Derek Padula's Books Discussion

[DerekPadula]

Hello! I'm Derek Padula, the Dragon Ball Scholar, and I write non-fiction books and articles about the culture, history, and fandom of Dragon Ball. So far I've published 9 books and over 300 articles. It's my full-time job.

I have new books about Dragon Ball coming out, and some existing books that are still available, so this is a post to give you a way to speak with me about the books, ask questions, or provide constructive criticism.

You can chat with me about whatever topic you want that's related to my work.

Here's some recent news to share.



Dragon Ball Culture Volume 7 is now available in Early Access ebook, and it reveals the culture and history behind the Dragon Ball anime.

In Volume 7, Gokū travels the world in a series of anime adventures, and in this book we explore the culture of every episode and movie, and delve into the origin of their production.

This book features exclusive interviews with the Japanese musicians behind Dragon Ball's opening and ending themes, including lyricist Yuriko Mori, composer Takeshi Ike, and vocalist Ushio Hashimoto.

I'm currently interviewing rock star lyricist Hiroki Takahashi, and will update the book soon with his responses.

This is the 7th and final volume in the series. You can read more about it on my site, and find links to buy it here:

https://thedaoofdragonball.com/blog/boo ... available/

I'll continue to update it with new chapters in the months ahead, including more episode arcs, movies, and interviews with celebrities that worked on the anime in Japan and around the world.

When the book is complete, I'll publish it in print.

Is there anything specific you'd like to read about? People you'd like me to interview? Or questions you want me to ask them?



Dragon Ball Culture Volume 1 was published in Italian on November 7.

It features a foreword by legendary Italian vocalist Giorgio Vanni. He's an exceptional talent who sang the opening themes to Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT in Italy, among dozens of other anime dubs.

It's available in ebook, paperback, and hardback on all major sites. More info here:

https://thedaoofdragonball.com/blog/boo ... published/



Dragon Ball Cultura Volumen 3 is available in Spanish in Early Access ebook.

The translation is about halfway through the book as I post this, and I'll update it each month with a new chapter.

More info and links here:

https://thedaoofdragonball.com/blog/boo ... published/



I would like to release Dragon Ball Language in Early Access ebook in December.

This book will teach you the visual, verbal, and non-verbal language in Dragon Ball.

This includes learning how to read and write in Namekian!

We'll see if I can get it done among my other projects.

You can learn more about it here:

https://thedaoofdragonball.com/books/dr ... -language/



Lastly, the long-awaited French translation of my DBZ book will be published on Nov. 21 as Dragon Ball Z « It's Over 9,000 ! » Des visions du monde en collision.

That's it for now.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Great to see your hard at work on the writing Derek. Nice to see the translations are coming along well for all the non-English speaking fans.

I've really enjoyed your It's Over 9000, Dragon Soul and Dragon Ball Culture (have read the first 4 and plan to read the last 3 in future) books thus far. Dragon Ball Language sounds fascinating, I can't wait until that's done and I can read it.

Is there anything specific you'd like to read about? People you'd like me to interview? Or questions you want me to ask them?

I know it's an old thread but that project you were working on about Dragon Ball and Asperger Syndrome sounds great, as someone with the condition myself I'd be happy to talk about my experience of it and how it manifests in my affinity (and at times obsession) for Dragon Ball.

Otherwise in terms of interviews with people associated with Dragon Ball, I think one I know a lot of English-speaking fans would love to hear/read would be with Ken Morrison, the head of Ocean Studios largely because of their once prominent association with Dragon Ball dubs, as this article from 1997 lists them as "Production Partners". For example, fans have long wondered why there was another English dub seemingly made for the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium and Finland from Z episode 108 (123 in uncut numbering) and Canada from episode 183 (168 in uncut numbering) and all of original Dragon Ball and GT, what role (if any) did AB Groupe have in the early negotiations (hence the dub airing in Europe before its home country Canada) and whether Ocean produced these alternate dubs themselves or if it was Westwood Media (hence the common fan term "Westwood dub"). There's been long standing rumours the alternate Z dub was created because of backlash to Funimation changing the cast for season 3 but would be nice to finally have that either confirmed or refuted. Maybe also ask whether or not Ocean produced the edit of Funimation's dub of Dragon Ball Z with added sound effects and different placement of the Faulconer Productions score, which aired exclusively on YTV in Canada for episodes 54-167 (68-182 in uncut numbering).

Otherwise congrats again on all the fantastic work on providing a well-deserved place for Dragon Ball in academia, keep it up.

[DerekPadula]

Thanks for the praise!

The Asperger's idea was put on the back burner of my back burner. There are so many projects I've never been able to see through due to a lack of resources.

I could interview Ken Morrison. I'm friends with the Ocean voice actors, and I could ask them to get me in touch with Ken, or just reach out on my own. Thanks for the topic suggestions.

At the moment, I'm interviewing Hiroki Takahashi, the vocalist of Dragon Ball's opening theme. We've already done one round of questions on his early years and how he got the job of singing the OP. Then I'll continue into the rest of his career in relation to Dragon Ball. His answers will be added into Dragon Ball Culture Volume 7.

Do you guys have any questions for Takahashi-san? I'll consider asking them.