Would you have watched if they were Black?

Dragonball Black · Post by **Dragonball Black** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 11:39 pm

So theres a picture circulating the internet of three characters that look like they belong in the dragonball-verse and strike a resemblance to goku, gohan and goten. The caption that reads under them said Would you have watched if they was black. I made a video talking about this subject here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmn4CXoQ6dQ
But if you are too busy to watch the video. In the comment section of the video people were basically hating on each other, calling each other racists left to right. It was quite ugly. I liked the topic so I shared the picture to my own fanmade Dragonball Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/Dragonball-Xen ... 441039984/
I woke up this morning and saw a message in my inbox from someone saying that I was promoting racism because I posted the picture. I looked, and it had gone off from the people who are liked on my page. Calling each other or me racist for the picture. I am honest enough to share my own thoughts on the question that seems to have cause such an uproar. Back in the 90's if all the characters from DBZ were black I probably would not have got buried into the show as hard as I did because the show would have had to change so many things to accommodate the change from asian characters to black characters. Now if for the most part only Goku, Gohan or Goten were black. Much of the show could have stayed the same as long as at least chi chi remained asian. I would deff got as buried into it as I did the original, if not more so since the Goku and Chi Chi dynamic would be interesting. I do think its high time they add some characters of color into the show, and hopefully Super does this. So far the only one that I can think of is Uub. Anyway I thought I would share this here and see exactly what you guys think? And be honest. Thanks for your time guys!

PelicanDynasty · Post by **PelicanDynasty** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 11:49 pm

Dragonball Black wrote:So theres a picture circulating the internet of three characters that look like they belong in the dragonball-verse and strike a resemblance to goku, gohan and goten. The caption that reads under them said Would you have watched if they was black. I made a video talking about this subject here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmn4CXoQ6dQ
But if you are too busy to watch the video. In the comment section of the video people were basically hating on each other, calling each other racists left to right. It was quite ugly. I liked the topic so I shared the picture to my own fanmade Dragonball Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/Dragonball-Xen ... 441039984/
I woke up this morning and saw a message in my inbox from someone saying that I was promoting racism because I posted the picture. I looked, and it had gone off from the people who are liked on my page. Calling each other or me racist for the picture. I am honest enough to share my own thoughts on the question that seems to have cause such an uproar. Back in the 90's if all the characters from DBZ were black I probably would not have got buried into the show as hard as I did because the show would have had to change so many things to accommodate the change from asian characters to black characters. Now if for the most part only Goku, Gohan or Goten were black. Much of the show could have stayed the same as long as at least chi chi remained asian. I would deff got as buried into it as I did the original, if not more so since the Goku and Chi Chi dynamic would be interesting. I do think its high time they add some characters of color into the show, and hopefully Super does this. So far the only one that I can think of is Uub. Anyway I thought I would share this here and see exactly what you guys think? And be honest. Thanks for your time guys!

I respect your honesty , but out of curiosity (sorry if it's mentioned in the video) how does the show need to change to accommodate the fact that they are black?

Anyway, yes I would've watched, doesn't matter to me. Not the biggest fans of those designs though.

TheGreatness25 · Post by **TheGreatness25** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 11:50 pm

Why would anything change if they were black? What are you insinuating would be different about the series?

There's nothing particularly "Asian" that I really care for in the series. The story doesn't even take place in Asia. If the same person/people were behind the series, it would obviously remain the same. If you're talking about a black person doing the series, obviously everything would be different and I'd have to judge that series on its own merits.

If it's just a matter of looks, hell yes I'd still get into it.

Cure Dragon 255 · Post by **Cure Dragon 255** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 1:05 am

The exact same things happen but everyone is black? HELL YES!

Jinzoningen MULE · Post by **Jinzoningen MULE** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 1:14 am

Who cares if they're black as long as the color scheme is works? You would need to vastly change the character models. Also, the backgrounds would have to be changed, cause complimentary colors and whatnot.

Ki Breaker · Post by **Ki Breaker** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:32 am

I never understood what colour of skin has to do with anything at all..
If its about preferences ,Ya i don't find black people attractive enough to be in a relationship with them, but I don't find white people attractive either..
I am yellow and I find people like me attractive..
I fail to see how this matters to the show though..

If its about character design, there is really nothing to worry about, uub is black isn't he, he is one of the fan favorites..
Even naam is black..

Being black only can change one thing and that is character designs..
Nothing else can change..
After all why would a Japanese person make anime about anyone other than Japanese characters..

And don't pay heed to YouTube chat man..
Nearly everyone behaves like little fucks there as they are pretty much anonymous it dosen't matter..

Jinzoningen MULE · Post by **Jinzoningen MULE** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:46 am

Ki Breaker wrote:I never understood what colour of skin has to do with anything at all..
If its about preferences ,Ya i don't find black people attractive enough to be in a relationship with them, but I don't find white people attractive either..
I am yellow and I find people like me attractive..
I fail to see how this matters to the show though..

It doesn't matter, but now-dead white people oppressed now-dead black people once, so now it has make a difference for some reason. Even with something as harmless and non-offensive as a niche Japanese cartoon, some people think it matters.

precita · Post by **precita** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 3:45 am

It would be very weird for an anime to feature an all black cast, you think?

Jinzoningen MULE · Post by **Jinzoningen MULE** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:02 am

Considering that Japan has next to no black people, yeah. It would definitely be strange.

Bansho64 · Post by **Bansho64** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:22 am

Most definitely. I don't care if they were golden skinned, I'd still be into the show.

Dragonball Black · Post by **Dragonball Black** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 6:11 am

Things that would have to change if they were all black.
The food that they eat, the cloths they would wear, the character designs, even the dragon and dragonball have an asian theme to them.
Not to mention that a lot of the show's writing would have to be in english at least. I honestly wouldnt trust Akira Toriyama to do this anyway, he added a lot of 90's looks to the human background characters and bulma. Theres no guaranteeing he wouldnt have done that with the entire cast that would have dated the show quite a bit. Also Toriyama doesnt seem to show very good sensitivity with the black characters that he has added to the show. Most of the time they are stereotypes with big cartoonish bubble lips and if the english dub is anything to go by they speak sorta fast a gibberishly. I dont have much faith in him gaining sensitivity if all the characters were black. So The show would then have to be made by somebody else.

Nejishiki · Post by **Nejishiki** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 6:34 am

I'm not sure I'm following where you're going with this. If Toriyama created Dragon Ball as he did before, but had his character designs possess alternate skin tones instead, why exactly would that influence his writing? I'm especially puzzled as to why it would be in English. He worked for Weekly Shonen Jump. It's going to be typeset in Japanese. I'm fairly confident he isn't fluent in English to begin with, so imposing this challenge on himself would be strange. He's not going to make his work difficult to that degree.

Furthermore, why would the examples you provided have to change? Goku's diet is a product of his environment and heritage. He lives in the sticks, hunts his own game, and possesses an indiscriminate appetite. His character wouldn't be that picky about his food. A martial artist wears a gi no matter their appearance. To use an anecdote, I certainly wasn't offered an alternate gi from the rest of my peers, so why would Goku decide to forsake his established fashion? He takes after Gohan, a hermit. I could go on but I don't know how fun it would be to read a post questioning each and every point brought up. Perhaps we can focus this subject to a main idea you wish to tackle?

Dragonball Black · Post by **Dragonball Black** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:03 am

Nejishiki wrote:I'm not sure I'm following where you're going with this. If Toriyama created Dragon Ball as he did before, but had his character designs possess alternate skin tones instead, why exactly would that influence his writing? I'm especially puzzled as to why it would be in English. He worked for Weekly Shonen Jump. It's going to be typeset in Japanese. I'm fairly confident he isn't fluent in English to begin with, so imposing this challenge on himself would be strange. He's not going to make his work difficult to that degree.

Furthermore, why would the examples you provided have to change? Goku's diet is a product of his environment and heritage. He lives in the sticks, hunts his own game, and possesses an indiscriminate appetite. His character wouldn't be that picky about his food. A martial artist wears a gi no matter their appearance. To use an anecdote, I certainly wasn't offered an alternate gi from the rest of my peers, so why would Goku decide to forsake his established fashion? He takes after Gohan, a hermit. I could go on but I don't know how fun it would be to read a post questioning each and every point brought up. Perhaps we can focus this subject to a main idea you wish to tackle?

If he just changed the skin tone to black and changed nothing else. Then it would be almost like a parody of dragonball at best and at worst a disrespectful display of black face.

RedRibbonSoldier#42 · Post by **RedRibbonSoldier#42** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:11 am

Dragonball Black wrote:
If he just changed the skin tone to black and changed nothing else. Then it would be almost like a parody of dragonball at best and at worst a disrespectful display of black face.

I also am confused at where this conclusion comes from. If nothing else was different then it wouldn't be a parody of Dragonball, but just Dragonball. Certainly not racist.(tangent, I wonder if Popo is solid white in this version

)

Nejishiki · Post by **Nejishiki** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:14 am

That's where I'm having trouble understanding you. How does Dragon Ball transform into a "disrespectful parody" of itself in this supposed reality? In that scenario, it's still an original work loosely based on Journey to the West. There would be nothing to parody aside from the aforementioned inspiration. The rough drafts of Toriyama's ideas would have the one alteration, characters possessing a different skin tone, and I'm struggling to see how the portrayal of Goku, Bluma, and Pteranodon differs with that.

Dragonball Black · Post by **Dragonball Black** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:24 am

If You Kept Every Single Thing The Same Except For Them Being Asian To All Their Skin Being black. Well look at the Avatar Movie. The same thing happened to it, and it has been castrated for that decision. It wouldn't fit with the Asian theme. And I honestly would have wondered the entire time why they were Black skinned without having African hair or anything from the culture in the show. If you made Gokus family black and had their culture faithful represented. Then I would have watched that. 100%.

RedRibbonSoldier#42 · Post by **RedRibbonSoldier#42** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:33 am

Dragonball Black wrote:If You Kept Every Single Thing The Same Except For Them Being Asian To All Their Skin Being black. Well look at the Avatar Movie. The same thing happened to it, and it has been castrated for that decision. It wouldn't fit with the Asian theme. And I honestly would have wondered the entire time why they were Black skinned without having African hair or anything from the culture in the show. If you made Gokus family black and had their culture faithful represented. Then I would have watched that. 100%.

So is it a matter of culture only "fitting" with it's corresponding race?

Dragonball Black · Post by **Dragonball Black** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:36 am

It's a matter of representation. If they added a black character that was into martial arts now and had on a gi. I would be fine with that. He'll if you added a black saiyan I would love it. But to just drop black face on goku...

RedRibbonSoldier#42 · Post by **RedRibbonSoldier#42** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:41 am

Dragonball Black wrote:It's a matter of representation. If they added a black character that was into martial arts now and had on a gi. I would be fine with that. He'll if you added a black saiyan I would love it. But to just drop black face on goku...

But this scenario is if Gokuu was black from the beginning. So it is the same as adding a new character with a Gi and liking martial arts. If you were talking about changing him now after the whole series has been made then, yeah, that would be silly. If so, I apologize for misunderstanding. If not then I am still confused.

Doctor. · Post by **Doctor.** » Thu Dec 08, 2016 7:42 am

The way the characters look like now is too ingrained into my brain for me to imagine them any other way (this holds true for dark-skinned characters like Oob, too). If the series were rebooted now and the characters' skin tone and ethnicity were changed to black for no reason, I'd probably be a bit upset. But if the show were originally like that? Sure, I'd probably have enjoyed it the same.

Kanzenshuu

Would you have watched if they were Black?

Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Re: Would you have watched if they were Black?

Who is online