African Americans and DBZ

[thatdbzguy]

Has anyone else noticed the huge amount of African American DBZ fans? Hell, the only time I hear someone talking about DBZ IRL is from an African American's mouth, and if you wear a DBZ shirt, only African Americans seem to compliment you on it.

Does anyone know why DBZ was such a big hit with African Americans?

(Note: I have nothing against African Americans.)

[Kid Buu]

I noticed this too. Without sounding stereotypical, I've always wondered if that is why the GT dub got a Rap Theme.

[The Monkey King]

Black people in general (myself included) just seem to love shounen anime, I live in London and most black people I know love or at least like anime.
As for why...I'll get back to you on that

[dbboxkaifan]

Some people here like to associate Piccolo as if he were black, he isn't. There's Mister Popo but he's not black either, although you have some black characters like Star Officer Black and some of its citizens shown are too.

P.S: If the blackface is still a thing then I wouldn't recommend watching Soul Eater as that might piss someone off, but other than this the show is awesome!

[Blade]

This topic reminded me of an interview Derek Padula did with Mark Menza about GT.
http://thedaoofdragonball.com/blog/inte ... ew-part-2/

Derek: Do you think there was any purposeful attempt to appeal to African Americans with the Dragon Ball GT soundtrack, with the rap and the hard, dark, heavy music. I’m not trying to be racist here, there just seems to be a very large fan base of African Americans for GT, whereas with the other series and demographics…

Mark: That was never pitched to me. You have to know that white suburban kids listen to as much if not more rap than the African American community. That much I do know as part of a demographic study.

I think it was trying to appeal to the fact that artists at the time like Eminem were so popular. That was my guess, “Oh, you’re trying to be hip, trying to be now,” and get it out of the 80’s rock guitar sound and make it sound more like that.
I think Barry, Gen, and all the guys over there put their ear to the ground to see both what other shows were doing for the same demographic and also what was on the radio. And could they grab a bigger market share? It’s all about the market share.

If you’ve got more eyeballs on your show than other shows in the network, guess what, your show is going to get better time slots and higher revenue dollars. That way you can have more money from the networks for your show.

Derek: Right.

Mark: It’s very calculated on the part of the producers. Movies are made this way, everything in media is made this way. They try to figure out how to do the best job they can. Like, “How do we get the biggest audience?”

If you were making a show and putting millions of dollars into it, you would think, “Oh, I don’t want to lose my ass.” So let’s do this in a way that, forget your own personal tastes and what you’ll listen to in your car on the way home, who do you think the audience is? Say, males from 10 to 15.

If you think that’s your demographic, then you better go and listen to radio stations if you’re about to have a conversation with the composer you hired, go listen to radio stations and see what they’re listening to. Go watch other TV shows that are top rated for that time slot and listen to what the music is on them.

Derek: So they were trying to appeal to that demographic?

Mark: Totally, and I don’t think it was a specific African American demographic, because if it was only geared at that in some way, then it would really alienate another group, maybe a broader market. I think they were trying to hit as broad a market as possible.

I know the idea was not to put any sort of rap or hip hop influence into the show itself, but for the theme song, that was the idea at the time. And maybe they originally thought, “Well, we’ll do that, and maybe if we like it, then maybe we will have that in the show,” as part of like, Goku’s theme or something. But that never came up. So maybe they started there, I couldn’t guess about that.

Derek: So it’s very possible that, now you didn’t say this, but Goku might have had a rap theme if the intro had caught on and been successful?

Mark: Maybe! That’s total speculation. But really, from the get go once we started doing the actual episodes, it was, “We want it big, we want it driving, we want it guitar driven, and at the same time we like the symphonic thing,” that they had heard on my other projects. Those were the DBZ movies and work I had done for other clients.

That, probably more than anything else, including other composers who had worked for FUNimation, had more to do with them wanting me to do it like that. I think they liked the idea that I combined the guitar stuff with that kind of darker, orchestral scoring. So my best guess is that that is what led to considering me for the job.

The rap thing, I think it was just trying to do something different, trying to be cool.
Maybe they asked the guys at FUNimation what they were listening to and they said all kinds of things, or maybe they had all kinds of brainstorming sessions before they got to me and said, “Do this.”

Derek: Right. Very understandable.

[SSJ YUSUKE]

Listen I don't want to derail the thread or anything but I don't think that this question is appropriate in any context, I mean are you trying to enforce racial stereotypes or something?
Why would it be important that "African Americans" like DBZ, do you assume that it is something which inherent about them? Why is it so important to you to single out African Americans?
The question you brought up is quite problematic in many, many ways.

I noticed this too. Without sounding stereotypical, I've always wondered if that is why the GT dub got a Rap Theme.

Thats just a terrible response and I don't need to explain why.

Has anyone else noticed the huge amount of African American DBZ fans? Hell, the only time I hear someone talking about DBZ IRL is from an African American's mouth, and if you wear a DBZ shirt, only African Americans seem to compliment you on it.

Does anyone know why DBZ was such a big hit with African Americans?

(Note: I have nothing against African Americans.)

Dude like seriously, when you say African American do you Americans who are descended from African slaves or just "black" people in general because there was a thread not long ago which dealt with African stereotypes in dragonball and the question seemed to equate all "black people" with African Americans.

You should be careful about what kind of questions you ask, what might seem like an innocent question to you, might come across as ignorant and racist to others.
I don't mean to offend, I just hope that in future you are more careful in the types of questions you ask.

[Blade]

Just to add to my previous post, there's another article by Derek on "Da Black Goku", a fan site back in the day that was notorious for being one of the first to offer full episode downloads.

Derek makes quite a number of good observations about how Dragonball Z specifically seemed to appeal to African Americans.

http://thedaoofdragonball.com/blog/hist ... lack-goku/

[The Monkey King]

Some people here like to associate Piccolo as if he were black, he isn't. There's Mister Popo but he's not black either, although you have some black characters like Star Officer Black and some of its citizens shown are too.

P.S: If the blackface is still a thing then I wouldn't recommend watching Soul Eater as that might piss someone off, but other than this the show is awesome!

Soul Eater gets a pass because it has one of the most badass black guys in shounen manga:

Spoiler:

[supersaiyan3]

I also wanted to highlight this article. I always find it interesting when DBZ is mentioned in pop culture, and it seems like it's usually in hip hop.

http://thedaoofdragonball.com/blog/phil ... black-men/

[dbboxkaifan]

Soul Eater gets a pass because it has one of the most badass black guys in shounen manga:

Spoiler:

Ah yeah he's pretty cool though honestly thought you'd say Sid as he's a great character too but not too long after the show starts he's cursed to devolve to a zombie.

Spoiler:

/ot

[TheAldella]

Why does everyone have to take offence to everything, I wonder? Why can't people just have a normal discussion about something like this? Why is there always a damned trip wire?

[The Monkey King]

Dude like seriously, when you say African American do you Americans who are descended from African slaves or just "black" people in general because there was a thread not long ago which dealt with African stereotypes in dragonball and the question seemed to equate all "black people" with African Americans.

Kinda agree with this tbh, it's like people think that the only black people who live in 1st world countries and so have access to stuff like anime have to be African American

[B]

Why does everyone have to take offence to everything, I wonder? Why can't people just have a normal discussion about something like this? Why is there always a damned trip wire?

I wouldn't say I'm outright offended when this topic comes up, but perhaps if all the white people in the thread gave some thought to all the reasons DB appeals to them, and assumed they were the same reasons that black people, Guatemalan people, Turkish people, and everyone else has, things would run a little smoother...!

[Gutsxgoku]

One of my best friends from high school was black, parents were from Ghana Africa and he adored anime in general. Dragon Ball Z and the all-encompassing Dragon ball franchise in particular, happened to be the "best" the original, the classic and the most influential anime to us. I never thought anything of it as far him being black and interested in DBZ. The fact that people of all races and genders enjoy and support Dragon ball enough to keep it around this long is all I care about. As far as black people being interested in Dragon ball and me being a partially black person, all it means is that I probably have a higher chance of making a black friend the second dragon ball gets mentioned which, of course, doesn't really matter at all as far as the color of a persons skin goes. That Dbz guy certainly does enjoy starting controversy around here, perhaps even unintentionally but still, I believe people can address these threads in an educational manner and sift through the ignorance that will always be out there.

[MysticVegeta]

I don't think blacks are the majority.

I think boys/males are the majority.

I have a few black friends who like it, but I also have white and asian friends who enjoy it. It's got nothing to do with colour.

Even if it did, why is it worth discussion. Yeah, people like Dragon Ball Z, but why does their colour matter?

[TheAldella]

I don't think blacks are the majority.

I think boys/males are the majority.

I have a few black friends who like it, but I also have white and asian friends who enjoy it. It's got nothing to do with colour.

Even if it did, why is it worth discussion. Yeah, people like Dragon Ball Z, but why does their colour matter?

Because it is kinda a coincidence. I've noticed it too. People just want to think about an explanation.

[Blade]

Even if it did, why is it worth discussion. Yeah, people like Dragon Ball Z, but why does their colour matter?

I think you're missing the point of the topic entirely.

One of the interesting things about Dragonball Z's popularity in North America is just how strongly Black culture seemed to identify with it - especially given that Funimation's dub adaptation was heavily loaded with themes and tropes that were specifically aimed at White audience identification, so I think it's a perfectly natural and interesting subject of debate to look into the ways in which African Americans did identify with Dragonball. I don't see your problem is, no one's being contentious or racially insensitive.

If you need a little more clarification as to what I'm talking about, feel free to read Derek Padula's articles that I linked to a couple of posts back. He makes some good points.

[SSJ YUSUKE]

Even if it did, why is it worth discussion. Yeah, people like Dragon Ball Z, but why does their colour matter?

I think you're missing the point of the topic entirely.

One of the interesting things about Dragonball Z's popularity in North America is just how strongly Black culture seemed to identify with it - especially given that Funimation's dub adaptation was heavily loaded with themes and tropes that were specifically aimed at White audience identification, so I think it's a perfectly natural and interesting subject of debate to look into the ways in which African Americans did identify with Dragonball. I don't see your problem is, no one's being contentious or racially insensitive.

If you need a little more clarification as to what I'm talking about, feel free to read Derek Padula's articles that I linked to a couple of posts back. He makes some good points.

Okay first off what do you mean by "black culture"?
Second again why is it important to specificly single out African Americans as opposed to other group.
In my country South Africa I could probably point out the ways in which specific groups in my own country strongly identify with dragonball, which was quite popular back in the day.
The mere fact that I can attest that this so called cultural identication with dragonball is not limted to African Americans leads me to question why you single them out.
Dragonball is huge all over the world and I'm sure that you will find similar cultural identification anywhere in the world where dragonball was popular.

[MysticVegeta]

Well, you're talking about blacks like they are animals.

Like they are different, and we need to understand them.

"Look" the narrator said "That dark skinned man walked into his house. Will he watch Dragon Ball Z, Basketball, or Football?" he asked. "These creatures are so mysterious. You don't know what they'll watch." "Oh. Look. He is going to the bathroom. Do they use toilets like we do?"

That's what this thread sounds like to me. They they are aliens or cavemen that we know nothing about. That we need to understand them. Similar thing applies to the "Gamer Girls".

People like Dragon Ball Z! Colour doesn't matter!

Yet, I get called racist.

[Blade]

Okay first off what do you mean by "black culture"?

There's far too much for me to paraphrase within a simple explanation that wouldn't appear as a weak caricature. Do some reading.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_culture

Second again why is it important to specificly single out African Americans as opposed to other group.
In my country South Africa I could probably point out the ways in which specific groups in my own country strongly identify with dragonball, which was quite popular back in the day.
The mere fact that I can attest that this so called cultural identication with dragonball is not limted to African Americans leads me to question why you single them out.
Dragonball is huge all over the world and I'm sure that you will find similar cultural identification anywhere in the world where dragonball was popular.

I don't understand what you're trying to say - that in talking about the ways in which Black Culture in North America identified with Dragonball, in a thread which is based upon the subject, I'm somehow being non-inclusive of the rest of the world? It's not a case of singling out or discriminating, nor would it be if I talked about how Funimation's adaptation of Dragonball Z was deliberately packed full of tropes which were intentionally geared for a White male audience, it's just the current topic of debate. What's the problem?

Well, you're talking about blacks like they are animals.

Like they are different, and we need to understand them.

"Look" the narrator said "That dark skinned man walked into his house. Will he watch Dragon Ball Z, Basketball, or Football?" he asked. "These creatures are so mysterious. You don't know what they'll watch." "Oh. Look. He is going to the bathroom. Do they use toilets like we do?"

That's what this thread sounds like to me. They they are aliens or cavemen that we know nothing about. That we need to understand them. Similar thing applies to the "Gamer Girls".

People like Dragon Ball Z! Colour doesn't matter!

Yet, I get called racist.

I can't tell if you're being serious or intentionally trying to draw attention to yourself by saying, quite frankly, ludicrous things. I'll say one thing, though, you've somehow managed to post something that, in my entire time as a member of this forum, I've never encountered - that being something so preposterous and inflammatory that I'm actually at a loss as to how I can possibly respond in a way that's going to prove productive to either the continuation of this debate or your understanding of it.

Assuming that you are indeed being genuine, I suggest that you actually go back and read my posts, and then read over your own again, and try and solve in your own head how you have somehow horribly misconstrued both the purpose of this thread and the points I've made in my previous posts.