South City

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
Anime Debut	Dragon Ball Z Episode 126
Appears in	Manga & Anime
Locational Data
Planet	Earth
Location	The eastern edge of Earth C-2, with the city's outlying islands partly in C-3

South City, is a major metropolis on the Southern Continent in the world of Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama, squeezed between the coastline and a large desert. The metro area appears to include nearby Papaya Island and Amembo Island. Despite being referenced at several points in the Dragon Ball manga, it is ambiguous whether the city is depicted directly. Son Goku and his friends only unambiguously visit the city itself in the anime adaptation. This ambiguity is further confused by a localization difference introduced in the Viz Enlish-language translation of the manga.

Production

During the development of the Dragon Ball manga, Toriyama first introduced South City in Dragon Ball Chapter 32 when the Turtle Hermit mentions it as the location of the [[World Martial Arts Tournament]. They travel there for the tournament and remain in the vicinity until Dragon Ball Chapter 54 when Son Goku leaves on his second dragon ball hunt. During this period of the manga, no mention is made of the tournament being held on an island and the group is able to travel by taxi from an airport to the tournament grounds. When this sequence was adapted for the anime, the connection to South City is strengthened: it is mentioned earlier (while Goku and Kuririn are still training in Dragon Ball Episode 17), more emphasis is placed on the size of the city and Goku's awe at being there, and it is explicitly placed on a continent adjacent to a desert in Dragon Ball Episode 29. These sequences imply that the Tournament is in South City directly, not on an island, and that the city is a large one.

Amembo Island is an island nine kilometers southwest of South City. It is one of a group of islands which also includes Papaya Island, where the World Martial Arts Tournament is held. The island features one large town and a mountain towering over it. Unlike Papaya which features architecture and temples resembling that of Indonesia, 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. Trunks describes the island as 9 km southwest of South City, therefore the urban area on the island itself cannot be South City. However, given the proximity-- approximately the distance from Manhattan to the Bronx in real life-- Viz may have associated the settlement on Amembo Island as a suburb. No separate name is provided for the town in either the manga or anime.

External Links

TBD