When I was about eight years old, I remember watching this particularly unique scene of a television program. Saturday morning cartoons were one of my favorite things, as with many children of the 90s I suspect. I was a big fan of them, mostly the superhero ones (Spider-man and X-Men in particular). However, this scene was unlike any I'd ever seen before.
In some vast desert area, seemingly a dry wasteland made up of quarries and plateaus, several people were engaged in combat. More than that, these people were fighting for their lives. Even though there were no other people around beyond the combatants, I still sensed there was much at stake. The characters emoted with such gravitas (the rock and synth soundtrack certainly amplified the emotions) and intensity it made the battles of Spidey and Wolverine seem childish by comparison.
A short bald man (with no nose, although I never really noticed or cared until many years later), a young boy not much younger than myself and that boy's father were engaged in a battle of life or death with a giant armored gorilla who was cackling madly. I can't remember many of the specifics of the episodes beyond that point, but I quickly gathered that these people were superheroes of sorts. Each of them had powers. These included, but were not limited to: super speed, super strength, flight and (coolest of all) shooting destructive energy beams from their hands!
Somehow this was all connected with martial arts and the heroes could sense the presence of others like them, and increase their power (usually by flexing and screaming). Also, the bad guy they were fighting had many of the same powers but he was from space. They were fighting a giant evil gorilla from space. Maybe my early love of Godzilla movies helped provide some insight into that concept. After all, those usually involved giant monsters sent from space. Except, usually the humans couldn't tangle with those beasts. So, these guys were on par with Godzilla. Little did I know, they could probably outclass my favorite radioactive lizard.
Yes, that was my first introduction to Dragon Ball Z and eventually Dragon Ball as a whole many years later. It was so bizarre and unique compared to anything else American kids were watching at the time. It was imaginative and had a little bit of everything. There were aliens, magic, superpowers, martial arts, robots and talking animals. Honestly, it was also much more violent and with stakes of such magnitude that it easily dwarfed other shows. The characters also talked and moved and looked so different that all the other stuff. Many years later I would learn that this was my introduction to a style of storytelling called anime.
Most importantly for me, and probably for most of the other viewers as well, is that for as bizarre as the show seemed, there was something truly captivating about it. The world was wacky but had a rich lore that I simply wanted to tune in to find out more. Perhaps most importantly though, some of the basics of age-old storytelling were expressed in a grand and operatic fashion. It was a struggle of good and evil. The good guys working together to protect each other and their world from a seemingly more powerful and truly evil force. A tale that young people can grasp and, in its simplified way, represents a struggle we all feel we deal with in some capacity throughout our lives. Even if these evils aren't exactly individuals we can easily label as such, they can be tragedies or difficult situations or even our own internal struggles to overcome. The characters were archetypes to latch onto but still so well-defined. You wanted to fight with them. You wanted to be them.
Beyond the coolness factor of whatever undetermined factors make something more popular than something else, Dragon Ball had that unique blend of fantasy and science-fiction mixed with a wholesome core of optimism. The characters were often simple but memorable. The action was fast-paced and on scales that pushed the boundaries of the ridiculous. Even when the show did go to dark places, there was always a reminder not to take it too seriously. Few series I've seen have maintained such a balance of fun while consistently sustaining tension. "Next time on DRAGON BALL Z!"
I have so many memories of the series that stand out to me that I'll have to limit myself so this blog entry doesn't go on too long (it might be though anyway).
Since I didn't have access to many channels growing up, I rented them from the video store. This was usually about 3 to 4 episodes per tape. Eventually, my mom was kind enough to start buying them for me when Hollywood Video stopped at the Garlic Junior Saga. I owned all the episodes up to Cell reaching his final form. I watched from Trunks's arrival all the way up to this point I have no idea how many times. Before then I had watched the Ocean dub on WB in the early mornings at a neighbor's house. In those days I looked forward to the mornings purely for opportunities to watch and record these episodes (along with Beast Wars of course).
Anyway, my first VHS purchase was with the arrival of the Ginyu Force. Immediately, I could tell something was different. The music was different (good old Bruce), the voices were different and the characters were bleeding! I couldn't exactly figure it out, but something about the early Funimation Dub revealed that DBZ could indeed be more intense, dark and deliver riveting storytelling. It's interesting to think that even beyond all the translation errors, censorship issues and musical changes, something about the core essence of Dragon Ball would reach its viewers in all the versions (well maybe except for Big Green). I think that speaks to the true magic of the work of Akira Toriyama and all the other artists and creators behind the franchise.
Ginyu punches a hole in his chest. Goku's lost his body. Freeza arrives. He transforms, causing the planet to flood as his flexes his power with his aura of energy. Vegeta weeps. Krillin is lost. Super Saiyan transformation. The planet tears itself apart. Freeza begs for his life. Trunks arrives. Androids. Cell. Piccolo fuses with Kami.
So many great moments.
Beyond all these though, I think what's most important is in how the series impacted me outside of the confines of its own wonderful story.
Like many other authors and artists, Toriyama inspired me to use those creative parts of my brain. Even since I was very young, I loved exploring these fantastic worlds. My earliest memories of storytelling were little mini-arcs I had in my mind of future Dragon Ball stories and battles. Usually, these were the return of old villains, but I enjoyed using my imagination to explore these new possibilities. In a way, the origins of my inspiration as a writer and storyteller started with some fanfiction of my own based on these characters I loved so much.
Many years later, I finally got around to writing a fantasy novel, The Black Tree. Much of that story is really modeled on various classical high fantasy stories. Although there is probably more Tolkien, Robert E. Howard and even Stephen King than Toriyama in that book, there is one key element that I was very much inspired by Dragon Ball. This was the titular tree itself.
As anyone with even a casual knowledge of the franchise knows, Dragon Ball has a dense lore. Not to mention, there are various spin-offs and alternate universe fan theories and all types of conversations to be had about many aspects of the story and characters. Anyway, there is a Dragon Ball movie called The Tree of Might. You can probably guess where this is going.
In this non-canon movie (which is one of my favorites of these wonderful tidbits of DB), the villain, Turles, plants a giant evil tree which slowly sucks the life force out of the planet. The evil Saiyan then consumes the fruit of the tree, thereby increasing his power. That's kind of the end of it, but the visual of the giant tree of evil sucking the life out of the planet was such a frightening and riveting visual and overall concept to me. That's pretty much all of Dragon Ball that I incorporated into my first novel, but it's the main plot point of the book and reflective of some of the basic themes.
For over a decade, I have been making video essays, vlogs, podcasts and various other videos on YouTube and writing blogs about pop culture. The origin of this comes from Dragon Ball too. I started the channel to talk about comics that I liked and discuss the themes and characters of the series. In college, I rediscovered the series and finally learned about the manga and started exploring various aspects of the series. I made connections with many people online including subscribers who shared the love of the show and other anime series. I made friendships with people across the country and world and collaborated on projects. We had many great conversations and had some good laughs. I became part of a community and made some great memories.
This all stemmed from a show that my sister and I watched together all those years ago. This was all before we knew about anime or manga or dubs vs subs ect. We probably didn't know much about Japan beyond the general concept, and yet we connected with that show. Dragon Ball (and a bit of Sailor Moon) was the connection that led to my sister introducing me to anime as a concept. Then came Inuyasha, Toonami, Adult Swim and then Cowboy Bebop, Evangelion, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Berserk and so many more. Dragon Ball was the gateway to a medium that my sister and I would bond over and discuss the merits and faults of. Eventually, I would share such discussions with friends in D&D sessions and movie nights.
So, Dragon Ball has inspired and impacted in many ways much as it has other people throughout the years. It is a series that I loved probably more than anything else, at least at that very young age. In some ways, it may be most important series in my life. I might even be so bold as to say that it's my favorite show of all time. Heck, it's my favorite fictional world of all time. That's not to say Spider-Man. Star Wars/Trek, X-Files, Sopranos or Breaking Bad are necessarily worse things to love. I think Dragon Ball might be the one I loved the most. Or at least, I've loved the longest and most consistently.
No matter how many years go by, I seem to always come back to it. It makes me happy. It's made many people happy.
I'm glad to have made this connection to this work that came from the mind of creative human being.
I wish I had been able to have met Akira Toriyama. In a way though, maybe I already have. Thank you so much.
Stay magical everyone.
Joe
