Mark Menza. Photograph by Kris Hundt.

Welcome back to Part 2 of my interview with Mark Menza, composer of FUNimation’s Dragon Ball GT. We are continuing from Part 1.

In this interview you will learn about Mark’s perspective on Bruce Faulconer, hear his thoughts on the Dragon Ball fandom, and discover the origins of the Dragon Ball GT rap intro!

That’s right, the full explanation for the GT rap intro!

You’ve been waiting 9 years to hear the answer to this great mystery surrounding the Dragon Ball GT dub, so don’t miss it!

Bruce Faulconer and Mark Menza

Okay Mark, let’s get right into some of the controversy.

This may be a little sensitive, and I fully respect your right to stay silent or private on any of these questions, but these are things fans want to know. I polled the Dragon Ball community asking, “What would you like to know from Mark Menza?”

Mark: Right.

Derek: I’m going to talk about Bruce Faulconer, alright?

Mark: Okay.

Derek: Bruce Faulconer and his staff had developed a large following of fans for their Dragon Ball Z music. FUNimation evidently decided to not hire them again to continue with GT. Do you know why that is?

Mark: You know, I really don’t.

Again, I got to know Barry Watson [a FUNimation producer] on a personal level because I knew his wife. When he heard some of the music I did I think they were just looking for another voice on GT. Nowhere could I tell that they didn’t want to use Bruce or had a problem with him.

I don’t know a thing about it, let me put it that way.

Derek: You had done the Dragon Ball Z movies and then signed on for GT. I read that Bruce was very upset about this and actually pleaded fans to petition FUNimation to hire him back.

Mark: Right. I had heard that from somebody at FUNimation.

Derek: So you can confirm that that happened?

Mark: I heard it, I can’t confirm that it happened. Well, I mean like anybody he probably wanted to get hired back, like “Hey man, I’ve done a lot of work for you guys, why don’t you hire me again?” Why they did or didn’t, that’s a question for somebody else because I was not a part of hiring.

I don’t know how many episodes he did, but I’m sure it was WAY more than I ever did.

Derek: He did 224. There are 291 in DBZ and he started at episode 68.

Mark: Wow, yeah, and I did 64. So he definitely had a bigger deal there, but even other shows, we talked about The Simpsons a moment ago, they started with one composer and then they transitioned to Alf Clausen, like maybe in the 3^rd season.

You never know, sometimes it’s just a particular voice that maybe they were looking for on GT. I’m definitely more of a guitar player, so maybe, and I’m totally guessing, I wouldn’t at all want you to convey that Mark Menza got hired because he played guitar and this other guy is not a guitar player. I don’t know if that’s at all true.

Derek: Well, it is! Bruce hired assistants who played guitar for him, like Scott Morgan and Bud Guin. Bud played lead guitar for the main theme of Dragon Ball Z. He had others as well, students from local universities in Dallas.

Mark: Then maybe not, I don’t know. Then my guess is inaccurate. Haha! But I couldn’t really tell ya. That would be more of a question for Gen or somebody like that.

I think they just wanted somebody else.

Derek: That is a very clear answer. Thank you. Were there ever any conflicts between you and Bruce or his staff?

Mark: No, and you’re saying he had multiple guys over there, I didn’t know that. You mentioned Scott Morgan, but I don’t know that name.

Derek: Okay. A lot of fans felt confused about the switch from Bruce to yourself, because there was just silence from FUNimation, there’s mystery surrounding the why, as in, “Why not use Bruce?” Now you’ve cleared it up for us. I really appreciate that.

Mark: I don’t think there’s anything mysterious or nefarious there, I just think they maybe had exhausted all the possibilities, I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I’m sure he worked really hard on that show and did a great job for them and I think they were extremely happy.

Now did he do any movies as well?

Derek: Yes, he did the Lord Slug film before you came on board.

Mark: Okay, cool.

Derek: There is a very noticeable difference between the two musical styles, the compositional theory and the overall soundscape between Z and GT. Was this due entirely to the musical differences between you and Faulconer Productions? Or, as you touched on earlier, did FUNimation offer guidelines on how you were to approach the project.

Mark: Other than the things we’ve already talked about, they wanted to age it up. I don’t know how that compares to DBZ. Whatever dialogue the guys at FUNimation chose to use, or what provisions they used, whether it was Barry or other guys that worked directly with the crew at Faulconer.

I did meet with one composer, one guy who came to interview with me years ago. Mike Smith. He came to look for a gig as a composer and he had worked as a staff / assistant for Faulconer Productions.

He was a nice guy, seemed kind of young at the time. Other than that one experience I don’t think he had done a lot before that. He was a super nice guy, very talented, but he was a little green, particularly in the scoring to picture arena, which I think is a different skill set than being a song writer or somebody who writes symphonic music. Very different from my skill set where I tend to always be. Thank god I get a lot of work, so 99% of what I write is for something to picture.

I don’t think Mike had a lot of experience dealing with that.

Derek: I know Mike! I know all about him and have read about him.

Mark: He was a nice guy, very talented, and I would never want to say anything disparaging about him, but he definitely seemed like he was, probably when he came to working on that show, I can only guess, and this is just my idle speculation, that was one of the first time’s he had a chance to write that much to picture. It was probably a wonderful experience for him.

Derek: Yep, he was a student at Southern Methodist University and he got picked by Bruce to go work for him as an intern sort of thing. Bruce taught classes there. Mike had worked with Bruce for a year prior to Dragon Ball Z, and was there on day one for DBZ episode 68.

Mark: Well there you go! That confirms my suspicion! And that was apparent, let me put it that way. He was a super nice guy, but I was not in a position to hire an assistant. If I was, I certainly would have considered him. Super nice guy.

Corporate Direction

Derek: How much of GT’s music was your own creative decisions rather than corporate direction?

Mark: Well, boy, you know, I would say that most of it at the end of the day would have been things I came up with, but it was based on them giving me initial directions.

If somebody came to you and said, “I want you to play the part of an obnoxious villain in a movie for us,” and you played a really great bad guy who everybody loved, people would say, “How much of this is real, are you really this bad of a guy?” Well, no, that’s a part you’re playing.

I would have to say at the end of the day it’s a 50/50 proposition. Anything they didn’t want or wouldn’t fit, they would immediately tell me. If I ever by accident or potentially had some Jazz influence that showed up and they didn’t like it, believe me they would tell me to change it.

Derek: I see. I heard from Ric Villa, one of the FUNimation producers at the time, that GT had failed in almost every country where it appeared, except for in America. He said that was due to the edits FUNimation made, and the overall tonal change of the series from a light and happy adventure, to a heavy, dangerous, violent battle. And it’s true that it then became a financial success. What are your thoughts on these changes?

Mark: I guess I don’t have any opinion on it because I didn’t know the original GT in Japan. The little bit I had heard, I’m talking less than an hour of my life invested in listening to some of the original music, to say that oh yeah, it’s sweeter, definitely younger. Beyond that it was simply like, “Okay, don’t go there.”

Once I got the show, the shows sort of wrote themselves, guys yelling at each other, the voices are very aggressive, well, [that means] this music has to be aggressive. The show is aggressive, it’s about life and death situations, and it became… everything that Ric said is accurate. It was that.

Now saying that it BECAME that in comparison to something else, that I don’t know because I only know the more aggressive version of GT.

That’s what directs me a lot. Like when I was going off earlier about playing to picture, that’s totally what I respond to.

Derek: Right, that makes perfect sense. I completely understand.

Origins of the GT Rap Intro!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H9di7tCLVg

Derek: FUNimation acquired Dragon Ball GT in 2003 and they advertised it a lot and placed your intro theme song on their official website to build up buzz.

Mark: Oh yeah! Hahahahaha!

Derek: You remember that?

Mark: Oh yeah! Theme song! Haha!

Derek: So that song, now affectionately known as “Step into the Grand Tour,” premiered there, and it caused a really big reaction in the fan community. Some liked it, while others, to put it politely, did not.

Mark: They HATED it, man.

Derek: How involved were you with the development of this intro, and what do you think about it?

Mark: They, again, the idea was, and that was very much a directed idea, that was the first thing that I did on the show, before I saw any of the episodes obviously because they were still writing and figuring out sagas. They said, “Yeah, we want this thing.” They really had this idea of this rap tune.

So I did demo’s, 30 second ideas, “What about this, what about this, what about this kind of groove?”

I remember that they said, “Listen to this rap artist, and that rap artist.” I went and bought more rap CD’s than I had ever imagined I would own.

And this is what I love about my job, that I get exposed to more things all the time. Not because I’m always out there. There are some people I admire, they go out there and dig up new musical ideas all the time and are listening to new things. I kind of don’t have to do that because I have this whole bevy of clients that does it for me. They come to me one after another.

You have to understand that in the same week I’m doing a would-be rap piece for the intro to an anime, somebody else is having me write something for Boy Scouts of America and it’s on ukulele. Then I’m doing a very classical string quartet piece for some bank commercial. All at the same time. That’s the world that professional composers live in. I’m sure Bruce Faulconer is no exception, and all the guys who have ever come across the anime stuff.

I’m doing some heartfelt documentary at the same time that I’m doing GT. So we have what you would probably say is the most emotional, plaintiff and delicate, sweet little thing you ever heard, at the same time I’m playing this, “Bum Bum Bum Bum [bass guitar sound].” So that’s the nature of our business as composers.

And the GT thing was no exception. That theme song was just, like, try something different. Every day get up and try something different. And they really wanted that.

Derek: Haha, okay.

Mark: They’re going to come to you and say, “We’re thinking about this,” and lay 5, 6, 7 CD’s in front of me, and go, “Listen to these artists and then we’ll get back to you on the lyrics.” So they really wrote the lyrics.

Derek: Oh, THEY wrote the lyrics?

Mark: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Barry Watson. Now I did some tweakage on it, but they came up with most of it. Like, together we would sit down and go, “What about dada dada dee, dada da, dada da? Okay.” And that’s like one stanza. Then they went away and came up with 4 more stanzas.

Derek: Wow.

Mark: Yeah.

And then the real challenge was finding a rap artist who could perform the part. I had to go on my private talent search for a day or 2.

Derek: I was going to ask you, who was the vocalist that you hired?

Mark: Oh, god, what was his name? He was a really nice guy. A super nice guy. He was really trying to be a break out rap artist.

You have to set a budget and decide how much you can put into each part of the show. With script writers, the actors, recording, production and your own overhead, there’s only so much left to do something like a theme song.

Derek: Right. So he was a local talent?

Mark: He was a local talent, a guy I came across. I put my feelers out like I do whenever I’m looking for something.

He had a nickname he went by. It was like Shorty… something, or, god, I’d have to look it up. And I thought he was credited somewhere on the FUNimation website years ago.

Derek: I’ll look there, I’ll check.

[Note that I later looked through several years of Archive.org caches of the FUNimation site, but could not find any mention of this.]

[Luckily, through continued correspondence with Mark, I found out the rapper's name. It's Shorty the Man. Then through some further research I discovered that while in Dallas he published an album in 1999 called "Never 2 Far."]

The Backlash

Derek: You said they HATED the intro. What was your reaction to the fans?

Mark: I never really took it seriously. It goes back to what we talked about earlier, like, man if I heard The Simpsons done in German with a new score I would probably think it was blasphemy.

I don’t know that I ever heard the original one. I’m sure I did, but I don’t have a solid recollection of it because it was back in 2003.

Then they wanted guys to sing on it. It was supposed to be a rap thing but it was also supposed to be a rock thing where they sing these high notes.

Derek: So you were really trusting their direction.

Mark: Quite frankly, it’s their money, their show. “What do you want me to do? Jump through the hoop?” And I would jump through the hoop. And I didn’t have any objection to it.

I didn’t initially think it was going to be like, super catchy. I have a hard time making really catchy tunes, but that’s not what they wanted, they weren’t looking for a catchy theme song, they wanted something that was edgier and different and didn’t sound quite as predictable. I don’t even know what that was in response to. I always assumed it was in response to what the original GT series had on it.

Or it may have been in response to what they did in DBZ and they wanted something with its own foot print. That happens all the time. People do remakes. U2 did a remake of the Mission Impossible theme and some people hated it and some people thought it was the coolest thing they ever heard.

Appealing to Demographics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asm4Ip8oBxk

Derek: Do you think there was any purposeful attempt to appeal to African Americans with the Dragon Ball GT soundtrack, with the rap and the hard, dark, heavy music. I’m not trying to be racist here, there just seems to be a very large fan base of African Americans for GT, whereas with the other series and demographics…

Mark: That was never pitched to me. You have to know that white suburban kids listen to as much if not more rap than the African American community. That much I do know as part of a demographic study.

I think Barry, Gen, and all the guys over there put their ear to the ground to see both what other shows were doing for the same demographic and also what was on the radio. And could they grab a bigger market share? It’s all about the market share.

If you’ve got more eyeballs on your show than other shows in the network, guess what, your show is going to get better time slots and higher revenue dollars. That way you can have more money from the networks for your show.

Derek: Right.

Mark: It’s very calculated on the part of the producers. Movies are made this way, everything in media is made this way. They try to figure out how to do the best job they can. Like, “How do we get the biggest audience?”

If you were making a show and putting millions of dollars into it, you would think, “Oh, I don’t want to lose my ass.” So let’s do this in a way that, forget your own personal tastes and what you’ll listen to in your car on the way home, who do you think the audience is? Say, males from 10 to 15.

If you think that’s your demographic, then you better go and listen to radio stations if you’re about to have a conversation with the composer you hired, go listen to radio stations and see what they’re listening to. Go watch other TV shows that are top rated for that time slot and listen to what the music is on them.

Derek: So they were trying to appeal to that demographic?

Mark: Totally, and I don’t think it was a specific African American demographic, because if it was only geared at that in some way, then it would really alienate another group, maybe a broader market. I think they were trying to hit as broad a market as possible.

I know the idea was not to put any sort of rap or hip hop influence into the show itself, but for the theme song, that was the idea at the time. And maybe they originally thought, “Well, we’ll do that, and maybe if we like it, then maybe we will have that in the show,” as part of like, Goku’s theme or something. But that never came up. So maybe they started there, I couldn’t guess about that.

Derek: So it’s very possible that, now you didn’t say this, but Goku might have had a rap theme if the intro had caught on and been successful?

Mark: Maybe! That’s total speculation. But really, from the get go once we started doing the actual episodes, it was, “We want it big, we want it driving, we want it guitar driven, and at the same time we like the symphonic thing,” that they had heard on my other projects. Those were the DBZ movies and work I had done for other clients.

That, probably more than anything else, including other composers who had worked for FUNimation, had more to do with them wanting me to do it like that. I think they liked the idea that I combined the guitar stuff with that kind of darker, orchestral scoring. So my best guess is that that is what led to considering me for the job.

Maybe they asked the guys at FUNimation what they were listening to and they said all kinds of things, or maybe they had all kinds of brainstorming sessions before they got to me and said, “Do this.”

Derek: Right. Very understandable.

Dragon Ball GT Music CD

Derek: There have been many CD’s of Dragon Ball Z music by Bruce Faulconer that have been published. Why has Dragon Ball GT music not been published and do you have plans to release it in the future?

Mark: I cannot release it. When you work for somebody, they own the publishing rights. Unless I own the rights, and maybe Bruce had a deal with them, well, he must have, to make his own CD’s. That’s pretty rare that you will unilaterally produce your own CD’s of music you did for a client, sell it, and not reimburse the client. Almost always the studio is involved. For example if you did a film for Warner Bros, the studio releases that album, not you.

Derek: Exactly. So why hasn’t FUNimation released a Dragon Ball GT CD?

Mark: The cost of doing that? Music sales have plummeted over the last 10 years, with illegal downloading going all the way back to Napster. The music industry and the idea of selling music for profit is in the toilet. I have a lot of family and friends in the music business and trying to make a living as a studio band only and selling music that way, rather than a touring act, is marginal at best.

But realize it was all continuous music, all 11 minutes long. I don’t know what it was like on Dragon Ball Z, was it continuous on that show as well?

Derek: Yeah, it was constant sound.

Mark: So they had to go back and turn those into separate queues, removing all the transitions, calling it “Fight Scene of Episode 12,” etc. You have to make up titles. That’s a bunch of work. I’d have to go back to those hard drives and I can’t even imagine wrapping my head around the idea of trying to edit that music into separate queues and turn out volumes of CD’s! I would have to hire an assistant to do only that! Hahaha.

Derek: How many tracks did you compose for the series, and did you have any favorites or was it all just continuous sound?

Mark: It was very continuous. I loved playing the guitar all day long because that was my first instrument, and I enjoyed doing that. But then the fact I would do that for 3 or 4 shows [would get tiring].

And then toward the end some of the closing music got a bit sadder when they wrapped things up in the last 2 or so episodes. Some of that I enjoyed. But maybe it was because it was different from the other 60 plus episodes we had done. Some very heartfelt themes when they split up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOhV1MDaDYM

I’d have to go back and listen to it all again to point to something specific.

And that was the goal.

Derek: Absolutely. I completely understand.

Dragon Ball Music Fandom

Derek: Next I want to ask you about the fandom. What are your thoughts on the Dragon Ball fandom that still burns so strongly? People tend to take sides, to put it very mildly. Did any of the more hardcore Japanese music fans who wanted it to sound like the original, ever give you a hard time?

Mark: No, although I will say that initially I would get some emails that were kind of tentative that were like, “Well, um, why did you, uh, why did you do that, because it’s really different from the other one?”

I would always have to confess that I didn’t know what the original was, and that I was just trying to make the show fun and exciting and geared towards a specific audience.

So I didn’t really have a response to it. And a lot of times, not to be rude, I can’t get engaged in these dialogues. Which is why I was even a bit tentative to do this interview.

I have to compliment you that your approach to me was very professional, and that had everything with me going, “Oh, okay, this guy is serious, he’s trying to write a book.”

Derek: Thank you.

Mark: Because a lot of the fans… I’ve had a few email exchanges. I had one brief email exchange with one guy, and I think only because I saw it show up on a Google Alert, posted it over and over again, analyzing 2 or 3 sentences. He was nice when he talked to me but he took quite a bit of liberty with it to interpret what we had talked about. And it was a brief conversation, 2 minutes, maybe 5 at the most.

I guess I just sort of find it mildly fascinating that the fans are so passionate about it. But at the same time I get being passionate about something you grew up watching, and I applaud their passion for a show. I can’t think I would ever find it off putting.

Derek: So you never got upset, angry or confused, “Why are people reacting this way?”

Mark:

I thought it worked at the time I did it. Any composer who tells you they listened to something they wrote 10 years ago, and it’s perfect, is lying to you. You only have so much time to work on it. At some point the client says, “Yeah, that sounds great, let’s do that. Make it that and turn it in tomorrow.”

But I could go back to GT for example and think, “Given some extra time I could rework that scene, maybe have done this differently.” Any actor will tell you that, any director, any writer, because you grow every year.

You’re a writer. If you look at some of the first things you wrote, or stuff from 2 years ago, you’d think, “Oh, you know, I try to use more mature language than that now.”

Derek: I agree completely. You’re always improving and growing.

Mark: Exactly! And you’re always changing. And I’m not just looking back and complaining. With some of the stuff I go, “Man, that was kind of a cool rift. I like that.” Then other times I listen to it and go, “Oh, that really goes on for a long time.” And I have to look back and realize that it’s because they were fighting for so long. So as much as possible you had to score the action and make it happen.

They forewarned me that fans are really passionate about the show.

Passion and Spirit

Mark: And the thing I thought was cool about the FUNimation guys is that, believe it or not, they were really into the show. These guys were all about the show. They knew these characters and could talk about them like film critics talk about what John Malkevich did in a film, or talked about it like it was Orson Welles.

And for me to come to it and essentially be an outsider initially, that was pretty cool to see this whole building passionate about doing the show, and at the same knowing they put their own finger print on it.

Derek: I see. So you feel that the staff at FUNimation really understood the characters and plot and everything about it and they were just trying to make it appeal, like they were trying to alter it in a way to make it more successful?

Mark: Yeah, and I don’t think they wanted to alter it as much as they said, like, I later learned LONG after I had worked on the show, that there was another sort of layer of spirituality to the original Japanese series.

Derek: Yes, that is what my book is about.

Mark: Right. Even myself I got to thinking, I thought there was a real parallel, I was talking to my wife about this once, that there’s a real parallel of the Goku character, that he was almost this Christ like character who comes back, as a child. That’s a very interesting saga.

Those guys would not have done 291 episodes of Dragon Ball Z and 64 episodes of GT, and 15 to 20 movies, you wouldn’t have produced that much stuff without having to take it seriously.

I think they took it very seriously. So when they warned me about the hardcore Japanese music fans they also said it really wouldn’t matter what we did, [since we were changing it from the original to begin with.]

Derek: Okay, well that is very eye opening and thank you for saying that about the spiritual aspects.

Mark: So that’s why I wasn’t surprised or confused when I occasionally saw something online, and a friend of mine would send me a link where a guy is bitching and screaming about the music. I would be like, “Yeah, alright, fine, get over it, it’s a TV show. Don’t watch it then! Haha.”

I watch a lot of TV because that’s my work medium, and sometimes I’ll say, “I so hate that show, and I hate the music.” My solution then is to not watch it. But for these guys who watched the original and really want to watch it in English, it’s a conundrum.

Derek: Yeah, it is! And that’s why there are so many debates about it.

Mark:

When people ask me, “Oh, whatever happened to that anime you worked on?” I tell them that they’ve moved on from me. Maybe that answers the Bruce Faulconer question earlier. They moved on to whoever they’re using now. And I think they’re using the Japanese music now.

Derek: Yes, with Dragon Ball Z Kai, the refreshed version, they’re using the Japanese music. Were you contacted about that at all?

Mark: No. When Barry left, FUNimation got sold to Navarre Entertainment, and they sold it again I heard, and another company owns it now. And the new owners have their own business models, and don’t want to spend money on new music, [thinking] “It’s fine the way it is,” haha.

Looking Back on the Grand Tour

Derek: Looking back, was it a positive experience?

Mark: It was great. And I learned about the whole anime thing that I think I would not have otherwise come into contact with.

Of course he’s never seen the Japanese. Do they air GT anymore?

Derek: They just started airing it again on Nicktoons.

Mark: Oh, interesting. I probably have the DVD series somewhere, but I never watched them because I already knew how it ended and had seen them so much and have a digital copy in my archive.

Derek: Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans of the Dragon Ball GT music, people who are reading this article, the book, or comments to the people who did not like your music?

Mark: My message to all of them is what we’ve talked about. I applaud your passion for this media.

I think great storytelling needs passionate fans. Whether you love an aspect of the show, whether it’s an actor or the music, or a revoiced character from the original one, keep watching it and keep having strong opinions about it.

And I think they learn a lot about themselves in there. And that’s a really great thing. I applaud their passion.

I’ve learned a lot from the experience. It took me, maybe, all the way to the end of the series to go, “Wow, this was very interesting, I get what they’re totally into.” It was one of the few experiences I had where I came to know these characters in a way that you don’t often get a chance to do.

All Good Things…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHIbjEkPQwM

Derek: This was a great interview and I really enjoyed it. I think this is going to be very exciting for the fans who now have a lot of their questions answered. Anything you’d like to add?

Mark: It was a fun gig. I will say that I am very passionate about animation, and I have more animated projects in the works. Not anime though.

And I do miss the guys at FUNimation. I miss working with Barry. He’s still a good friend and I talk with him from time to time. He’s a super guy and a lot of fun to work with.

Derek: This was extremely entertaining and enlightening as well. I appreciate you taking the extra time to speak with me.

I’m really glad everything is going so well for you, and that you’re doing what you love in life. That’s not easy to do. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work, and you’ve managed to succeed at it.

[Remember everybody, be sure to visit Menza Music to follow Mark’s career.]

Mark: Thanks, man. It’s fun to do. Again, I always applaud the fans and their passion, because that adds this whole other layer of interest to the show.

Derek: Yeah, it absolutely does! Thank you, Mark.

Mark: Thanks, Derek. Take care!

Revelation!

So there you have it! The mysteries of the Dragon Ball GT rap intro have been solved.

Now fans across the world will finally know where the rap intro came from, why it was created, who sang the song, and what they attempted to achieve.

In the eyes of the more vocal hardcore fans it seems to have been a disaster, but GT went on to be very financially successful, so maybe the producers knew what they were doing after all. Or maybe Dragon Ball is so awesome that it would have been successful no matter what they did.

In any case, now we know that Mark Menza is not the man to blame. So let’s lay off of him, okay? It’s been 9 years already.

Plus, to borrow Mark’s own words, I’d say he’s “a super nice guy.”

And I’d love to hear what you think about the explanation Mark provided on the switch from Faulconer Productions to himself.

Go on, talk amongst yourselves!

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Dragon Ball GT Music – Composer Mark Menza Interview Part 2

Mark Menza in his music studio. Photograph by Kris Hundt

American Dragon Ball GT. What do those words immediately make you think of? If it’s the controversial rap music intro, then today you’re in for a treat because I recently interviewed Mark Menza, the composer of FUNimation’s Dragon Ball GT.

Today you’ll discover how Mark earned the job working on GT, the challenges he faced, his musical influences, and what he thinks about Dragon Ball fans.

This article is for the hardcore Dragon Ball fan that wants all the details they’ve been missing since GT went off the airwaves.

You’ll learn exactly why GT ended up the way it did and discover the true story of GT’s development.

Dragon Ball Music and Mark Menza

Derek: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me.

Many Dragon Ball fans have stated that they love the American music, while as I’m sure you know, others have said they prefer the original Japanese. The Dragon Ball GT soundtrack is particularly controversial and still heavily discussed by fans 9 years after it was composed, so I thought who better to discuss this with than the composer himself!

Mark: There you go!

Derek: A lot of fans are interested in learning about the production and history of Dragon Ball’s music in the United States. Some of the questions here are from your fans that would like to know more about you and your Dragon Ball GT music.

Do you have any questions for me before we begin?

Mark: No, I read a little bit of your blog which was very interesting. I’m sort of surprised, maybe it’s more of an observation, that there’s still this huge interest in the show that has essentially been off the air for so long, particularly in Japan. I find it interesting that there is still this huge audience for it. It’s rather amazing.

Derek: I completely agree. People are still obsessed with Dragon Ball, and everybody wants a new series, but there isn’t one so they keep talking about the existing content.

And that is what brings us to our topic today, which is Dragon Ball GT.

First let me mention your background for a moment to introduce the reader to your experience.

You graduated from State University New York at Fredonia with a bachelor’s in music, correct?

Mark: Correct.

Derek: You taught guitar and Jazz from Brookhaven from 1989 to 1993. And then you opened your studio, Menza Music, in 1994, with a focus on scoring pictures. You’ve been doing it for 18 years and have worked on a number of documentary films, web media, and anime series, earning numerous awards.

Mark: Right. Actually, the reason I ended up working on GT was because I was in Dallas, in the area where they produced it. I came here to go to UNT (University of North Texas) and worked on my Masters for 4 years in Compositional Theory. So I was really here to write music.

I worked on other children’s properties; I worked on a show for PBS called Wishbone in the mid 90’s. I think that’s how I got involved with it. That was fun because we had a live, full orchestra to record, and we recorded some of it in Dallas and some of it in Seattle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sY-v6dZtz0

Then I worked on and scored the original pilot for Jimmy Neutron on Nickelodeon. I worked on that as the Audio Post Supervisor.

I started to write music for them and then Nickelodeon, the producers… and this applies to Dragon Ball as well, the producers really dictate what goes on.

Some of the other composers I’ve run into, we all sort of joke about this…

It’s always kind of amusing when the fans are like, “What have you done with our music?!” or “What were you thinking here?!” It’s like, “Agh, I don’t know, I didn’t really think about it. I did what I was told.”

Not that we’re robots, but on any project, whether it’s a film, TV show or even something simple like a commercial, the producers have really strong dictates about what they want. They’ll play all these things for you and say, “Can you make the music like this?”

Probably the most famous is the rap intro to GT, that people got…

Derek: Well, hold on, I’m going to ask you about that in a moment.

A Musician at a Young Age

Derek: Let me first ask, why did you get into music, and what type of music influences you the most?

Mark: I started playing and studying when I was 8 years old. I studied classical guitar as a teenager, about 13, 14, and 15. I studied with a guy name Michael Andriaccio at the University of Buffalo, which was a great privilege. My parents were a friend of the family and knew somebody who knew him. So he had a big influence on me, as well as several teachers growing up.

And of course all the music of the 70’s and 80’s was a huge influence, the Pop music for me and then later Jazz, probably the greatest influence, which you find in GT as well, is the Jazz idiom.

Derek: I noticed that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlozqzq9kxI

Mark: Yeah, from the traditional stuff. Whenever I could sneak a hint of that in harmonically, I would. You never hear a jazz theme necessarily. I mean, rarely if ever did that show up in the GT landscape, but a lot of the harmony that went into it is probably more indicative of Jazz harmonies, such as moving tonal centers and keys changing around, that’s part of everything I write, and I think that comes from Jazz.

So to answer your question about what influences me, it’s always been the jazz tradition.

There have always been a lot of musicians in my family. I have a cousin named Don Menza, who is really known in the jazz world, and saxophone. If you Google him you’ll get hundreds of thousands of hits. An amazing player. Used to be on The Tonight Show. Toured with Buddy Rich for 10 years, which was almost unheard of if you know anything of the Buddy Rich era.

Derek: Unfortunately I don’t.

Don still lives in North Hollywood, he’s retired now. His son is Nick Menza, the one-time drummer for Megadeath. Nick is pretty well known in the heavy metal world.

Derek: So this is really in your family, then.

Mark: Yeah, and on that same side of the Menza family, there’s another drummer who lives in Ventura who was out with the Wallflowers for 7 years. His name is Mario Calire and he is my first cousin once removed. They opened for Tom Petty for years, and he’s now the host of Ozomatli. They’re a wild band. He toured with Liz Phair and they’ve gone all over the world. His dad, Jimmy Calire was a keyboard player and a cousin of mine.

All of that had an influence on me growing up. I would go and watch my uncles play in the garage, in orchestras. That was always around me.

Derek: Wow, I can definitely see why you’re doing what you’re doing.

Getting on Board the Grand Tour

Derek: How did you end up working for FUNimation making anime music?

Mark: Barry Watson was a friend, I knew his wife who was a wonderful classical guitarist in the Dallas scene.

Derek: Barry was a producer at FUNimation, correct?

Mark: Yes, with Gen Fukunaga [the founder and CEO of FUNimation] and all those guys, when it was that generation of FUNimation.

So, Barry I knew personally, and one day he said, “Hey man, would you ever be interested in this other series we’re doing?” I said, “Sure! That sounds like a ton of fun, I would love to work on something like that.”

And I didn’t really know a lot about anime, and I knew only peripherally about Dragon Ball Z. When that was going on I was really heavily into Wishbone and right after that, Jimmy Neutron. I didn’t grow up with anime. Age wise I missed that. When Dragon Ball Z came to this country and was popular, I was already out of school, teaching Jazz and being a studio musician, that kind of thing, so I didn’t really know it.

Derek: Yeah, in an interview in Wizard Anime Insider magazine, Gen Fukunaga said, “If you think you know Dragon Ball GT, just wait! Nobody has done Dragon Ball GT like we have.”

Mark: Yeah, and you’ve got to know some of that is going to be marketing speak, although I think he really did believe that. I think I only met Gen twice, and it was during big events. It was like, “Hey, nice work!” He was always very nice to me and I didn’t really know anything about him until much later.

And Barry, I still talk to Barry every now and again, and he’s entirely out of the business now. He got me involved with it, to answer the question. He was the guy that knew me, knew what I did, had been to my studio, knew that I worked on animation and kids stuff, and thought I would be a good fit.

Derek: So there was no audition process, you were hand-picked?

Mark: If there was an audition to speak of, it was that I helped score one of the Dragon Ball Z features, and he really liked that. I think it was Return of Cooler.

It’s like, “Wow, I’ve got to go back and watch all of them!” Which I did, I watched some of the stuff. I didn’t invest a tremendous amount of time because of time constraints.

Derek: It’s a huge series.

Mark: Right. It’s a huge saga, all of it! And I loved all the music that I heard, from the guys who did it here to the original stuff in Japan, that was all interesting.

I could see how FUNimation wanted to change it, and I scored in total, I think, seven Dragon Ball Z features, either in part or in whole, and then one GT feature much later on. Broly I did, and the others I can’t even remember the names of them now.

A lot of the times they had working titles, and only 6 months later I would finally see them for sale on the internet and I’d be like, “Oh, they called it that? Interesting!” So that’s why I don’t remember the names, because I had all these working titles.

So I had done these for maybe a year, a year and a half. I would do one, then I wouldn’t talk to Barry for a few months, then I’d do another, and so on.

Then he came to me with GT and pitched that idea. We came up with a deal, a contract, and away we went.

Derek: Wow, alright, very interesting. Nobody knew that story, so that’s a brand new exclusive. It had always been a mystery, so thank you very much for clearing that up.

You were only vaguely familiar with Dragon Ball before you got the project, but were you aware of the fandom behind Dragon Ball when you went into it?

Mark: You know, my understanding, as limited as it was, was that it was a show that was well known in Japan.

Making the Music

Derek: You mentioned that you did listen to some of the Dragon Ball music. I had heard that you were specifically advised by the FUNimation producers to not listen to the DBZ soundtrack AT ALL. Is that correct?

Mark: I don’t know that anybody ever told me that. They did say, “Mark, don’t pay any attention to what’s come before, because we really want to take it in a new direction.” But I don’t think anybody said don’t listen to it because you don’t want to be influenced.

From time to time they would give me notes. The way all composers work is that somebody pitches the project to you, or in this case there’s an existing piece that has a legacy, so you can immediately see the picture. They send you the scripts and you can watch the finished product, which doesn’t happen on newer shows where it’s often a work in-progress. It was a little unusual to see a completed show where you could watch the show before it and even the show after it! Sort of wrap your arms around the storyline.

So I said, “Okay, what kind of thing are you going for?” They would play some examples for me very early on, “What about this band, or this one?” They would send little samples, mp3’s, and honestly I’d be lying if I could tell you what they were. Here’s a clip of some heavy metal band, or some dark orchestral music from a game that they liked. They said, “Use that as a jumping off point because that’s kind of what we’re thinking. What do you think?”

I would take that and do part of an episode, first or second episode, and send it to them. They’d say, “Yeah, that’s good. Maybe more of this, less of that.” Though after about 5 or 6 episodes I never got any notes back. They were like, “This is great, keep going!” Of course we talked on a regular basis.

Like they’d say, “On episode 20 (or whatever) that’s coming up, there’s a new villain, try to come up with a theme for him.”

So I had, sort of, themes for all the characters, but I didn’t really, it wasn’t like, The Lord of the Rings things, where you had this leitmotif going on, which is this Wagnerian idea where you give each character a theme and every time you see this character you play his theme.

It’s almost too complicated in most instances to do that, because all of a sudden, 3 or 4 characters show up on the scene. Piccolo shows up at the same time a villain appears, and somebody else shows up, and then Vegeta shows up. Then all of a sudden you’re going, “Um, okay, this is going to be a musical mess.” I decided to go with a more overarching theme as we move through it.

Like, here’s the hero, something heroic happening, and all the heroes of the series. Then the villains were more transient, and they might show up for 3 to 8 episodes, and they might have a theme.

Derek: Like the Super 17 Theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMiXWWMQw9w

Mark: Right, so those kinds of things would go on. But if you try to beat that to death, and be very literal with it, it gets goofy sounding to me. As a composer you have to figure out what’s working, and do that. So that was how the process worked and how I was introduced to it. I don’t remember anybody saying specifically don’t listen to this, that or the other thing.

My take on it, and some of this was influenced from what the guys at FUNimation were saying, is that GT would be for a much older American audience.

I think one of the main reasons they rescored the shows at all was that they found the fan base here, at least this is my understanding, was older here than it was in Japan. While at the same time that a Japanese 12 year old boy might be sort of, culturally, at a different place than a 12 year old kid here. So that 12 year old kid might be listening to what a 16, 17 or 18 year old might be listening to in Japan.

And a lot of the J-Pop stuff is very, almost what we used to call Bubble Gum music here. And I don’t mean that in a pejorative sense, I think it’s cool music and trust me, I write it, I’m involved in a lot of children’s music. I think that all that music fits for certain ages, and the idea with GT was they really wanted to, and I think FUNimation did this with all the stuff they worked on, they wanted to age it up, a little bit.

Not tremendously so, but when I compare it, at least in my ear, obviously fans who grew up listening to the original show, they’re going to tell you something completely different, but my ear, hearing the Japanese GT music for the very first time, the little bit I heard, it was like, “Oh, yeah, that’s definitely younger, sweeter, and in some cases kind of heartfelt.”

Derek: Yeah, more emotional.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPAkg1ji6_E

Mark: Right, the Japanese wanted it more emotional. And I thought that was fine, but it seemed much younger than an American audience, and I think the pacing of it was much slower. It almost ran contrary to all the action on the screen. You had these very big, dramatic things going on, and sometimes the music was almost trying to be humorous, and I was going, “Wow, that doesn’t seem to work for me.”

Some of that may have been the translations, because I think the guys at FUNimation translated the script to make the characters older in how they talked and what they were saying, and how they interpreted the storyline. And I think they did the exact same thing with the music.

Derek: Yes, I would agree.

Mark: So that was the idea. The music was tougher sounding, and maybe a little grittier, and less sweeter.

[On second thought,] the Japanese was more emotional? Perhaps. I think it was simpler and more childlike in the original Japanese. Although I would be afraid to ever say that out loud because I think a lot of the fans really love it!

Derek: Yes, that’s exactly what they do.

Mark: And I totally get that. I would be the same way for The Simpsons, which I watch a lot of. If I had to watch The Simpsons dubbed in German and rescored with music more endemic to German culture, I might hate it compared to what Alf Clausen has done because to me that’s vintage Simpsons. Anything other than the Danny Elfman theme, to me, would make me crazy.

Making the GT Music

Derek: That leads me into the music itself. The GT soundtrack has big thumping bass guitar, heavy, grungy lead guitar riffs and a drum set backed by various effects. How would you describe this sound?

Mark: I think that’s sort of accurate. It was lots of layers of guitars. The themes were based around doing, kind of like the Evanesence thing, which was popular at the time. That may have also been something that was suggested to me. I listened to that very driving, very distorted guitar.

I had a guitar I had not used in years that I pulled out for the show. This white, custom made, Jackson guitar that Grover Jackson made for me years ago. It’s a very early serial number, a kind of collector’s item.

It’s a serious, heavy metal guitar. I pulled this thing out, dusted it off, and it went to work on GT. It was used almost exclusively. Big, etchy, loud, Jeff Beck pickup in the bridge position, for those people who are interested in that kind of stuff.

Derek: Yeah, there are people who would like to know these things.

Mark: It was a Seymour Duncan, Jeff Beck pickup that was series parallel and tapped. The guitar nutjobs will know what that’s all about. It means I can split the coils or I can shut one off and turn it into a single coil. All of this had a very specific guitar sound, so I was going for that specific guitar sound.

The reason that it gets to be so much is, probably the most challenging thing to do on GT was that they wanted it scored end to end. And I’ve never worked on another show that was scored end to end.

Derek: What does that mean?

Mark: There are two 11 minute segments that make up the 22 minute episode. When a piece of music starts at the beginning after the opening credit music finished and the episode began, it was a continuous piece of music for 11 minutes.

Derek: There was no silence?

Mark: Never! I mean, I would say…

You would be hard pressed to find a single movement in most symphonies that are 11 minutes long. Bach, maybe. Most symphonies have several movements that stop. It was very difficult to compose GT’s music because it was continuously in transition.

Derek: Why was that? Was that a direction from the producers?

Mark: Absolutely. Right from the get go! They felt like the show needed that level of pacing, because they couldn’t change the animation and they couldn’t make any new animation.

Which for me, on something like Jimmy Neutron, if you watch any other kid show aimed at the same demographic, say, anything on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network, even something like Power Rangers, in a 22 minute episode you might have anywhere from between 8 to maybe 15 minutes of music. That would be a heavily scored show.

This was 22 minutes of music.

Derek: Every episode.

Mark: Yeah! Every episode. I got to where I was doing each show in about 3 days.

Derek: Wow, that takes a lot of work.

Mark: It was a stupid amount of work. But I had to do it that way for scheduling purposes, with everything else that I was doing and the schedule of GT.

In the beginning I would probably spend 10 days to 2 weeks on the first 2 or 3 episodes. But once I had a chunk of material to work off of, I would say, “Okay, I’m going to bring in this theme, I’m going to use this, and this and this, I’m going to play a new guitar line on top of it, so let me lay down this part.” And boom, if I could get 3 or 4 minutes a day, then I was excited.

Then when I got to where I could do 7 or 8 minutes a day, I was truckin’. And the continuous nature of it was REALLY challenging.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPQT1l_EUu0

Derek: I bet. Did you have an assistant or staff that helped?

Mark: No. Not on this show. That was a budgetary constraint. I had to make it work by myself. When I worked on other shows I had audio post people, which I didn’t do on GT because FUNimation had their own in-house audio people, as that was primarily what they were doing. But they didn’t have in-house composers, necessarily.

They had audio engineers, dialogue coaches, and studios that were set up to record all of that dialogue. And that was a huge job, that ADR job of looping the picture and recording each line. Once these guys, the script writers, had written the show and figured out what they were going to do for each saga of the series, that was a tremendous job in and of itself.

Having an in-house composer is not a business model that makes sense. You can’t keep them busy everyday so you’re paying them lots of money and it makes no sense. And that’s the way most shows are done. The composer doesn’t work for the production company, he’s a separate entity.

When you’re talking about a film where they hire a famous composer like John Williams, or a TV show that’s on currently, like 30 Rock, that all goes out to a composer who is a guy like me who probably has his own studio, either in a facility like I do, or many of them even in their homes. I have a facility because I also do audio post production. I just didn’t do that on any of the stuff for FUNimation because they had their own sound effects editors and dialogue guys.

You asked about assistants. Usually I have assistants to help me out, other engineers to help me on the engineering side of things, and the sound effects and mixing side of things.

Derek: Were there synthetic instruments in the GT soundtrack as well?

Mark: The short answer to that is yes. A lot of it is strings samples. 90% of what you hear on TV, if you watch Law & Order, it’s all samples, they don’t hire a real orchestra anymore. They do on the Simpsons, interestingly enough. That is one of the few shows that has a 30 to 40 piece orchestra that they record each episode with. But that is a rarity. It’s a hold over. Most television shows, because of both the schedule and the budgets that have shrunk over the years, almost all of those are sampled strings. Meaning a live string section recorded into a sample library that go into these elaborate computers.

Derek: Through the keyboard.

Mark: Right. And they’re all virtual instruments in the computer, or I have stand alone sample players to play the strings, the brass, or the woodwinds.

As far as synth stuff goes in GT, all the bass was live, all the guitars were live, there was some actual acoustic mandolin that was recorded, some acoustic guitar, steel string and nylon string that was used. All of that I played, recorded and engineered myself.

Mark Menza's studio guitars. Photograph by Kris Hundt

Derek: That is fantastic. It’s amazing you did all that by yourself.

Let’s a take a break for a moment and then we’ll continue.

Conclusion of Part 1

Today you learned how Mark was chosen to be the composer for FUNimation’s version of Dragon Ball GT, how he composes music, and how he overcame the challenges of end to end music by working super hard, just like a Saiyan!

Continue reading Part 2 of the Mark Menza interview, where you’ll hear about Bruce Faulconer, corporate direction of GT’s music by FUNimation staff, the chances for a Dragon Ball GT album, and the origins of the infamous Dragon Ball GT rap intro!

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Dragon Ball GT Music – Composer Mark Menza Interview Part 1

It’s a truth that Dragon Ball fandom is and always has been intense. Regardless of their preferred version, Dragon Ball fans absolutely love their Dragon Ball.

Just before Dragon Ball GT concluded its original television run in Japan in 1997, a rumor spread about a new official series called Dragon Ball AF. Fans wanted the series to continue.

The only problem is that it was never true.

And you might suppose we could end this article right here. But as with everything involving Dragon Ball and its impact across the world, there’s a lot more to the story.

Dragon Ball AF was originally the creation of an unknown fan that evidently had a strong desire for a fourth Dragon Ball anime series.

A single image appeared on the web of a hypothetical Super Saiyan 5 Goku with a “Dragon Ball AF” logo on it, and from there it spread like wildfire.

The rumor grew gradually over the years and took on a life of its own, spawning many fan creations, illustrations, videos, episode listings, action figures, and even high quality fan manga based on the collective rumors.

For example, who is this guy fighting Goku?

Images like this confused the heck out of new Dragon Ball fans. And those who circulated lies about Dragon Ball AF preyed on the gullible nature of fans who simply wanted to see more of their favorite characters.

The desire for a new Dragon Ball series is so strong that even today the rumor is still actively spread that Dragon Ball AF is the next official series from Toei, and that the videos and images “leaked” on YouTube will arrive in “the next year or two.” New fans continue to fall for it, and the cycle continues.

Despite all the time that it has been around, if you search online for an explanation of Dragon Ball AF, you will only find bits and pieces of info. A short wiki article here, some crudely Photoshopped images there, a guy saying it’s not real while another screams back that it is, followed by immature insults and a link to fan made manga. There are, maybe, two good sources on the topic. Unless you spend hours putting the pieces together, you’ll be confused or simply dismiss the whole thing outright.

Because of Dragon Ball Z Kai’s and Dragon Ball GT’s second syndication on TV, there is now a new generation of Dragon Ball fan looking to see what happens next.

With the realization that people are still being confused, I set out to discover the true story behind Dragon Ball AF and write the definitive article.

Along the way I found a captivating story to tell.

The Dragon Ball AF Trend

Before we get into the details of Dragon Ball AF, I’d like you to see just how popular it is.

I’ve been a fan of Dragon Ball since 1997 when it first aired on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block and Midnight Run. Even back then I remember seeing rumors about it on the Internet.

I’ve never done an article about Dragon Ball AF because frankly, I didn’t think it was worth digging into. As a kid I realized it wasn’t real after 5 seconds of seeing the first image. It was obviously poor quality and made by fans. I was curious, but since it wasn’t genuine I thought the rumor would be dead in a few years.

But Dragon Ball AF continues to be talked about. Somehow people are still falling for the rumors. In fact it’s even more popular now than when Dragon Ball Z was syndicated on national TV.

Consider the following search trends.

According to Google Adwords’ keywords tool, the term “dragon ball AF” received 1,000,000 global monthly searches on average in the previous 12 months (January, 2011 to January, 2012). And at the date of this article it has 3,490,000 Google search results.

For comparison, “dragon ball z kai” received the same 1,000,000 global monthly searches.

This means Dragon Ball AF is currently 100% as popular of a search term as Dragon Ball Z Kai, and it’s not even real! Nor is it backed by millions of dollars in marketing.

How is that possible? The rumor started in 1997 and people are STILL actively looking for it 15 years after its creation?!

Query data for Dragon Ball AF on Google only begins in 2004, when Google began recording trend data. We can see that its popularity grew gradually over the years. There was a huge spike in 2007 for Dragon Ball AF information, most likely coinciding with the end of Dragon Ball GT’s syndication across the world by fans hungry for more. Then this gradually dropped over the next few years. But there are more queries for it now between 2011 and 2012 than there were between 2004 and 2006.

The term “dragon ball” has 30,400,000 monthly queries and “dragon ball z” receives 16,600,000.

Comparing that to two other large series, we see that Star Wars receives 24,900,000 queries and Star Trek receives 4,090,000 queries. This helps prove that Dragon Ball fandom on the internet is still very much alive, as searches for “dragon ball” eclipses both “star wars” and “star trek” combined.

What’s crazy is that the entirely fan created “dragon ball AF” is so popular when compared to these legitimate series, at 1,000,000 queries.

Even more shocking, there are multiple Dragon Ball AF videos on YouTube with over 9 million views, 8 million views and 5 million views, while the incredibly popular Dragon Ball meme, “It’s Over 9,000!” only has 7 million views total. Is Dragon Ball AF really more popular than “Over 9,000!”?

Some fans have speculated that when the rumor began in 1997 it was on April Fool’s Day (April 1^st), and this is why it’s called AF. There’s no proof of this, but if so, it seems like the whole world fell for it, because Dragon Ball AF is exponentially more popular now than when it started.

Where did Dragon Ball AF Come From?

Dragon Ball GT completed its run in 1997 and even though fans knew it was the end, everybody was hungry for more.

GT was for most people a disappointment, as it was written by someone other than Akira Toriyama. In this case, Matsui Aya, the Series Organizer at Toei. Fans wanted Akira Toriyama at the creative helm again, like he was for Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z.

It’s not known where the rumor started (possibly Spain), but it mentioned a new series called Dragon Ball AF, where Goku reaches Super Saiyan 5, Pan turns Super Saiyan, and Raditz comes back alive somehow, also as a Super Saiyan.

The first image associated with Dragon Ball AF was of Super Saiyan 5 Goku.

Nobody knew where it came from. Rumors said it was from a fan made manga (Dojinshi), but no proof was ever provided. Others have said that it’s not Goku at all, rather his son Xicor.

The AF logo was completely fabricated, but even so, fans speculated what it could mean. It was rumored to stand for “After Future,” because the series took place 200 years after the end of GT. Others said it stood for “Alternate Future,” or “AfterliFe,” while those who didn’t believe in it, as they still explain today, said it stood for “April Fools.”

A few crudely drawn images appeared of Goku Photoshopped to have different color hair, Pan with golden hair, Super Saiyan Raditz and other seemingly random combinations of Fusioned characters, like Vegetunks, the Fusion of Vegeta and Trunks.

Meanwhile, Super Saiyan 5 was surpassed by Super Saiyan 6. Goku was now “Evil Goku” because he had been corrupted by the power of the dragon balls and it was up to Vegeta to stop him. And a new set of Potara earrings could now fuse 3 people together, instead of only 2.

Fans argued endlessly about whether or not these were real, with some stating that their “friend in Japan” confirmed it was. Others said, “Yeah, it’s real, I use these characters in my fan fiction and my role playing games,” naively blurring the line between fan made fiction and official releases.

This mess of “real” or “not real” confused others looking for the truth.

What may have been a couple months or perhaps years later, two more images appeared of Super Saiyan 4 Gohan and “King Vegeta.”

These two images were exquisitely detailed and looked very professional, as if they could have been done by Toei staff or even Akira Toriyama. These caused a huge surge in the number of believers and were used as validation that Dragon Ball AF was real.

But on each image was a logo that read, “Studio Tomita.” Who was Studio Tomita? Nobody knew, so more rumors flew around. Maybe it was a company working with Toei, or maybe it was Toriyama’s studio under a different name?

It was neither. Turns out that Studio Tomita was a very talented fan (or group of fans) who drew illustrations of their favorite anime characters. They had a website with a few images on it, but oddly, neither of these two Dragon Ball images was there.

There was however a note that said, “If you accessed this homepage in order to obtain an image of “DRAGON BALL”, you will be discouraged. I do not put an image of “DRAGON BALL” in this homepage currently. And I reply to a request of somebody and do not intend to send an image. I’m sorry.”

This tells us that if even Studio Tomita did create them, they now wanted nothing to do with these images or to be affiliated with Dragon Ball. Most likely due to the amount of emails they received from rabid fans.

But that was all it took. These images sparked the flames of what would become a much larger fire.

The Rise of Dragon Ball AF

It was now sometime between 1999 and 2001. With all this Dragon Ball AF content out there, fans became excited and eagerly awaited this new series.

And they waited.

And waited.

And it never came, because it was never real.

There were no official screen shots or episode clips, no advertising, merchandise or articles in Japanese media.

All the while fans were rapidly producing new content and slapping the Dragon Ball AF logo on it, adding to the confusing mess.

Rumors, fan art and outlandish Fusions of characters fed into one another and created a giant, endless cycle of rampant lies and immature stupidity.

Free websites like Geocities and Angelfire became popular outlets for Dragon Ball fans wanting to “prove” the existence of Dragon Ball AF. They would create a site, post the images, and suddenly Dragon Ball AF seemed a bit more real in the mind of an average web surfer. After all, wherever you looked, there it was!

Fans jumped on message boards saying, “Hey, I heard about a new Dragon Ball series!” Then other fans would get into the conversation and it would derail in various ways.

More established sites also promoted the series. While doing research for The Black Goku article, I found a news post about Dragon Ball AF on the archived DaBlackGoku.com homepage from October 9, 2000. It said, “Hello Everyone. I found some interesting information on the Dragon Ball AF series that everyone has heard rumors about.”

This was in the year 2000, and he was talking about it being a rumor back then and passing it off as news. It’s still a rumor today and people still pass it off as news!

With the advent of high speed broadband internet, YouTube became increasingly popular and fans started to put their work in video form. This immediately led to claims that what they posted was the “official” anime, and that their “leaked” footage was real.

Fans created back stories, episode listings, and even more character splices.

Several “Official Dragon Ball AF” websites sprung up claiming to sell tapes.

Dragon Ball Z was airing on TV at the time, and was sending millions of new fans onto the internet. Those who were naïve bought into it.

That’s really all there is to Dragon Ball AF for the next few years. The inertia of fandom ensured that it kept growing and reaching more people through different platforms.

The Daizex.com April Fool’s Joke

"Toriyama-sensei is very angry!!"

The year was 2004 and a search on Google for “Dragon Ball AF” generated 1,170,000 results. This collective fan creation had become extremely popular.

Dragon Ball Z was still very popular in America and Dragon Ball GT was beginning to be sold on tape and air on TV.

The website DaizenshuuEX had grown over the years to become, in their own words, the “most authoritative and complete stop online for anything and everything DragonBall.” And it’s true. Daizex.com has always provided the latest and most up to date official news regarding the Dragon Ball series. Their forum had (and still has) a reputation for its hardcore and extremely knowledgeable fans. Whatever was posted on the main news page was inarguably official.

That said, the owner, Mike “VegettoEX” LaBrie had a yearly tradition of playing an April Fool’s prank on the community.

He knew better than anyone that Dragon Ball AF wasn’t real, and everyone in the community was tired of hearing about it. Because there had not been any official media reports, advertisements, or video clips surrounding Dragon Ball AF, he decided to make some and act like they were real!

He later said on his site, “If we were going to do this, it had to be insane. Everything had to scream of quality, and above all else, it had to be in Japanese and look / sound authentic.”

They created a print advertisement and a commercial to share on YouTube. Mike said, “The print-ad came first. Julian began work on it, typing up some of the text using a pre-existing “Dragon Box” Japanese ad as a template.”

The original Japanese Dragon Ball ad was modified with images of content from Dragon Ball AF, and some comedic Japanese text was added. Text that, for anybody who spoke Japanese, would immediately give away the fact it was a joke. But for non-Japanese speaking fans everywhere else it would look authentic.

“Soon Mike began work on the video commercial.” Mike had become a talented video editor from his years of working on Dragon Ball music videos, and made it his profession. He very skillfully ripped audio from One Piece and Revolutionary Girl Utena, featuring the same voice actors that are in Dragon Ball, with classic moments from the series. Interspersed throughout the dialogue were Japanese title cards, which just like the advertisement above, would clearly be obvious as a joke to Japanese readers.

Mike released the ad and video on April Fool’s Day and he updated his site to reflect the news (as if it were official), stating it would air September 8, 2004. The site said, “On this date, a new series was officially announced in a mailing to frequent buyers of the DB Kanzenban volumes. And best of all, in a nod to fans who were so anxious for a sign, the series is going to be called–get this–DragonBall AF!!!”

As a result, not everybody realized it was a joke. And that was the point.

He later said, “It wouldn’t be an April Fool’s Day prank if we didn’t cause havoc across the internet. We knew we’d end up fooling some people, and we knew that people would be talking about it.”

This had rather large consequences on the Dragon Ball AF community, because most of them were young, naïve, and didn’t speak Japanese.

One fan named Jose Gonzales was aware that it was a joke and wrote to them, saying, “I hope you realize that because of this little stunt there’s going to be an outpouring of kids freaking out all over the net and it will almost certainly be seen as proof of the existence of AF.”

Of course that is exactly what happened. People shared it left and right, posting on message boards about how they now had proof that “the new Dragon Ball series is real!”

Mike had a lot of fun with it though, saying in response, “I’m not going to regret it and there’s no hate mail to speak of. It’s been a blast, and it’s awesome to see that people are enjoying it and getting a kick outta it.”

Even though a day later he completely admitted to the joke, once you put an image on the internet, it’s their forever. And these images and videos were pushed around by every Dragon Ball AF loving fan that could find them.

I have a copy of the video, but for the sake of making sure that this doesn’t happen again, I’m not going to post it online. Plus it’s not my property to rightfully post.

Why did people believe the ads? Probably for the same reasons they believed in Dragon Ball AF in the first place!

Meanwhile, in the fan driven evolution of Dragon Ball AF, there were now 10 levels of Super Saiyan!

Yes. That is Super Saiyan 10 Goku, apparently.

Dragon Ball AF Fan Manga

Fan manga and fan fiction have always surrounded the Dragon Ball series.

Despite the wild images, there had never been a serious Dragon Ball AF manga. Most of the illustrations were poorly drawn.

These series tried to pass themselves off as real while riding the wave of Dragon Ball AF fandom. They would either share that name, or come up with their own, such as Dragon Ball V, Dragon Ball ST, Dragon Ball AE, and Dragon Ball DR. Basically any other letters you want to add to the end of “Dragon Ball.”

Over time, Dragon Ball AF became the default go-to name for any type of fan creation. It was synonymous with fan made.

That changed in 2006 when a very talented artist in the Toriyama style finally put pen to paper and created a Dragon Ball AF worthy of the name.

Toyble (pronounced Toiburu) deserves credit for making something original, beautifully illustrated and true in spirit to the series. At least for the most part.

The story is about the illegitimate son of Goku, Zaiko (otherwise known as Xicor), who was born by a female Kaioshin that stole Goku’s seed in a dream, while he slept. The child was half-man, half-god, and more powerful than all of the other warriors, including Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta and Super Saiyan 4 Gohan. It’s up to Goku to save the day.

Toyble is unique because he clearly states on his site, “This site and its publications have nothing to do with the original author [Akira Toriyama] and has no relationship with him. Dragon Ball AF is an interpretative story.”

Even so, Toyble’s Dragon Ball AF (ドラゴンボールAF, Doragon Bōru AF) is one of the major reasons that Dragon Ball AF rumors continue to linger. His excellent drawings and story (that weaved many of the existing rumors together) serve as the prime example the stalwart fans present when insisting Dragon Ball AF is real. The images look authentic, so fans jump to the conclusion that they are.

Another artist named Young Jiji has also done a similar Dragon Ball AF manga with an equally impressive Toriyama style of art, making it seem real.

These are really the only two manga with a high enough level of quality I feel are worth mentioning.

Dragon Ball AF Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqr9KJZqzUA

Dragon Ball AF videos? What is there to say, really?

The quality is guaranteed to be poor. They usually consist of edited clips and drawings from Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT, with the colors changed or with weird effects added on top.

They won’t be real. The creators try to pass them off like it’s a new series, just as they’ve been doing since this began.

They’ll be annoying. Backed by odd music or simply poorly edited, with ads pointing to something unrelated as an added bonus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2vHuB0rDdg

Other times the videos will simply be the animated intro footage for the Dragon Ball video games, such as Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi, Dragon Ball Heroes or Dragon Ball Online. They are labeled as Dragon Ball AF or the “New Dragon Ball Series,” but only exist to prey on those who don’t know otherwise.

Despite these drawbacks, many of these videos have more than 9 million views! That makes them some of the most popular videos on YouTube.

Why so popular? Because everybody wants the next Dragon Ball series, and they want it now! Remember, Dragon Ball fans love their Dragon Ball!

Some less scrupulous video editors capitalize on this fandom and post videos that have the title of “Super Saiyan 7 to 10,” and so on, but then they talk about things unrelated to Dragon Ball. They bait and switch people to click and watch their crap.

They also feature really odd and unique characters put together via Fusion, or show strange Majin Buu absorptions of other characters, such as Majin Buu after absorbing Freeza. Naturally, the Super Saiyan levels continue to rise, going from Super Saiyan 10 to Super Saiyan 20 and even Super Saiyan 50! Goku’s golden yellow hair is insanely long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z67XXZtQgGc

The creators lie about AF’s existence, or only tell half truths to benefit themselves. For example, from the description of one video it says, “Note everyone: Dragonball AF is REAL, It already has comics based on it and action figures. Comment And Subscribe If You Want To Support Dragonball AF.” They are again passing “real” off as “official,” which it isn’t.

Lastly, they pull content from the Dragon Ball games and try to connect it to Dragon Ball AF. The game Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 has alternate outfits showing Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta with white hair, which fans say is all too coincidentally like Super Saiyan 5 Goku to be a coincident.

Fans wondered why the developers in Japan chose these colors. Maybe they did it on purpose to allude to Dragon Ball AF? Or maybe it was foreshadowing of what Toei was going to release “in the next year or two.”?

A few videos that went over 9,000,000 views were posted in 2007, while one with 3,000,000 views was posted as recently as Jun 24, 2010. None of them are real, but the fandom is still alive so people continue to play this silly game of lies.

Suffice to say, if you were falling for it, now you know better.

Dragon Ball AF Images

In the beginning, the Dragon Ball AF images were awful. But now the fans have really taken to it, and more talented artists have produced better art based on these fan fiction characters. Here’s a bit of it.

Dragon Ball AF Action Figures

The fandom has reached such a point that Dragon Ball action figures and models have been created.

I find this interesting. Dragon Ball AF is a fan created series but people apparently spend their money on these models, buying into the fandom, official or otherwise.

It’s as if Dragon Ball AF has become official simply because of consumer demand.

The Heart of a Dragon Ball Fan

Dragon Ball AF is an unofficial, fan made creation that has grown in such leaps and bounds that it’s now on par with Dragon Ball Z Kai in terms of search requests, and even has its own merchandise.

Fans wanted a new Dragon Ball series but Akira Toriyama said he wouldn’t create any more Dragon Ball manga. Toei didn’t provide them with a new Dragon Ball anime, either. With a couple of exceptions, most of what has arrived is rehashed and “refreshed” content.

So what did fans do in the absence of a new series?

They made it themselves!

They wanted Dragon Ball AF to be real, so they made it real.

It all began with a single image of Super Saiyan 5 Goku. Then two more images appeared of Super Saiyan 4 Gohan and “King Vegeta.” This somehow led to new characters being developed, a complete storyline, and episode listings. From there it got mashed together repeatedly over the years, with more and more piled on top of itself.

No matter how crudely drawn, poorly Photoshopped, oddly written, or strangely fused together, Dragon Ball AF has grown to represent the dreams and desires of Dragon Ball fans across the world.

That’s the real story of Dragon Ball AF. The story behind the scenes.

The Dragon Ball fans themselves. Their aspirations and desires.

Why do people want a new Dragon Ball series so badly? What moves them to draw, color, animate, and create their own manga? And what makes people want to believe in, promulgate lies, and trick people into thinking like them… all through the vehicle of Dragon Ball?

I believe Dragon Ball speaks to a part of our humanity and appeals directly to our core. All that fans want is a new series at a high level of quality so they can continue to have the same exhilarating feeling they did the first time they saw Goku transform into a Super Saiyan, or when Gohan defeated Cell with the Father-Son Kamehameha.

It never arrived externally, so fans made it internally. Then they shared it.

Like Cell, Dragon Ball AF is an artificial monster that continues to grow and evolve, becoming more refined as it goes. But instead of seeking to destroy, it seeks to bring more fans into its collective grip, making them hope, dream, and become involved with something bigger than themselves. A community of like minded people who speak the same language and love the same thing.

Once you get fans hooked on a series and then end it, what else are fans to do? Be patient and let it go?

Ha! That’s not how Dragon Ball fans work!

Emerging Dragon Ball Trends

As if Dragon Ball AF weren’t enough, in late 2011 a new rumor mysteriously spread across the internet about yet another new Dragon Ball series, called Dragon Ball Hoshi. Exactly like Dragon Ball AF when it began, this one is also fake and an odd combination of truths and lies.

Similar to Dragon Ball AF, Dragon Ball Hoshi has quickly grown in popularity, as seen in this Google Trends image comparing the search trends for both.

But explaining Dragon Ball Hoshi will have to wait for another day. [Update on Feb 19, 2012. Here is Dragon Ball Hoshi Explained.]

One of the goals of this article was to present the truth of Dragon Ball AF in a logical, rationale way, so that the genuine fans will understand it and stop being fooled by (and then promote) the lies.

Failing that, if it still becomes even more popular at least this article will serve to bring people up to speed on what Dragon Ball AF is all about.

As I mentioned in the intro, I believed Dragon Ball AF was best left un-discussed and that it would eventually die out.

How wrong I was!

But do me a favor. After reading this article, please stop going on the message boards and forums to tell people you’ve heard of a “new Dragon Ball anime series!!”

We’ve got enough of those guys out there already.

Oh, who am I kidding? Dragon Ball fans love their Dragon Ball! This will probably never stop!

Dragon Ball AF Roxors! OMG Broly’s Power Level is Maximum!! Super Saiyan 50 Goku for the win!!!

Resources

Studio Tomita Archived Site

Dragon Ball Wiki Article on Dragon Ball AF

Daizex.com Rumors Guide

Daizex.com Aprils Fool’s Day Prank

Daizex.com Forum Post on Original DBAF Image

Toyble’s Dragon Ball AF

Desire Campbell’s Collection of Toyble’s Dragon Ball AF manga

Young Jiji’s Dragon Ball AF

The “Official” Dragon Ball AF Site

Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 Character Skins Forum Post

Dragon Ball AF on Facebook

FreeWebs.com DBAF Posting

Super Saiyan Goku 1 through 10

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Dragon Ball AF Explained

When people ask about Goku’s race, they tend to think Asian or Caucasian.

That’s because Goku’s skin tone appears light, even though it varied throughout the series, especially in Dragon Ball GT when he had a darker tan.

Also because of his literary and actual origins in East Asia.

But back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, American Dragon Ball fans started to connect with Dragon Ball and relate it to their own lives.

Some African American fans assimilated Goku and purposefully made him black, so as to better connect with their hero.

Today you’ll learn about this social phenomenon.

You’ll also see how FUNimation, the American dubbing company that licensed Dragon Ball from Japan, may have contributed to or capitalized on this trend, and how this then resulted in Americans further assimilating Dragon Ball into their lives.

Get ready to “Step into Da Grand Tour” of The Black Goku.

DaBlackGoku.com

Dragon Ball reached the height of its popularity in America between 1999 and 2003. During this time, the series appeared on Cartoon Network and was seen by millions.

The affect that this had on American youth was interesting, to say the least.

The first notable example of the African American assimilation occurred in October, 1999, when a young man with the screen name DaBlackGoku founded DaBlackGoku.com

Like many others, the site had general Dragon Ball information and trivia. But the main feature was a showcase of fan created works of Goku with black skin.

Most were simply an original Toriyama drawing edited to have darker skin, but some were modified or even original creations where the character’s hair was styled in an afro or dreadlocks, while their clothes were adorned with ghetto paraphernalia.

Almost every major character was present, including black Krillin, black Trunks, black Piccolo, black Majin Buu, black Freeza and black Vegeta, with a golden watch hanging from his neck like Flava Flav.

The black Bulma and black Chi-Chi were drawn like ghetto girls with skimpy clothes and overly sexy poses.

And my favorite was Super Saiyan black Goku with a golden afro slam dunking a basketball!

In another illustration, black Goku had his dreadlocks stuffed underneath a backwards baseball cap, wearing basketball sneaks and street clothes, jamming to some music with his headphones on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG8TOIV7OKs

The owner held an annual “Draw Me a Black Goku” contest, where fans could submit their work for Dragon Ball related prizes.

What’s noteworthy is that in the rules DaBlackGoku stipulated the following, “No lude or degrading pics. This includes things like guns and gold teeth. Remember Goku is a Dragon Ball Z hero and is not into gangsta rap.”

From this and other content on the site, I surmise that DaBlackGoku simply wanted to express his fandom for the series and share that with others, in his own unique way.

Granted that this website is most likely a representation of a minority within a minority but its social and pop cultural significance is worth further attention.

Accepting and Assimilating

It seems like most of the drawings submitted to DaBlackGoku.com were by little kids.

For children, a hero with super human powers and the ability to save the world is easy to admire.

The illustrations depicted a hero that children were connecting with on a daily basis, yet altered from the original.

Children want to connect with their heroes completely, and the differences in skin color stand out, so these differences are negated or transformed and turned into something new, yet the same.

While the core feelings of the character remain unaltered, the externalities change and cultural additions are made that reflect the artists’ environment, such as clothing and hair styles.

The site even had its own rap song, submitted by a fan in 1999. The techno bass track repeatedly loops, “Here comes Da Black Goku… Hoe’s in this house, got some hoe’s in this house,” and “Bitches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks.” The last line of lyrics of this song are taken from a Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg track.

And it’s not just Goku, either. I remember hearing from fans over the years that, in general, black people often associate with Piccolo, feeling that he is the “blackest” of all the characters.

Perhaps this is due to his physical features, his outcast relationship with the others, his stoic personality, or the deep rugged voice he was given in the American version.

The site stopped being updated after December, 2002, but it showed that for African American youth, Dragon Ball held a special place in their hearts.

It also shows the universal appeal of Dragon Ball. But it might be no accident that Dragon Ball, this inherently Japanese and East Asian creation, connected with so many young African Americans.

Kawaii Culture and American Consumerism

Dragon Ball is a martial arts epic, but it’s also a cute and silly show filled with gags and immature humor, such as poop jokes and boob grabs. These come from the silly mind of Akira Toriyama.

Japan’s stereotypical obsession with cuteness (Japanese: Kawaii, 可愛い) since the 1970’s can be seen in many aspects of its society. For pop cultural examples, look to Hello Kitty or Kirby, a floating pink smiley face. Even Dragon Ball is super cute at times.

But it’s believed by American marketers that Kawaii culture does not necessarily carry over to the general public.

Japan is a homogenous society, where generally speaking, people think alike, act alike, and look alike.

America, on the other hand, is a combination of many races and creeds, as it continually assimilates other cultures into itself. This includes foreign pop culture, such as that from Japan.

In Japan, cute and hardcore can go together. In America they apparently cannot.

Videogames or anime that are cute and colorful in Japan are often edited by American marketing departments to become dark, aggressive, angst filled, overall Americanized, or stereotypically in line with supposed consumer interests.

The makeover from cute to edgy is most likely a manifestation of the overall trend in America to make things more masculine.

The fact that Dragon Ball is already very masculine, filled with characters that have ‘angry eyebrows,’ and huge explosive fights, made it easy to capitalize on while completely downplaying the more cute, friendly and silly aspects.

Why was this done?

To make more money.

FUNimation’s Dragon Ball GT

The changes that FUNimation made to the American Dragon Ball Z were purposefully done to appeal to American youth.

This included a new soundtrack by Faulconer Productions, filled with guitar riffs and synthetic sounds, replacing the orchestral arrangements by Shunsuke Kikuchi.

It also included the addition of American slang in the dialogue, an ideology of ‘constant sound,’ and the removal of Japanese cultural references.

Having achieved success with such edits, FUNimation appeared to go even further to appeal to American youth with Dragon Ball GT, by directly targeting the African American demographic.

Stylistically, Dragon Ball GT represented a return to the cuter aspects of the original Dragon Ball, with Goku being transformed back into a child, and the main cast consisting of kids.

FUNimation felt they had to Americanize it in order for it to sell.

In November, 2003, FUNimation premiered a completely different rendition of Dragon Ball GT then had ever been seen in the world.

In an interview in Wizard Anime Insider magazine, Gen Fukunaga said, “If you think you know Dragon Ball GT, just wait! Nobody has done Dragon Ball GT like we have.”

And boy was that the truth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H9di7tCLVg

They attempted to make it hard, dark, and street, even though it was the exact opposite.

The happy go lucky J-Pop intro song of Dan Dan Kokoro Hikareteku (“Gradually You’re Charming My Heart”) by Japanese band Field of View, and the series’ score, were replaced by a rap song and heavy bass lines.

The Japanese intro was a top charting love ballad used to express the friendship and camaraderie of the adventurers.

The American intro provided by composer Mark Menza was heavy, gloomy, rap-based and repeated the lines, “Step into da Grand Tour, Grand Tour, Grand Tour. Step into da Grand Tour [Grand Tour, Grand Tour], Dragon Ball GT!” The entire mood of the series was edited to appear edgy and serious, even though the actual content wasn’t.

FUNimation producers and executives, such as Barry Watson, decided that this would increase sales of the GT series.

They were right.

For the week of July 20, 2003, the first two GT tapes secured the #1 and #2 positions (compared to all other VHS sales) for the edited versions, and the #9 and #19 for the uncut versions. For DVD’s they earned #17 and #18. These home video sales prepped the market for the series televised debut.

Dragon Ball GT premiered on Cartoon Network in November, 2003, and scored a monstrous 9.7 on the Nielsen ratings for males age 9 to 14, and an 8.6 rating for males age 6 to 11.

Either FUNimation’s business decisions to appeal to Americans were an effective change, or Dragon Ball was an unstoppable winner no matter what was done to it. Artistic integrity be damned.

For the casual fan in America it made no difference that Dragon Ball was a Japanese creation, because they had no idea this was the case. It felt American, and so it was.

In either case, FUNimation’s profits soared, and Dragon Ball became further ingrained in the minds of American youth.

Dragon Ball Rap Music

As the years went on and young African American boys grew up, a small number began to express their continued fandom for Dragon Ball through rap music.

Each of these songs contained references to Goku and Dragon Ball pop culture, while at the same containing heavy rap culture references.

Some of them became popular hits.

In July, 2010 the rapper Soulja Boy (real name DeAndre Cortez Way) created a single titled “Goku.”

In “Goku,” Soulja Boy says, “Uhhhhhh, bitch, I look like Goku. Bitch, I look like Vegeta … Super Saiyan swagger. Bitches on my dick … Bitch I look like Gohan, smoking up that marijuana.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kgpbHdbZA0

Soulja Boy is a self professed anime fan. He released this alongside another single titled “Anime” where he apparently tried to say the word anime as many times as possible within the three minute constraint of the song, while dropping the names of different anime series to the beat amidst gunshot sound effects.

In September he provided a more on target follow up in tandem with Lil B titled “Super Saiyan,” with lyrics like “Super Saiyan Chain, Dragon Ball diamonds. Kamehameha, yep boy you know we shinin’. Gimme all your energy, yeah we ‘bout to power up. Super Saiyan swag so you know it ain’t no stoppin’ us. Goku on my wrist. Chi-Chi on my dick. I need Senzu beans cuz my swag super sick!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx772RKxAds

Many of the hardcore Dragon Ball fans laughed in dismay, while others suggested it might lead a new generation in an untapped section of society to watch the series.

In August, 2011, the rapper MarZ B, who actually goes by the pseudonym Black Goku, released a rap song in tandem with rapper Uriah, called appropriately enough,“Black Goku.”

The song is extremely graphic and profane, so I’ll exclude typing out the lyrics, but here is the video in case you want to hear it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3XGLVLWqo4

Rap is a style of music where the artist sings about their surrounding environment and what they are passionate about. From these rap songs you can see that Dragon Ball definitely had an effect on these young men.

Dropping The Equivalent Beat

There are African American equivalents of most every type of white superhero.

But the assimilation of an already established character founded on East Asian legends and created in Japan that is then transmogrified into an African American cultural equivalent is rare.

In the case of DaBlackGoku.com, the process whereby a sub-culture of a community brought together by racial commonalities redefines the already seemingly established cultural assumption of Goku’s race to that of African American can be likened to the racial recreation of Superman or Jesus.

Superman, Jesus and Goku have all been transformed into a black equivalent, as have other messianic figures.

The questions I wonder about are these.

Would Dragon Ball have become so popular with African American youth if FUNimation hadn’t made the edits they did, to appeal to this demographic?

And would these youth have rapped about Dragon Ball if Dragon Ball GT hadn’t been given the rap treatment and given national syndication?

We can see that Dragon Ball Z had already been accepted and assimilated between 1999 and 2003.

When Dragon Ball GT came out, it was then aimed directly at this demographic, where it became further accepted.

Perhaps it was a combination of the right product, with the right treatment, at the right time.

But Dragon Ball GT is generally considered a lesser product compared to DBZ, so that may not explain everything.

What do you think?

Were FUNimation’s edits necessary? Were they good or bad, overall? And how do you feel about Dragon Ball being turned into rap music?

UPDATE on May 16, 2012: See this related Black Goku Art Gallery for more pictures of Black Goku.

Resources

DaBlackGoku Internet Archive

Rules for DaBlackGoku contest

The Second Annual DaBlackGoku Contest Results

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

The Black Goku

DEREK: You stated that Dragon Ball Z is the greatest action anime of all time. Why do you feel that way?

MARCUS: Because, man! No fillers baby! They got straight to the point. The action!

They had one filler, and that was the Garlic Jr. Saga. Which wasn’t that bad! It was a nice little break, like 5 episodes, and then they got right back to Future Trunks and the Androids. They got right back on it.

And they had a little fun with Goku and Piccolo trying to learn how to drive, you know, that little bullshit, but for the most part Dragon Ball Z stayed the course, it always stayed focused on the action.

Fuck No you wouldn’t! Because Krillin and Yamcha are the fucking weakest ones, you don’t care about them. I mean, they’re great to be the gauge for the enemies strength, but if I had to watch The Adventures of Krillin and Yamcha, I really wouldn’t be watching it. I’m trying to skip that. It’s like that whole saga of Bleach, like, c’mon, really?

DEREK: Yeah, I haven’t watched the last 20 episodes of Naruto because it’s all been filler.

MARCUS: Right, right that’s what I’m saying! After Sasuke left, it was like 30 episodes of bullshit. There was like 5 episodes where something happened in the Sand Village where Gaara’s student got kidnapped. They should have just skipped all that shit and gone right to the kidnapping and then bam, go right into Naruto: Shippuden. It was just so much and I was getting tired of it.

And the other reason I was like, “Fuck Naruto,” is because I was buying these motherfuckers! I didn’t know about animefreak.tv and the torrent sites, I was buying them. I was like, “What the fuck?!” After all that. Spending $39.99 on this, and then all of a sudden, it’s like, “Okay, that was fucking pointless.” And that shit pisses me off. That’s money, dude.

DEREK: Yeah, the crappy filler episodes wasting your money.

MARCUS: See, that’s what I’m saying. You go right now and buy Dragon Ball Z Uncut Season 1 and you’ll be all, “Holy shit. I’ve got to buy Season 2. Holy shit. I’ve got to buy Season 3.” It doesn’t stop because it keeps you into it. It never loses your focus.

DEREK: Yeah, I absolutely agree. So as an expert martial artist, how would you describe the fighting styles in Dragon Ball Z?

MARCUS: Hmm. I would have to say it’s more traditional, but at the same time they utilize their own skill. Especially with Goku and Master Roshi. I didn’t have to do half the stuff Goku did because I didn’t start off with traditional martial arts. I started off in MMA and I focused a lot on boxing.

In boxing and MMA gyms you don’t have the whole respect culture that the traditional martial arts have. I felt I was adapting to it because I was partaking in Brazilian Jujitsu now, and to the Brazilians I was all like, “You won’t hit me once I figure out how to tie my fucking belt.” It took me like an hour, you know?

At the same time, while I didn’t like it, it taught me to respect the belt.

You know, in boxing there is no belt. You get better by beating this dudes ass. That’s how you get better at boxing. Same thing in MMA.

But traditional martial arts, they teach you how to respect the mat, how to respect the belt, respect your Gi.

DEREK: So there’s a different type of ethics to it, or a martial morality?

MARCUS: Yeah, like the Goku – Master Roshi experience, it’s more traditional. Even though he has surpassed his master, he still has a relationship with him. And Goku is so open minded, he’s like a mixed martial artist. After he learned what he could from Master Roshi, guess what, he went to King Kai after that.

DEREK: Actually, it was Karin, Mister Popo, Kami, and then King Kai.

MARCUS:

Like when he grabs Vegeta and then like, I just saw this on the Uncut, which pisses me off because Cartoon Network cut the Vegeta and Goku battle in half. They made it look like Vegeta barely lost to Goku. No, Vegeta got his ass whupped! If I had seen that in high school, it would have completely changed my whole perspective of Vegeta.

Haha. He utilized it because it was there, you know what I’m saying?

DEREK: Some fans I’ve spoken with have noticed a difference in the fighting styles of the original Dragon Ball and then Dragon Ball Z. It seems like the original one is very traditional Chinese, a little Japanese, fighting styles with deep stances, very Kung Fu.

MARCUS: Exactly. It changed though because of their ability to fly. Because you can’t do an iron horse stance in the air.

DEREK: How would you describe the changes in the characters fighting styles as the series continued?

MARCUS: They had to adapt because these are more powerful enemies. I mean, fuck, Freeza destroyed a planet with his finger. So of course he might not be as active as he should be. Especially with the aerial attacks, because in Dragon Ball Z they fought a lot in the air.

Like I said, you can’t do a traditional stance in the air. An iron horse stance, you’re drawing energy up from the ground, you plant yourself. Like when a boxer throws a punch, it’s all connected because he throws it from the hip. The power comes from the hip, which is drawn from his feet being turned when he pivots his foot on the ground.

Now when you’re fighting in the air, there’s no ground to touch. You have to use the forward momentum of your flight to make your punches harder.

DEREK: I never thought about that before. That’s a really good insight.

MARCUS: Yeah. You know I know my Dragon Ball Z!

I noticed it, the difference between the two. I liked every minute of the original, but it was different because they were fighting more on the ground, like humans.

But then in Z they’re fighting against aliens, and all these guys have flight abilities. It changes the whole scenario when a guy can fly.

Just like on Avatar, Nickelodeon’s Avatar. You remember how he defeated the blind girl, the earth bender? He flew. Then he wasn’t on the ground anymore and she didn’t know where that shit was coming from. That changes the game when you know how to fly.

DEREK: Absolutely. Good insight. So let me ask you, if you could have one of the supernormal abilities depicted in Dragon Ball, those really advanced techniques, which one would it be?

MARCUS: Which one would it be? You know what, mine wouldn’t be that advanced, because I would have the Saiyans ability to not age.

DEREK: Ohhhh.

MARCUS: Yeah, see, they maintain their youth as they fight. That’s just their race.

DEREK: Wow. Good wisdom. I did not expect that answer. I think it’s a great one.

Okay, I have a few questions that don’t really flow together, so I’ll just ask them.

Who do you think is the best fighter in Dragon Ball?

MARCUS: Are we talking hand to hand combat, ki blasts?

DEREK: I’m going to say over all, your subjective opinion of who’s the best.

MARCUS: It has to be Goku. Goku is constantly evolving. And guess what, [in GT] he got turned into a fucking kid. And now he has the knowledge of a 40 year old, in a 10 year old body. So guess what, when he grows up to be a 25 year old as a youth, he’ll have a completely different mentality. Could you imagine? Have you ever said, “Man, if I was 10 years younger and I had this mind, I’d do this!”

DEREK: You’re right. It would be a totally different perspective on life. A lot more experience and wisdom.

MARCUS: Exactly. And he was already constantly evolving as a fighter, as a grown man. Now that he has reverted back to a kid. I mean, at the beginning of GT, I’m just like Okay. But when he grows up again, he’s going to be even stronger. And at the end of GT the dragon balls absorb into him, so we don’t even know how powerful he is.

DEREK: Right. A lot of fans have wondered what that meant. And if they do another series, what that would be like.

MARCUS: Whatever happened to that Dragon Ball AF series? I was going crazy looking for it.

DEREK: Yeah, it’s actually not real. But there are fan made versions called Dragon Ball AF. There’s a really good comic by a guy named Toyble. It looks just like Akira Toriyama’s drawings, it’s really well done. That is essentially what happens after Dragon Ball GT. It’s good. I would recommend it. You can find it free online. But there is no new animated series.

Now there’s another rumor out there of a series called Dragon Ball Hoshi. And a lot of people are going frantic for that one. But that too isn’t real. It’s just like Dragon Ball AF.

So it’s like every 4 or 5 years another rumor starts, “Oh, another Dragon Ball series is coming out.” But there isn’t one. And unfortunately everybody wants it, but they don’t have it.

The only thing that is coming out, they got the new video games, and there’s another one coming out soon called Dragon Ball Online, which is like World of Warcraft meets Dragon Ball. You can make your own characters and play online. It’s a whole world.

MARCUS: Damn. Daaaaaaammn. I can’t play that. I would never train.

DEREK: I know. You can actually play it in Korean and Chinese right now. They don’t even have a Japanese or English version yet. That should be coming to the States within the next year or two, hopefully.

MARCUS: That’s going to change the game. The whole World of Warcraft, they don’t have a fucking chance after that.

DEREK: Haha. So, are you a fan of the English dub, or the Japanese sub?

MARCUS: I’m more of an English dub guy. But the thing is, with the English dub they cut out a lot of the dialogue. The only way you can get a true Dragon Ball experience is to watch the Japanese version. Because the uncut American version…

I’m more a fan of the English uncut versions, but the thing is, they take so fucking long to get out.

I’m starting to get over this, but I’m not going to lie, I hate the Japanese voice. [Does a high pitched scream]. Agghh! It ruins it for me! In the American version, we do a better job with the voices.

And the fucking music! I just remember the music when Gohan is doing the father-son Kamehameha against Cell and is walking forward. Dude, that music, it traps you into that moment. But when you hear the Japanese version, it’s like… cooky. It’s like, I don’t know, the song doesn’t fit that moment. The soundtrack that the American’s put into the English and the uncut, man it just really pulls you into that scene. It traps you.

DEREK: Yeah, still to this day there’s a huge debate between the American music and the Japanese music, and people are… It’s so divisive. There’s no middle ground! People take sides.

MARCUS: The music is so different. And I’ve got to admit, some things you can read, but it doesn’t get you as crunked as when you hear it.

For instance, when Imperfect Cell was fighting against Vegeta. You remember he was getting frustrated because Vegeta was beating his ass. “This is impossible. I’m Cell. I am the most powerful person in the world!” Vegeta’s like, “You are nothing.” Then he knocked him out.

DEREK: I would have to agree with you. Did you know that Blu-ray just came out? Dragon Ball Z on Blu-ray.

MARCUS: Yeah, man, but I’m going to stick with my DVD’s. I’m already at Season 3, and I’ll go ahead and buy 4 through 9, they’re uncut. And right now I’m getting my path on becoming a member of the UFC, so I don’t have money like that, for a fucking Blu-ray. So right now the DVD’s are tight.

And you know what, that goes to show you something. I love Dragon Ball so much I refuse to download off the internet. That is fucking love. Naruto? I’ll fucking download all them hoe’s. But Dragon Ball Z? No. No. I have to pay for them.

Also you know, when you go on porn sites, they have something where Dragon Ball characters are fucking Sailor Moon characters. I won’t even watch it. No. No. You’re messing up the integrity of Dragon Ball! I won’t even watch it.

DEREK: That’s an interesting segue. I want to ask you about some spirituality questions.

The Dao of Dragon Ball is a book that talks about Buddhism, Daoism and how it relates to the series. Dragon Ball is a Japanese creation and it’s related to Journey to the West and all these ancient cultures, the spiritual energy and all that stuff.

Do you feel, personally, that Dragon Ball has a spiritual aspect to it? And if you do, how would you describe it?

MARCUS: I never saw Dragon Ball as a spiritual outlet. I always believed in my God. I never really saw that in Dragon Ball.

And I saw that all that came from the inner workings of Goku, Vegeta and how Goku just wouldn’t stop. He had to. His love for his family was the reason he trained so hard. So he could protect them. I never saw the spiritual side of Dragon Ball.

Personally, I have a tattoo on my chest that says, “I can do all things through Christ, Jesus, that strengthens me.” Yeah. And that’s honestly how I feel about my spirituality as a fighter. A lot of people told me you can’t do this, you can’t do that. I was like, you know what, if I believe in Jesus I will. And guess what? I’m on the show. I’m the first person from Alabama to be on The Ultimate Fighter.

I hate to say this, but some of it’s true. Alabama just got boxing commission. It’s been a world renowned sport for centuries but why are we just now getting boxing commission? Where I’m from had a lot of drawbacks, but it had some good things to, like I’m a leading child, so I have a strong commitment to family, to my religion, all that stuff, I grew up in the church.

DEREK: Really? That’s a very profound statement.

MARCUS: Hm-hmm.

DEREK: You mentioned on one of your video blogs, that while everybody else on the show was raiding the fridge and having a barbeque, you were off in the corner reading your Bible. You are a Protestant, correct?

MARCUS: Yeah, Protestant. I’m Baptist, but Protestant, for some reason not Catholic. That’s why I have to put time into the military. Haha.

DEREK: Would you consider yourself to be a spiritual man? And if so, how does your spirituality interact with your life as a fighter?

MARCUS: It keeps me motivated. You think about where you come from, how did you get this far. I was so scared to move. I was so unhappy in my home state of Alabama. One day. This is the weirdest shit ever. One day I was driving and I felt really bad. I pulled over and was fucking crying. Really bad, like somebody just shot my dog or something. I can’t describe it. I think that was the Lord telling me it was time to go. “You’re not happy here. Time to go.”

I just graduated from college. I was 25 years old. I was in the military and had a job, it honestly wasn’t that bad, but I had to go. People were telling me that I needed to go to succeed at MMA, and there were other hints.

DEREK: Because you are so… Christ is in you to such a degree, but you’re not familiar with Eastern cultures, like energy, spirituality and all that. How do you explain the supernormal martial arts of Dragon Ball?

MARCUS:

That’s all they needed to advance. You saw that the harder they trained the better they got. When they went into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, that was the equivalent of a years’ worth of training in one day.

That’s how I understood that in order to be the best, you have to constantly train. And that’s what I saw in Dragon Ball, Goku was always training, Vegeta was always training. They were always training to be the best at all times. And training became an everyday regiment of their life.

That’s how I understood that I have to train, I have to push myself past that limit. I got to this point. Tomorrow I need to pass that point. I need to get to a new point. Everyday, life is about the regiment of training.

DEREK: Really? I agree. That reminds me of a saying, “How you live your days, is how you live your life.”

MARCUS: Hm-hmm.

DEREK: I think that is really true. And a person who is always training and improving is going to always be transcending their former self and rising upward. I think that’s a really great way to live your life, as long as you have balance.

So if training allows you to keep improving and rising up, the eventual endpoint of that might be some type of superhuman ability, it just goes beyond normal. Do you believe that human beings can fight like the characters in Dragon Ball, using those types of supernormal abilities?

MARCUS: To be honest with you, I don’t think humans will evolve to that point no time soon. But ain’t it a damn thing to try? To strive for that?

Just to strive to be that type of fighter, like Goku, it’s going to put you above everybody else. Goku is such a high standard, he’s such an elite athlete and fighter that you will surpass people as you try to catch him.

DEREK: Absolutely. That reminds me of another question. Another Dragon Ball fan in the community wanted me to ask this one. He wanted to know, how do you mentally prepare for a match?

MARCUS: Really, it’s a whole bunch of visualizations, like what am I going to do? A lot of that has to do with your corner. I’m getting my iPod, blasting rap music like Lil’Jon to get me amped, and then my coach in the background is saying,

You don’t understand how your corner gives you trust, love and respect and all these things. He believes in you, which fortifies your belief in yourself. That mental preparation is so important to me. Some people like to sit and meditate, but I need some amount of love, trust and somebody to tell me what I’m going to do to this man. That’s my mental stimulation.

“You going to throw a jab? What you gonna do? You gonna throw an uppercut, a cross, you gonna knee him, you gonna hit the ground, you gonna ground and pound, you gonna throw a triangle, you going to escape, you going to knee rise, then you gonna punch him in the face.” As he’s telling you this you’re visualizing it, and because he believes it, you believe it. You believe it even more because he said it.

DEREK: Yeah. Wow. It really gives me a feeling for what it must be like to be in that cage and to have somebody in front of you, it doesn’t matter who they are, you’re just going to go through them, and you are so confident and have that support. It’s a team and you’re doing it together. I think that’s really amazing.

It’s also very similar to the Dragon Ball spirit. It’s not like what Vegeta had going on. It’s not about being strong by yourself. You have to have other people that are with you and support you. That’s where strength comes from.

MARCUS: Yep. Exactly.

DEREK: What do you think of Vegeta when he let himself be possessed by Babidi to gain more power? And this is kind of a silly question, but would you ever let that happen to you, if it meant you could become the most successful fighter in MMA history?

MARCUS: Man, that is a tough question.

Vegeta sold his soul to the devil in order to get stronger than Goku. And that’s the thing about being lower than being the best. If you dangle that in front of somebody’s face for a long time, they’re going to cave. If you’re hungry and starving and I have this steak: “You want the steak? Well why don’t you just sign this contract and you can have as much as you want. And a glass of cold water.” It’s tempting. It depends on that person.

Now Goku never fought for himself, he always fought for his friends. Along with his friends, they’re like, “Nah we don’t need that.” But Vegeta always fought for himself, and to see somebody like Goku, who first of all, was supposed to be a low class Saiyan, surpass him. All of a sudden this elite Saiyan gets surpassed, works hard to get back up to Goku’s level, and then Goku surpasses him again.

And you have to remember, everything that Goku did, Vegeta did. Because Vegeta thought that if he had a family, he would be strong like Goku. But he had Trunks and Bulma, and nothing happened. “Why is he so much damn stronger than me?” It was pissing him off. And now he’s got this temptation: “You want to be stronger than him, sell me your soul.”

You don’t think [about the ramifications] like that, because you think that it’s all you want to be. “It’s all I want. I have one dream, to be the best and be better than him.” And someone offers you that… Would you take it? To be honest with you, we’re all human. We’re all human.

DEREK: Right. Do you see a corollary there between Vegeta’s choice… I see a corollary between Vegeta’s choice and the Temptation of Jesus in the desert, where it’s like, “I know you want this, here it is, I’ll give you whatever you want.” And Jesus says no, I didn’t come here for those things. And like Goku, he can’t be tempted because his heart is pure. But Vegeta can be tempted, and then he actually welcomes it. He tells Goku later, “I chose to let Babidi possess me to gain more power.” Do you see that as well?

MARCUS: Yeah, it’s just like that. And it shows just how strong God is, how strong Jesus was, because he was offered it and he said hell no.

DEREK: So that would never… we’re all human, like you said, but yeah, that’s a crazy scenario to be in where it’s like, there’s your dream, there’s your chance. That’s tough.

I have two more questions.

When you hear the title The Dao of Dragon Ball, what does this make you think the book will be about?

MARCUS: From what I read, it’s going to talk about everything. How Dragon Ball relates to real subjects, spiritualism, religions, training ethics, dreams, temptations. And how all of that that we go through in our daily lives is all reflected, the sentiments of that are in your Dragon Ball book.

And the way you just said how Vegeta was tempted, and how Jesus was tempted, that’s a great correlation. So I would like to see how if I read something about Dragon Ball, I can see how Goku was going through that, when this happened.

DEREK: So it’s really the relatable aspects of individual people and what makes them human, and how Dragon Ball helps you to see that and look within? Got it.

What made you excited to read this book when you found out about it? I tweeted you to let you know about it, and you wrote back saying that you wanted a copy. Why was that?

MARCUS: Because it’s Dragon Ball. I love anything Dragon Ball. I am so a fan. I love it. Anything that is Dragon Ball. I can’t describe it. Dragon Ball is the greatest. Hands down.

There’s a book that somebody is trying to relate our everyday lives and what we go through to a Dragon Ball saga? I’m like, “Okay I have to read this.” And then when you made that correlation, I’m like, wow, what the fuck else have you thought about?

DEREK: Haha. Yeah. I’ve been thinking about this… for a long time.

That was all my questions. Thank you! Is there anything else you’d like to express?

MARCUS: I just want to express my love for Dragon Ball. And I would also like to apologize to the Naruto fans out there. It’s not fuck Naruto. It’s fuck Naruto fillers! I just don’t like the fillers. Let’s get to the meat. Stay on focus with the task.

Naruto is actually a great action anime as well. But I just didn’t like the fillers, so just be to sure tell all your fans, I LOVE NARUTO, Naruto fans!

And Rock Lee is my favorite. I love Rock Lee. They don’t show him as much in Shipuuden. But Naruto is getting badder. And I can’t wait to see that final battle between him and Sasuke, because now he’s got the toad sage powers.

DEREK: Well okay. Do you have any questions for me?

MARCUS: Who is your favorite MMA fighter right now?

DEREK: MMA? I’ve been out of watching it for so long, honestly, I don’t even have one.

MARCUS: Well since you don’t have one, you can start with this person right here, Marcus Brimage! Get started with me. And you follow my career and I will follow your career. Hopefully we can make something happen. Maybe a real Dragon Ball movie. Although honestly I don’t think Dragon Ball should ever be made into a movie, because some things just can’t be done well.

DEREK: Yeah. Well if they ever do I hope that I get to be a part of it somehow, and make sure that it stays true to the series, because they just did not stay true to it at all, and that’s why it failed.

MARCUS: Exactly. I was like, why are people going to watch this? It looks fucking horrible. I boycotted that shit. I’m sorry. Please put that in your book, that I boycotted Dragon Ball Evolution.

DEREK: Haha. I will, I will. I might not name you specifically, but I will mention that.

Oh, I do actually have one last question. Do you have any inspiring words of wisdom for anybody like you who has seen Dragon Ball and has been so motivated that they want to become a fighter, but they don’t know how?

MARCUS: Tell those guys to believe in themselves and pray. Then go for it. That’s it.

DEREK: Very good advice. I guess it really is that simple too, if you can do that and make it.

This has been great. I really enjoyed this and you’ve given me so many great quotes, it’s going to be hard to choose. I feel like I’ve met a true fan of the series.

That’s one of the goals I had in writing this book. To meet other people… like me, really, so we can talk about it and enjoy one another’s company.

Dragon Ball is one of those things that brings people together no matter who they are, no matter how old they are, what race, financial background or anything, I think Dragon Ball can unite people. And I really enjoyed this. So thank you very much.

MARCUS: Thank you so much for thinking about me for the book. I greatly appreciate that.

DEREK: You’re welcome, and thank you for the interview!

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Marcus Brimage – DBZ and MMA Part 2

These fights have awed and inspired fans across the world. And there are some fans who become so inspired that they decide to pursue martial arts and make it their career.

I had the privilege of interviewing one of those inspired fans recently: Marcus Brimage, a Mixed Martial Artist who can currently be seen on Season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) on Spike TV.

Here is Marcus’ introduction interview on the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ3Y-bdcjFc

This caught my attention and I decided to reach out to Marcus on Twitter. He agreed to the interview and the results were amazing.

We ended up talking for over an hour!

How and why did Dragon Ball inspire him? As an expert martial artist, what is his opinion on the fighting styles of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z? How does spirituality play a role in his fighting? And did Dragon Ball influence his fighting style?

We also discussed his time growing up in Alabama and his desire for a greater life. His early experiences getting tough love from his MMA instructors. And the superiority of Dragon Ball over other action anime.

Not to mention another comment by Marcus for all of the Naruto fans out there!

*Warning that this interview contains occasional swear words.

*Warning that this interview contains violence and mixed martial arts content.

*Warning that this interview contains Dragon Ball spoilers because Marcus and I are super-fans and discuss the series in detail.

That’s right, kids!

So without further ado, here is The Dao of Dragon Ball’s interview with Marcus Brimage, a mixed martial artist and Dragon Ball fan!

Dragon Ball Z Inspires a Young Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vpK0wlIP1I

DEREK: Dragon Ball Z really inspired you to join MMA.

On The Ultimate Fighter, you said, “Quinton Jackson and Dragon Ball Z are the reason why I do mixed martial arts today. Dragon Ball Z is the greatest action anime of all time. All time. All these little kids talking ‘bout Naruto. Man, fuck Naruto. Dragon Ball Z.”

You said that on national TV. That was your introduction to the series, people didn’t know who you are and you’re mentioning that Dragon Ball Z and Quinton Jackson, another MMA fighter, are what inspired you. How exactly did Dragon Ball Z motivate you to pursue martial arts and join the MMA?

MARCUS: Just because of the power that the Saiyans emit. It was crazy. Goku is such a super nice guy, but he’s super powerful. Vegeta is a badass, you expect him to be powerful. But I was always a nice guy and like making people laugh, and to see someone that was good hearted and kind, and all of a sudden he’s this powerful fighter, it really made me think that, “Man, I can do that.”

And that’s how I like to fight, because I push my conditioning so hard, I want to fight just like that, whup your ass from bell to bell.

It inspired me because in Alabama we don’t really have any martial arts, except Taekwondo. I just never liked Taekwondo. We have a few boxing gyms, but I wanted to learn how to kick and knee and all this other stuff.

I was in Alabama and I just basically had all these ambitions because of Dragon Ball Z. I mean, dude, c’mon, you’ve seen it, the fights are unreal. One of my favorite fights is when 17 fought against Piccolo, and the way Piccolo was using the body blows. He was hitting him so hard that the fucking fist was coming through the back of his shirt.

I was like, “Oh my God!” I knew I had to watch this cartoon. It was off the chain. It motivated me. I felt that I really wanted to learn how to do that. How to fight like that.

But at the same time, I don’t have to be a super badass guy like Vegeta. Vegeta has this attitude that everyone likes, but it’s not one that many people really have. More people are more like Goku than Vegeta. Happy go lucky: “I just want to eat food and fight!” So I thought that was pretty cool.

DEREK: How old were you when you saw Dragon Ball and you felt this way.

MARCUS: When I saw Dragon Ball I was actually in the 4^th grade. It came on WNEM-68, and I don’t know what made me watch that cartoon, because it was about this kid with a tail, and all of a sudden this hot chick with blue hair comes over to find his Dragon Ball that he thought was his granddad.

I remember I watched it before every football game, before I had to leave the house for little league football, I would watch an episode. I don’t know why, because Dragon Ball wasn’t that action packed, but the story gravitated to me, and then come to find out that Goku killed his granddad because he stepped on him. When he was younger he told him, “Don’t look at the moon because the evil monster will come out,” and all of a sudden he looked at the moon and turned into the ape. So it had a very cool story line, but even though it wasn’t action packed, I’m not sure why I was so drawn to it.

Now when Dragon Ball Z came out, I was in 6^th grade, and it used to only come on each Saturday, before Cartoon Network picked it up, and they used to show two episodes… and I lost it. The first fight with Goku versus Piccolo and Raditz, man… the thing is, with Dragon Ball, it stopped right after the first season, after they made the wish for supreme underwear.

It stopped after that, so I saw Dragon Ball Z and was able to put it together that, “Hey that’s the little boy, okay he’s strong now.” Not that it was hard to put together.

It was fast, it was ferocious, but somehow it was controlled. It wasn’t like, “Boom, Crash.” It was fast, ferocious, precise. Precision. Every blow was a precise movement. There was no unneeded movement at all. Everything was with precision, and so fast.

DEREK: Yes, it was very efficient. So you were in the 6^th grade, playing football, and you were into athletics, was there a particular moment when you were watching Dragon Ball Z and you said to yourself, “I want to be a fighter.”

MARCUS:

Because I didn’t know how to fight. And like I said, because I’m from Alabama, we’re a football state. We just got boxing commission in 2008, and in my opinion that’s fucking pathetic. We utilize the Victorian Era boxing rules in professional boxing today. The Victorian Era, do you know when that was?

DEREK: Well, yeah, centuries ago.

MARCUS: Exactly! A long ass time ago! Why the hell are we just now getting a boxing commission in 2008? And that’s what my situation was. It was football, or die. It was football, or just be a regular person. There was no other outlet.

DEREK: Oh, I see. Very limited options with what you could do.

MARCUS: Yeah, you go two hours to Atlanta, they had Jujitsu, they had Muay Thai, they had boxing, they had other styles that I would have gravitated to if I had that outlet by me. I just didn’t. When I saw Dragon Ball I immediately wanted to learn how to fight. But it wasn’t until I saw Quinton Jackson that I said, “I want to be a fighter.”

DEREK: Oh, I get it. Did you see that on TV, the clip of Quinton Jackson?

MARCUS: No, my brother actually downloaded his highlight reel. And he showed me it, him knocking out, what was his name, Marona, when he hit him with a power bomb, and they showed him slamming Shakarama in Prague.

It gave me that same feeling I got when I watched Dragon Ball Z. I got that when I saw Quinton “Rampage” fight. That’s when I said, “I want to fucking fight.” You know what I’m saying?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxyvdpk3WDU

DEREK: This is a really life changing decision, to become a fighter. So it must have had a really powerful influence on you, those two things, that feeling.

MARCUS: Oh yeah, it really did. To be honest with you, my whole life I kind of just did whatever my parents told me to. In Alabama, everyone is marrying, everyone has kids, around the age of 23. If you’re 25 and don’t have kids and are not married, it’s like, what’s wrong with you? Yeah. I even asked my mom, “Mom, is this all life is about? You graduate from high school, you go to college, meet a girl, graduate from college, marry the girl, have kids and have a family?” And my mother was like, “Yeah, son, that’s about it.”

I didn’t want that. “I’m 26 years old, I’m married, and I got a child” … Why? Why would I want to do that? But that’s the mindset in Alabama. You don’t know how many people have been trying to twist my wrist to marry my girlfriend of 3 years. I’ve known her since high school. “When ya’ll getting married? When ya’ll getting married?” That’s just their mindset.

But Dragon Ball Z and that Quinton Jackson clip made me think that there has to be something more than getting a 9 to 5 job, getting married and having kids. It really made me believe that there had to be something more.

DEREK: I see. So it broadened your perspective and showed you something greater, and made you want a different type of life.

MARCUS: Yeah.

DEREK: Dragon Ball obviously had a huge influence on you. What did you do to go and pursue that dream? Because there were no other places to train, except for Taekwondo in your neighborhood.

MARCUS: I was saving up money to move to Atlanta. Because Atlanta had some cool Muay Thai places, and I wanted to learn Muay Thai so I could fight like Sagat from Street Fighter, but at a Dragon Ball Z pace. My Sergeant in my guard unit told me that he knew this guy that could check out my moves before I left. I was like, “I don’t get it.”

So he took me to this place in Clay, Alabama, and I’m telling you I was the only black person for say, 30 miles. I know you’ve heard the stereotypes about Alabama, the part I was in, kinda true. So that was kind of awkward, being in that kind of place. But that guy who I was introduced to was not doing MMA anymore. So he introduced me to my coach back in Alabama, Chris Collins. Ever since then I’ve been with Chris [at American Top Team].

I wanted to show him I wasn’t a punk, so my first day I told him, “I want to be a fighter.” My first day, I said, “I want to fight” He said, “Yeah, how about you take some classes and then see how it goes.” “Nah, fuck that. I want to fight.” Haha. Yeah, I said it just like that.

So the first day, he dropped me, three times. Yeah, body’s. “Boosh, Boosh,” he dropped me, and I got back up. “Boosh, Boosh,” he dropped me, and I got back up. “Boosh, Boosh,” he dropped me, and I got back up! That repeated three times. Then at the end of practice I was like, “That was off the chain man, see ya’ll tomorrow!” He was looking at me like, “Yeah, you’re not going to be back.” But I was so excited I actually beat him back to the next training session. He turned on the gym lights and I was there ready for him. Yeah. I was a 19 year old kid, and I asked to fight him again. He dropped me again, for a week straight, over 2 times each session.

DEREK: How were you guys fighting at that time? Was it in a ring, did you have gloves, equipment and everything?

MARCUS: We had boxing gloves, shin guards, the whole nine. But the thing was, back then I was full of heart. You know that line I use in The Ultimate Fighter, “I’m nobody’s punching bag.” I got that from him.

He was like, “Look, I see that you’re excited. The reason I keep knocking you out is because you’re trying to kill me, and I’m nobody’s punching bag. So now that I see that you’re serious about this, how about we calm down and I’ll start showing you some shit.” I said, “Okay! Let’s see it!” Haha.

I started as part of the game, like, I think it was part of my initiation process. Truth be told, in boxing gyms that’s how it is. People who come in there, when you spar, they put you against advanced guys so you can get your ass whupped, and the guys who don’t come back, well fuck you, we don’t want you coming back.

The guys who do come back, okay, he’s a little hard headed, give him another ass whupping.

If you tell me that you want to be a fighter, but you get your ass whupped and then don’t show back up, well fuck you, get the fuck outta here and stop playing. If you get your ass whupped and show up the next day, then okay! That’s when we’re ready to work with him.

DEREK: Sounds like you had a lot of endurance and a really youthful, optimistic spirit, to keep going and push forward.

MARCUS: Yeah.

DEREK: Are there any characters in Dragon Ball that you relate to or connect with?

MARCUS: Truthfully, I hate that I… like I said before, I’m more like Goku. I’m happy all the time, I like making people smile. All around nice guy. But truthfully I wish I was more like Vegeta.

DEREK: Why do you wish that?

MARCUS: Because Vegeta got the fucking attitude. There’s something that draws you to that. I don’t know what it is, because he’s not as powerful as Goku. It’s just his persona, his aura, the way he presents himself: “I’m the prince of all Saiyans!” I gravitate to it. I can’t even describe it. The only thing I can describe it as, is impressive.

DEREK: Okay, that makes sense. Having watched Dragon Ball for so long, has it in any way affected your style of fighting?

MARCUS: Yes, it has. Like I said before, the way they move is so action packed, so fast. If you go back and look at my fights on YouTube, you’ll see all my fights are action packed, I’m in their face the whole time, “Pow, Pow, Pow Pow!” I’m chasing them around the ring.

Dragon Ball Z is like, “Boom to the temple, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom Boom Boom Boom!” You know what I’m saying? They’re everywhere. And that’s how I fight.

The thing is, right now I’ve got to learn how to be more controlled with it, but they’re just so in your face. And you know what, that’s what the crowd likes too. The crowd likes people slugging it out, going all out, balls to the wall, everywhere. That’s the shit that gets people standing up on their feet. So that’s how Dragon Ball Z is, and that’s why I always push my cardio.

DEREK: Do you train like the Dragon Ball warriors? Do you do that with a really high intensity, extreme difficulty and push yourself super hard?

MARCUS: Yes, I do that! And that’s another problem with me because I push myself too hard. I’m always thinking my opponent is training harder than me. “Last week, that shit was easy. Hey, how about I jump this 4 foot box and then make it even higher next time?”

DEREK: That’s very cool. So, regarding your comment about Naruto…

DEREK: Haha. Okay, so I guess there’s a little bit of an apology to the Naruto fans, maybe. You actually are a fan?

MARCUS: Yes. Just let them know that it wasn’t fuck Naruto, it was fuck fillers.

DEREK: Okay. Got it. Got it. So you were really inspired by Dragon Ball. Do you think that Dragon Ball has inspired other martial artists, and do you know of anybody else that has been inspired by it?

MARCUS: One of my friends from the show, his name was Prince Albert, he told me that he felt the same way I did, but he didn’t want anybody else to know that. But you can’t be like that. You’ve got to let the world know, like I did. Fucking Dragon Ball Z. You know?

He told me he understood what I was saying because he felt the same way, but he wasn’t as open with it as I was. Because man, Dragon Ball Z, I’ll tell you, it’s the greatest action anime of all time.

You can’t touch Dragon Ball Z. All them other animes, they fight for second place, because first place is already got.

Dragon Ball is #1

Learn from Marcus how mixed martial arts are different from traditional martial arts, in Part 2 of the DBZ and MMA interview »

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Marcus Brimage – DBZ and MMA Part 1

In Japanese martial arts, the Kiai (気合) is commonly thought of as a loud yell that coincides with an attack. But it’s actually a method of breathing, and is so much more than a simple scream.

In Dragon Ball, the Kiai is taken to an extreme. While drawing upon ancient martial arts legends, Akira Toriyama gives a visual appearance to what used to be invisible. He also illustrates what the Kiai could be capable of when used by a supernormal martial artist.

Toriyama’s creation has inspired a lot of people to practice martial arts, and the Kiai is an integral aspect of eastern martial arts, so it’s important to understand.

From super powerful punches to shields of energy, let’s take a deeper look at the Kiai in Dragon Ball.

Understanding the Kiai

To have a better grasp of what the Kiai is in Dragon Ball, we first have to understand what a Kiai is in traditional eastern martial arts.

Different martial arts masters view the Kiai in different ways, and there are those that believe it is a simple exhalation of air, while others consider it a potent weapon in the martial artist’s arsenal.

Wendell E. Wilson of the Shuri-ryu dojo in Tucson, Arizona, wrote in his essay, ‘Kiai’, “The subject of the kiai is complex and profound, involving critical aspects of the body, the mind, and the spirit, having numerous uses and applications. In truth, no one masters or even understands a martial art without mastering the kiai. … ‘The yell’ is not a trivial, expendable, slightly silly bit of melodrama; rather, it is a core concept and an essential skill to be taken very seriously and to be practiced and refined at every opportunity.”

The character for Ki (気), known as Qi in Chinese, refers to the ‘breath,’ ‘air’ or ‘spiritual energy’ of life. The character for ai (合) is a combination of characters, the top part (亼) meaning “to gather or collect,” and the bottom part (口) meaning, “mouth.”

A literal translation of Kiai could be, “to gather Ki together in the mouth,” and with the given context of the martial arts, it could be translated as, “to gather Ki together and project through (or out of) the mouth.”

Despite this literal translation existing, Kiai is often stated as meaning “to harmonize,” in that you harmonize your energy with that of your opponent, whether to subdue them peacefully or manipulate and defeat them.

These characters are also found in the martial art Aikido (合気道), where the Ai and Ki are reversed in order. In Aikido, a Kiai is used to instill a peaceful harmony or subjugation of the opponent through a meeting of energies via movement. The compassionate philosophy of Aikido is actually a rarity in Japanese martial arts and a relatively new concept, so the traditional meaning is still relevant.

In a traditional sense, the uniting effect of the Kiai is found within the individual practitioner as he unites his mind and body with proper timing and execution.

At a higher level, a Kiai is a complete unification of time and space, spiritual energy and power, mental willpower and determination, compressed and directed at a single point. The body’s concentrated power is let out during the Kiai, which can precede, coincide, or follow the moment of impact, depending on the technique or style.

How the Kiai Works

Basic training for the Kiai involves breathing exercises, similar to the Pranayama practices of India. The practitioner breathes from the lower abdominal area, setting the Ki in motion.

The lower abdominal area of the body is referred to as the Hara (腹) in Japanese, and the Dan Tian (丹田) in Chinese martial arts. It is an important part of the human body, and the place where energy is developed and stored.

Practitioners also perform mind intent exercises to strengthen their will and direct their intent.

Once a sufficient amount of Ki had been built up in the practitioner’s body, they would then practice their yells in outdoor environments. Starting from the lower abdomen, below the belly button, the practitioner quickly expels their Ki and breath while directing it with their mind. An objective was to become louder than nearby oceans, or silence the animals of forests and mountains.

Others use silent Kiai’s during meditation as a concentrated expression of will. And the silent Kiai’s are considered the most difficult yet most powerful to use in battle.

That said, keep in mind there are different types of Kiai, and high volume is not a necessity. It is the proper application that is important. Remember that a Kiai is the unification of spirit and body through the mouth. The most important part is the unification. In battle, high level masters may only make a subtle noise, or none at all, yet the Kiai is still fully executed.

The Kiai can also be used defensively, to harden the body and protect internal organs. The sudden tension followed by immediate relaxation reduces the sensation of impact. Trained martial artists can survive falls from great heights, or otherwise deadly blows, by using such techniques with proper timing.

When performed, the sounds expressed can vary depending on whether it is an offensive or defensive technique. Sounds such as, “hah,” “ah,” “ey”, “ay-sah”, “hai”, “toh,” “yah”, “ohs”, “hup” and others can be heard. Both long and short exhalations exist, and can be done before a technique, during, or after. There is no actual meaning to the vocal expression.

Kiai Jutsu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIXZ4e8x9V0

Actually using and refining the Kiai as a weapon is known as Kiai Jutsu (気合術). Kiai Jutsu can be considered the art of attacking (or healing) through the voice.

This art was considered very esoteric and secretive, taught only to professional warriors or senior students. Through years of dedicated training a practitioner was said to be able to use their own voice as a weapon, like a lion’s roar.

In this form, Kiai-Jutsu was used to knock opponents unconscious or cause mortal harm, without touching the opponent physically. This was known as a “touchless weapon.” They could ring a bell from a distance, stop a punch or kick in mid-strike, knock people over, shock an opponent into paralysis, or even cause birds to fall from their perch. In Japanese, this technique was referred to as “Toate-no-Jutsu” (遠当ての術), meaning “the art of striking from a distance.”

The Kiai Jutsu practitioner would channel the energy from their lower abdomen, and from throughout their body, and out the mouth. The energy wave would be directed at a target via mind intent.

Today, Kiai Jutsu as a “touchless weapon” can be found in dojo’s, but is ridiculed as a scam martial art and highly criticized by skeptics as something promoted by charlatans. Practitioners of the techniques state in their defense that it is because the skeptics, when subject to the Kiai, are not sensitive to Ki, or that martial artists of other practices are not sensitive to the master’s particular energy. This means they do not respond like a normal martial artist would, such as collapsing unconscious, or being pushed and pulled around by the energy. Instead, they suffer long term harm to their organs on a subtle level.

Students who are sensitive to the master’s energy, or profess to be able to use the technique, describe it in various ways: A shockwave, a surge, a type of wind, intense heat, blurred vision and deafness, or an electric buzz. And Veteran martial artists in the United States, who practiced in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, have made claims to experiencing such things while in Japan.

But to the skeptics, the practice is debunked as nothing more than psychological manipulation of the master’s students. Or as Mister Satan from Dragon Ball Z would say, “Tricks.”

Therefore, whether or not Kiai Jutsu’s “touchless weapon” is real is subject to personal opinion or belief, hopefully based on experience, rather than conjecture.

There are no known surviving masters of the original art teaching publicly (if alive at all), and the complete style of techniques have been lost and become the source of legends. There are a few schools across the world that still teach Kiai Jutsu’s “touchless weapon,” but they are subject to ridicule by those who seek scientific evidence and proof.

Only the basic aspects of Kiai Jutsu remain in the eastern martial arts world as a whole, and are found in the majority of practices.

The Kiai is an integral part of proper training, and masters of an art have strong Kiai’s, but Kiai Jutsu as a “touchless weapon” is, generally speaking, no longer given credibility, except for those who profess to have experienced it.

There are however those who still teach Kiai Jutsu in tandem with the pressure point art known as Kyusho (急所). In this form it is for medical healing or reviving unconscious martial artists after pressure point manipulation and knockouts while training.

Kiai Jutsu in Dragon Ball

Here is where things get taken to the extreme. The Dragon Ball extreme!

The Kiai Jutsu technique is used by several characters in Dragon Ball, and it shows up in a lot of different ways, growing in magnitude and power as the series continues.

It’s never explicitly shown how the characters in Dragon Ball trained to use the Kiai as a supernormal projection of their Ki. Some of the characters have the ability while others either do not or never display it.

The characters use the Kiai’s in different ways, so let’s review some of them now.

For lack of specific terms, I provided generic terms for each of these technique categories.

Kiai Strike

The most common Kiai is that which accompanies a powerful strike. The proper timing of a Kiai strengthens their attack. This is a regular type of martial arts Kiai.

I can’t think of any of the warrior’s that don’t use this while fighting. One Kiai for just about every punch and kick.

Kiai Aura Blast

The Kiai Aura Blast is very similar to the “touchless weapon” technique. This is “the art of striking from a distance” exemplified.

Goku used the Kiai Aura Blast while fighting on Planet Namek against Jeice and Burter.

The two Ginyu Force members are attacking him simultaneously, one on his left, and the other on his right. Goku quickly enters a martial arts horse stance, crosses his arms, and then Kiai’s while extending both arms out to the side while looking forward.

The result is a gigantic invisible shockwave that sends both opponents flying away. Dust goes everywhere and Jeice and Burter try to recover in mid-air.

This appears to be an omnidirectional Kiai: A transparent aura blast that rapidly radiates outward. This is important to point out because other aura blasts in Dragon Ball have clearly observable Ki that emanates from the practitioner. The one Goku used did not.

Uub also showed this technique at the end of Dragon Ball Z. He was able to do this technique without any training, when Goku made him so furious with rage that he screamed in Goku’s direction.

Kiai Shield

There are a couple examples where we see the Kiai Shield.

The first is when Tenshinhan is fighting his revenge match against Tao Pai Pai, the Crane Hermit’s little brother, at the 23^rd Tenkaichi Budokai.

Tao Pai Pai fires his Super Dodonpa energy beam at Tenshinhan, who defiantly stands in place. Tenshinhan is so angry and disgusted with Tao Pai Pai’s lack of warrior ethics that he chooses to take the beam head on in an action that also represents the moment he surpassed his former instructor.

But instead of Tenshinhan blocking it with his hands or using some other technique, he Kiai’s.

After the dust clears, Tenshinhan is left standing in the ring, completely untouched and unmoved. He then rushes toward Tao Pai Pai and knocks him unconscious with a single blow.

Another time we see the Kiai shield is when Goku is fighting against Nappa during the Saiyan arc. Goku has just arrived to the battlefield, and Nappa attempts to blow him away. Goku stands in place, puffs out his chest while raising his arms up in the air, and Kiai’s.

Nappa’s blast is completely negated before it even touches Goku’s body.

Goku uses this same technique while fighting against Burter and Jeice on Planet Namek, where they are throwing multiple energy balls at him. He Kiai’s and surrounds himself with an invisible shield that blocks all of the projectiles.

And like the Kiai Strike, the Kiai Shield can be used repeatedly during a fight, such as when absorbing blows or suffering a great fall or impact. Martial artists in the real world frequently use a defensive Kiai when taking hits, so it’s highly likely that the Dragon Ball warriors do the same thing.

Kiai Energy Beam

In Dragon Ball, unless a Kiai technique has its own special name, this type of Kiai is generically referred to as a Mouth Blast. In Japanese, this would be Kuchi Kara KiKoHa (口から気功波), which can be translated as “Ki Skill Mouth Wave.”

This is the type of energy technique from the mouth that most people think of when it comes to DBZ.

Many of the “evil” characters in the series have this ability, such as Piccolo Daimao, Piccolo Daimao Jr., Dodoria, Nappa, Recoome, Cell, Majin Buu, Janemba, and the Oozaru that each Saiyan can transform into.

This technique involves collecting the energy of the body into the mouth and projecting it outward as a beam. There are different colored beams for each character, depending on their individual characteristics.

Because the beam is made of high energy matter, it often explodes on impact or penetrates through defenses.

According to western physics, light exhibits characteristics of both particles (rays) and waves. Most of these types of Kiai’s resemble light rays, or beams, rather than waves.

There is the also the unique case where Majin Buu and Gotenks are trapped in the Room of Spirit and Time inside Kami’s Lookout. They both Kiai with such power that it rips a hole through time and space, allowing them to escape their dimensional prison.

Kiai Energy Wave

Similar to the Kiai Energy Beam, the Kiai Energy Wave is a collection of energy projected out of the mouth. But this time it comes out as a destructive wave, instead of a beam.

Theoretically, the Ki mixes with breath and is then projected forward as a high energy material substance.

For example, in the Majin Buu arc, Babidi orders Majin Buu to destroy a city, and he does so with a Kiai Energy Wave. He takes a really huge inhale, and gives a super elongated exhale of pink Ki waves that is so visibly powerful that it levels the entire city, like the shockwave from a nuclear blast.

Recoome also uses the breath variant technique on Planet Namek fighting against Gohan.

These techniques are in many ways similar to Superman’s super breath. The difference is that because these waves are made of high energy matter, rather than air alone, they are far more destructive.

Alternate Kiai’s

There’s also a different type of Kiai Energy Wave where the character breathes fire.

Dabura does this in the Majin Buu arc. He inhales air and then breathes fire at his opponent, as if he were drawing it up from within his body.

And in Dragon Ball GT, when Goku transforms into the towering Golden Oozaru, he shoots red hot fire out of his mouth in a projected stream. This stream of fire is different than the regular Oozaru Kiai Energy Beam.

Lastly, in Dragon Ball Z Movie 13: Wrath of the Dragon, the giant monster Hildegarn uses a similar technique to project a huge stream of flame from its mouth.

Because of their giant nature, in the case of the Oozaru, Golden Oozaru, and Hildegarn, these types of streams can be likened to Godzilla’s radioactive breath, rather than a traditional Kiai. Toriyama was a fan of Godzilla movies and giant monsters as a child, and so it’s easy to see these same characteristics in the monster’s deadly breath.

Ancient and Modern Kiai’s

Can you now see the string that connects the Kiai’s of traditional Japanese martial arts to the Kiai’s in Dragon Ball?

Dragon Ball’s fighting styles and techniques are rooted in eastern martial arts, which are themselves rooted in religions and spirituality.

Some of this may appear unbelievable or unscientific, but to the warriors of the past, such abilities seemed very real, or at least possible.

Even today there are still some martial artists that take the Kiai and its more supernormal aspects to be real because of their own experiential evidence.

Dragon Ball takes these concepts and the possibilities of such powers to an extreme, and then uses them to weave an interesting tale of mighty warriors.

Why don’t the martial artists of today have such abilities?

Maybe it’s impossible.

Or maybe they aren’t training hard enough!

Increase Your Kiai Power

If you are interested in learning more about the Kiai, please see the resources below or conduct your own research.

Better yet, start taking a martial art and find out for yourself whether or not the Kiai is real.

If you decide to walk the path of a warrior, then perhaps this advice will help.

Wendell E. Wilson ended his ‘Kiai’ essay with the following recommendation. “Don’t be shy with your Kiai… it is nothing less than your source of power and your route to victory.”

Further Resources

1. http://mineralogicalrecord.com/wilson/karate.asp
2. http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19771
3. http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=158
4. http://rizsmartialartstraining.blogspot.com/2009/04/thoughts-on-ki.html
5. http://www.jigokudojo.org/toate.htm
6. http://www.shotokai.com/shotokaiforum/viewtopic.php?t=184
7. http://shotokai.com/ingles/gallery/tokitsu/itinerary2.html
8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIXZ4e8x9V0

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

The Kiai in Dragon Ball