Official Member Interview Thread (Interviewing Kid Buu)

[Kamiccolo9]

So, this is a project I've been looking into doing for some time now, and I've finally got the time and motivation to do it.

Welcome to the Official Member Interview Thread (OMIT). Here, you can volunteer to be interviewed so that others in the community can get to know you better. If you would like to be interviewed, shoot me a PM, and I'll put you on the list.

Each interview will consist of 10 or so questions, broken up into two sections of 5 each, dealing with (in accordance with Kanzenshuu rules) the impact that Dragon Ball has had on the member's life, his or her experiences with the franchise, how that member expresses their fandom, what aspects of the fandom do they identify with, and so on and so forth.

After the person being interviewed answers the questions for a section of the interview, I will announce an interlude for the floor to be opened to other members to ask questions or comment, and after I feel a sufficient amount of times has passed, I will proceed to the next section or to the next interview. (Obviously I cannot actually enforce this rule, so I would respectfully ask everyone participating in this thread to abide by it.)

So....I'm hoping that this can be a good way for the community to get to know each other better in a way both enlightening and entertaining. Without any further adieu, let the party begin!

[Kamiccolo9]

First up is Gyt Kaliba, a member of this site's forum for about 7 years now, who has graciously accepted to be my guinea pig for this social experiment.

1. This may be the first time since I've joined that I've seen you without a Krillin avatar. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that he is your favorite character? As a fellow Krillin fan, I'm curious as to what you find likeable about the everyone's favorite noseless, chestnut themed hero.

2. You've mentioned in a couple of threads that I've seen that you are from Arkansas. Is there a large Dragon Ball presence there? Were you one of many fans in your area, or a lone visionary surrounded by uncultured plebeians

3. We've spoken a few times on our mutual love of Rurouni Kenshin. Was Dragon Ball your first experience with anime/manga? If so, how effective would you consider it as a "gateway series" for other anime/manga? And if not, do you think that your experience with other anime/manga make Dragon Ball more enjoyable to you?

4. Would you attribute any of your enjoyment of this franchise to Kanzenshuu? How much have this site and forum contributed to your knowledge and understanding of Dragon Ball?

5. Are there any specific people that you feel contributed to your becoming a fan?

Aaaaaand that's the first half of the interview. I'll put up the rest later, after giving you a chance to answer.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Always willing to be a guinea pig for something that sounds interesting - I gotta be useful for something after all, right? All right, let's see here -

1. This may be the first time since I've joined that I've seen you without a Krillin avatar. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that he is your favorite character? As a fellow Krillin fan, I'm curious as to what you find likeable about the everyone's favorite noseless, chestnut themed hero.

Haha, well I had to take a small break from the Krillin avatar usage, due to the passing of one of my favorite actors. Fear not though, I'll be back to featuring the visage of our favorite baldie soon enough. Yes, Krillin is definitely my favorite character. Back when I first got into the series, he wasn't really, but I did like him; once I got around to watching the franchise all the way through in Japanese though, I quickly realized just how much I really loved the character. There's just something appealing to the way he interacts with Goku and the others, particularly in the humorous sections of the series. He's also a character who displays, more than anyone else, a willingness to risk it all for his friends and loved ones, even if he knows he's not going to win - I find that a really admirable trait. First and foremost I guess though is how relateable Krillin is, at least for me, particularly in his quest for love. I still think that 'Kuririn's 101st Proposal' may be the single best filler episode we ever got.

2. You've mentioned in a couple of threads that I've seen that you are from Arkansas. Is there a large Dragon Ball presence there? Were you one of many fans in your area, or a lone visionary surrounded by uncultured plebeians

The latter, and how! There were a few fans here and there when I was in high school, but for the most part it was a pretty unpopular thing to be into Dragon Ball (or any anime for that matter) where I live. Things may have changed since I graduated, but I kinda doubt it too - it's the kind of place where unless you're a bible-thumping hunting man, you're not a "man" at all to some people. Despite that though, there was a pretty small but dedicated group of friends/fellow fans I knew at one point, but I haven't been in contact with any of them but two in recent years.

3. We've spoken a few times on our mutual love of Rurouni Kenshin. Was Dragon Ball your first experience with anime/manga? If so, how effective would you consider it as a "gateway series" for other anime/manga? And if not, do you think that your experience with other anime/manga make Dragon Ball more enjoyable to you?

For the most part, yeah, Dragon Ball was my first. I was into Pokemon and Digimon first, but with both of those I didn't really know what anime was at the time, and Pokemon eventually waned (though I'm a fan again now, at least of the games) and Digimon was just a minor thing for me at the time. DBZ though, I got so into at first that I quickly had to know everything there was to know about it, and that entailed learning about where it was from. Dragon Ball ended up being my first experience with manga too - I was actually unaware we were even getting manga over here until I saw a copy of Volume 16 of DB at Hastings one day, and I bought that right away. Dragon Ball as a gateway anime...is a bit of a complicated thing, I admit. It was the perfect show for me, but at the same time, I was probably 12 or 13 at the time. Much as I love Dragon Ball though, it's hard to say if I'd have gotten into it the same way if I were just now finding out about it. It's not nostalgia, it's just...I'm in a different kind of place than I was then, so it's just really hard to call. For others though, I'd call it about 50/50, just depending on the kinds of stories they already enjoy before they get into anime.

I don't really know if this counts, but I have noticed that I'm a lot more critical of Naruto, Bleach, and even One Piece than I am of Dragon Ball or Yu Yu Hakusho. I don't really know if this is because of a standard that DB has set that they sometimes fail to live up to, or just because I'm a different person than I was back then, though. It makes me appreciate Dragon Ball more every time I have a complaint with another shonen series though.

4. Would you attribute any of your enjoyment of this franchise to Kanzenshuu? How much have this site and forum contributed to your knowledge and understanding of Dragon Ball?

I think I've touched on this one before, but my history with Kanzenshuu (or at least the Daizenshuu EX side of it) is a complicated one, kinda. Despite my join date of 2007, I didn't really become an active member until a year or two ago. When I first joined up I was very much a dub fan, with only minimal interest in the original version, and the way I saw my fellow fans being treated just for watching the dub was frankly, horrendous. In all fairness though, this was 2007, and we all know what wondrous release for the series that year brought is, so it's only natural that tensions were rather high. So not wanting to put up with any of that, I stopped coming for a good few years. After making it a point to watch all of the franchise in Japanese - partially to be able to rebuke people and partially out of my own curiosity - though, I found myself drawn back here and to all of the awesome information at our disposal here. Oh, and Battle of Gods certainly helped too!

I used to think that I was a walking encyclopedia of Dragon Ball knowledge, but once I started coming here, I realized how little I truly know. I'm always learning though, and I thank VegettoEX, Herms, SaiyaJedi, and the rest for lining up all of that info for me to absorb in the first place.

5. Are there any specific people that you feel contributed to your becoming a fan?

Just one person in particular, actually, and that's my girlfriend Areia. Without going too into detail or mushy, we first met back when I was just getting into DBZ, when I was in 6th grade and she was in 7th. We rode the same school bus at the time and became fast friends, bonding through talking and joking about the series. Through the years we became better and better friends before finally realizing it was more than that a few years ago, and it all ties back into DBZ. It's actually amusing to me that Dragon Ball - single-handily the most un-romantic series the world has ever seen; I mean c'mon, timeskips make babies guys! - is responsible for meeting the woman I love. Crazy, isn't it?

That's enough blabbing out of me for now, and I need to get some rest after a long day of work anyway, so I'll end this here for now. Hopefully it's not too dull of a read!

[Kamiccolo9]

Great read, especially the last part. I let out a bit of an "awwwwww," at that
I'd like to open the floor to anyone else who has questions or would like to make comments. I'll continue on with the interview at some point in the near future, with how long depending on the amount of feedback we get here.

[RandomGuy96]

So how does this work? Does everyone ask questions freely or does each person get a pre-set amount of questions? And do the questions have to be unique, or can they be fairly generic, like "What is your favorite/least favorite X and why"?*

*Get it?

[Kamiccolo9]

So how does this work? Does everyone ask questions freely or does each person get a pre-set amount of questions? And do the questions have to be unique, or can they be fairly generic, like "What is your favorite/least favorite X and why"?*

*Get it?

Feel free to ask questions freely during the downtime between me providing questions. Ask whatever you want, as long as it's not off-topic.

I'll be getting the second batch of questions up tonight, and after that, I have two more interviews lined up to start in the next couple of days

[Scarz]

Pretty neat little interview! I read it all and would love to see more members here participate.

[bkev]

Count me in, if you'll have me! Always interested to share.

[Kamiccolo9]

Ok, Part 2. Sorry about the wait.

6. You mentioned the "Krillin's Proposal" episode. Krillin does seem to be one of the characters focused on a lot in filler, and he usually has some kind of cameo appearance in the movies. Do you feel like these uses of the character contribute to his effectiveness, or are they just easy ways to throw more characters in?

7. Are you a part of any other forum communities (Dragon Ball or otherwise), or do you just tend to stick around here?

8. I see you fairly often in the Fan-Art thread. Do you have any particular favorites, or personal designs that you'd like to share?

9. Is there any single thread in these forums that you would consider your favorite?

10. And finally, how has the community changed over time since you got here? People come and go, new stuff like BoG comes along and rekindles interest; what all has happened since you joined?

I'll give some time after this part, and we'll be starting our next interview shortly (hopefully!)

[Gyt Kaliba]

No prob, I was waiting to see if anyone else had any questions so far, but twas a no go. Glad people are reading it though!

6. You mentioned the "Krillin's Proposal" episode. Krillin does seem to be one of the characters focused on a lot in filler, and he usually has some kind of cameo appearance in the movies. Do you feel like these uses of the character contribute to his effectiveness, or are they just easy ways to throw more characters in?

Hmm...much as I enjoy them, and have no problem with Kuririn or others being used as comic relief...I think that in most cases, they just used the human characters as a way to pad out some time. There's some examples where this isn't the case of course - another good example of Kuririn-based filler IMO is the two episode volcano bit towards the end of the first anime series - but for the most part it was just padding. And thinking of his movie cameos in particular, while it was a pretty funny running gag, you would have thought they could have also used him in some minor fights somewhere. The biggest example of this missed opportunity is in movie 3. They had a large roster of supporting villains for Turles, and they even showcase everyone fighting them...only to see them lose. So Goku can take them out. But then they still miraculously have enough energy to cheer Goku on from afar later. It's one of the worst cases of tossing the other characters aside, rather than giving them their due, just to give Goku more glory, that I can think of.

7. Are you a part of any other forum communities (Dragon Ball or otherwise), or do you just tend to stick around here?

As of late, a majority of my forum lurking and posting has been here on Kanzenshuu. I've been a regular member of many forums though. Most notably, I guess, I've been a long time member of the FUNimation Forums (and am even a moderator of the most current incarnation of it); though admittedly I've been slacking a bit there as of late, due to issues with that forum's loading. I also used to run my own forum, Gyt Kaliba's Anime & More, for about a couple of years. Nowadays though, other than here and FUNi, I tend to lurk and occasionally post mostly on the Technodrome forums (TMNT), and With the Will (Digimon).

8. I see you fairly often in the Fan-Art thread. Do you have any particular favorites, or personal designs that you'd like to share?

I'm not much of a critic when it comes to art, other than if I like or dislike something, but as someone who can only draw just well enough to tell that it's not what I imagined in my head...well, let's just say I have a great respect for great artists. As far as professional art goes, I'm naturally a huge fan of Toriyama, but I also quite like Nobuhiro Watsuki of Rurouni Kenshin fame, and Masakazu Katsura of Video Girl Ai/I"s/Zetman/etc. fame. For fan artists, some of my favorites would be AnnouncerGuy and Scarz. There would be tons of others, but unless I see the original poster, I'm never quite sure who drew what. Oh, and Big Momma's latest additions in the thread were great too!

A particular favorite artwork though, hmm...that's too hard to pick, so as a cop out, I'll just say every piece of Little Saiyalings ever.

9. Is there any single thread in these forums that you would consider your favorite?]

The Sexy Fan Art Thread.

...Kidding, kidding! Well, maybe. ...*Clears throat* Anyway, uh...it's hard to say really, since most of the long-running threads have their ups and downs, due to downtime on a particular subject, or the constant flow of positivity versus negativity. The Multiverse thread has been pretty fun in the long run though. I guess as a cop out I'd say the Battle of Gods thread, back when we were all wildly speculating about the upcoming movie especially.

10. And finally, how has the community changed over time since you got here? People come and go, new stuff like BoG comes along and rekindles interest; what all has happened since you joined?

As I said before, in reality I'm actually kind of a newer member than my join date might imply, since I spent many years not even coming here after being hassled by another member for other non-DB interests via PM. It also didn't help that at the time I was very much a fan of the dub, and hatred for FUNimation and their works were at their height in 2007, for obvious reasons. Things have changed quite a bit since those old days thankfully though, and while there's still negativity towards the company and their work on the franchise - sometimes more than warranted, other times not - it's generally presented in a much more respectful manner towards fellow fans than it was then. This could be due to my own older age, the older age of other people involved on the forum, or any number of things though.

Battle of Gods was certainly the biggest turning point since my return (and the main cause of it too) though. Never before have I seen so many fans of so many different kinds come together in sheer excitement at a major new project for the franchise coming out, and at first there wasn't even a bit of negativity to be found! I'd really like it if the 2015 film could eventually give us that same kind of feeling again, at least to some degree.

[Kamiccolo9]

Aaaaaand...that's a wrap. I'll give a day or so for questions, comments, and cuss words, and then we can start our next interview with.....Kid Buu!

[Hujio]

I'm always learning though, and I thank VegettoEX, Herms, SaiyaJedi, and the rest for lining up all of that info for me to absorb in the first place.

So "the rest" is all of one person?

All joking aside, it is great seeing this type of "super shōnen" member participation and I hope it continues.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I'm always learning though, and I thank VegettoEX, Herms, SaiyaJedi, and the rest for lining up all of that info for me to absorb in the first place.

So "the rest" is all of one person?

Well...Meri kinda counts via podcast doesn't she? Sorta? Sometimes?

[Kamiccolo9]

So, one thing that becomes abundantly clear to people the longer they know me is that I'm easily distracted. Between delving in to subbed episodes of Yugioh, and my first foray into the world of subbed Godzilla movies, I had somewhat forgotten about this interview. Well, no more! On with the show!

This week, I'll be interviewing the illustrious Kid Buu, long-time member of Kanzenshuu and it's forbears, and star of the Kanzenshuu Confessions Tumblir.

1. You've been a member of this community for coming up on 10 years now. I don't think there are many here who can say that. Is there anyone here on the forum you'd like to call out who you've known since you joined up?

2. From what I've seen, you seem to be a fan of one of the more commonly maligned characters in the franchise: Yamcha. Could you explain to the rest of us why you like this character?

3. According to your profile, the thread you are most active in is the Versus Thread. Seeing as it's one of the most popular and long-running threads on the forum, what do you think draws people to this thread? Why are these topics so interesting?

4. How did you get into Dragon Ball? Was it through the anime, or the manga? Toonami, or Viz release?

5. How often are you on/do you make use of the site? Or do you stick mostly to the forums?

Aaaaaaand...there's the first half. Eagerly awaiting your replies!

[Kid Buu]

Yup, either I'm the star of that place, or one of many "personalities" are.

1. You've been a member of this community for coming up on 10 years now. I don't think there are many here who can say that. Is there anyone here on the forum you'd like to call out who you've known since you joined up?
Hmm, actually I was having a PM conversation early this year with Duo who has been around since the same time frame. Sadly he seems to have Toriyama'd the board, but I will say he did mention that it is crazy to think about how things have changed in recent years compared to older years. For example, the abundance of new material and new interviews to make Kanzenshuuers with laugh or rage.

2. From what I've seen, you seem to be a fan of one of the more commonly maligned characters in the franchise: Yamcha. Could you explain to the rest of us why you like this character?
Hmm, the first time I saw Yamcha was when the Saiyan Arc aired on TV; he played baseball, exploding Ki Balls at Phantom Saiyans, and died straight away even before the Saiyan Battle started. So when he, Tenshinhan, and Chaozu died straight away I thought "these guys are the Earth's strongest warriors, they were built-up to lose straight away so the audience can see much superior the aliens were, and these human guys weren't ever be relevant again." Which to be fair, wasn't too far from the truth. I made this assumption because I was a big fan of the Mortal Kombat film at the time and they did something similar. Goro, one of the baddies, easily beat up the nameless humans and the supporting character Art, to make him look really good before he lost to one of the main characters. I guess in today's term, this is known as jobbing. Well to get to the point, when I first saw the series while not knowing the existence of any other DB TV Series, I thought to myself that he was an okay character. He had his purpose in the story and did a good "job" of showing it.

So later on, I moved to the US (I originally lived in the UK until the end of 2002), I discovered that the Cartoon Network of America also showed Dragon Ball, which I started watching as the Buu Saga was ending its course. The whole thing was pretty confusing at first on why Piccolo was a bad guy, but I assumed it was some sort of prequel. Yamcha didn't really do much in that arc, so I still had the same opinion as before. However, during the 23rd Budokai I found myself rooting for him because I thought to myself "hey, that nerdy guy intentionally hit him in the balls, that should be a DQ!" Once that was over, I was so in need of a DB-fix I found DBZ and DBGT on a Spanish Channel and a Japanese channel respectively, and that point came to prefer the original version over the dub version. Once that was over, it was pretty much over and I couldn't watch the show again because the DVDs were way too expensive.

Now, finally getting to the point, I decided as late as 2009/2010 to finally check out the pre-Daimao arcs since now I could access them. I really enjoyed the first arc, and Yamcha was one of the reasons why. One thing that I disliked about DBZ was that until Buu, almost every villain felt similar to me. Yamcha was just such a refreshing villain. He wasn't all about power, he had his own unique personality. There wasn't all this talk about taking over the universe or being the strongest in the universe, it was just a desire to get over his phobia of girls. It was interesting to see a villain like him, and we wish we had gotten more characters like that later on. I also loved the way Furuya played him in the anime (which ties into my talk about how the international channel made me watch the series in the original). His role decreased with every arc, but there were some cool moments, like "Wolf Hurricane" at the 22nd Budokai. Oh, and by the way, I also really like Oolong, Chaozu, and Buu.

3. According to your profile, the thread you are most active in is the Versus Thread. Seeing as it's one of the most popular and long-running threads on the forum, what do you think draws people to this thread? Why are these topics so interesting?
Hmm, I didn't realize that was my most active threads. I guess it makes sense since that thread is always pinned while the other ones die off. Well, this series has a lot of focus on fighting and comparing strength, so I can see how it attracts people who are into those dynamics. As for why the topic is interesting, well I think of them like "what-if?" stories. We generally think about "what if this didn't happen? what would our life be like?" with our own lives, so within the context of a manga focused on fighting, it generally becomes "who would have won?" discussions.

4. How did you get into Dragon Ball? Was it through the anime, or the manga? Toonami, or Viz release?
I first saw the series on Toonami in the late 90s, when they were airing the Saiyan Saga. What made the series so appealing to me was that it seemed so "hardcore" compared to everything else. Around this time, I was shows like Spider-Man: The Animated Series where the titular character wouldn't even punch someone. DBZ, on the otherhand, would feature characters fighting each other to the death. DBZ was just one of a kind series compared to everything else on Cartoon Network. Later, all these "similar" shows like Yu-Gi-Oh! showed up and I became a fan of those. I later became a fan of other series like the toys anime (Pokemon, Digimon), the Toonami shows (Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo), and the Adult Swim shows (Detective Conan, InuYasha). So I guess you can that DBZ and YGO were my gateway for anime, even though I didn't know it was anime yet.

As for the manga, I first discovered a decade ago. I was at the dentist waiting, and one of the magazines was "Shonen Jump" with Yugi on the cover. I began to read it and thought it was pretty cool to see DBZ in a comic form, even if it did take me a while to realize I was reading it the wrong way! Eventually I subscribed to Shonen Jump and learned about anime/manga culture. So I guess DBZ & YGO were also my gateway into manga, as well.

That said, eventually the novelty wore-off and I'm not really into anime anymore. That is, I don't specifically avoid anime, but I also don't go out of my way for it. It is just that, despite being involved with a few anime fandoms like this one, I came to dislike a lot of anime/manga tropes. The only time I'll ever watch anime or read manga is if it is a classic that interests me (like Kenshin, which I will read one day). Like, I know a few people outside of the cyber-world who watch everything on Crunchyroll and I just can't do that. Whoa, went on a tangent there.

5. How often are you on/do you make use of the site? Or do you stick mostly to the forums?
At first it was just on and off between wherever I was in a DB mood. Now a days we are getting so much more DB material that I basically come here everyday. I don't really visit the website though (sorry Hujio, and I say Hujio because his name doesn't get mentioned enough when admin mentions happen), since most of the Kanzenshuu news is also posted on their Facebook and Twitter pages.

[Kamiccolo9]

Thanks for the reply. I now open this up for comments, and I'll be back in a few days with the second half of the interview.

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

All of this has been very interesting read for me. I hope the interviews will continue. Great thread!

[El Diabeetus]

Quite interesting, looking forward to seeing more of these play out.

[RandomGuy96]

Thanks for the reply. I now open this up for comments, and I'll be back in a few days with the second half of the interview.

...so I suppose this idea is dead?