Episode #0044 (24 September 2006)

Post by **VegettoEX** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 6:51 pm

Episode #0044 (download MP3)
67:22; 64 kbps, mono; 30.8 MB

Episode #0044! VegettoEX, Meri, Julian, and Andrew talk about gender roles in the series; how are females portrayed, and are their characters written into a corner by all becoming mothers? We also compare stories and authors (Oda, Kishimoto, Takahashi, etc.) with their DB counterparts. Releases for October, some old e-mails, and our "Super DragonBall Z" contest round out the episode! Referenced sites:

Whee! Go ahead and grab it. Big thanks to godofchaos for hosting the monumental *forty-four* episodes, now.

Sorry the episode's a little late. We recorded it before we left for the convention and I had every intention of having everything set to go Sunday night...

Buuut... I was remastering an old video ("Just Rock 'n Roll") for our panel at the convention, and that ended up taking more time than it should have

. Combine that with some delayed flights, and hey... you've got a somewhat late episode ^^;;.

Ignoring that, I think you're in for a treat. We're taking it back to a really in-depth discussion this week, and we even go into uncharted territory with the podcast, and that's comparing DB to other shows (One Piece, Naruto, Dr. Slump, Ranma 1/2, & Urusei Yatsura all get a little attention!). We certainly want to hear what you think, especially from our female listeners!

Don't forget about the "Super DragonBall Z" (PS2) Contest! You have until Friday at noon.

w0rd.

fps_anth · Post by **fps_anth** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:19 pm

Ahh...its been released. Thank you Mike! Sounds great so far.

Tanooki Kuribo · Post by **Tanooki Kuribo** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:38 pm

Wow, Friday I was making screen caps from the Dragonbox and actually made that Bulma picture (as in Meri's list) my wallpaper. I don't know what that says about me...

kvon · Post by **kvon** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:12 pm

This episode is great!! Hotties!

I totally agree on the discussion about not too comfortable to the opposite sex. Being a student in Taiwan from kindergarten to the end of middle school, I too had the similar experience. Man, third grade was just like a war between boys and girls everyday.

Mr. Announcer · Post by **Mr. Announcer** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:19 pm

Oh man, I have to say that was a pretty good discussion and it'd definitely a good point that Toriyama was writing in a different time, in a different setting. In that context, the gender roles don't irk me in the slightest. I find that when people try to be more politically correct the quality of the work goes down and it becomes almost impossible to relate to (like Disney nowadays). That's probably why I enjoy Toriyama's work a lot, he leaves the stereotypes in there and they are a projection of how he sees the world and basically how most people see them, but it isn't done in the slightest bit of malice and for the most part you don't get any negative ideas from it.

You were almost going to discuss Dr. Slump and I think you just forgot about it but I was really hoping you would. It's very relevant because of course, the main character was a girl Arale and she didn't fit any kind of female stereotype, which was very unusual for the time and even for now. Shonen manga barely ever have female protagonists, and while characters like Ms. Yamabuki are primarily sex objects to be won over, I found that most of the females were not stereotypical and were instead rather dynamic like Akane. I think that in general Toriyama does like to create these dynamic female characters and all of the women in DBZ have strong personalities, but given his upbringing marriage just seemed like the right way to go. I mean it may even parallel his own lifestyle since he, like Gokuh, has a wife and two kids.

Sorry, unecessarily long comment but my main point would be that I don't feel that Toriyama was ever trying to put women down and if this was the role of women in his particular society there was no reason for him not to portray them as such. I believe that he even commented once that most of his friends when he was in school were girls, but I could be wrong.

For the record I'm female (though I sort of have backwards views on women and society) and my favorite female character would have to have been Chichi.

DaemonCorps · Post by **DaemonCorps** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:23 pm

Well, better late than never, eh?

I'm at Julian's ABCs right now and am really enjoying the ep! Near the beginning of the topic, you guys seemed kinda uncomfortable and bored with the topic, but it seemed like you guys really got into it, especially when you started comparing the series to other ones.

About the whole gender thing, I agree that anime nowadays are intentionally trying to make their girl characters more prominent. But as Meri said about the Naruto girl characters, yeah, most of them are pretty bitchy

.

Then again, speaking as a teenager of today, most girls are pretty bitchy nowadays (groan).

<falls off chair> Wow, I wasn't expecting Meri's Top 5 after that topic... Should I feel bad about snickering at some of those comments?

So yeah, this episode is definitely a keeper, since it covers both sides of one erm, topic. And what other podcast do you know that can get away with talking about women empowerment and MILFs at the same time?

:whew: It's gonna take me a while before I choose this week's podcast quote

.

EDIT:

Kinda creepy that Julian mentions the DB series being released in a set as some kind of news release that you guys would've missed for recording early. FYI, Madman did some kind of DB full release pretty recently.

_Jrinu_ · Post by **_Jrinu_** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 10:41 pm

DaemonCorps wrote: :whew: It's gonna take me a while before I choose this week's podcast quote .

Akk! Daemon! Thou hath stolen my idea!

Fair enough, I suppose there is room for two quoters on this board.

But if we were ever to have the same quote... We DUEL!

Regardless... Great episode as usual. I loved the topic this week, I think it's great when you guys discuss other animes (particularly One Piece) And I really enjoyed how in-depth the conversation got.

One character I think you should have discussed for a bit but really didn't was Bulma's mom. I think she represents the ditzy golddigger who married a rich man who's clearly at least 15 years older her, and she really seemed to profit from it.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:25 pm

I was to say with Dr. Slump, I forgot about the crossover showing Senbei and Ms. Yamabuki being married, so I didn't see that coming at first. Nice podcast.

Also another thing with the gender thing, probably due to the great age difference between them in the beginning, DB's one of the few series where the male and female leads don't end up together.

DaemonCorps · Post by **DaemonCorps** » Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:37 pm

_Jrinu_ wrote:
DaemonCorps wrote: :whew: It's gonna take me a while before I choose this week's podcast quote .
Akk! Daemon! Thou hath stolen my idea!

Fair enough, I suppose there is room for two quoters on this board.

But if we were ever to have the same quote... We DUEL!

Actually, I'm pretty sure both of us started doing the whole quote thing at around the same time. I was wondering why you never mentioned it, but I guess it's because I keep it in my infinitely small sig (don't wanna waste space, y'dig?). But yeah, if we ever have the same quote, I've got my medeival flail (sp?) ready.

And yeah, I was also pretty surprised that Bulma's mom wasn't even mentioned. I mean, some stuff that she's done (even minor stuff like constantly offering Chibi Trunks food while he's looking for the DragonRadar) was taken out for the edited version, most likely because well... she's not exactly a good influence when it comes to gender roles...

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 12:09 am

It's also amazing that Mrs. Brief didn't seem to age a day.

Mystic Jack · Post by **Mystic Jack** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 1:50 am

Aw right!!! The day you recorded was my birthday! Couldn't ask for a better present. Downloading now.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:18 am

If it makes Meri feel better, I'm still obsessed with Ranma 1/2.

I apparently have nothing more to add.

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 3:07 am

Curiosity got the better of me and I typed in the forbidden URL. >_> Came up as nothing but one of those sites that once existed but were removed over time, leaving nothing but ads and searches.

Speaking of the whole "Is Dragon Ball for kids?" topic, I've noticed the same arguments brought up with Naruto and One Piece. It's really sad when people continue to assume these kind of shows are targeted for adults when they're really for kids and that they're shows that older folks can get into.

Heck, the very fact that there are Happy Set toys (Japanese Happy Meals from McDonalds) of these shows really should say something.

Mr.Piccolo · Post by **Mr.Piccolo** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 12:40 pm

As of today, the 27th, the site says the week of the 17th.

Does it work like the week the podcast was recorded or the week it is released?

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 12:41 pm

Wh00t! I just finished listening! My first podcast. Sweet. Nice job guys; I'll try to listen semi-regularly from now on.

DBZ-Guy · Post by **DBZ-Guy** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 3:06 pm

You guys talking about Ranma 1/2, Naruto, and One Piece in one podcast! I just died and went to heaven!

This podcast was awesome, i really enjoyed you going through all the different females analysing them and it was even better when you compared things from Dragon Ball to things from other shows.

In the top 5 it seemed like you guys were going by wich female you liked best instead of who looked best and while thats cool and all the title was "Top 5 Hottest DragonBall Women". It was still a great top 5 tough! Where's that picture of 18 in a pyjamas from? I've never seen it before.

I cracked up when you were pretending to be old. It was so funny i replayed it 3 times and i cracked up just as much every time.

Deluxe it the best comedian ever!

Kirbopher · Post by **Kirbopher** » Wed Sep 27, 2006 4:55 pm

Oh my god, how do they keep getting better and better with each episode!? XD Loved all of the little tidbits and blips about other series and and Japanese culture (Andrew provided some interesting info) and this one is now my favorite Top 5 List. Go Meri XD

Oh and nice Julian with the Happy Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day joke at the end of the episode :B

Great Saiyaman · Post by **Great Saiyaman** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:01 am

Loved this episode.

I too have always been pissed off about the mention of Japan in Movie 8...esspecially since at the start of Volume 1, Toriyama specifically states that though there are Chineese & Japaneese references, it does not take place there. But hey, it's a Movie, it's Toei, what can ya do? I LOVED Julian's explination for it...the ultimate fanboy answer, drunk & spitting out non-sensical words, nice one J-man.

Maphisto86 · Post by **Maphisto86** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:22 am

I have nothing to say that has not been said already... though I didn't see this coming. If it wasen't for the (semi) serious discussion on the roles of women as compared to the men in Dragonball as well as compared to other manga, I would have assumed you where selling out to the fanboy audience

. The picture of Bulma in Meri's top 5 almost had me convinced...

. Though I admit I am a bit of a hopeless fanboy and thus I say why wasen't Videl on the top 5?

By the way I would like to comment on Dragonball and other Shonen's appeal to older generations. I mean Japanese manga isin't unique in having an appeal to older generations. I mean look at American comics like Spider-Man or Batman. Those where initially targetted towards a younger audience but then found a niche with an adult audience with some storylines being rather dark or mature in comparision with the stories geared for child audiences. I look at Dragonball in much the same light.

Well great podcast as always and I love it when Andrew is on there because he is one funny guy.

Maker777 · Post by **Maker777** » Thu Sep 28, 2006 7:47 am

Great Podcast as usual guys. I only have one thing to say. Mike, Stay the F*** away from my MUM!

j/k Do what you want.