Thoughts on a potential Netflix series.

[ABED]

Why not? They shaped DBZ in the west and made it popular.

It got popular in the West well before the switch to the Transformers fucking each on a washing machine music started but okay Jan

By that logic DBZ would be popular without the old timey Kikuchi score.

It would be. Music is important, but it's still only one aspect of a film or TV show. DB has been a success in numerous countries regardless of changes in music or fidelity to the source material. It was also a successful manga.

[Kokonoe]

It got popular in the West well before the switch to the Transformers fucking each on a washing machine music started but okay Jan

By that logic DBZ would be popular without the old timey Kikuchi score.

Clearly it was popular without the Kikuchi score. I never said it wouldn’t have been? What an odd flex.

You say flex but you are talking about characters having sex to describe music.

Maybe I want transformers fucking on a washing machine. Don't judge me.

[JulieYBM]

The vast majority of the world kept Kikuchi Shunsuke's music, including South and Central America, which count as 'the west', too.

[It_Is_Ayna_You_Flips]

You say flex but you are talking about characters having sex to describe music.

Maybe I want transformers fucking on a washing machine. Don't judge me.

Fucking on a washing machine sounds more like a Go-bots thing imo

[Kunzait_83]

I'm aware that plenty of the wuxia stuff DB is known for has been done in live action films, but the production values are mostly awful. While I am by no means an expert, I did grow up in an age where you watched whatever was on TV, and late at night or on weekends, it was kung fu films or Kaiju movies.

I'm going to assume that you're mostly referring to the Shaw Brothers catalog here. Shaw films are very much renown, among plenty of other things, for their.... "quaint" and stagey production values, to put it kindly.

But framing things as if those films are indicative of the vast overwhelming sum total of most Wuxia films more broadly is incredibly inaccurate. Apart from being just an all-time great, classic Wuxia film unto itself, one of the biggest hallmarks that made Zu: Warriors From the Magic Mountain such an important milestone in the genre was that it was among the first Wuxia films to bring then-cutting edge (for 1983 that is) Hollywood-caliber production values into the mix.

Zu Warriors utterly raised the bar forevermore for Wuxia film production for major HK studios from that point on, and the overwhelming majority of major Hong Kong studio Wuxia films since then (throughout the latter 1980s, 90s, 2000s, etc) are typically made with production values roughly akin to what Hollywood puts out.

And by "production values", we're talking strictly in terms of visual effects, costume/set/art design, camera-work, and other technical matters. Writing/creativity level is a whole other, separate factor of course.

The cliche of chintzy Hong Kong "chop socky" kung fu films with rinky dink effects work, cheesy production quality, and bad English dubbing... that's almost entirely a holdover from the heyday of Shaw Brothers (and old school, pre-Zu Warriors Golden Harvest) from throughout the 1960s, 70s, and very, very early 1980s. This stereotype still lives on in the minds of a great many Westerners even today, but its hardly been remotely accurate to the reality of the vast majority of HK kung fu and Wuxia films for the better part of the last 35 years now.

Yeah there's a bunch of "modern" Wuxia stuff on Netflix and most of it is near unwatchable just because of how poor the effects are.Honestly that includes The Forbidden Kingdom, which pains me to say, because I expected to be floored by a Jackie Chan/Jet Li cross over flick

I'm not a big Netflix person by any means, but I've poked around on it more than enough to know that its catalog of Wuxia films hardly even comes even vaguely close to scratching the surface of the sheer staggering amount of stuff that comes out of China and Hong Kong year in, year out. Netflix's selection of Wuxia (even modern, recent Wuxia films) has almost always been nothing to write home about by and large (with rare exceptions here or there), particularly more so in recent years, so I would hardly use what little drip-drops of crap that gets thrown out onto Netflix as any kind of a barometer.

Forbidden Kingdom is hardly a classic by any means and I've certainly never been a particularly big fan of it (apart from Jet Li's incredible Wukong performance, which still remains a gold standard for the character in live action to this day): I only used it as an example here purely because its one of the PAINFULLY few Wuxia films that I know for certain that a good number of folks on this forum have actually ever seen before.

Jackie is pass his prime but Donnie Yen and Iko Uwais do amazing fight sequences but I dont think Super Power Stuff is either of their expertise, Ice man was horrible on Donnie Yen's part, Dragon Tiger Gate wasn't half bad though.

Ice Man was a godawful remake of a VASTLY superior New Wave-era Wuxia film from 1989 (Iceman Cometh). The Donnie Yen remake was indeed complete garbage, but the original '89 film is a heapton of fun (and features absolutely killer performances and fight scenes/stuntwork from the likes of Yuen Biao and Yuen Wah) and is highly recommended.

Dragon Tiger Gate I agree was largely pretty decent: though the manhua its based on is definitely much more noteworthy and much more greatly recommended.

When I think of Dragon Ball done right aesthically in live action I also think of Mortal Kombat. which is an example of old easternisms mixed with modern cultures and it looks good, Hell Black Panther is widely acclaimed for having African motifs and decor mixed so well with western and high technological societies.

I've said this numerous times, but Wuxia has been mixing ancient Chinese aesthetics with modern and even futuristic sci fi aesthetics literally since the late 70s and early 80s. The original Iceman Cometh that I just mentioned is indeed among them, as are tons and tons and tons more examples (many of which that I've written about extensively in the Wuxia thread).

The 1995 Mortal Kombat film is certainly a great looking film from a production standpoint, but it was hardly unique or one of a kind in that regard even back then: hell Robin Shou himself, who played Liu Kang in the '95 MK, had starred in numerous Hong Kong martial arts films of a similar nature well long prior to MK.

And Black Panther's whole style is predicated on Afro Futurism, which has been around as an artistic aesthetic in comic books and general illustrated artwork for a great many years now: the fact that it took Hollywood THIS long to get around to putting it front and center in a major mainstream film is mostly a product of high-level studio bigotry and racism: but that of course is neither here nor there with regards to the topic at hand.

[dougo13]

Just so long as the source material is at least respected to some point. Unlike say, Attack on Titan where the director said he could not work with foreigners (the whole point of the manga) and said that the manga creator was okay with the changes so long as the Titans were shown on screen. That would be unlike the majority of authors who voice their displeasure on their works being savaged by various directors. Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" comes to mind immediately. We'll just have to see what happens in the future...

[WittyUsername]

The Faulconer score is certainly not the reason the series became popular in the West. It’s silly to suggest that.

[dougo13]

I'd prefer it be a movie so they have the money to nail the visuals. That's one of the biggest issues I've noticed with these live-action anime things, is that regardless of the plot, they tend to just look bad.

But I guess that's more an issue of having a talented costume designer than it is an issue of throwing money at CG people.

A series COULD work depending on how much they want to spend. Blowing upwards of 1 - 1.5 Billion dollars on a Lord of the Rings series should prove to be interesting...

[ABED]

I'm aware that plenty of the wuxia stuff DB is known for has been done in live action films, but the production values are mostly awful. While I am by no means an expert, I did grow up in an age where you watched whatever was on TV, and late at night or on weekends, it was kung fu films or Kaiju movies.

I'm going to assume that you're mostly referring to the Shaw Brothers catalog here. Shaw films are very much renown, among plenty of other things, for their.... "quaint" and stagey production values, to put it kindly.

But framing things as if those films are indicative of the vast overwhelming sum total of most Wuxia films more broadly is incredibly inaccurate. Apart from being just an all-time great, classic Wuxia film unto itself, one of the biggest hallmarks that made Zu: Warriors From the Magic Mountain such an important milestone in the genre was that it was among the first Wuxia films to bring then-cutting edge (for 1983 that is) Hollywood-caliber production values into the mix.

Zu Warriors utterly raised the bar forevermore for Wuxia film production for major HK studios from that point on, and the overwhelming majority of major Hong Kong studio Wuxia films since then (throughout the latter 1980s, 90s, 2000s, etc) are typically made with production values roughly akin to what Hollywood puts out.

And by "production values", we're talking strictly in terms of visual effects, costume/set/art design, camera-work, and other technical matters. Writing/creativity level is a whole other, separate factor of course.

The cliche of chintzy Hong Kong "chop socky" kung fu films with rinky dink effects work, cheesy production quality, and bad English dubbing... that's almost entirely a holdover from the heyday of Shaw Brothers (and old school, pre-Zu Warriors Golden Harvest) from throughout the 1960s, 70s, and very, very early 1980s. This stereotype still lives on in the minds of a great many Westerners even today, but its hardly been remotely accurate to the reality of the vast majority of HK kung fu and Wuxia films for the better part of the last 35 years now.

I dunno. It's been over 20 years. Again, it was just whatever was on to fill programming hours. Perhaps you're right. I don't remember what the movies were. I watched them to waste time with friends and there was nothing better on.

[Kokonoe]

Dragon Ball isn't really chinese it's like 98% japanese with Toriyama taking some stuff from chinese. But he takes stuff from western countries too.

[MasenkoHA]

Dragon Ball isn't really chinese it's like 98% japanese with Toriyama taking some stuff from chinese. But he takes stuff from western countries too.

It’s initially inspired by a Chinese story.

The whole concept of martial artist using chi to perform super human feats comes from Chinese storytelling.

Ignoring the obvious Chinese inspiration is more than a little silly.

[ABED]

I'd also appreciate it if anyone could point me to these movies on a streaming service. I'm not interested enough to begin paying for them, but would still like to sample.

[Kunzait_83]

Dragon Ball isn't really chinese it's like 98% japanese with Toriyama taking some stuff from chinese. But he takes stuff from western countries too.

Journey to the West: One of the great classic pieces of Chinese literature.

Sun Wukong: Chinese literary character.

Nyoibo: Weapon from Chinese literature.

Kintoun: Magical cloud from Chinese literature.

Utilizing Ki/Chi energy via martial arts techniques (including as beams of light fired from their hands/mouth/eyes/body): Chinese Taoist concept.

Sensing Ki (including its level of strength and positive/negative intent): Chinese Taoist concept.

Flying with Ki: Chinese Taoist concept.

Draining/Siphoning someone else's Ki: Chinese Taoist concept.

Moving with superhuman speed with Ki: Chinese concept (with imagery largely taken from Chinese Buddhist myth).

Martial artist obtaining superhuman strength and durability via Ki control: Chinese Taoist concept.

Chaozu's character design: Lifted directly from Jiangshi, aka Chinese Hopping Vampires.

Tenshinhan: Based heavily upon Erlang Shen (down to the third eye), a character from Chinese folklore (including in Journey to the West, among other tales).

Oolong: Largely a riff on Zhu Bajie, another Journey to the West character.

Ki aura: Chinese Taoist concept.

Ultra Instinct: Taken directly from Wuxin, a Chinese martial arts concept.

Martial artists stretching their limbs to great lengths as a fighting technique: Also seen throughout Chinese Wuxia fiction.

God Ki: A Chinese Taoist concept.

Kuririn: A Shaolin monk, also a Chinese martial arts concept.

Gohan: Portrayed as a Wuxia scholar archetype, and introduced wearing a Chinese mandarin scholar's robes & hat as one of his most iconic looks.

Yamucha: Introduced as a Wuxia bandit archetype, complete with a classic Chinese Wuxia costume.

Tao Pai Pai: A martial arts assassin, another classic Chinese Wuxia archetype. Modeled directly after Sheng Kuan, a character from a Chinese martial arts film.

King Yama: A Chinese/Buddhist deity.

The afterlife: Heavily modeled on Chinese/Buddhist depictions (with Japanese and modern day flourishes mixed in).

Instantaneous Movement/Shunkan Idou: Lifted verbatim from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, a Chinese Wuxia story.

After-Image Technique: Lifted directly from Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, a Chinese Wuxia story.

Genki Dama: Also lifted from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (including a "pure of heart" character rebounding the sphere back at the villain when it initially misses).

Mafuba: Lifted directly from Chinese Taoist myth.

Muscle Tower: Modeled directly off of the pagoda from Game of Death, a famous unfinished Hong Kong film by Bruce Lee.

Freeza: Mannerisms heavily modeled off of numerous Chinese Wuxia villains.

Body splitting: Also taken from Chinese Wuxia stories.

The entire "Training to be the greatest fighter ever" premise of the entire story: Forms the core crux of most all Chinese Wuxia storytelling, and portrayed in DB directly in keeping with that very tradition.

Shen Long: A dragon god lifted directly from Chinese mythology.

90% of the clothing and dogi shown throughout the entire franchise, on both martial arts fighters, side characters, and background characters alike: Are completely Chinese in nature.

Martial arts fighting tournaments: Originally a Chinese concept.

Telekinetically levitating rocks/other objects with Ki: A Chinese Taoist concept.

Creating mystical weapons from Ki: A Chinese Taoist concept.

The whole "back tingle" thing when turning SSJ in Super that people threw a shit fit over: Also a Chinese Taoist concept, taken from the concepts of Dantians and Meridians.

Every single fight ever shown in Dragon Ball: Modeled DIRECTLY on the fighting seen throughout Chinese Wuxia media for literally centuries.

Mortal martial arts warriors fighting against gods and heavenly deities: Another stock Chinese Wuxia (really Xianxia) concept.

Muten Roshi/Kame Sennin: Sennin aka Xian are a Chinese Taoist concept from front to back.

Most of the plotlines for a majority of DB's story arcs: Lifted directly from various stock Chinese Wuxia plotlines and even specific Chinese martial arts films.

Side characters providing commentary and breakdown on a major fight scene: A stock Chinese Wuxia cliche.

Characters distilling the power of their Ki/martial arts techniques as a percentage number: Another stock Chinese Wuxia cliche.

Goku's whole "naive rural bumpkin who loves fighting" personality: A stock Chinese Wuxia character-type.


I mean.... I can keep going and going and going and going for several dozen more pages with this, but I think I've gotten the basic idea across.

And obviously other cultures (including American) are utilized in DB as well. But they are in NO way the prominent-most focus of the meat of the series: despite being created in Japan by a Japanese guy, Dragon Ball's creative DNA is overwhelmingly Chinese, foremost and above all else, in nature.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Toriyama mostly based Dragon Ball (at least initially for the first arc and some small bits in the anime mostly through filler) more or less on Journey to the West albeit loosely, mixed in with quite a few concepts and ideas that he'd done for his prior one shot comics Dragon Boy and The Adventures of Tongpoo and it's pretty obvious to tell with the first portion of the manga, along with a great many references to Chinese folklore as Kunzait mentioned above. Of course it only really follows Journey's basic plot line until the end of the first arc before going off on it's own tangent starting with the Tenkaichi Budokai and onward. Still, it's easy to see especially early on how much of the story was inspired by the tropes/archetypes of the Wuxia genre and ancient Chinese legends.

As stated above, while the series itself originated in Japan much of the source material hails predominately from Chinese stories and figures which go back centuries up to the ancient dynasties' time.

[WittyUsername]

The most “Western” Dragon Ball has ever been was with the Cell arc, which had some similarities to the Terminator movies. Oh, and I guess that Goku’s backstory post-Minus is pretty similar to Superman. Then again, Superman’s backstory itself was based on the story of Moses, which is of Eastern origin.

[Kokonoe]

Dragon Ball isn't really chinese it's like 98% japanese with Toriyama taking some stuff from chinese. But he takes stuff from western countries too.

Journey to the West: One of the great classic pieces of Chinese literature.

Sun Wukong: Chinese literary character.

Nyoibo: Weapon from Chinese literature.

Kintoun: Magical cloud from Chinese literature.

Utilizing Ki/Chi energy via martial arts techniques (including as beams of light fired from their hands/mouth/eyes/body): Chinese Taoist concept.

Sensing Ki (including its level of strength and positive/negative intent): Chinese Taoist concept.

Flying with Ki: Chinese Taoist concept.

Draining/Siphoning someone else's Ki: Chinese Taoist concept.

Moving with superhuman speed with Ki: Chinese concept (with imagery largely taken from Chinese Buddhist myth).

Martial artist obtaining superhuman strength and durability via Ki control: Chinese Taoist concept.

Chaozu's character design: Lifted directly from Jiangshi, aka Chinese Hopping Vampires.

Tenshinhan: Based heavily upon Erlang Shen (down to the third eye), a character from Chinese folklore (including in Journey to the West, among other tales).

Oolong: Largely a riff on Zhu Bajie, another Journey to the West character.

Ki aura: Chinese Taoist concept.

Ultra Instinct: Taken directly from Wuxin, a Chinese martial arts concept.

Martial artists stretching their limbs to great lengths as a fighting technique: Also seen throughout Chinese Wuxia fiction.

God Ki: A Chinese Taoist concept.

Kuririn: A Shaolin monk, also a Chinese martial arts concept.

Gohan: Portrayed as a Wuxia scholar archetype, and introduced wearing a Chinese mandarin scholar's robes & hat as one of his most iconic looks.

Yamucha: Introduced as a Wuxia bandit archetype, complete with a classic Chinese Wuxia costume.

Tao Pai Pai: A martial arts assassin, another classic Chinese Wuxia archetype. Modeled directly after Sheng Kuan, a character from a Chinese martial arts film.

King Yama: A Chinese/Buddhist deity.

The afterlife: Heavily modeled on Chinese/Buddhist depictions (with Japanese and modern day flourishes mixed in).

Instantaneous Movement/Shunkan Idou: Lifted verbatim from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, a Chinese Wuxia story.

After-Image Technique: Lifted directly from Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, a Chinese Wuxia story.

Genki Dama: Also lifted from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (including a "pure of heart" character rebounding the sphere back at the villain when it initially misses).

Mafuba: Lifted directly from Chinese Taoist myth.

Muscle Tower: Modeled directly off of the pagoda from Game of Death, a famous unfinished Hong Kong film by Bruce Lee.

Freeza: Mannerisms heavily modeled off of numerous Chinese Wuxia villains.

Body splitting: Also taken from Chinese Wuxia stories.

The entire "Training to be the greatest fighter ever" premise of the entire story: Forms the core crux of most all Chinese Wuxia storytelling, and portrayed in DB directly in keeping with that very tradition.

Shen Long: A dragon god lifted directly from Chinese mythology.

90% of the clothing and dogi shown throughout the entire franchise, on both martial arts fighters, side characters, and background characters alike: Are completely Chinese in nature.

Martial arts fighting tournaments: Originally a Chinese concept.

Telekinetically levitating rocks/other objects with Ki: A Chinese Taoist concept.

Creating mystical weapons from Ki: A Chinese Taoist concept.

The whole "back tingle" thing when turning SSJ in Super that people threw a shit fit over: Also a Chinese Taoist concept, taken from the concepts of Dantians and Meridians.

Every single fight ever shown in Dragon Ball: Modeled DIRECTLY on the fighting seen throughout Chinese Wuxia media for literally centuries.

Mortal martial arts warriors fighting against gods and heavenly deities: Another stock Chinese Wuxia (really Xianxia) concept.

Muten Roshi/Kame Sennin: Sennin aka Xian are a Chinese Taoist concept from front to back.

Most of the plotlines for a majority of DB's story arcs: Lifted directly from various stock Chinese Wuxia plotlines and even specific Chinese martial arts films.

Side characters providing commentary and breakdown on a major fight scene: A stock Chinese Wuxia cliche.

Characters distilling the power of their Ki/martial arts techniques as a percentage number: Another stock Chinese Wuxia cliche.

Goku's whole "naive rural bumpkin who loves fighting" personality: A stock Chinese Wuxia character-type.


I mean.... I can keep going and going and going and going for several dozen more pages with this, but I think I've gotten the basic idea across.

And obviously other cultures (including American) are utilized in DB as well. But they are in NO way the prominent-most focus of the meat of the series: despite being created in Japan by a Japanese guy, Dragon Ball's creative DNA is overwhelmingly Chinese, foremost and above all else, in nature.

And in the content itself it's not chinese to have laser beam battles or fight aliens as well as all the futuristic vehicles. It's very scifi.

[VDenter]

The Faulconer score is certainly not the reason the series became popular in the West. It’s silly to suggest that.

Faulconer fans are living in some bizzaro alternative reality i find. So it makes sense that they would suggest that.

[MasenkoHA]

Dragon Ball isn't really chinese it's like 98% japanese with Toriyama taking some stuff from chinese. But he takes stuff from western countries too.

Journey to the West: One of the great classic pieces of Chinese literature.

Sun Wukong: Chinese literary character.

Nyoibo: Weapon from Chinese literature.

Kintoun: Magical cloud from Chinese literature.

Utilizing Ki/Chi energy via martial arts techniques (including as beams of light fired from their hands/mouth/eyes/body): Chinese Taoist concept.

Sensing Ki (including its level of strength and positive/negative intent): Chinese Taoist concept.

Flying with Ki: Chinese Taoist concept.

Draining/Siphoning someone else's Ki: Chinese Taoist concept.

Moving with superhuman speed with Ki: Chinese concept (with imagery largely taken from Chinese Buddhist myth).

Martial artist obtaining superhuman strength and durability via Ki control: Chinese Taoist concept.

Chaozu's character design: Lifted directly from Jiangshi, aka Chinese Hopping Vampires.

Tenshinhan: Based heavily upon Erlang Shen (down to the third eye), a character from Chinese folklore (including in Journey to the West, among other tales).

Oolong: Largely a riff on Zhu Bajie, another Journey to the West character.

Ki aura: Chinese Taoist concept.

Ultra Instinct: Taken directly from Wuxin, a Chinese martial arts concept.

Martial artists stretching their limbs to great lengths as a fighting technique: Also seen throughout Chinese Wuxia fiction.

God Ki: A Chinese Taoist concept.

Kuririn: A Shaolin monk, also a Chinese martial arts concept.

Gohan: Portrayed as a Wuxia scholar archetype, and introduced wearing a Chinese mandarin scholar's robes & hat as one of his most iconic looks.

Yamucha: Introduced as a Wuxia bandit archetype, complete with a classic Chinese Wuxia costume.

Tao Pai Pai: A martial arts assassin, another classic Chinese Wuxia archetype. Modeled directly after Sheng Kuan, a character from a Chinese martial arts film.

King Yama: A Chinese/Buddhist deity.

The afterlife: Heavily modeled on Chinese/Buddhist depictions (with Japanese and modern day flourishes mixed in).

Instantaneous Movement/Shunkan Idou: Lifted verbatim from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, a Chinese Wuxia story.

After-Image Technique: Lifted directly from Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, a Chinese Wuxia story.

Genki Dama: Also lifted from Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils (including a "pure of heart" character rebounding the sphere back at the villain when it initially misses).

Mafuba: Lifted directly from Chinese Taoist myth.

Muscle Tower: Modeled directly off of the pagoda from Game of Death, a famous unfinished Hong Kong film by Bruce Lee.

Freeza: Mannerisms heavily modeled off of numerous Chinese Wuxia villains.

Body splitting: Also taken from Chinese Wuxia stories.

The entire "Training to be the greatest fighter ever" premise of the entire story: Forms the core crux of most all Chinese Wuxia storytelling, and portrayed in DB directly in keeping with that very tradition.

Shen Long: A dragon god lifted directly from Chinese mythology.

90% of the clothing and dogi shown throughout the entire franchise, on both martial arts fighters, side characters, and background characters alike: Are completely Chinese in nature.

Martial arts fighting tournaments: Originally a Chinese concept.

Telekinetically levitating rocks/other objects with Ki: A Chinese Taoist concept.

Creating mystical weapons from Ki: A Chinese Taoist concept.

The whole "back tingle" thing when turning SSJ in Super that people threw a shit fit over: Also a Chinese Taoist concept, taken from the concepts of Dantians and Meridians.

Every single fight ever shown in Dragon Ball: Modeled DIRECTLY on the fighting seen throughout Chinese Wuxia media for literally centuries.

Mortal martial arts warriors fighting against gods and heavenly deities: Another stock Chinese Wuxia (really Xianxia) concept.

Muten Roshi/Kame Sennin: Sennin aka Xian are a Chinese Taoist concept from front to back.

Most of the plotlines for a majority of DB's story arcs: Lifted directly from various stock Chinese Wuxia plotlines and even specific Chinese martial arts films.

Side characters providing commentary and breakdown on a major fight scene: A stock Chinese Wuxia cliche.

Characters distilling the power of their Ki/martial arts techniques as a percentage number: Another stock Chinese Wuxia cliche.

Goku's whole "naive rural bumpkin who loves fighting" personality: A stock Chinese Wuxia character-type.


I mean.... I can keep going and going and going and going for several dozen more pages with this, but I think I've gotten the basic idea across.

And obviously other cultures (including American) are utilized in DB as well. But they are in NO way the prominent-most focus of the meat of the series: despite being created in Japan by a Japanese guy, Dragon Ball's creative DNA is overwhelmingly Chinese, foremost and above all else, in nature.

And in the content itself it's not chinese to have laser beam battles or fight aliens as well as all the futuristic vehicles. It's very scifi.

Kunzait has already explained how ki blast (read laser beam blast) is tied to the Chinese influence.

As far as sci fi and fighting aliens and futuristic tech you realize multiple things can be true right? The Sci fi window dressing doesn’t override the series being about martial artist who use chi to fight or how they try to become stronger. Goku being an alien doesn’t erase him being a martial artist who uses chi.

[MasenkoHA]

The Faulconer score is certainly not the reason the series became popular in the West. It’s silly to suggest that.

Faulconer fans are living in some bizzaro alternative reality i find. So it makes sense that they would suggest that.

They certainly like to think the Faulconer score mattered way more than it actually did and was anything but a mistake.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

The Faulconer score is certainly not the reason the series became popular in the West. It’s silly to suggest that.

Faulconer fans are living in some bizzaro alternative reality i find. So it makes sense that they would suggest that.

They certainly like to think the Faulconer score mattered way more than it actually did and was anything but a mistake.

It's an outdated and obsolete practice to replace the original music scores in anime series' dubs, and very few dubbing companies still do it these days so the Team Faulconer score is a relic of FUNi's localization practices from the old days of Barry Watson and co's direction in the late '90s/early 2000's when it was a common thing to do that for the most part has been dropped with some small exceptions here and there.