East City

East City
東の都 (Higashi no miyako)
Manga Anime
English Name(s)	East City (Funimation) Metro East (Funimation Subtitles Eastern City (Viz - Dragon Ball) East Capital (Viz - Jaco) Higashi (English text in Jaco manga)
Manga Debut	Dragon Ball Chapter 212
Anime Debut	Dragon Ball Episode 21
Locational Data
Area	A-4
Planet	Earth

East City is a fictional location in the world of Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama. It was introduced in Dragon Ball Chapter 212 as a location for Nappa to destroy as a show of force. The location was elaborated on in filler material starting with Dragon Ball Z Episode 21. Despite being a minor location in the original manga, Toriyama featured East City as one of the key locations in the Jaco the Galactic Patrolman manga. The site is located on the southern edge of sector A-4, nestled on the east coast of the Dragon World's major continent.

General Overview

Located on the east coast of sector A-4, East City is a coastal metropolis with numerous nearby islands. Inland, the terrain becomes mountainous with numerous canyons and mesas around Grand Apron. The early history of the region is unknown, but East City developed a unique architecture with many spherical towers. East City also remained one of the few regions on Earth to use Yen instead of Zenni and used a combination of English and Japanese for names, for example labeling their police force as "Higashi Police" and using the abbreviation "HGS" or "HGSM" (for HiGaShi no Miyako) on buildings and vehicles.

By Age 739, the city had a diverse population sprawled across at least 32 wards. East City police included both a "sea police" division (to handle crimes on nearby islands) and special forces. City services included a dockyard, markets, and a baseball team. On nearby Kiwi Island, the city operated a space port for rocket launches. Another island housed a secret time travel research lab. It was destroyed in a fire and abandoned. Only Tokunoshin Omori, one of the lead scientists, stayed behind on the island to atone for the death of his wife.

Much of East City was destroyed in the blast.

On November 3, Age 762 at 11:43 AM, Vegeta and Nappa landed in the city on their way to defeat Son Goku and claim Earth's dragon balls. Moments after arriving, Nappa leveled much of the city with a single ki blast as a "greeting" for Earth. Initial news reports suggested that the city was leveled by an earthquake. Yajirobe arrived shortly after the Saiyans left to find the local police and media investigating the massive crater. Unable to comprehend what had happened, one policeman even accused Yajirobe of causing the destruction! Yajirobe basked in the media attention and conned the survivors into paying him vast sums of money so that he would tell them what had happened there.

A few days later, scientists located Nappa's pod in the rubble of the city and identified it as being extraterrestrial. They removed it to a nearby lab for study, but a mistake by Bulma accidentally triggered the pod's self-destruct mechanism, destroying the lab.

After these events, East City is rarely mentioned. In May Age 767, a Destron Gas generator appeared in Grand Apron which Mr. Popo described as being "near East City". It is unclear whether this is intended to imply that the city had rebuilt in the intervening years. The city itself was not depicted at that time.

Locations Nearby

Grand Apron A mountainous and canyon-filled area southwest of the city. In Age 767, Son Goku destroyed a Destron Gas generator hidden on one of the mesas. Flying dinosaurs laid their eggs safe from predators on the tall plateaus.

Kiwi Island An island at least an hour and a half from East City by boat, housing the city's spaceport for rocket launches. Throughout the 730s, multiple rockets (with a 60% success rate) launched from here into space.

Kumo Located 3km from East City on highway 11, Kumo was likely a nearby town or neighborhood of the city. Other than a sign (visible in both the manga and anime), it was not depicted in the series.

Mammal Market Mammal Market is a grocery store located in Ward 32, most likely located near the docks. During Jaco's visit there in Age 739, the area appears to have been subject to a high rate of petty crimes such as purse-snatching and muggings.

Omori's Island Located a half hour from the city by boat, Omori's Island once held a major research lab studying time travel. After a devastating fire, the lab was abandoned and Tokunoshin Omori remained on the island to mourn his late wife and to try to discover the secret of time travel for himself. In Age 739, the government briefly planned to turn the island into a resort for the East City elite, but this plan was scrapped thanks to the intervention of Jaco. Omari was able to buy the island outright a few months later.

Known Residents

• Tokunoshin Omori (on Omori's Island)
• Jaco (on Omori's Island during part of Age 739)
• Tights
• Tomagoro Katayude
• An Azuki
• Hondawara
• Hijiki
• Asao
• Mozuku
• Manpuku Okawari

Name

East City is one of the four cardinal-direction cities mention in the manga, including West City (Capsule Corp Headquarters), South City (near the site of the Tenka'ichi Budōkai), and North City (near Doctor Gero's lab). In Japanese, 南の都 (Higashi no miyako) does not need to be read as a proper noun and could also be translated as "eastern city".

In its first appearance in chapter 212 and 213 (February 1989), the city that Nappa destroyed was unnamed. Toriyama did not name it as "East City" until 243, that September. When the anime adaptation reached this point in the story a month later, they used the new name for the location throughout.

Tidbits

• According to Jaco, East City was close to where Son Goku's capsule was expected to land. According to Daizenshuu 4, Grandpa Gohan lived in the southwest corner of B-4 and that Satan City was much closer to him than East City. This could be explained either by Gohan discovering Goku while wandering farther away from his home, Jaco being incorrect about where Goku would land, or an adjustment of where Gohan's home was located from the guide. Given the geographic closeness, it is plausible (but only conjecture) that East City could have been the Abandoned City that Goku and family visited in Dragon Ball Z Episode 172.

Production

TBD

External Links

TBD