seem more tolerable at the pace we've been going than they have in the past

A reminder about Demon King Piccolo and how his children were born in the past

Toriyama's decision to draw Frieza as purely evil in his first appearance and how that influenced his style of speech

Frieza being partially modeled after Yu Kondo, and a promise to cover Toriyama's second editor in a future episode

A discussion of oni, largely because Frieza has horns, but also because he can transform, and is alien

How oni folklore in Japan has its roots in a fear of the unknown and outsiders

A brief mention about The Devil, aka Satan, aka Lucifer from Christianity but not much discussion: we trust our listeners to pick up on the obvious symbolism there

Frieza's basis in Japanese culture as a real estate developer/land prospector

The Japanese Bubble Economy, its history, how it happened, how it burst, and the fallout

Nui Onoue, Japan's Bernie Madoff, who wound up billions of yen in debt due to bad investments

Shusuke Kaneko's (director of the Heisei Gamera trilogy, as well as Godzilla: GMK) own Bubble Economy movie: Linking Love

The Godzilla movie that reflected the Bubble Economy: Godzilla vs King Ghidorah from 1991

Frieza's transformations

Frieza's biggest comparison point in American comics, in our opinion, Mr. Sinister from the X-Men 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

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Is Piccolo his own person or a re-incarnation of Demon King Piccolo? If he's his son why does he have his memories and his connection to Kami? If he's a reincarnation why does he become good and speak of himself as if he's a different person?

Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 81 through 85: "Deja Vu," "Frieza's Second Transformation," "Another Transformation?" "Dende's Demise," and "The Renewed Goku." We begin the Frieza Saga, and focus on the person who has had their context changed most by these adventures on Namek: Piccolo.

In this episode:

Jelli and Bekinney are still alive

A decent batch of episodes, but some pacing issues to be sure

A reminder about Demon King Piccolo and how his children were born in the past

Piccolo Jr as contextualized by the Shinto concept of a bunshin

How Bunshin compare to Buddhist reincarnation cycles

How reincarnation cycles lead to the concept of a mindstream, which is akin to the Olympic torch, but for one's thoughts and soul

What concepts from Daoism influenced Piccolo giving birth to Piccolo Jr by spitting up an egg

Some symbolism with Goku destroying the Demon part of Demon King Piccolo

The way this relates to Namekians, the Namekian concept of fusion, and Nail and Piccolo's fusion

Namekians, their name puns, their physiology, and how that may all be influenced by the decision to name them after slugs

Guru's (or Grand Elder) unlocked potential ability

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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https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD

https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985

https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/