Overthinking Dragon Ball
Goku Thinks Deep Thoughts
I prefer to write all of my own content and create original posts. That’s why sometimes it takes a little while for a new article to find its way to the blog. But I just discovered some gems of Dragon Ball related philosophy that had to be shared.
These beauty’s are from the Overthinking.com site:
- Why Overthink Dragon Ball?
- On Chosen Ones and Super Saiyans
- Metonymy and Metaphor
- Dragonball Abomination Z
All the articles are written by the same author, Fenzel, and they each explore a different aspect of the Dragon Ball series.
They are also poignant because sometimes I am accused of over thinking Dragon Ball. Now I know there is at least one other person out there willing to take the time to write articles like this. I’m not alone!
On their podcast he said there would be 48 posts, but so far there are only 4. Luckily they are well written and thought provoking.
Why Overthink Dragon Ball?: Fenzel discusses the inherent value of the Dragon Ball series and how it does so many things well that are often overlooked.
On Chosen Ones and Super Saiyans: The “Chosen One” story path and the concept of determinism are discussed in light of pop culture stories like Star Wars, The Matrix, and why Dragon Ball is a prime example of how to do it right.
Metonymy and Metaphor: An educational lesson on advanced literary techniques espoused through the lens of DBZ.
Dragonball Abomination Z: Here Fenzel analyzes the Dragonball: Evolution movie and talks about the ways he felt it failed.
All of them are worth reading for a deeper look at the series.
Unfortunately their comments are disabled on older posts. So, if you feel like sharing, then please do so in the comments below. There’s certainly a lot of fuel for the fire.
Dragon Ball Director Praises Shen Yun
James Wong at Shen Yun
The Shen Yun performing arts company finished its encore tour in Los Angeles on July 11. James Wong, the director of Dragonball: Evolution was in the audience with his family and praised the Shen Yun show.
An article was written for The Epoch Times newspaper to convey his feelings.
From the article:
James said, “I think it’s incredible. The dancers are amazing, the synchronicity of the dances, the tradition, the traditional dances, along with the costumes, is fantastic. I’m really impressed.”
“His most recent film, Dragonball: Evolution (20th Century Fox) is based on the hit comic book and animated series Dragon Ball that finds its roots in traditional Chinese and Japanese culture, notably from Journey to the West, a Chinese classic. The triumphant climax of the epic Journey to the West is retold in Shen Yun as the final performance of the show. The Buddhist Monk Xuanzang and his faithful guardian, The Monkey King, make a glorious return to Tang Dynasty China where they distribute the Buddhist teachings to future generations.”
As a contributor to The Epoch Times I was asked to write this article because of its relationship with Dragon Ball. Shen Yun’s display of authentic traditional culture incorporates The Monkey King legend that inspired Akira Toriyama to create Dragon Ball. And I was happy to help with this unique synchronicity.
The full article: Hollywood Director Recommends Shen Yun: ‘It’s Spectacular’
Rough Draft Complete!
Goku and Gohan fly on the Kinto Un
The rough draft of The Dao of Dragon Ball is complete. The Divine Combat chapter and the entire Martial Arts section are finished.
The current count for the book is 247 pages at 112,455 words.
I started this project in 2003, and after 7 years of effort I am finally beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
My goal is that all Dragon Ball fans will find something to learn and enjoy in this book.
Now the real labor begins. I have to try and make it good!
What Does Dragon Ball Mean to You?
Goku asks, "To train, or not to train?"
I would like to pose an open question to the Dragon Ball community.
The question is… what does Dragon Ball mean to you?
Is Dragon Ball meaningful in your life? Has it changed your life in some way? Maybe Akira Toriyama’s art, world or message of the series inspired or still inspires you. Perhaps it is important to someone you know. Did you connect with Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo or another character throughout the series?
Or is Dragon Ball not meaningful at all?
This is an open ended question with no specific criteria. Your reply can be as short or as long as you like.
Please reply in the comments below. If your comments are longer than a few hundred words, then please email them through the contact page.
If I decide to add your comment to the book, then I will contact you to let you know and will provide a special thanks in the final version.
For me, it changed my life by leading me into the martial arts and the path of the spiritual warrior, which then lead to other things, such as a bachelors degree in East Asian Studies, a study abroad tour in Beijing where I trained with the Shaolin monks, and much more.
Please speak freely and describe what Dragon Ball means to you.
1 Chapter Down, 1 More to Go!
Jackie Chun, Immortal Master. Original Artwork from Atari.
The rough draft of Immortal and Invincible has been completed. This means that there is only 1 chapter of the book left to be written, (currently) titled Divine Combat.
The Immortal and Invincible chapter discusses the practices of martial arts masters on their quest for immortality.It focuses on Daoist masters and sennin hermits, like Master Roshi (aka Jackie Chun).
The chapter measured in at 28 pages (at 11 pt font), so it may be many more in the actual book. Though of course it will be edited down and made more concise. Even so, that chapter was extremely difficult to write and I am glad the rough draft is complete.
Thank you to those who have written in with their support. I know you guys are looking forward to the book’s release. For those that are eager to read more about this chapter, here are the first 3 paragraphs of the rough draft:
“Dragon Ball is filled with martial artists that employ the use of supernormal abilities to do battle or heal the wounded. The characters fight against themselves, against those with ulterior motives, and in some cases against outright demons.
With the Ksatreya warriors and the path of the Vajramukti well established in Indian culture the concept of an invincible and noble warrior became intertwined into the martial arts on its voyage across nations. Spreading to both Western Europe and the Orient the draw of the martial arts and the spiritual path were adopted by various cultures. In this chapter we learn how the belief systems and cultural traditions of ancient China affected the creation of Dragon Ball in Japan. By the end of the chapter it will be very evident how Toriyama borrowed, was inspired by, or makes light of these beliefs in his comic.
The culture of ancient East Asia was a world of men and monsters, heaven and hell, and the cultivated spiritual warriors that overcame the demons on their path to immortality or enlightenment. The worlds of men, gods, and demons were interwoven. The life of a man was intricately linked to the heavens, and for those who walked the spiritual path of cultivation they would often experience demonic interference. The more one overcame these demons (whether internal or external) the more one would awaken their own potential. From this ideology sprang forth a culture of cultivation, and one such form of cultivation was the martial arts.”
Onward, to the next chapter!
The Lotus Position in Anime And Manga
Piccolo Meditates
The Full Lotus position is a seated cross legged position employed in meditation practices throughout the world. In anime and manga it is often depicted incorrectly. But so far nobody on the internet has seemed to notice.
The Full Lotus position has a rich cultural background, many purposes and benefits, and is sometimes depicted in anime and manga… Though rarely in the traditional way. This is especially true in the Shonen (Young Boys) genre, such as in Dragon Ball.
In Dragon Ball there are martial artists and individual styles of martial arts based cultivation practices. Some of the practices involve meditation. For example, there are scenes where Piccolo meditates in a cross legged position as he levitates above the ground using his own internal energy. Meditation is the primary way in which Piccolo increases his power level. In this practice he strengthens and refines his supernormal abilities. While Yamcha, Tenshinhan and Chaozu engaged in North Kaio’s special training methods during the Saiyan Saga, Piccolo only sat in meditation. Yet in this simple process he became more powerful than all of them.
But the seated position that Piccolo maintains is not the proper Full Lotus. Instead it is a general cross legged position, with one ankle loosely crossed in front of the other. He supposedly sits like this for hours at a time.
However, it is nearly impossible to sit like this for extended periods of time. The body is too tense and a practitioner cannot enter into tranquility. The Full Lotus is a remedy to this problem.
What is the Full Lotus?
What exactly is the Full Lotus position and what makes it different from a regular cross legged sit?
Dragon Ball Book Trailer Released
The Dao of Dragon Ball has an exciting new trailer!
Over the weekend I taught myself how to use Adobe After Effects, and with the help of a template and the creative inspiration of a new book cover, I crafted this video.
It’s a short teaser of what the book contains and why it might interest you, and I put a LOT of time into it (though the majority of that was spent with trial and error through After Effects and Flash), so I hope you guys dig it.
Feel free to check the trailer out on the home page or at YouTube for the full size version.
New Dragon Ball Book Cover
The new book cover
The theme for the book cover was to try and capture some of Goku’s personality in a simple and clean way. I borrowed the orange from the color of his dogi, the blue from his boots, belt and shirt, and the yellow from his Super Saiya-jin hair.
The logo consists of the orange star from Orange Star High School combined with a Daoist yin-yang in the colors already mentioned.
And I chose a simple but large font that was easy to read from far away as well as in the form of a tiny thumbnail, such as you might see on Amazon books.
The characters below the yin-yang are “Long Qiu Dao” (in Chinese) and translate as “Dragon Ball Dao,” or in other words, The Dao of Dragon Ball. This way it becomes clear at a glance that the book contains East Asian content, and perhaps that will fascinate someone long enough to open the book or read the back cover.
For comparisons sake, you can also check out another mockup I created for the cover in June of 2009.
Dragon Ball Website Fusion
Goku is beat up and exhausted, but also happy.
The website and the blog have just performed the fusion dance and are now an entirely new and all powerful warrior!
Well, perhaps not all that, but at least they finally look the same.
I have concluded what was an exhaustive learning experience of the WordPress framework, how to create and style a theme, integrate it into an existing site, add all of the WordPress hooks and make it look pretty.
The amount of bugs that were squashed was ridiculous, but the battle is over and everything looks to be at peace.
In terms of upgrades, the home page’s recent Blog Posts section pulls content from WordPress and displays the 3 most recent posts. And the footer’s Tag Cloud actually works like it is supposed to and displays the top 25 tags from the blog.
I also added new content to the Bonus section of the site.
In addition, the entire site has been streamlined and should now load a bit faster.
Overall, I’m much happier with the new theme compared to the previous iNove theme. That was too generic looking. This one integrates very well.
What do you guys think of the blog’s new look? I’d love to hear your feedback.
Shopping Cart Transformation
Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan for the first time
The Dao of Dragon Ball has a brand new shopping cart.
It was a simple PayPal button, but now it connects with an actual PHP based shopping cart.
The ebook is the only product at the moment. The cart will be nice once the physical book is available too, so it can handle shipping and quantity.
Some of you mentioned that you did not like PayPal. Well, I spent all day working on it, but now there are two payment options in the cart. You can check out with either PayPal or Google Checkout, and of course your credit card. That makes it a bit easier for everyone.
If there’s another payment method you’d like to use, then please let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
There’s also a brand new, big, and shiny “Add to Cart!” button on the buy page. Why not give it a shot? I dare ya!