Tag Archives: dragon ball super

A Bird Among Dragons: Remembering Toriyama Akira

Posted on by

On a recent trip to Japan, I walked past a shrine. Next to that shrine were statues of Dragon Quest monsters. Seeing them reminded me of the sheer impact of those games and the artist whose memorable designs helped to entrench the series in Japan’s popular imagination.

We now live in an age where Toriyama Akira is no longer with us. As the creator of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump, as well as the iconic artist of Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger, his influence is nigh-unmatched. There are maybe two or three other series that are as pivotal to shounen manga as Dragon Ball, and Toriyama even casts an enormous shadow on the isekai and fantasy genres: The Dragon Quest series is what established the “Hero” (Yuusha),  the “Demon Lord” (Maou), and the “weak Slime” as archetypes in Japan’s popular imagination, and it’s Toriyama’s designs that inform the aesthetic of all successors.

In light of Toriyama’s tragic death at only 68 years old, I’d like to just talk about how my life has been touched by his work. My story is nothing special compared to the millions of voices mourning Toriyama, but I wanted to at least personally add to the well wishes pouring out.

Dragon Ball

Dragon Ball Z was the very first anime that I knew to be “anime.” While I had loved things like Voltron, they were still just “cartoons” to me. But when a relative started bringing home tapes of DBZ, it was a sight unlike any other. I remember just being amazed at the rapidfire punches, the zooming around, the ki blasts—I’d never realized animation could be this way! I cheered for Piccolo, watched characters (gasp) die, saw Son Goku turn Super Saiyan, and witnessed his son step up and defeat Cell. I wondered if anything could ever top this story. I wanted to be Gohan.

It was also a time when I got to play the first two fighting games for the Super Famicom, and when I’d re-read over and over a small guide to the first game that showcased all the playable characters. “What does Jinzoningen (“Android”) mean?” I recall wondering.

So when I first found out that DBZ was coming to US airwaves (for real, and not just finding a random channel that sometimes had Korean episodes of the original Dragon Ball), I was elated at the prospect of Dragon Ball Z getting big. Imagine: more American DBZ fans! While the English adaptations have had their differences with the original (as well as the non-English dub I first watched), Goku ultimately succeeded in reaching into the hearts of countless viewers. (I still wish those early US viewers got the chance to hear “Chala Head Chala,” though.)

Ironically, I was one of those people who’d go on to poo-poo the Dragon Ball franchise. As I got more into anime and manga, I viewed the series as a thing you’re into when you’re just a “beginner,” or obsessed with just macho violence and watching muscle-bound dudes power up endlessly, and I felt good that I knew there was more out there. It took a number of years to get through that embarrassing phase, but I’d eventually come back around to appreciate Dragon Ball for its outsize influence on culture, as well as for just being a work of art in itself. More recently, it’s been great seeing Dragon Ball Super be a thing, and for Toriyama to have worked to bring back the essence of Goku—as well as the balance of action and humor that Dragon Ball and Toriyama himself had been known for.

Dragon Quest

Dragon Ball Z was actually not my first encounter with Toriyama, and not even the first anime from Toriyama that I had seen. I was one of the kids who watched Dragon Warrior (aka the English dub of the anime Dragon Quest: Legend of the Hero Abel) as it aired. I remember having to wake up very early—around 5:30 or 6am on weekends. I don’t think about it very often, but in hindsight, the show was likely very formative for me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Daisy (the girl in blue armor) ended up influencing my taste in characters.

My family also subscribed to Nintendo Power, and we received a free copy of Dragon Warrior (aka the first Dragon Quest) as a result. Today, RPGs are a popular and beloved genre of video game, but back then, they were entirely new territory to most kids, and pretty unapproachable. However, the same relative who brought home DBZ tapes had decided that they were going to beat Dragon Warrior, and spent hours getting through the game as a young me would watch along. In the final battle, the evil Dragonlord reveals his true form as a giant bipedal dragon, and I remember just being in awe.

This was at a time when the Super NES had already come out, and I thought the Dragonlord looked almost on par with the graphics I saw there. The fact that his foot covered part of the dialogue box, and the way the screen froze instead of shaking every time he landed a blow made it feel like this was the ultimate adversary. It wasn’t until at least a decade later that I got to see Toriyama’s drawing of the Dragonlord that I realized just how closely the sprite graphic matched his original art, and I appreciated that memory all the more.

If Dragon Warrior was the game that pushed the boundaries of what an NES game could look like, then Chrono Trigger was a revelation. The 16-bit graphics and the greater color palette of the Super NES really brought Toriyama’s designs to life, and the game conveyed an intensity to RPG battles unlike any I’d seen up to that point. The only thing they paled in comparison to was Toriyama’s actual drawings of Chrono, Frog, Magus, and the others. While Chrono very obviously looked like a redheaded Goku, he was still unbelievably cool. And just as the Dragonlord was a mindblowing antagonist, so too was Lavos. The eeriness of music and visuals in the climactic confrontation with him is hard to match even to this day. 

Years down the line, Dragon Warrior finally became known as Dragon Quest just like in Japan, and I was one of the folks who bought Dragon Quest VIII. It wound up being one of my favorite RPGs ever. In addition to its classic feel  (Dragon Quest is famous for not trying to reinvent the wheel), the game really felt like stepping into the world of Toriyama’s art. It was a triumph of the PlayStation 2, but also a treat for those who always wanted to see an interactive environment that embodied his imagination and aesthetic.

A Farewell

Toriyama Akira’s life was a spark that inspired creators to bring their ideas to life, bridged culture gaps through the sheer power of his work, and even pushed people to exercise and train so that they could be like Goku. His name is synonymous with anime, manga, video games, and even indirectly light novels. And while I can’t call myself the most diehard Toriyama fan, he clearly took my life on a course that would embrace the wonders of Japanese popular culture—a path I still pursue to this day. Rest well, King. To say you deserve all your praise and accolades is the understatement of a lifetime.

The Prince of All Rating Systems: The Vegeta Level

Posted on by

There are many areas in which we can judge anime and manga. We can talk about animation quality, narrative consistency, excitement factor, or even just emotional resonance. Recently, I’ve come up with a system that I think provides a new perspective on how we view titles—I call it the Vegeta Level.

Named after the Prince of All Saiyans from Dragon Ball, determining a work’s Vegeta Level starts with a simple question: “How many Vegetas are in this?” In other words, are there any characters who embody—in part or in whole—the qualities of Vegeta, and if so, how many of these characters are there? Vegeta qualities include but are not limited to: short, spiky hair, intense, arrogant, a rival status, current or former villain with a smidge of emotional development. Sometimes, there’s an intangible quality where you can’t quite say why they’re a Vegeta, but you can definitely feel it. 

A series with a relatively high Vegeta Level can have one extreme Vegeta, or it can have so many partial Vegetas that they add up to one or more whole Vegetas. The degree to which each Vegeta quality is present can also factor in. For reference, Vegeta himself is 10 out of 10 Vegetas.

The genesis of this idea actually came from the volleyball anime Haikyu! When I first started watching, one of my recurring thoughts was, “There sure are a lot of Vegeta-like characters in this show.” Hinata and Nishinoya are both short, spiky-haired hotheads with something to prove. Kageyama is a scowling and hyper-competitive “king.” Tsukishima has all the arrogance in the world. And then, as you expand to the other teams, the number of Vegetas only grows—see Bokuto to some extent, and especially Hoshiumi. There’s Vegeta-like energy in all of them.

Even though there’s a clear standard for this metric—Vegeta—there’s still room for subjectivity. In a sense, how you perceive a Vegeta is as much based on how you see Vegeta, whether you’ve actually read/watched Dragon Ball or not. Bakugo in My Hero Academia is very clearly a Vegeta, but how Vegeta is he? One could argue that only Vegeta should be a 10 out of 10, but Bakugo is so nasty and angry and has such a character arc that he might be considered just as Vegeta if not moreso.

So let’s work through an example. Dragon Ball is clearly at least Very Vegeta due to the man himself. Are there any other Vegetas? Technically, there are literal relatives of Vegeta in here, but this is more about personality and archetype. Of his kin, his dad King Vegeta is probably around an 8/10, and Future Trunks (but not modern-day Trunks) is more like a 6/10. Among antagonists/rivals, Tienshinhan, Cell, Piccolo, and Frieza are all fairly Vegeta—I’d say about 4/10, 5/10, 6/10, and 7/10 respectively. From that rough look, that’s 49 Vegeta points. Again, it’s not wholly objective, much like the star rating system in professional wrestling, so there’s room for argument.

So what use does the Vegeta Level have? Well, if you like Vegeta, it’s probably a great way to find a series that interests you. But also, Vegeta as a character is so embraced not just by fans but also shounen manga in general, and I think the presence of Vegeta-like characters are a way to give a series an extra edge without necessarily making it “edgy.” That being said, an all-Vegeta series would make for about the edgiest thing ever.

Does such a series exist? One friend suggested to me at least one series that could outstrip it: The Sopranos. According to him, practically every character in that show is a high degree of Vegeta. 

Food for thought: Could there theoretically be a work with a Vegeta Level that’s over 8000 or 9000?

In Defense of Jiren

Posted on by

The Dragon Ball franchise is famous for many things, and one of them is its gallery of iconic antagonists. Piccolo, Vegeta, Freeza, and Cell are some of the big names Goku has faced over the years, and they each make a lasting impression. The recent Dragon Ball Super series introduced a major antagonist in its multiversal “Tournament of Power” arc, a mighty warrior from another universe named Jiren. But unlike the others, Jiren is considered by many fans to be a disappointingly generic villain. It’s an argument I can see, but in the end one I don’t quite agree with.

Indeed, if you take Jiren as a villain, he seems to just be generic in his obsession with power and sacrifice–just another big body for Goku to overcome. However, this approach to Jiren’s character isn’t quite accurate: Jiren may be opposing Goku, but he’s not a villain. He’s a hero of his own world, one he presumably has defended from threats comparable to the ones Goku has faced, and he gained his power through the circumstances and decisions that comprise Jiren’s experience.

The crucial difference between Goku and Jiren is that the latter’s life is full of pain and loss that made him choose a life of isolation and rejection. Where Goku would defeat and befriend those he faced, Jiren would destroy. Where Goku attains power for self-improvement and new experiences (i.e. fight stronger opponents), Jiren does it almost out of a sense of obligation or duty. Where Goku is goofy, Jiren is dead serious. What Goku has to overcome when fighting Jiren is not some evil machinations or even a chaotic force like Majin Buu, but a different in philosophy borne from a universe that did not have a Goku.

Put another way, Jiren could have been the protagonist of his own anime or manga, one where suffering and cynicism dominate. Perhaps you can think of a couple of titles that fit the bill. But just like how Goku embodies certain values as the core of Dragon Ball, Jiren would be the center of his own narrative and all that such a scenario entails.

So Jiren might come across as “uninteresting,” and he might not necessarily be as compelling a foe as the most well-known villains of Dragon Ball, but he acts as a different kind of foil. If ever he shows up again, there’s plenty of room to explore his character.

His Characterization is Maximum: “Dragon Ball Super: Broly”

Posted on by

There’s an old and famous picture from a newspaper’s children’s section, where they asked kids, “If you could be a superhero, who would you be?” In response to this question, a boy named Markus answered, “Broly from Dragon Ball Z. His power is maximum.” But while people online have gotten lots of laughs from this innocent answer over the years, Markus’s words almost perfectly encapsulate the character of Broly, the Legendary Super Saiyan.

As an antagonist, Broly was always a one-dimensional character whose primary trait is being ridiculously and impressively powerful. To be fair, the way it’s portrayed in his appearances leaves a lasting impression, and has a clear, primal appeal to Dragon Ball Z fans. However, he’s ultimately a simplistic villain to be overcome by blasting him harder.

The character is also non-canon, appearing only in Dragon Ball Z anime films, which is why it’s rather significant that the creator of Dragon Ball himself, Toriyama Akira wrote the script for Dragon Ball Super: Broly. It not only means introducing Broly into the Dragon Ball universe proper, but also an opportunity to transform this flimsy rage machine into a fully fleshed character.

On a skeletal level, Super Broly is basically the same character: an instrument of revenge for his father, Paragus, against Vegeta  (the son of the man he hates most, King Vegeta), who goes berserk and must be stopped by Son Goku and his allies. There are a couple of crucial changes, however.

First, in the original Broly film, Broly is shown as having an inadvertent deep-seated trauma caused by Goku when they were fellow infants, which causes him to wantonly attack Goku. This no longer is a thing, and when he and Goku fight as adults, they’re meeting for the first time. Second, in the new film, Broly is shown as being ridiculously strong and terrifying but ultimately innocent inside—as if his personality isn’t inherently that of a fighter.

Both are smart choices that lay the groundwork for making Broly a properly three-dimensional character. The Goku grudge used to come across as largely a flimsy device to get Broly in direct conflict with the hero of the story, and it kind of punks out Vegeta in the process. Without it, his background focuses more on him being unfairly raised by his own father to be a tool for revenge, and the different ways in which Goku, Vegeta, and Broly have been shaped by their upbringings and experiences. An extensive background story in the first half of the film highlights these differences.

That being said, I don’t want to make this film sound like a deep look into character psyches, as it’s mostly one gigantic fight scene full of the fast and frenetic combat Dragon Ball is known for. However, those crucial differences between Goku, Vegeta, and Broly come out even as they’re pummeling each other. Goku’s Earth-bases martial arts background, Vegeta’s elite Saiyan training, and Broly’s mostly unrefined berserker rage are all conveyed in the action, which does a lot of showing instead of telling somewhat reminiscent of Mad Max: Fury Road.

A few bits of welcome comedy alongside some new characters help keep Dragon Ball Super: Broly from feeling too heavy—a clear indication of Toriyama’s hand in the process. Overall, it ends up being a really solid film, and one that manages to give depth and meaning to a pure power fantasy character like Broly without taking away the strength that made him popular in the first place.

 

[APT507] Dragon Ball Super and the Tournament of Power: Combining Two Unlikely Story Narratives!

Posted on by

I’ve previously made it known that I’m a fan of Dragon Ball Super. Now, I’ve wrote a post about why I think the latest arc, the Tournament of Power, is something quite special. Check it out on Apartment 507!

How Dragon Ball Super Made Dragon Ball Better

Posted on by

trunkscrying

Surprising even to me, it turns out Dragon Ball Super is actually really good. I’ve written a small post detailing how Dragon Ball Super has improved upon its predecessors. Take a look!