Dragon Ball Art – The Black Goku
The Black Goku’s back, my brotha! Get your pimp suit on, don your bling and puff up your golden afro, ’cause it’s time to hit the streets!
Dragon Ball Z was at its peak of popularity in the early 2000′s. At that time, Goku and the other characters of DBZ were assimilated into African American culture.
One of the results was a transformation of the characters into “black” versions of Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo and the other main characters.
There was a popular website that sprung up to specifically showcase this perspective of African American Dragon Ball fans. It was called DaBlackGoku.com.
The site ran from 1999 to 2003. It stopped being updated shortly afterward and then got lost to time.
Luckily I was able to find the site in the Internet Archive and download the pictures that were still accessible. I now have over 320 Black Goku pictures.
Then I went through a selection process, picked the best ones, color corrected and cropped them into today’s art gallery.
Since I had already showcased a few in the original The Black Goku article, they won’t be repeated.You can read more about the phenomenon there.
This gallery is different from the others in the Dragon Ball Art series. It’s not about displaying beautiful art. The idea is to show people how Goku and friends were assimilated by children and teenagers in the late 90′s and early 2000′s to become “black.”
A lot of the art is really unprofessional. Some of it’s a little better. None of it is exceptional. But the quality is irrelevant. It’s the message behind its creation that matters.
The fact that it EXISTS is worth sharing. You can’t find this anywhere else on the internet. That alone makes it valuable.
The sociological message behind it makes it even more fascinating. Try looking past the technical side and into the philosophical side. Why was this art created? Where did it come from? Who made it and why does it exist?
What you see here is a time capsule of Dragon Ball fandom. A thin slice of a sub culture within a sub culture.
Anime was on the rise but wouldn’t become “mainstream” until around 2004. Yet these fans took Dragon Ball to their hearts and produced something the world had never seen…
A Black Goku.
Gokuism – The Church of Goku
Dear friend, have you accepted Goku as your personal lord and savior? If not, then please listen to my Good News! The Church of Goku can help you increase your power level to Over 9,000 and follow in the sacred footsteps of lord Goku by training with King Kai, hallowed be thy name.
That’s right, there is now a Dragon Ball religion. It is called Gokuism, also known as The Church of Goku.
Gokuism is the belief that the principles of Dragon Ball provide a moral compass for one’s life, and that Goku is an ideal role model and moralistic person. By some definitions, it implies that Goku provides personal, global, and universal salvation, and that his death and resurrections were for our sake.
With so many religions already existing, why create this one based on Dragon Ball?
In today’s blog post you’ll learn where Gokuism came from, what its practitioners believe, and explore some thought provoking questions about this new faith.
continue …
The Black Goku
Have you ever asked yourself if Goku is black?
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.
continue …
Dragon Ball Book Review – Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga
Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga provides an easy to read summary of Toriyama’s life, career and success in Japan. It’s succinctly edited and well designed. While it doesn’t bring much new content to the table, it is the first book to be written about Akira Toriyama and does a good job at what it set out to do; chronologically revealing the life and career of Akira Toriyama.
Even after more than 30 years in the industry, and after creating the #1 selling shonen manga series of all time (at 300 million copies), there was until now no book about Akira Toriyama, one of the most influential manga authors in the world.
Written in French by author Olivier Richard, it’s clear that Richard gives respect to Toriyama and other shonen works, and that he understands the genre.
From the foreword, “In fact, as a best seller of the highest caliber, Dragon Ball falls into the same category as Star Wars, the cultural phenomenon. Like George Lucas’ space opera, Akira Toriyama’s manga has captivated millions of children, adolescents, and young adults who followed with almost religious fervor the adventures of Son Goku, the fascinating and charismatic hero of a true modern myth.”
Dragon Ball Director Praises Shen Yun
James Wong at Shen Yun
The Shen Yun performing arts company finished its encore tour in Los Angeles on July 11. James Wong, the director of Dragonball: Evolution was in the audience with his family and praised the Shen Yun show.
An article was written for The Epoch Times newspaper to convey his feelings.
From the article:
James said, “I think it’s incredible. The dancers are amazing, the synchronicity of the dances, the tradition, the traditional dances, along with the costumes, is fantastic. I’m really impressed.”
“His most recent film, Dragonball: Evolution (20th Century Fox) is based on the hit comic book and animated series Dragon Ball that finds its roots in traditional Chinese and Japanese culture, notably from Journey to the West, a Chinese classic. The triumphant climax of the epic Journey to the West is retold in Shen Yun as the final performance of the show. The Buddhist Monk Xuanzang and his faithful guardian, The Monkey King, make a glorious return to Tang Dynasty China where they distribute the Buddhist teachings to future generations.”
As a contributor to The Epoch Times I was asked to write this article because of its relationship with Dragon Ball. Shen Yun’s display of authentic traditional culture incorporates The Monkey King legend that inspired Akira Toriyama to create Dragon Ball. And I was happy to help with this unique synchronicity.
The full article: Hollywood Director Recommends Shen Yun: ‘It’s Spectacular’
The Lotus Position in Anime And Manga
Piccolo Meditates
The Full Lotus position is a seated cross legged position employed in meditation practices throughout the world. In anime and manga it is often depicted incorrectly. But so far nobody on the internet has seemed to notice.
The Full Lotus position has a rich cultural background, many purposes and benefits, and is sometimes depicted in anime and manga… Though rarely in the traditional way. This is especially true in the Shonen (Young Boys) genre, such as in Dragon Ball.
In Dragon Ball there are martial artists and individual styles of martial arts based cultivation practices. Some of the practices involve meditation. For example, there are scenes where Piccolo meditates in a cross legged position as he levitates above the ground using his own internal energy. Meditation is the primary way in which Piccolo increases his power level. In this practice he strengthens and refines his supernormal abilities. While Yamcha, Tenshinhan and Chaozu engaged in North Kaio’s special training methods during the Saiyan Saga, Piccolo only sat in meditation. Yet in this simple process he became more powerful than all of them.
But the seated position that Piccolo maintains is not the proper Full Lotus. Instead it is a general cross legged position, with one ankle loosely crossed in front of the other. He supposedly sits like this for hours at a time.
However, it is nearly impossible to sit like this for extended periods of time. The body is too tense and a practitioner cannot enter into tranquility. The Full Lotus is a remedy to this problem.
What is the Full Lotus?
What exactly is the Full Lotus position and what makes it different from a regular cross legged sit?
Dragon Ball Zee or Zed?
Dragon Ball Z. How is it pronounced? Perhaps you never asked yourself the question, but it turns out there are a few different ways to say it. All because of the Z.
For example, is it pronounced Dragon Ball Zee, Dragon Ball Zed or something else entirely? The title of the show represents a linguistic problem with various answers that depend on where you live and what language you speak.
Why does it matter? Because the show is an international phenomenon with no agreed upon standard for how to pronounce its name. And the differences stand as another example of diversity seen within the localized versions of the Dragon Ball series.
To really understand why this is the case we have to learn a little about languages and world history from within the Dragon Ball perspective.
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