South City: Difference between revisions
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* '''South City and Papaya Island are the same place.''' One simple answer may be that Papaya Island is immediately adjacent to South City, perhaps connected via a bridge or tunnel such that the Turtle Hermit could travel there by taxi. This could explain the inconsistent terminology without requiring the tournament grounds to move. The Turtle Hermit could have used the more generic term "South City" when speaking to Goku the first time because that is the name he would have been most likely to recognize. After having been there once, they subsequently use the more specific term "Papaya Island" to refer to the specific neighborhood of the city. Any solution can only be speculation as the guidebooks and text do not provide consistent answers. | * '''South City and Papaya Island are the same place.''' One simple answer may be that Papaya Island is immediately adjacent to South City, perhaps connected via a bridge or tunnel such that the Turtle Hermit could travel there by taxi. This could explain the inconsistent terminology without requiring the tournament grounds to move. The Turtle Hermit could have used the more generic term "South City" when speaking to Goku the first time because that is the name he would have been most likely to recognize. After having been there once, they subsequently use the more specific term "Papaya Island" to refer to the specific neighborhood of the city. Any solution can only be speculation as the guidebooks and text do not provide consistent answers. | ||
* '''South City and Papaya Island are different places.''' All dialog given in the manga and anime are correct, but the location changed between the 21st and 22nd tournaments. | * '''South City and Papaya Island are different places.''' All dialog given in the manga and anime are correct, but the location changed between the 21st and 22nd tournaments. | ||
This wiki does not take a position on which one of these options are correct. | |||
==Name== | ==Name== | ||
Revision as of 12:56, 3 November 2019
| South City | |
|---|---|
| 南の都 (Minami no miyako) | |
|
Manga  Anime  | |
| English Name(s) |
Metro South (Funimation) Southern Metropolis (Viz) |
| Manga Debut | Dragon Ball Chapter 32 (Disputed) |
| Anime Debut | Dragon Ball Episode 19 (Disputed) |
| Appears in | Manga & Anime (Disputed) |
| Locational Data | |
| Area | C-2 |
| Planet | Earth |
South City is a major metropolis in the world of Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama located in the far southern part of the Earth in Area C-2. The city was initially visited in Dragon Ball Chapter 32, but subsequent chapters appear to contradict the initial depiction. These contradictions extend into the supplementary material with mutually exclusive explanations offered in Daizenshuus 4 and 7. This ambiguity is exacerbated in English as the Viz translation of the manga offers a third location for the city. What is universally agreed is that South City is located nine kilometers northeast of Amembo Island as well as near (or possibly on) Papaya Island.
Continuity & General Overview
It seems that the fourth volume is a Dragon Ball "world guide". I think that the staff all worked very hard, particularly on the building's geometry, the maps, and whatnot. On top of just drawing things in a hit-or-miss fashion, there are many things that not even I had precisely determined. Were they not a bit fed up with how things didn't come together consistently? I'm very sorry.
-- Akira Toriyama, in the introduction to Daizenshuu 4
Initial Depiction
South City was first introduced in the Dragon Ball manga in Chapter 32, when the Turtle Hermit informs Son Goku and Kuririn that they will travel there for the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament. The trio, plus Lunch, are depicted driving to the airport, flying to the city, and taking a taxi directly to the Tournament grounds.[1] It is not implied in the dialog that they have traveled anywhere other than South City or just stopped in South City en route to somewhere else. Wherever they go, the group remains there until Chapter 54 when Son Goku leaves on his second dragon ball hunt.[2]
When this sequence was adapted for the anime, the connection to South City is strengthened: it is mentioned earlier and more frequently in dialog (beginning in Episode 17) and more emphasis is placed on the size of the city and Goku's awe at being there.[3][4] Bulma explicitly names the location as "South City" in Dragon Ball Episode 29.[5] Together, these references place the tournament and adjacent adventures within that city. In the anime, the city appears to be located on a large landmass and adjacent to a sizable desert.[6]
22nd & 23rd World Tournament
Three years later, beginning in Chapter 113, the manga establishes that the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament will be held on Papaya Island. No mention is made of South City in these chapters. The aircraft announcement says that "this time" the tournament is being held on Papaya Island, allowing for the possibility that it was previously somewhere else.[7] Despite this, the tournament complex looks nearly identical to what was depicted in the prior chapters. No further references are made to "South City" in the manga until the appearance of Future Trunks. The manga does not name the location of the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, but the anime continues calling the location "Papaya Island".[8]
Dragon Ball Z Movie 2
In Dragon Ball Z Movie 2, Dr. Kochin and Dr. Uiro destroy a wooded area near South City, transforming it overnight into a desert. South City itself is not depicted in the film.[9] The film depicts this forest as temperate, while previous depictions of South City imply a tropical climate.
Artificial Humans Arc
South City is not mentioned again until the arrival of Future Trunks. He warns Son Goku that Artificial Humans will arrive on an island nine kilometers southwest of the city.[10] Although unnamed in the manga, this smaller island is named Amembo Island in the Dragon Ball Z anime. Unlike the Dragon Ball-era depiction of South City as being Indonesian-inspired, Amembo's architecture and design more closely resembles that of the other "modern" cities in the series such as Bulma's West City. The Viz translation of Dragon Ball Chapter 338 implies that the urban area on Amembo Island is called "South City"; this description is not in the original Japanese text.[11]
Although not made explicit in the manga, Daizenshuu 4 places the location of Vegeta's battle with Artificial Human 19 as just outside of South City.[note 1]
Guide Books
The discounting between "South City" and "Papaya Island" inspired the authors of the guide books to "solve" this problem, however their explanations themselves do not paint a consistent picture:
- Daizenshuu 4, released in 1995, describes South City and Papaya Island as separate locations. South City is placed in quadrant C-2, at the southern tip of a small continent and surrounded by deserts. Papaya Island is a smaller location to the east in quadrant C-3.[12] The depiction of South City on a small continent and adjacent to a desert aligns with the view in Dragon Ball Episode 29. Although this would appear to fix the problem by stating that the tournament moved between Age 750 and 753, the Daizenshuu further states that South City was never depicted in the manga[note 2] and that all of the tournaments were located on Papaya Island.
- Daizenshuu 7, released two years later, attempts to correct this again but adds further confusion. It re-iterates the description and map provided in Daizenshuu 4[13], but also adds a contradictory explanation that South City is the capital city of Papaya Island, thus putting them together as a single location.[14] The two explanations in Daizenshuu 7 cannot be reconciled together.
- Chozenshuu 4, released in 2013, does not attempt to further fix this disparity and retains the explanations given in Daizenshuu 7.[15]
Later Information
In an interview in 2014, Akira Toriyama revealed that Mister Satan and his martial arts master fought Tao Pai-Pai at a bar in South City after his master insulted the assassin's hair. Satan's master was killed and Satan himself badly injured by Tao Pai-Pai. This event has not yet been depicted in any narrative form.[16]
Conclusion
There is to flawless way to incorporate the evidence in the manga with what is provided in the guidebooks. Any solution will be only speculation until a future series or guide book offers a conclusive explanation, however a fix would likely fall into the two categories theorized by the Daizenshuus:
- South City and Papaya Island are the same place. One simple answer may be that Papaya Island is immediately adjacent to South City, perhaps connected via a bridge or tunnel such that the Turtle Hermit could travel there by taxi. This could explain the inconsistent terminology without requiring the tournament grounds to move. The Turtle Hermit could have used the more generic term "South City" when speaking to Goku the first time because that is the name he would have been most likely to recognize. After having been there once, they subsequently use the more specific term "Papaya Island" to refer to the specific neighborhood of the city. Any solution can only be speculation as the guidebooks and text do not provide consistent answers.
- South City and Papaya Island are different places. All dialog given in the manga and anime are correct, but the location changed between the 21st and 22nd tournaments.
This wiki does not take a position on which one of these options are correct.
Name
South City is one of the four cardinal-direction cities mention in the manga, including West City (Capsule Corp Headquarters), East City (destroyed by Nappa), and North City (near Doctor Gero's lab). In Japanese, 南の都 (Minami no miyako) does not need to be read as a proper noun and could also be translated as "southern city".
Notes
- ↑ Son Goku attempted to force No. 19 and No. 20 to fight in a less populated area. It would be ironic but not necessarily incorrect if Goku mistakenly brought them near a more populated region instead.
- ↑ In specific, the Daizenshuu states that South City was only mentioned once in dialog. This is also untrue as it was mentioned in at least chapters 32 and 335.
External Links
TBD
References
- ↑ Toriyama, Akira. Dragon Ball Chapter 32: "The Tenka'ichi Budōkai Begins!!". Weekly Shōnen Jump, 1985 #32. Japan: Shueisha, 09 July 1985.
- ↑ Toriyama, Akira. Dragon Ball Chapter 54: "Another Adventure!!". Weekly Shōnen Jump, 1986 #03/04. Japan: Shueisha, 10 December 1985.
- ↑ "With Life at Stake! Milk Delivery". Dragon Ball. Episode 17. Japan: Fuji TV, 18 June 1986.
- ↑ "The Tenka'ichi Budōkai Begins!". Dragon Ball. Episode 19. Japan: Fuji TV, 02 July 1986.
- ↑ "Another Adventure – The Roaming Lake". Dragon Ball. Episode 29. Japan: Fuji TV, 10 September 1986.
- ↑ "Another Adventure – The Roaming Lake". Dragon Ball. Episode 29. Japan: Fuji TV, 10 September 1986.
- ↑ Toriyama, Akira. Dragon Ball Chapter 113: "The Twenty-Second Tenka'ichi Budōkai". Weekly Shōnen Jump, 1987 #13. Japan: Shueisha, 24 February 1987.
- ↑ "The Eight Chosen People". Dragon Ball. Episode 135. Japan: Fuji TV, 23 November 1988.
- ↑ Dragon Ball: The Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle. Japan: 1987 Toei Cartoon Festival. 18 July 1987.
- ↑ Toriyama, Akira. Dragon Ball Chapter 335: "A Message of Terror". Weekly Shōnen Jump, 1991 #34. Japan: Shueisha, 30 July 1991.
- ↑ TODO: Cite Viz chapter 338
- ↑ TODO: Fix D4 reference
- ↑ TODO: Locate Daizenshuu7 reference
- ↑ TODO: Location second Daizenshuu 7 reference
- ↑ TODO: specific C4 page numbers
- ↑ TODO: Cite interview. [1]