Hang in There, Japan!
Goku says, "Good Luck!!"
The recent earthquake in Japan has caused a lot of grief and heartache. Akira Toriyama wrote a message to the Japanese people wishing them good luck in their recovery. He said:
Hang in there~!!
To all the victims,
This is truly awful, but please don’t give up,
and hang in there no matter what!
- Toriyama Akira
(Translation by Hujio, from Kanzentai.com)
The Weekly Shonen Jump Editors also wrote a message below Toriyama’s illustration, wishing everyone a speedy recovery.
In Toriyama’s illustration, Goku and Arale-Chan from Dr. Slump ride aboard the Kinto-un while a golden Immortal Dragon flies behind them and the 7 dragon balls follow our hero upward into the sky.
Goku’s cheerful appearance and the overall symbolism imply an optimistic rebirth and a long life; an eternally youthful state of perseverance and rising ever higher.
Japan, perhaps now more than ever, needs the dragon balls and a hero like Goku to save the day.
Update! (Mar 28, 2011)
Shueisha and Toriyama have collaborated along with other manga artists in a relief effort.
Shueisha released a video that allows people to contribute their “genki” to the genki-dama (spirit bomb) and send it to Japan. By watching the video Shueisha will donate a small amount of money to the affected areas.
Toriyama also drew some new art along this same theme, found on the Japanese Shonen Jump site, where it can be downloaded as a wallpaper.
The art contains a drawing of Goku holding the genki-dama above his head, and Mister Satan is cheering the world on, saying “Thank you everyone!! The genki-dama is getting bigger and bigger!!”
New Dragon Ball Book Cover
The new book cover
The theme for the book cover was to try and capture some of Goku’s personality in a simple and clean way. I borrowed the orange from the color of his dogi, the blue from his boots, belt and shirt, and the yellow from his Super Saiya-jin hair.
The logo consists of the orange star from Orange Star High School combined with a Daoist yin-yang in the colors already mentioned.
And I chose a simple but large font that was easy to read from far away as well as in the form of a tiny thumbnail, such as you might see on Amazon books.
The characters below the yin-yang are “Long Qiu Dao” (in Chinese) and translate as “Dragon Ball Dao,” or in other words, The Dao of Dragon Ball. This way it becomes clear at a glance that the book contains East Asian content, and perhaps that will fascinate someone long enough to open the book or read the back cover.
For comparisons sake, you can also check out another mockup I created for the cover in June of 2009.
Hammer of the Gods – Dragon Ball Martial Arts and the Double Axe Handle
Vegetto Smashes Majin Buu with a Double Axe Handle
In this Dragon Ball explorative essay we’re going to focus on the martial arts technique known as the double axe handle. This iconic technique is found throughout the Dragon Ball series and has both a rich history and symbolism.
Dragon Ball is a comic book and anime filled with fighting and all kinds of different martial arts styles. Yet many of them share similar techniques, and the double axe handle is one of the most identifiable.
These are the questions we will answer in this article:
- What is the double axe handle?
- What are its origins and history, and how does it relate to Dragon Ball?
- What are the histories of East Asian martial arts, Buddhism, and the Lightning Bolt Clasped Hands style of combat?
- How do eastern philosophies and this technique fit into the fights of DBZ?
- Why is the double axe handle used so often in Dragon Ball?
- Outside of Dragon Ball, where else can the double axe handle be seen?
Read on to find out! continue …
A List of 9 Personal Values I will Live By
SSJ4 Gohan
I recently started reading a book called The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time Management, by Hyrum Smith. So far it has been very engaging and informative.
I’m only on the 4th chapter, but I’ve already learned (or re-learned) some of the reasons why I procrastinate on my writing for the DBZ book, or any of my other various projects.
The essential point I’ve understood is that if I don’t prioritize my life according to my own intrinsic values, and live according to those values in everything I do, that I’ll never make progress on my projects or find satisfaction in my work. In a larger scope… I won’t find happiness in life. So determining what my core values are is really important. continue …
“I Do Not Know” and Ascension
Goku Smiles
How do you know what you know is the truth? Because you believe it to be.
Those who cannot enlighten to higher truths believe that the truth at their level is the highest, and they believe in all that they can see at their level and below them, with the presumption, based on observable information and incite, that their current level is the highest.
If you don’t believe that there may be a higher truth than the one you currently know then you will forever be positioned at that level.
Saying “I do not know” opens the door for potential improvement. continue …
Dragonball Book Review – The Dragonball Z Legend: The Quest Continues
The Dragon Ball Z Legend
The Dragon Ball Z Legend: The Quest Continues says right on the cover “An essential source for every anime fan”. To that, book cover, I say you are wrong. Entertaining perhaps, but certainly not essential, even for Dragonball nuts.
The books design is a series of Q & A. Fifty-Four (54) questions related to series’ trivia are posed and then answered in a couple of pages each. Unfortunately while the answers tend to be fairly on target, more hardcore fans will recognize numerous errors, and this gets frustrating after a while. Luckily the questions are varied and the answers are comical. continue …
Dragonball Book Review – Dragonball Z Extreme
Dragonball Z Extreme
Dragonball Z Extreme
Dragonball Z Extreme
This book is licensed by FUNimation, the American owners of the DBZ anime brand, so it’s filled with images of characters from the series. This really pulls you into the Dragon World and makes all of the activities feel very engaging. continue …
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