Messages and themes

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Perfect
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Messages and themes

Post by Perfect » Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:24 pm

Dragon Ball being a shonen series has tons of messages and themes in it. Looking back on them, a lot of them are pretty well conveyed due to the straight-forwardness of the series. One of my favorites is the whole teamwork motto that we see from start to finish, granted it's really reiterated in the Buu saga. I also loved the never give up (shonen spirit) theme we constantly saw, along with giving mercy to your enemy (that's one thing I always liked about Goku). What themes/messages/mantras can you find? Which of these did you like?

Let's also not forget the anime has some that're separate from the manga due to filler. Which of those did you enjoy the most? The goal of this thread is to not only see what users liked what themes the most, but to try and list all of them in one index.
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dprez
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Re: Messages and themes

Post by dprez » Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:51 pm

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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Piccolo Daimao » Sat Feb 04, 2012 7:55 pm

"There are no limits." (the characters always manage to break beyond what everyone, including themselves, believe as their wall of power)

"No matter how strong you think you are, there will always be someone greater." (stated by both Kame-sennin and Mr. Popo, and established by the ever-growing power scale)

"What doesn't kill me makes me stronger." (which is literalized by the Saiyans' Zenkais)

Um...I guess you could argue that "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" is another motto, what with many of Gokuu's enemies becoming his friends in the end.
Last edited by Piccolo Daimao on Sun Feb 05, 2012 10:35 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Saiyajin no Tatsujin » Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:56 pm

"Be sure to brush your teeth often." ~ Majin buu

8)

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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Son Geeko » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:24 am


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Re: Messages and themes

Post by FindKenshi » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:26 am

Saiyajin no Tatsujin wrote:"Be sure to brush your teeth often." ~ Majin buu

8)
:lol: Dear Buu, you are more hygienic than any of the other good guys. Well, except for Bulma, at least, she has established hygiene habits, and insisted on bathing Goku. Krillin, on the other hand, must be nearing Bacterian levels of stench by now. Good thing Dr. Gero removed no. 18's olfactory organs.

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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Saiyajin no Tatsujin » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:53 am

FindKenshi wrote:Krillin, on the other hand, must be nearing Bacterian levels of stench by now. Good thing Dr. Gero removed no. 18's olfactory organs.
:lol: Especially after fighting that bacteria infested guy in that tournament when he was younger. :P

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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Hades » Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:36 pm

I couldn't help but notice a Semi-Luddite theme as technology is almost always depicted as a negative influence (For example, only the bad guys ever use technology, apart from the Dragon Radar and the good guys only get through to namek via an ancient and probably obsolete ship)
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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Perfect » Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:41 pm

I can't say I ever thought of it that way, but it really makes sense if you look at the Cell saga.
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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Eire » Sun Feb 05, 2012 6:50 pm

Isn't the main female character an engineer? Big Good went to Namek by ship made by Earth scientist, characters use and enjoy quite developed devices.

I'm also not sure about working and powering up- it turns that no matter what happen nobody will be even close to main character's level.

My favourite moral- twice pride, double fall. The whole message of Frieza Saga. He had lots of occasions to finish everyone, but he was so short sighted that he forgot about the "always better" conclusion.
Second- do what you are designated to and never want people to praise you, because awareness of your own strength is the greatest prize. Our heroes had all rights to be angry about Mr.Satan's position and their one word could destroy his reputation, but they choose to remain in shadow, (and eventually use him as a voice-tube), because fame had nothing to offer them.
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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Hades » Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:11 am

Eire,

Aside from travel, we even never see communications technology being integrated into the protagonists' life (for instance, between Dragonball and Z, there was no communication between Goku and his friends, and nobody aside from Piccolo and Goku, but they had insider knowledge from the future, knew that Bulma had a child between Freeza's death and the arrival of the androids). I mean, the scouter recovered from Raditz alone would have made significant leaps in terms of technology (as well as the Saiyan pods and Dr. Briefs' ship for that matter), but we never see that potential fully utilised even after 10 years.
TrunksTrevelyan0064 wrote:
Scarz wrote:Like using a flamethrower to kill an ant.
Hey, a lv.100 Charizard vs a wild lv.4 Caterpie. It happens.

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Eire
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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Eire » Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:07 am

And Capsules are magical too:P Healing tanks are eeevilll!
The fact that they didn't communicate was for me a lack of second thought from Toriyama. Even if they are so against technology they always have letters (yes, people used to maintain bond that way and it worked) and Goku's Nimbus that allow him travelling fast and free. (I know that people fell apart, but Goku didn't have toons of new colleagues in absorbing work that prevents him from paying a short visit or even write to the most important people in his life).

We don't see technology being spread, because there's no main theme in DB. Since elements have nothing to do with our heroes and the brain of the group was separated there were no purpose in developing that thread.
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Re: Messages and themes

Post by peter291 » Mon Feb 06, 2012 12:24 pm

Well, my favourite themes, I actually had to think a while to list it:

1. Friendship theme in general. When there was that feeling that everybody could rely on eachother. The Saiyan arc is the best for me, in this particular aspect.
2. Elder, wise masters. I loved when Kame-sennin was pictured as a great teacher, an authority.
3. Good over evil.
4. Training, when thanks to hard work warriors could achieve everything.
5. I personally also like Vegeta being cocky and then having his ass beaten :lol:

In general, I associate the sentimental aspect of Dragon Ball with watching anime as a kid. Polish TV version was slightly different than the original one. First thing, it was censored and seemed more serious [certainly there was also a lot of humor :) ], the language was less colloquial than this one in the manga- which translation is apparently very close to the japanese version. But now when I'm older I appreciate original Dragon Ball, uncut with japanese dubbing, it's something different.

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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Wobbuffet » Mon Feb 06, 2012 2:41 pm

Basically effort, friendship and victory.
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Hades
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Re: Messages and themes

Post by Hades » Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:24 pm

peter291 wrote:Well, my favourite themes, I actually had to think a while to list it:

1. Friendship theme in general. When there was that feeling that everybody could rely on eachother. The Saiyan arc is the best for me, in this particular aspect.
2. Elder, wise masters. I loved when Kame-sennin was pictured as a great teacher, an authority.
3. Good over evil.
4. Training, when thanks to hard work warriors could achieve everything.
5. I personally also like Vegeta being cocky and then having his ass beaten :lol:

In general, I associate the sentimental aspect of Dragon Ball with watching anime as a kid. Polish TV version was slightly different than the original one. First thing, it was censored and seemed more serious [certainly there was also a lot of humor :) ], the language was less colloquial than this one in the manga- which translation is apparently very close to the japanese version. But now when I'm older I appreciate original Dragon Ball, uncut with japanese dubbing, it's something different.
I think theme no.4 was somewhat undermined by Mr. Satan shown hogging all of the credit for threats that he didn't deal with (except for Buu) and everyone believing him.
TrunksTrevelyan0064 wrote:
Scarz wrote:Like using a flamethrower to kill an ant.
Hey, a lv.100 Charizard vs a wild lv.4 Caterpie. It happens.

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