Dragon Soul - Discussion Thread

[DerekPadula]

Hey everyone,

I'm an author who writes about the Dragon Ball series, and I'd like to share your story about being a DBZ fan in my new book coming out on April 18, called Dragon Soul: 30 Years of Dragon Ball Fandom.

http://thedaoofdragonball.com/blog/book ... ouncement/

For your story I'd like to learn about why you became a fan, and how Dragon Ball influences your life. I want to discover what Dragon Ball means to you and then help share your story with others.

So far I've received 65 stories from fans in 24 countries. Oddly enough, not a single story from Japan. So if you're a Japanese fan or live in Japan, *please* share your story!

You can send me a brief article at least a paragraph long, or we can speak on Skype. Pictures are welcome too. They can be PM'd to me here, in the comments in this thread, in the above blog post, on The Dao of Dragon Ball Facebook, Twitter @DerekPadula, or through my contact form.

The deadline is Friday, March 27, but the sooner the better.

Thank you.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Just wanted to check before I get to typing later - are you looking for more stories from non-Japanese fans as well and just would really like some Japanese fans to come forward as well, or are you specifically looking for Japanese fans alone now? Just don't wanna waste your time if it's the latter, since being in Arkansas, I'm pretty much the furthest one can be from Japan sadly.

[Ajay]

Yeah, I didn't really think about that. I just started typing and then went back to double check what you wanted. I'm in the UK, so not quite Japan.

[DerekPadula]

All stories are welcome, from anyone and anywhere. Thanks.

[sangofe]

Hello. Dragon Ball is something that's been in my life for a very, very long time. Probably around 30 years. I'm turning 33 this year.

It all started sometime when I was a child, living in France. My grandpa was taking care of me and my brother. There were cartoons on TV. At that time, french tv was full of Japanese anime, and Dragon Ball was one of them. Now this information about Dragon Ball being one of them was something I found out later, because I was really, really young at that time. Probably around 4 or 5.

When I was 5,5 years, my parents decided to move back to Norway, the country where I was born. Here there was no Dragon Ball. Not much anime at all. Still, the tale about this very special boy named Goku had struck my heart. I remembered this super exiting show with the hero having a really weird hairstyle.

I got boosebumps thinking back about it, but I just couldn't remember what its name was... Until I started going back to France on holidays yearly. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z was on TV twice a day through the holidays. Then, later, at around 1994 when we got internet, I started looking it up online. At this time, I was twelve years old. From that day, I don't think there's been one single day I haven't thought of Dragon Ball. Not one...

I surfed the web, posted on forums. Got in touch with people in France, USA, Spain... Managed to get random DB and DBZ records from different TV channels. Downloaded fansubs of DBZ and DBGT from "Super 5". Planet Namek was one of my first webpages. I even joined an english fandub to fandub DBGT into english when I was 18 years old (in 1998). Sadly, we never finished episode 1, but we had many things ready. I also made my own webpage "Last Saiyajin Refuge" together with a guy from Canada. It never got big, but I still made over two thousand videos from various versions of the show I had on VHS (french dub, chinese, japanese, spanish).

I was always in constant search to get better quality. Always. And in this "quest", because I was really enthusiastic and gullible, I ended up getting screwed over a couple of times. Supposedly a guy had SVHS records of DBZ so I sent him money to get me these on DVD. Bad idea. I never got anything back. In addition, this guy supposedly had all of DB Z GT fansub dvds in good quality. Well, quality wasn't so good. Not at all. I paid big money to get copies and got lots of dvds that didn't even work. Great deal. Not. I also got a VCD set that looked good, but wasn't great either. Something I don't regret, though, was when I was in NYC China Town I bought most of DBGT on dvds, transferred from decent quality VHS tapes. I still have most of these dvds.

I got a few friends in Norway into Dragon Ball. I remember giving out the french dubs of Trunks Story, Bardock special and the broly movie to friends. One guy ended up totally digging the Broly movie. I think he saw it 15 times. Another friend watched most of the english Saban dub, another became a Trunks fan. Sadly, they never became big fans and none of them watch all of the series. Other people laughed at me because I liked Dragon Ball. But Dragon Ball was still constantly on my mind. And I have lost count of how many "Ka Me Ha Me Ha's" I did through my life. All the chills I felt thinking about new, exciting details I didn't know about.

Later, when I became an adult, I still kept thinking about Dragonball. And that's thanks to Kanzenshuu. (Daizenshuu). Through this wonderful webpage I've kept in touch with many fans world wide. There's been countless interesting news. I've also found a french Dragon Ball community online called db-z.com, but that came rather late as french fans weren't too much online.

I obviously changed my fansub and records out with dvds. I also collected all the Dragon Ball video games. I got all the Japanese Dboxes (except DB, I really regret not getting the DB Dbox). I also got all the subtitled releases of DB and DBZ from France. Unfortunately, I didn't get FUNimation's Dboxes when they were coming out, because I was thinking I had to stop getting releases... But I ended up getting them later after they rose in price. Now, with the talk about trying to get FUNimation releasing DBZ (and maybe DB) on BD with the original broadcast audio, I'm waiting to get yet another release.

So, to sum up; Dragon Ball came into my life when I was a child, thanks to my grandpa. I've been what you could call an obsessed fan all my life. I even thought about Dragon Ball when I was travelling around the world alone and getting ended up DBZ bootlegs of the mexican dub of dbz and dbgt. So Dragon ball obviously means a lot to me. It's still super exiting to me to watch those combats, look at the Saiyajins turn golden. Those jokes. That adventure feeling. It's my favorite series because I've got so many memories you could nostalgia, but I still like the new productions. And it's awesome to see Toriyama wanting to make new stories through the movies. And honestly, I have no idea what my life would've been without Dragon Ball... Less exiting, I guess?

PS! I've got a 17 months old daugther that I plan on introducing Dragon Ball to!

[TheAldella]

Back in the day, my family owned random assortments of VHS tapes and other assorted videos. My brother had recorded some of the Ocean dub and was rewatchig it on the hospital's VCR in one of the break rooms nearby as I was born. He told the story to my mother later and laughed, saying "He was born and of all things, I was watching Dragon Ball." Years passed and he was still a nerd, though not quite as big of one. He came back from a trip to a yard sale and nabbed me the original 13 episode set of Dragon Ball with the Curse of the Blood Rubies movie that had the Ocean dub as well. I must've rewatched that thing a hundred times when I was little. Pilaf and crew hold a special place in my heart because they took up so much of my young days. After a while, my parents noticed that I was on a bit of a media loop and started asking my uncle, another Dragon ball Z nut, who is 46 and believes that Super Saiyan 5 is a thing, to record episodes for me. And that he did. What I didn't own on official records past that day, he gave me in spares. The entire Cell Games broadcast, I believe was the first case of this. I've almost lost interest in the franchise one solid time. I'd just purchased the Out-Of-Print US Dragon Box Z release and completed my second watch-through. I felt like it was losing its luster, being a fan of the more energetic and trimmed english dub, graced to us by Kai. However, I woke up the next morning to the magazine scan of the Final Chapters. I've been with the series since my incarnation (apparently...) and plan to stay with it until one of us dies out. I'm even taking my mother and grandmother through the original currently! We're up to just before entering Muscle tower!

[DerekPadula]

Thanks for your submissions.

For anyone else writing a story, I always like to get answers to these two questions.

What does Dragon Ball mean to you?

What is the Soul of Dragon Ball?

You can write about whatever you like, but attempting to answer these questions will usually lead to unique replies that connect with readers on a deeper level.

Thank you.

[DerekPadula]

Hey everyone. Today is the last day to send your Dragon Soul story to me! At the very least, say hello and get your name in before the door closes. Then you can submit your story over the weekend. Otherwise it'll be too late.

Everyone on the Kanzenshuu staff is welcome to submit a story. No deadline.

Thank you.

[Ajay]

I almost forgot about this. I had one paragraph to write about a week ago and it totally slipped my mind.

This is kinda long so it'll probably need editing.

Text:

Spoiler:

March 6th 2000 marks the beginning of Dragon Ball in the UK, and the start of my 15-year dive into one hell of a fandom. It gained me a best friend, and a wonderful obsession rich with history and a promising future.

At the age of seven, I found myself in class having a rather one-sided conversation with a stranger over his Dragon Ball pencil case. As I hopelessly spoke at him about the wonders of Goku and his goofy friends, I was met by nothing but a blank stare. It turns out that the pencil case was a gift, and he had never once seen a single episode as Cartoon Network was a premium channel that he had no access to.

After he accepted my offer to record the show for him, I spent the next few years bringing him VHS tapes at the end of each week. He would spend the weekend catching up, and I would anxiously await being able to talk to him about it come Monday morning.

This continued for many years, and though he eventually moved away from the anime fandom, the friendship has lasted until this day. On my 18th birthday, he shocked me with one of the most moving and unexpected gifts I received that year – a Dragon Ball shirt.

After many years of never once discussing the series, I was blown away to find that he’d remembered the one thing that had brought us together in the first place. It was a truly special gift that I’ll treasure for the longest time.

Throughout those years, I spent every day watching the show. I was entirely captured by the beautiful animation, engaging characters, and the sheer intensity of the action on-screen. At such an innocent age, I never once questioned the peculiarities of the dub – the soundtrack, the ever-changing voice actors, or the consistent repeats. Like so many others, Dragon Ball was my childhood, and I looked upon it with nothing but admiration.

As I grew up, I started to gain a deeper respect for the anime as a whole. Moving away from dubs and western companies, I began engaging myself in the Japanese staff, in an effort to understand the purest form of its creation – from the seiyuu to the animators, down to the man himself, Akira Toriyama.

This led to me watching Dragon Ball in the original language, and finally reading the manga in its entirety. It was an extremely different Dragon Ball from the one I had grown up with, but it was a significantly better experience in every way.

In many manga I’d read in the past, I found the action particularly hard to follow – often relying on memories of anime adaptations to get by. In Toriyama’s art, everything was wonderfully drawn; the action was so clean, easy to follow, and unrelentingly captivating. Watching his art change from the friendlier, rounder aesthetic, to the sharper, more intense style in the later volumes was a marvel to witness.

This feeling of sheer brilliance carried further into the anime. Masako Nozawa’s Goku was filled with a goofy, childlike spirit, but terrifyingly serious when necessary. Ryu Horikawa’s screams as Vegeta were spine-chillingly large, and Ryusei Nakao’s Freeza; a performance worth a thousand words. This was all tied together by Shunsuke Kikuchi’s defining score.

It was a masterpiece, and I could not shake this feeling of needing to know absolutely everything about its history. Within a year of joining fansite, Kanzenshuu, I consumed near enough everything I could possibly need to know.

For all the manga and anime I’ve consumed, not one has ever found its way as deep within my heart as Dragon Ball has. The very core of the series revolves around adventure, striving to better oneself, and coming to understand those around you. It’s an endlessly relatable tale that will transcend the challenges of time and find its way into the lives of many in the future.

- Ajay
Surrey, UK

Photos:
Cel collection - http://imgur.com/a/5zhR1
Home Video & Figures - http://minus.com/mcciX4XoCplYc

Shoot me a message if there's anything that needs amending.

[DerekPadula]

That's perfect, Ajay. And well-written.

As followup questions, what do you think the Soul of Dragon Ball is, and why is it still so popular after 30 years?

Please PM me your age, in case that's against the guidelines to post here.

Thank you.

[ShadowDude112]

Is it too late to contribute? I'm writing something up right now. But I don't want it to be too late.

[Ajay]

That's perfect, Ajay. And well-written.

As followup questions, what do you think the Soul of Dragon Ball is, and why is it still so popular after 30 years?

Please PM me your age, in case that's against the guidelines to post here.

Thank you.

I'm fairly sure it's okay to post - I'm 21.

Regarding your follow up questions, I guess they both tie together pretty well. I'm not sure if you're looking for something sentimental, though. I can't say any of the characters really had any direct impact on my personality or anything along that line of thinking.

Dragon Ball's soul will always revolve around the character of Son Goku, and the series' longevity is more or less tied into that. His childlike wonder, constant urge to better himself, and rather selfish attitude are all inherently static human traits. They're timeless and easily identifiable to all ages. As one watches his progression through all of the ups and downs that the series wanders through, Goku's reactions, agreeable or disagreeable, are always relatable to one's own at some point in their life.

Simply put - whether you're young and fresh to the series, or an older veteran, you never once feel like you've grown out of Toriyama's deceptively simple characters. They are timeless, with few exceptions.

[DerekPadula]

Perfect. Thanks, Ajay.

Is it too late to contribute? I'm writing something up right now. But I don't want it to be too late.

It's not too late. Please continue.

[ShadowDude112]

Spoiler:

I don’t recall the exact date I got into Dragon Ball, but I do know it was somewhere between late 2002 and early 2003. I was hanging out with one of my neighbors and they had this weird show on. It was a lot of standing around and talking. It’s very hazy, but it was an episode of GT. I taped an episode while I was gone and I was hooked. Then I saw the episode where Goku became a Super Saiyan 3 in Z, and that sealed it. I loved the series.

Shortly after I collected the video games, the toys, the DVDs, and everything. Dragon Ball was so cool. I collected the manga too. Eventually, like all kids, I fell out of it since it wasn’t “cool” to like anymore. But in 2008, I picked up those Season sets and fell in love all over again.

Eventually, in 2009, I found Daizenshuu EX and discovered the original, Japanese version. It finally clicked with me why the manga dialogue was so different compared to the dub! The dub was wrong. Ever since then, I have been a full on Dragon Ball fan. From knowing about the original, to finding out about Toriyama’s comments. It was great.

Dragon Ball influences me to keep trying and better myself. Just like Son Goku does. The way he always trains to better himself, and I feel like that’s a great thing. So I try to better myself. All the characters have some characteristic to them that, to others, can be very influential.

Dragon Ball is a timeless story. It’s not set in an era, or makes references that are incredibly dated. You could read it now or in 20 years, and you would still feel the same sense of adventure and excitement. That’s why it has the following it does. I hope the series lasts for eternity, so that every generation can experience it.
-Conor Flatley
New Jersey, USA

Hope this is what you were looking for. To add on to this, since you need to know, I am 19 years old.

[DerekPadula]

Thanks, ShadowDude112.

Please send me a picture of yourself or something Dragon Ball related that is special to you and that you'd like to share with others. Either by pasting a link here, or with a PM.

[dbzfan7]

Shit too late..

[DerekPadula]

Shit too late..

Nah, go ahead. It's cool.

[dbzfan7]

Well Dragon Ball is really something that brings in a wide crowd. For me personally it's something that I can never go a day without thinking about. The characters, the feuds, the martial arts techniques, the character designs and the transformation designs, there's just something something for everyone enjoy. On it's basic level as a kid, I probably just had my eyes glued to the screen for just how amazing the fight scenes were. Nothing cartoon wise seemed to be nearly as action packed or gripping as the flow of Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball Z's combat. I remember in Canada watching Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z back to back from 8:00-9:00pm EST on YTV. Even as a kid GT on Friday's at 9:00pm EST excited me. I was so hooked that really anything Dragon Ball was worth my time. I also used to watch some cut clips on youtube from a Canadian user, which is probably how I got passed the horrendous padding at times when I would marathon moments in the anime.

As I grew older, more and more things became apparent to me. Story lines and characters meant so much more. I could watch or follow the same story and over and over and over again, and still be very interested. Over time Dragon Ball rose to a more in depth discussion. I could talk about characters and growth. I could talk about battle powers. I could talk about fan works. I could talk about music. There's just so much to discuss. Once I joined the Kanzenshuu forums, or maybe just a little before that, I became attached to the source material. I wanted to know how things really happened. How characters actually behaved. How the Japanese version differed from the English rewrites. Discuss battle powers with the in-universe crowd. A whole new Dragon Ball perspective opened up to me. Coming to Kanzenshuu taught me so much more about Dragon Ball, and opened my eyes to a bunch of topics that I may not have discussed before.

Dragon Ball became that one series I would soon grow enough to proudly be open with even as an adult. I started heading to conventions just to meet the voice actors behind the series, even getting lucky enough to meet Ryo Horikawa...twice. I also got to speak with Kyle Hebert, and perform the Saiyaman rap live in front of a convention audience. Dragon Ball made me interested in story telling in general. My fascination was so big I started doing some writing pieces of my own. Not only that, but I started to be asked to help write for other people on the subject of Dragon Ball, or just to help construct stories for comics. I guess I'll never know what Dragon Ball might inspire or make me want to do next. I'm sure Dragon Ball will be related to whatever comes next for me.

Dragon Ball is something I'll never forget ever again. Funny enough it dropped off my radar for sometime. Though since picking it back up I guess between 2006-2008, I've never forget such memorable moments the series has given me. I'll never forget the moment I was graced with the Super Saiyan form. Just everything about it is amazing to me. The look when characters hair spikes up and glows a shining Golden colour. The sound of the aura, which apparently is based on sounds that babies in wombs hear. The stern gaze when someone like Goku, Gohan, or Future Trunks stare down the enemy.

I'll never forget the iconic Super Saiyan transformation on namek. I'll never forget Gohan's ascension and him being the one to defeat Cell in a final kamehameha duel. I'll never forget Kame Senin entering the Tenkaichi Budokai and his climatic clash with Goku. I'll never forget how he made the great Piccolo Daimao himself tremble in fear, then flee for his life. I'll never forget the grand finale of Goku finishing off Boo with a Genki Dama powered by Earth, Namek, and the afterlife. I mean anyone could just go on and on with all the memorable scenes or pages I suppose. There's just so many stand out moments that I could ramble on and on about everything that impressed me.

Dragon Ball has something for everyone. Fans are so passionate that they'll discuss or debate endlessly on topics whether they're civil, or unfortunately sometimes not so super awesome as I think Kanzenshuu's Mike would say. Whether we like the original Japanese version, an english dub, the manga, the video games, the fan art, the characters, the Dragon Ball fandom has so much life and passion for a multitude of varying subjects. Dragon Ball is so timeless to me that I seem to always forget that it was started in the late 80's and concluded in the 90's. It's a series that has kept me entertained in the best and worst of times. Whether I like or dislike some of the decisions of the newly revitalized Dragon Ball, I'll always find something to enjoy from Toei or Toriyama himself. I hope to one day pass my love of Dragon Ball to someone close to me, and maybe to the next generation so then we can keep Dragon Ball going for years and years to come. Thank you Mr. Toriyama for creating the series I am most fond of.

[DerekPadula]

Thanks, dbzfan7. Please PM me your full name, city / country, and age, along with a photograph of yourself or something Dragon Ball related that is special to you.

The sound of the aura, which apparently is based on sounds that babies in wombs hear.

This is new to me. I like the idea of it, but where did you hear this? I don't want to print it in the book if that's just a rumor, because then it'll spread incorrect information to everyone who reads it. It might be true, but I had never heard that, so can you please try to show me the source?

Thank you.

[Ajay]

The only source I've seen was from a post Kei17 made a few years ago http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/viewtop ... 15#p562928

His source: http://gigazine.net/news/20110911_anime ... cedec2011/

I can't read Japanese so I have no idea if that quote is in there or not.