How long until Mr Popo gets cancelled?

[DBZAOTA482]

Mr. Popo isn't important enough of a character to catch the public eye. Besides, one woman tried to cancel him but it fell dead-ears.

[Xeno Goku Black]

When people on Twitter start crying.

[DBZAOTA482]

When people on Twitter start crying.

It's getting there:

https://twitter.com/HeavenlyControl/sta ... 8991793152

[MasenkoHA]

When people on Twitter start crying.

It's getting there:

https://twitter.com/HeavenlyControl/sta ... 8991793152

A person somewhat tongue in cheek points out that Mr.Popo is problematic and a bunch of weebs with anime profiles make the same tired excuses “He’s just s genie please ignore the obvious Black Sambo influence or his broken speech patterns and simpleton voice in the Japanese version!”


You’s almost think anime fans on Twitter are just kind of dumb or something.

[VegettoEX]

When people on Twitter start crying.

It's real easy to make a sarcastic drive-by post.

It's a lot more difficult to genuinely care about things, listen to what others have to say, and consider if you have anything of value to contribute.

You’s almost think anime fans on Twitter are just kind of dumb or something.

It's real easy to make sweeping generalizations about other communities.

Have you considered what anyone says about Kanzenshuu's forum community? Is it accurate? Is it warranted? Have you personally contributed anything that would make people think/feel that way?

[Majin Buu]

I think it’s because there’s no active malice with Mr.Popo that at worst most fans just sort of sigh at his existence. Almost nobody would argue his existence is actually harmful. Most people are aware he’s born out of cultural ignorance than any active attempt at degrading another race.

This is my viewpoint too. As a Black person, even after discovering Popo's uneducated dialect in the Japanese version, I never got the sense that Toriyama was using him to mock Black people.

Toriyama is not a subtle writer. If he had wanted to mock Black people, I think it would be far more obvious. Plus he had a perfect opportunity to do just that with Adjutant Black and the most you can say about him is that naming the one prominent Black guy in the army "Black" is a little problematic, though I put that in the same "a little problematic but overall harmless" category as the first season of Power Rangers having the Black guy and Asian girl be the black ranger and yellow ranger respectively.

[Cipher]

Can’t believe Mr. Popo, a cross-cultural relic of insensitive racial characterization, is going to have to momentarily leave behind his massive social media presence before returning with a new grift a few months later, career and platform largely unharmed.

Very sad day.

It's real easy to make a sarcastic drive-by post.

For real.

[Soppa Saia People]

Accents (and stereotyped ones at that) seemed to be a thing used at that time to cover up there being so few VA's working for FUNi at the time, like giving Jheese/Jeice an Australian accent despite being him an alien from another world or some of the Red Ribbon officers stereotype Russian or other European voices. 4Kids in particular seemed to be the company most infamous for giving characters in their dubs over the top accents with One Piece being by far the biggest offender in that regard (like the god awful Sylvester Stallone-esque Brooklyn voice that David Moo used for Sanji or Robin's southern belle country accent. Eww) and as you mention a lot of the Middle Eastern type characters have that very stereotype India or wherever voice.

jin in the yu yu hakusho dub for some reason talks in a Irish accent, that's probably the one that stands out most for me. he talks with a Tohoku accent in the Japanese version so you think they would've just gone with a southern accent but i guess cus he has red hair they went with Irish ?

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Accents (and stereotyped ones at that) seemed to be a thing used at that time to cover up there being so few VA's working for FUNi at the time, like giving Jheese/Jeice an Australian accent despite being him an alien from another world or some of the Red Ribbon officers stereotype Russian or other European voices. 4Kids in particular seemed to be the company most infamous for giving characters in their dubs over the top accents with One Piece being by far the biggest offender in that regard (like the god awful Sylvester Stallone-esque Brooklyn voice that David Moo used for Sanji or Robin's southern belle country accent. Eww) and as you mention a lot of the Middle Eastern type characters have that very stereotype India or wherever voice.

jin in the yu yu hakusho dub for some reason talks in a Irish accent, that's probably the one that stands out most for me. he talks with a Tohoku accent in the Japanese version so you think they would've just gone with a southern accent but i guess cus he has red hair they went with Irish ?

I know right, it seems that with the very small pool of VA's especially early on FUNi had them do a bunch of stereotype ethnic impressions to make them sound more varied. I guess in some cases they just assumed like in appearance of characters and based it on that especially in OG DB.

[Demon Prince Piccolo]

I think it’s because there’s no active malice with Mr.Popo that at worst most fans just sort of sigh at his existence. Almost nobody would argue his existence is actually harmful. Most people are aware he’s born out of cultural ignorance than any active attempt at degrading another race.

This is my viewpoint too. As a Black person, even after discovering Popo's uneducated dialect in the Japanese version, I never got the sense that Toriyama was using him to mock Black people.

Toriyama is not a subtle writer. If he had wanted to mock Black people, I think it would be far more obvious. Plus he had a perfect opportunity to do just that with Adjutant Black and the most you can say about him is that naming the one prominent Black guy in the army "Black" is a little problematic, though I put that in the same "a little problematic but overall harmless" category as the first season of Power Rangers having the Black guy and Asian girl be the black ranger and yellow ranger respectively.

This is where I stand as well.

[WittyUsername]

Most of the instances of blackface in Japan probably aren’t meant to be outright malicious, at least not to the extent of something like The Birth of a Nation. I would have to assume that Toriyama had never even met a black person when he came up with Mr. Popo. That of course doesn’t change the fact that the character is a racist caricature. It mostly just means that Toriyama probably didn’t consider the idea that the character would be seen as offensive outside of his home country.

[JulieYBM]

Black people exist in Japan, too.

Just like with Blue, I just get the sense that Toriyama doesn't care. Nobody at JUMP will hold his accountable, thus...he'll just do whatever.

[miguelnuva1]

Commander Black and Killa are 10x more offense to Black people then Popo is(not saying they are or aren't). Popo is Genie that is not human at in the slightest and I would say Middle eastern people would be just as if not more offended about him. Saying that to say personally Popo doesn't bother me.

If someone was offended I wouldn't mind hearing out their reasoning why but at the same time I would remind them, Popo is an anime character from a series that has at some point offended everyone like South Park. Roshi is a fan favorite but how many women are unconformable seeing him for example, some even have a good standing to say he's a pedo if they wanted.

Still at the end of the day, Dragonball is a fictional universe with fictional rules or a different world then were we live, watch if you want, don't support it if you find it offensive. If you think its going to corrupt minds then parents should step in and explain to their kids or stop their kids from watching. As I mentioned earlier South Park has been banned in my house for 20 years by my mother.

I'm all for revealing the Truth on real people and their is some media that goes too far I'm sure but situations like Popo get made worse than what they are I feel. Times change and certain things should be look at with that in mind. Show how you've grown better but don't ignore what you have done.

[Hellspawn28]

Accents (and stereotyped ones at that) seemed to be a thing used at that time to cover up there being so few VA's working for FUNi at the time, like giving Jheese/Jeice an Australian accent despite being him an alien from another world or some of the Red Ribbon officers stereotype Russian or other European voices.

They also give Dr. Myuu a bad German accent in the dub for GT. Here's a clip to refresh your memory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFEAfyJYyg8

[goku the krump dancer]

I think it’s because there’s no active malice with Mr.Popo that at worst most fans just sort of sigh at his existence. Almost nobody would argue his existence is actually harmful. Most people are aware he’s born out of cultural ignorance than any active attempt at degrading another race.

This is my viewpoint too. As a Black person, even after discovering Popo's uneducated dialect in the Japanese version, I never got the sense that Toriyama was using him to mock Black people.

Toriyama is not a subtle writer. If he had wanted to mock Black people, I think it would be far more obvious. Plus he had a perfect opportunity to do just that with Adjutant Black and the most you can say about him is that naming the one prominent Black guy in the army "Black" is a little problematic, though I put that in the same "a little problematic but overall harmless" category as the first season of Power Rangers having the Black guy and Asian girl be the black ranger and yellow ranger respectively.

This is where I stand as well.

I think its safe to assume most black folk feel the same way, I mean if Dragon Ball were to be put under any fire for that it would've surely happened by now.

Considering that Toriyama had other design choices in mind, I really doubt his intention was to offend. He had already drawn several Black/blackish characters before Popo was introduced and none of them look or speak like him. Based on the design sheets i'm not sure hes even supposed to be considered human

Spoiler:

[jjgp1112]

Why do other races like to speak for us so much?

[MyVisionity]

You ain't gotta be Black to understand that Popo is racist as fuck.

Who gives a shit whether or not Toriyama meant to offend anyone. Popo is an offensive and degrading character regardless.

Aside from that, I don't buy that Toriyama was simply "culturally ignorant" anyhow. I agree with Julie, that Toriyama likely just didn't care how offensive it was, much like with all the other offensive shit in the manga. In fact, he may have drawn Popo that way precisely *because* of how offensive it is. The more offensive, the better.

I don't think that anyone should be surprised that a country that values Whiteness as highly as Japan does would also carry strong anti-Black sentiments.

[Neo-Makaiōshin]

In fact, he may have drawn Popo that way precisely *because* of how offensive it is. The more offensive, the better.

If that was his intention then why did he stop at just giving Popo the black face caricature? Why not make him do nasty stuff while he was at it?

[Demon Prince Piccolo]

Why do other races like to speak for us so much?

Agreed...again. Lol

[MasenkoHA]

, much like with all the other offensive shit in the manga. In fact, he may have drawn Popo that way precisely *because* of how offensive it is. The more offensive, the better.

Toriyama isn’t Seth Macfarlane or Matt Stone and Trey Parker, I doubt he’s going out of his way to be offensive.