Who is Boss Rabbit? Don’t remember him? Well that’s not surprising considering he’s only in a single issue and episode. But even if you do, I doubt you know his full story.

In this article you’ll learn about Boss Rabbit’s origins in Dragon Ball as well as his roots in Japanese, Chinese and Indian legends as the white rabbit of the moon. Yes, it goes that far back!

Boss Rabbit’s depiction in Dragon Ball is simple and comical, but Akira Toriyama manages to connect him to an ancient source at the very end.

You may have been confused by this reference since it was intended for a Japanese audience. Today you’ll finally learn what it’s all about.

Follow me as we dive into the rabbit hole and see how far down it goes.

Carrot Changing Rabbit Magic!

We’ll begin this topic by talking about Boss Rabbit’s one and only appearance in Dragon Ball.

Boss Rabbit premiered in Chapter 17 of the Dragon Ball manga, titled “Boss Rabbit’s Special Technique,” and episode 9 of the Dragon Ball anime, titled “Usagi Oyabun no Tokui Waza, うさぎオヤブンの得意技; English: Boss Rabbit’s Magic Touch,” on April 23, 1986.

His original name in Japanese is “usagi ninjin-ka” (兎人参化). This literally translates to “Rabbit Man Carrot Change,” or more accurately translated as “Rabbit who turns people into carrots.”

Since this is a hard term to translate, his name has appeared in different ways. In the Viz published manga he’s called “To, The Carrotter,” while in the FUNimation anime dub he’s called “Monster Carrot.” Fan translations have called him “The Carrotizer,” “The Carrotizer Bunny,” or simply “Boss Rabbit,” which I find the easiest to understand, even though it is not the most telling of his magic ability.

He’s called Boss Rabbit because he is the leader of the Rabbit Gang (Japanese: usagi dan, ウサギ団), a group of mobster-like criminals who have controlled a village near the Diablo Desert with fear. But it’s primarily because he’s a giant white rabbit that talks!

Why are the villagers so afraid of him? Because Boss Rabbit has the ability to turn people into carrots with his touch! He’s like the Greek legend of King Midas who turned objects into gold, but in this case, it’s into vegetables.

Only in this case it’s much worse, because after they’ve become a carrot he proceeds to EAT them. He does this because he’s evil, and he’s a rabbit, and evil rabbits eat carrot-people. That’s just what they do.

He has two gang members who walk around the town like they own the place. Bulma, Goku and Oolong happen to be in town. The two thugs see Bulma dressed in a rabbit costume (for altogether different reasons) and proceed to give Goku and the others a hard time, so Goku defends himself the only way he knows how.

The gang members retreat in pain and summon their boss to the scene.

Boss Rabbit drives up in a rabbit car, and gets out of the car wearing sun glasses.

The talking rabbit is walking on two feet and is wearing sun glasses traditional Chinese clothing with chaaracter (兎) on it. This character in Japanese is pronounced “usagi” (うさぎ) and means “rabbit.”

Toriyama often applies symbols to the characters’ clothing in Dragon Ball, and in many cases they have deeper meanings, but in this case it just means rabbit.

Boss Rabbit offers his hand to Bulma as a feigned act of kindness. She slaps it away in refusal. He starts laughing, and a moment later Bulma is magically turned into a carrot.

Goku is shocked. He fights against Boss Rabbit and uses the Nyoi-bo to make sure he doesn’t get touched.

Boss Rabbit is losing the fight so he holds the Bulma carrot hostage and says that if Goku fights back, he’ll eat her.

Goku has no choice but to endure the painful blows of Boss Carrot’s gang.

Seeing that Goku needs help, Yamcha and Puar (who were following our hero’s) steal the carrot away from Boss Rabbit, who is then defeated by Goku.

Goku forces Boss Rabbit to transform Bulma back into a person.

What happens next is straight out of a Japanese legend.

Boss Rabbit goes to the Moon

Goku ties up Boss Carrot and his defeated gang members. He then decides to take the gang as far away from the village as possible.

How, exactly?

By taking Nyoi-bo out, sticking it in the ground, and telling it to grow!

The magical staff that Goku carries (the Nyoi-bo) is based on the As You Wish Staff of Sun Wukong from Journey to the West (Chinese: Ruyi Jingu Bang, 如意金箍棒), and it has the power to change shape according to the users mind intent. The staff can become as small as a needle, or “As tall as Heaven.”

Sun Wukong (Son Goku) and the white Moon Rabbit (Jade Rabbit)

In this case, Goku grabs onto the tied up villains and rises into the air along with the staff. Higher, higher, and ever higher, until he reaches the moon!

There, Boss Rabbit and his two gang members endure punishment for their crimes, as they are seen pounding mochi cakes using a hammer.

Huh? What’s going on?

Okay, a couple things.

First, oddly enough, they can all breath in space, including Goku who brought them up there. This is because Akira Toriyama was more of a gag manga author at this time of his career, coming on the heels of Dr. Slump. He preferred to write more humorous story lines, interspersed with both traditional and pop culture, so even though they can breathe in space and it doesn’t make any sense, it’s funny and tells a better story.

But why are they pounding mochi cakes?

Quickly, in case you don’t know, mochi (餅) is a sweet rice cake in Japan eaten for dessert. In Korean it’s called Tteok (떡), and they’re made from glutinous rice flour. It can be cooked in different ways, including by being pounded with mallets inside a big pot.

The reason Goku took them to the moon is because Toriyama wrote his comic for a Japanese audience, and he was referencing an ancient Japanese legend, called The Rabbit on the Moon.

In western countries the craters on the moon are described as “The Man in the Moon,” as they look like a face. But in Japan, the craters are described as a rabbit standing above a mortar or pot, pounding into the pot with a hammer or pestle to make sweet rice cakes known as mochi.

As depicted here:

But how did a rabbit get on the moon?

Now that is a far more interesting tale.

The Rabbit on the Moon Legend

Like many aspects of Japanese culture, the Rabbit on the Moon legend comes from China. But as you’ll see, the Chinese legend goes even further back to ancient India and Buddhism.

All of the following legends show that our ancestors, no matter where they lived on earth, all looked up to the stars and moon in an attempt to find meaning.

Meaning for our lives and our place in the universe.

Let’s begin the telling of this legend in India, thousands of years ago, and then chronologically and geographically work our way toward modern Japan.

The Jataka White Rabbit

India is the most likely source of origin for the rabbit on the moon legend.

The Jataka, otherwise known as the “Previous Life Stories,” tell the tales of Buddha Shakyamuni’s 34 previous lives before being reborn as a human as Siddhartha Gautama and attaining enlightenment.

In story number 6, he is reborn as a white rabbit. Even though he’s an animal, this rabbit is so virtuous, beautiful, and good that the other animals treat him as a king and admire his wisdom. The three animals that became his closest students were an otter, jackal, and monkey.

One night, the rabbit instructed them that on the following evening there would be a full moon, and was a holy day (the Uposatha day of fasting), and that any beggars who needed aid should immediately be given food.

The rabbit realized later on that while his companions had a variety of ways to feed a human being, he had none. Only the bitter grass clippings that he ate each day. He immediately decided that if the opportunity arose, he would offer his own body as meat.

Hearing this thought, the god Shakra (aka Sakka, or Indra), the Lord of All Gods, decided to descend to earth and test the rabbit’s conviction. He appeared as a hungry beggar.

The otter brought fish. The jackal brought a lizard and a stolen pot of milk. The monkey brought mangoes.

But the rabbit had nothing to offer. So with the help of the other animals and the man he built a fire. As soon as the fire was blazing he jumped on top of it.

Shakra was greatly moved. He quickly reached into the fire, pulled out the unscathed rabbit and held it above his head, displaying him before all the gods in his mighty glory.

To honor the rabbits selfless sacrifice, Shakra placed the image of the rabbit on the top of his palace, and most importantly to this story, carved the rabbits image onto the moon.

This is where the “rabbit on the moon” idea comes from. The rabbit was engraved on the moon so that people across the world would forever have a symbol of piety, righteousness and sacrifice to look up to.

The rabbit had nothing to offer but himself, and this was the greatest gift of all.

Chang’e and the White Rabbit

The Buddhism of India was exported into China where it took root and assimilated with the existing culture. Many of the Buddhist legends became interwoven with existing Chinese beliefs and folk tales, such as those from Daoism.

One such Daoist story is about a young woman named Chang’e (嫦娥). She is the Moon Goddess and the Chinese equivalent of “The Man in the Moon.”

The quick version of the story is that Chang’e and her husband were both immortals. Through an altercation with the Jade Emperor, Lord of Heaven, they were banished down to the earth to live as mortals.

In an attempt to seek their immortality once again, her husband Houyi sought the way back and was fortunate to meet the Queen Mother of the West, a Daoist deity. Seeing his pious nature, The Queen Mother gave Houyi a magic pill of immortality, but warned him that they each only need to eat one half of the pill.

Unfortunately Chang’e was too curious and swallowed the entire pill herself. She rose upward into the sky as her husband looked onward, unable to do anything but cry. She kept rising up, and up, until she landed back on the moon.

Luckily she wasn’t alone! A “Jade Rabbit” lived there as well, and he had the job of constantly making immortality elixirs in his pot.

Throughout Chinese history the “moon rabbit,” as inherited from the Indian legend of Buddha Shakyamuni’s sacrifice, had been called many names, such as Jade Rabbit (玉兎) or Gold Rabbit (金兎). The Jade Rabbit refers to Daoism and immortality, while I believe the Gold Rabbit most likely refers to Buddhism and enlightenment. Here you can see the interwoven cultures.

The white rabbit (aka Jade Rabbit) is connected to the Dao because he was making an immortality elixir. Long life and eventual immortality was one of the goals of Daoist practitioners, who regarded Jade as the highest material substance (as personified by the Jade Emperor). They were known for collecting herbs or special ingredients and mixing them together in a pot in an attempt to create immortality pills.

This image is of an 18^th century Qing Emperor’s robe. The white rabbit is on the Emperor’s Robe because it was considered a Daoist symbol of long life. The Dragon represents the Emperor and “The Will of Heaven.”

The Chang’e legend was part of traditional folklore that became very popular in the Tang Dynasty (609 – 907 AD). On each Mid-Autumn day, the full moon of the 8^th lunar month, people throughout China set up altars and put their pastries and cakes on the altar to be blessed by Chang’e. When they eat the pastries and cakes, they become beautiful.

This is called the Moon Festival, Mooncake Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival, and there is an accompanying parade at night where people carry lanterns with rabbits on them.

In literary culture Chang’e is also found in Journey to the West, the inspiration for Dragon Ball. Here, she is banished from Heaven by the Jade Emperor just like Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie, but through the process of redemption is allowed to make her way back up to Heaven and eventually to the moon.

Likewise, the famous Tang Dynasty poet, Li Bai, wrote of this rabbit in his poem, “The Old Dust,” saying, “The rabbit in the moon pounds the medicine in vain.”

These Indian and Chinese legends became intermingled and were then passed on to Japan.

The Japanese White Rabbit

Japanese culture is a mix of imported Chinese, Korean and native beliefs with its own unique flavors and disciplines.

A version of the Jataka stories from India can be found in the Japanese anthology, Konjaku Monogatarishu (今昔物語集), a classic source of many Japanese legends and both Buddhist and Shinto culture, written between 794 and 1185, a time of great trade with China.

It is retold here as a children’s story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN9Y_pZ8P0A

Many of the legends in the Konjaku Monogatarishu feature animals that can think and talk like humans. They sometimes appear bipedal and anthromorphic, with morality and feelings, just like the animal characters in Dragon Ball, such as Boss Rabbit, Oolong and Puar.

In the Japanese version of the Chang’e story, when she makes it to the moon and sees the white rabbit, the rabbit is pounding rice in a mortar, not an elixir in a pot. The rabbit’s name is Tsukiyomi (月読), the same name as the moon god in Shinto and Japanese mythology.

This is because Tsukiyomi is said to have killed Ukemochi, the rice goddess. Tsukiyomi pounds rice in a pestle and mortar because he harvested the grains of rice from the moon and is turning them into cakes. The “mochi” desserts come from Ukemochi.

The same idea of a rabbit making mochi (instead of elixir) is found in the Korean version of the story, but I don’t know which one came first.

Today, just like in China and Korea, people in Japan celebrate the first day of autumn by eating mochi. The first day of Autumn is an equinox, and therefore a perfect “moon viewing day” in Japan. People look up at the moon and see the rabbit. The rabbit on the moon makes the mochi. Then they eat the mochi. Makes sense, right?

This was common folklore and culture that Japanese citizens grew up with, just like Easter in America. It’s a national holiday that is celebrated throughout the country.

For example, the Rabbit Song, or “Usagi,” as it’s known, is a children’s song that mentions the rabbit on the moon and the festival. This song is as common in Japan as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” is in the United States.

Here are the lyrics:

The song is sung by young children throughout Japan, including Dragon Ball’s target audience, and they’re all familiar with the legend.

Toriyama References Traditional Culture

Toriyama wrote his comic for young Japanese boys, and so he purposefully appealed to what they would be interested in during their youth. He took the legend of the rabbit on the moon and incorporated it into Dragon Ball.

This slice of Japanese culture is in the comic for seemingly no other reason than to be funny. And I’m not even sure why it takes up an entire episode and issue, as it isn’t integral to the story. It’s just something that happens along the way.

Japan only has a 2% Christian population, so there aren’t many people who celebrate Easter. The legend as depicted in Dragon Ball obviously has nothing to do with Easter, as I’ve thoroughly explained, but I thought it a fitting day to tell such a story to a primarily Western audience.

Toriyama fills in the blank of the Japanese version of the rabbit on the moon legend using Goku, Boss Rabbit and his Rabbit Gang. The rabbit made it up there because Goku took him up there!

He and his gang presumably would have stayed up there forever, but Master Roshi destroyed the moon with a Kamehameha while fighting against Goku during the 21^st Tenkaichi Budokai later in the series.

Oops.

Did they die, as would be logical?

No, because in the book “Dragon Ball: Adventure Special,” (published December 1, 1987), Akira Toriyama explained that “They’re drifting through space.”

Toriyama was probably trying to be nice by not killing them off. But to me, drifting through space for the rest of your life is even worse than death and going to the afterlife.

Oh well.

In conclusion, the point I’m trying to make is that the entire reference to all of this ancient culture is depicted in 1 panel, of 1 page, in 1 issue of a comic. Yet it speaks volumes if you know the full history of what is depicted.

And now you do.

So the next time you see Boss Rabbit you’ll remember all of the ancient culture and the thousands of years of history that made his creation possible.

Resources

White Rabbit on Emperor’s Robe

Japanese Wooden Rabbit Toy

Bunny Rabbit on the Moon

Jataka Stories

Moon Rabbit on Wikipedia

Chang’e on Wikipedia

Carrotizer Bunny on Dragon Ball Wikia

Japanese Children’s Story on YouTube

Jataka Stories 2

A French Article on Dragon Ball’s Moon

Li Bai’s Poetry

Prints of Japan – In Depth Article on Japanese Mythology

Chang-e Moon Goddess and White Rabbit

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Dragon Ball’s White Rabbit of the Moon

Have you heard of this before? The internet is abuzz.

In this Google Trends image you can see that searches for “dragon ball hoshi” became a noticeable trend in July, 2011. Searches rose sharply in August before taking a dip, and then increased dramatically in early November to December.

So what is it about? Is it even real?

Today you’ll learn what Dragon Ball Hoshi truly is and find out why it matters so much to Dragon Ball fans!

What is Dragon Ball Hoshi?

The official FUNimation forum has the first verifiable post discussing Dragon Ball Hoshi on June 10, 2011. It states that other forums had been discussing it for a while, and traces it back to a DeviantArt profile that has since been deactivated, named “Goku9.”

Here is the exact rumor often added to YouTube video descriptions.

“Akira Toriyama is to be making a new Dragon Ball series alongside mangaka Naho Ooishi, the creator of the 2008 Dragon Ball Z special, “Yo! Son Goku and Friends Return,” called Dragon Ball Hoshi. Ooishi will be making a manga that continues the Z Manga past the Buu saga. It will have a newly designed Super Saiyan 4, and even a Super Saiyan 5. Akira Toriyama will be assisting her and backing off. The events in Japan (earthquake, tsunami) slowed this down. Now Toriyama is taking care of that. Launch in 2012, 2013.”

Wow, a new Dragon Ball series?! Time to get excited!!

But wait, hold on. There are a few problems with this rumor.

The first is that it’s an outright lie in every single way!

It’s not mere speculation or even grapevine gossip originating from an official source. It’s a bold faced lie! None of it is true.

The second is that it would be illogical for Toei to announce “a newly designed Super Saiyan 4, and even a Super Saiyan 5” before it actually appears in a new series, as this would ruin the story, build up and development of the characters. They would lose viewership and profits.

The third is that you can be guaranteed that a new Toei produced Dragon Ball series would have an extremely specific launch date. Not some vague “in a year or two” like we’ve been hearing about the rumored Dragon Ball AF over the last 15 years.

There would also be an enormous marketing push, with press releases, media coverage, and so on. None of this has happened.

To state clearly, there have been no official announcements of any kind regarding Dragon Ball Hoshi or this rumor.

But that hasn’t stopped people from looking for Dragon Ball Hoshi news.

According to Google AdWords Keywords Tool, there were an average of 49,500 global monthly searches for “dragon ball hoshi” over the last 12 months and 18,100 for “new dragon ball series.” But because these numbers are an average, and the number has recently risen sharply, I believe the current numbers are higher.

In short, a lot of people are hearing the Dragon Ball Hoshi rumor and looking for news on the internet.

What are they finding and then sharing with others?

Let’s take a look.

Dragon Ball Heroes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7fHmw6pQUo

This is labeled “New Series Dragon Ball 2012 Hoshi *All Trailer* Original”

What is it really?

Dragon Ball Heroes, an arcade game in Japan where players insert collectible cards to perform moves or summon allies.

The game has had several big marketing pushes, each one accompanied by a short promotional video with newly animated scenes, like you see above.

Did you notice that the singer continuously repeats the jingle, “Dragon Ball Heroes,” as the videos play? This is because it’s the name of the game, Dragon Ball Heroes. NOT Dragon Ball Hoshi.

As you’ll find with most of these videos, they are missing the beginning and ending. This is done on purpose so that you don’t see the title cards and identify what the animation really belongs to.

The main character of Dragon Ball Heroes, named Hero, is the one you repeatedly see interacting with Goku. He’s a new character made specifically for this game.

Most of the videos you’ll see here are by the same small group of people, primarily the YouTube users “DragonBallHoshi1,” “SuperDragonBallAf2″ and “DBHoshi.” They may even be the same person, as the videos have the same descriptions.

They have created multiple videos with misleading titles, all aimed at building up hype and confusing viewers.

Sometimes if you try to comment on their videos to tell people the truth, the comment has to be approved first, and it never will be. Only the “I’m so excited” and “Dragon Ball Hoshi looks awesome!” type of comments are approved. Or comments are disabled outright.

This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi.

Dragon Ball Online

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph9ZY2C5E3Q

This video is labeled “Dragon Ball Hoshi New Series 2013 Original.” It has 1.4 million views.

And you know what it really is? It’s the intro to Dragon Ball Online, the new MMO currently being played in Korea and Taiwan.

Dragon Ball Online is an official video game that continues the canon Dragon Ball story. It takes place after the end of the original Dragon Ball manga (DBZ anime), and completely ignores Dragon Ball GT.

Akira Toriyama is involved in its production. He spent over 5 years working on the character and world designs.

The game is massively multiplayer and allows you to select from several races and classes from within the Dragon World, including some new ones, and then train them to have different skills. You take your character and go on adventures, team up with others, make friends, and chase after the dragon balls.

An English release has not been announced, but there are English modifications that allow you to play the Korean version.

This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi

Yo! Son Goku and Friends Return

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu1oMJ6LrIw

This video is labeled “New Series Dragon Ball Hoshi 2012.”

It’s actually “Yo! Son Goku and Friends Return,” an animated special from 2008 in Japan. It tells a short story about Goku and his friends battling against a new bad guy and introduces Vegeta’s long lost younger brother, Tarble.

This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi.

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AplTH454H7c

Here’s one called “New Series Dragon Ball 2012 (Dragon Ball Hoshi) Real Full HD).” It has 2.8 million views.

What is it?

It’s the opening for Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi [aff] in slow motion, because apparently that makes it better.

The two characters fighting Goku are personifications of the types of characters you can create in the Hero character customization mode.

This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi.

The Episode of Bardock

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

This video is titled “New Series Dragon Ball Hoshi Episodes 1 Real Full HD 1080p.” It has 214,000 views.

But what is it really?

The Episode of Bardock.

A single animated episode based on the 3 chapter manga created by Naho Ooishi, that tells an alternative story of what happened to Bardock after Freeza killed him and all the other Saiyans.

Instead of dying, Bardock goes back in time and faces off against Chilled, Freeza’s predecessor. In the process, he becomes a Super Saiyan.

The manga had appeared in V-Jump, Shueisha’s Video Game magazine, between August to October, 2011.

Why a video game magazine? Because Bardock was going to be transformed into a Super Saiyan for the very first time in the new update of Dragon Ball Heroes, the arcade game mentioned above.

As you can see in this image, Bardock, Chilled, Freeza and King Cold are positioned next to the Dragon Ball Heroes arcade unit.

The Episode of Bardock premiered in Japan during the Jump Festa event from December 18 to 19, 2011. It then streamed live on Bandai’s website for another week.

These guys on YouTube recorded the stream, added subtitles, and then labeled it Dragon Ball Hoshi.

This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi.

The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans

Want the official version of The Episode of Bardock? It was distributed on a disc as a bonus in the March 2012 issue of Monthly Saikyo Jump, published by Shueisha.

Also included on the disc is the recently re-animated film, The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans. This is a special film that originally appeared as animated clips on a Dragon Ball video game for the Playdia console in Japan in 1993, called Zetsumetsu Keikaku (Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans).

The scenes were reanimated as a bonus for Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2 [aff] on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, and this is the first time it has been published outside of the game.

This film was also streamed online, on Sheuisha’s Official V-Jump Website. But it’s region blocked for those in other countries.

Naturally, The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans is also passed off as Dragon Ball Hoshi, as you can see in this clip where they overlaid all the sound with Dragon Ball Heroes music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cqm6cPZPCE

This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi.

Dragon Ball SD

The first issue of Monthly Saikyo Jump was also the premiere of a new, official, Dragon Ball manga, called Dragon Ball SD.

This one is actually real!

The manga is done by Naho Ooishi, with supervision by Akira Toriyama. The series retells key moments of the Dragon Ball series in a SD (Super Deformed) style, where the characters are shrunk down and cute. It’s made to appeal to little kids.

Saikyo Jump was released as a quarterly magazine for 1 whole year before it turned monthly on December 3, 2011. The Dragon Ball SD manga therefore had 4 chapters. The story retold Goku’s training with Kame Sennin, his fight against Freeza, against Cell, and against Majin Buu.

Now that it has appeared monthly, it has returned to the beginning of Dragon Ball and is retelling the story in a cute style.

It’s unknown how many issues are planned.

Luckily nobody is trying to pass this off as Dragon Ball Hoshi because it’s a manga. But just to make it clear…

This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi.

Dragon Ball SSSS

In early January, Bandai announced a new project called SSSS, which stands for Saikyou Super Saiyan Secret.

This is a collaborative project with Toei to do cross promotional Dragon Ball video games and animation. The streaming of Episode of Bardock was the first result, and they are working on new video game titles.

Since it’s a secret, very little else is known.

There are already videos out there being titled SSSS that consist of other content. So don’t be fooled in the future when you see more.

This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi.

Why does Dragon Ball Hoshi Matter?

By now it should be obvious that Dragon Ball Hoshi is none of the things you’ve seen above.

So I’m sure you’re dying to know, what IS Dragon Ball Hoshi?

The truth is that there is no such thing as Dragon Ball Hoshi. It was a lie from the beginning!

That’s right, the cake is a lie!

Dragon Ball Hoshi merely consists of recycled clips from other Dragon Ball properties. That’s why most of them are so shallow and there are never any title screens.

It’s not even a fan made creation like Dragon Ball AF, where people have created new characters, illustrations, manga, action figures, original videos, and even video game modifications.

Nor is Hoshi like the other fan creations, Dragon Ball AE, Ultimate Z , V, SF, X, Absalon, Neo, or H, that contain stories or illustrations.

Dragon Ball Hoshi is nothing. It is an empty name devoid of substance.

Dragon Ball Hoshi only matters because it exists so prevalently.

Put an End to Wild Rumors

Even with Dragon Ball Hoshi clearly explained, you may still wonder, “Why then is there all this content on the internet labeled as Dragon Ball Hoshi, and so many people talking about it?”

I would ask, “How can something so fake still fool so many people?”

Is it because of the animation quality? Because of the crafty editing and withholding of valuable information? Because of the deceptive lies?

Sure, these contribute. But the real reason is because Dragon Ball fans inherently WANT to believe that there will be a new Dragon Ball series.

Deep in their hearts they seek to relive the same experiences from the first time through Dragon Ball, and they want to reconnect with their favorite characters. Everybody wants a new Dragon Ball series!

Dragon Ball is still relevant to its fans, and the new releases of films, video games, and re-animated works like Dragon Ball Kai continue to excite their interests without fully satiating them.

Unfortunately, just like those who promulgate Dragon Ball AF as the next official series, these YouTube guys are con-artists and attention seekers. They either want you to click on whatever they are advertising, or watch their videos and be fooled into believing it so they can get a laugh.

Or they’re just plain dumb and honestly don’t know what they’re doing.

Just look at this conversation on the unofficial Dragon Ball Hoshi Facebook page, which has 3,858 likes.

Mason says, “They are making a new dbz series.” Robin replies, “Mason, they are not..” and the owner of the page says, “if dragon ball hoshi was fake than why did they make it. Common sence if i was fake i wouldn’t of putting this page in the first place. Duhhhh.”

Yeah. I rest my case.

The same thing happened with AF between 1999 and today.

To point, the Dragon Ball Hoshi rumor is so prevalent because once a rumor is started on the internet, it’s hard to kill.

Spreading rumors and gossip is wrong in the first place, and knowledge of truth is the remedy. So now that you know, please stop believing and telling others about it.

There is no value to Dragon Ball Hoshi’s existence.

Unless a new Dragon Ball series is finally made, the rumors may never die. But let’s try to end them, shall we?

When official news comes down the pipeline you’ll be sure to see it across the web on legitimate news sources. There’s no need to make up stories.

Remember, all you have to do the next time you see something labeled as Dragon Ball Hoshi, is close your eyes, tap your heels together three times, and think to yourself…

“This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi. This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi. This is not Dragon Ball Hoshi.”

Then you’ll be whisked away by Kinto’un and magically wake up from this illusory dream.

Resources

The Truth About Dragonball Hoshi

Dragon Ball Hoshi New Series 2012 (New Character)

New Series Dragon Ball Hoshi 2012

Daizex.com forum post on “New Dragon Ball Series

Saikyo Jump Official Website

Kanzentai.com article on Dragon Ball SD

FUNimation forum post about Dragon Ball Hoshi rumor

Dragon Ball Hoshi Facebook Page

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Dragon Ball Hoshi Explained

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

In Part 1 Olivier and I discussed the French comic scene, his career of broadcasting Dragon Ball in France, and his personal comic book interests.

Today you’ll discover why Olivier chose to write about Akira Toriyama, hear what it’s like to collaborate with Shueisha, learn how he conducted interviews in Japan, and understand why Akira Toriyama truly is a master of manga!

Will there be an English translation? Does Olivier have insights into Toriyama’s personality? Read the rest of our discussion to find out!

Why Write About Akira Toriyama?

DEREK: Why out of all the shonen manga authors did you choose to write about Akira Toriyama? Are you a fan of Toriyama’s work, or do you just find him to be a fascinating figure?

OLIVIER: I chose to write about Toriyama because I have been following his work for more than 20 years, and I think he is one of the most interesting mangaka, because he’s very popular, because I also like his work, and because I think he produced something very interesting.

This is because Toriyama’s manga is very Japanese, but he is inspired by western movies and comic books. So in the end you have something that is very unique.

Toriyama belongs to the shonen genre. He’s one of the main founders of the shonen genre. But he’s beyond that. So I thought he was very interesting.

And the other reason was that I was looking for information about his latest works, and it’s difficult to find good information. You have to go on the internet. Some blogs are good, others are not. So I said to myself, “Okay, I’m going to see if there’s a book about him. After all, the man has sold around 250 million books.”

And I found there was no book. I was surprised. I decided to write a book about Toriyama so that people who are looking for information will have all of it compiled in one book, so it will be easier for them [laughter].

DEREK: Absolutely. Why do you think that despite his enormous success, nobody had written a book about Toriyama? Why did it take such a long time for him to be recognized in such a way?

OLIVIER: Before mine there were two Japanese books. Akira Toriyama: The World, the art book, published in 1990, and the exhibition catalog.

But I think so far no [biographical] books have been published because Shueisha, the publisher, is very careful, and they don’t want material to go out without approval. And people are afraid to ask for permission.

Collaborating with Shueisha and Toei

OLIVIER: Since I had worked with Toei and purchased Dragon Ball and One Piece, and also worked with people who published Japanese manga, I was aware of the way they think. They want you to behave. So I sent a request for materials and interviews.

But they did say okay you can publish some pictures. So later I sent a letter explaining what I wanted to do, why I wanted to write about him, and what the content would contain, the summary. Also a sum up of what I was going to say about Toriyama. I sent my request and waited for a long time before getting the approval to publish the pictures.

All of this before I knew it was possible to do the book. That’s how it happened.

DEREK: So you didn’t start writing until you received approval from Toei and Shueisha?

OLIVIER: No, no. I had already written the detailed summary, and I knew what I was going to write because I had followed his work for 20 years. I had detailed the contents. And I had traveled to China and taken pictures of Sun Wukong. I had almost everything I needed to do the book. But I chose to wait for approval, because it would have been terrible if I would have written a book and wouldn’t have been able to publish it.

DEREK: Yeah, definitely. Were you living in France when you wrote the book, or did you go to Japan as well?

OLIVIER: I was living in France, but I also went to Japan to interview people. Most of the people I interviewed were in Japan. The only Japanese person I met with in France was Shiro Sagisu, because he sometimes lives in Paris.

DEREK: Right, in the back of the book you have interviews with a lot of notable people in the industry. How did you choose these people to interview?

OLIVIER: First, I asked Toei for three people, but two of them were unavailable. The one I have is the only one who was available during my visit to Japan. The idea was to interview as many people in touch with Toriyama as possible.

For journalists, I wanted it to be three or four people. I work with a French publisher who has a correspondent in Tokyo, working in the manga business for almost 30 years. I told them I needed to get in touch with people who worked with Toriyama, so they suggested that I meet these people. For example, Mister Oshiguchi from Manga No Mori, I visited his book store in Shinjuku.

For the outsider professionals, it’s because I sent requests to their companies. Most people were unavailable or didn’t want to speak, you know? But I asked. It’s a request. You ask for 10 people and you never get 10 people, but even if you only have 3 or 4, it’s good because they are there.

DEREK: Do you speak Japanese, or did you need a translator for the interviews?

OLIVIER: I needed a translator. I’m only able to say survival phrases in Japanese, like, “A Japanese beer, please!”

DEREK: While we’re on the subject of publishing, did you have to get the final version approved by Shueisha, and if so, did they change anything in your book before it was published?

No, they were very open minded. Because I sent a precise list of contents they didn’t ask for the definitive version. I know sometimes they ask for the final.

Toei asked to see the book, so I went to Toei in Paris because they wanted to check the copyright. But it was okay. Usually, if you know you’ll have to see people, it’s okay.

Of course if you expect the process to be at your pace it could be frustrating. If you know the Japanese, you have to be patient, because that’s where they work, and then everything will go smoothly.

The Master of Manga?

DEREK: So let me ask you, where did the title The Master of Manga originate?

OLIVIER: Oh, the title? Because the Shueisha people, when they speak of Toriyama, they say Toriyama-sensei. And sensei means master, so I thought, okay, Master of Manga. I thought it was a good title because it is what he’s called by his colleagues.

DEREK: Ah, I see. What are your thoughts on him being a real master? After your book came out, some English speaking fans have now questioned whether Toriyama can really be considered a “master,” given his tendency to make things up as he goes along, forgetting about his characters and so on.

OLIVIER: Yeah, of course I understand their point of view, but to me he is a true master. The first master is Osamu Tezuka, but Toriyama is a master because his work is very huge and very good.

DEREK: When I first heard about your book and went on the internet to find more information, I saw the title said “Akira Toriyama: The Living God of Manga.” Are you familiar with that? Was that an alternative title or something else?

OLIVIER: Yes, I’m familiar with it. It was the working title. Obviously it wasn’t supposed to be released, [laughter], but it was, so, okay.

DEREK: I saw a picture of it, the book cover.

OLIVIER: Yeah, because the first cover we made bore this title, and it was given to commercials, you know, who are going to see it in libraries before the book is released, to explain to bookstores how beneficial it would be for them to take the book, and so we made this cover for them, and unfortunately this cover went out on the internet. It’s not a big problem, of course.

You could say it was the first title, but it was only a working title.

DEREK: Okay, so you changed it to match more of the Japanese respect for Toriyama. You changed it from Living God to Master, is that the idea?

OLIVIER: Yeah, I changed it because when they asked me for a title during the meeting for the commercials, we didn’t have one.

DEREK: I see. I understand now.

Making the Book

DEREK: So, what was the book making process like? How long did it take you to write the book, and were there any difficulties you had to overcome?

OLIVIER: I started to work on it in late 2009, and it was released in early November, 2011. In the mean time I worked on other projects. So it’s difficult to say if it was 6 months or 1 year. Of course by the end I was only working on this, to write and check the pictures with the publisher. It was quite a long process. And you don’t only work half-time on it.

The difficulty is always the same for a book, no matter the topic… you have to wait for people to reply to you. So you wait and you are hoping they say yes, and sometimes you can’t work until you have their answers. That’s the most difficult part of the job for me.

DEREK: There are a lot of American fans who would love to read your book, but they don’t speak French. Do you have any plans for translations of your book, perhaps into English? And if so, when can they be expected?

OLIVIER:

DEREK: Oh, no way, really?

OLIVIER: Yeah, really. Of course we asked for the authorization for the book to be published outside the French speaking market, but right now it’s not possible. Maybe later. But for now, you have to tell your American fans to learn French. [laughter]

DEREK: Okay, well they’re going to be disappointed to hear that, but French is a good language to learn, so maybe this will inspire them to do so.

OLIVIER: I hope! [laughter]

Insights into Toriyama

DEREK: If you were to write a second edition of the book, what would you like to include?

OLIVIER: A Toriyama interview.

DEREK: If you could interview Toriyama, what would you ask him?

OLIVIER: Oh, many things, many questions. Because he is such a shy man, and he almost never speaks, you have too many questions. The list would be too long. Many things about the way he did what he did.

As many as you would have, I guess. I’m sure you would have lots of questions to ask him. Same with me.

DEREK: Well if you were to have coffee with him, and had maybe 10 minutes, what would be your most important question?

OLIVIER:

And if I had to ask him about the past… boy, I would have so many questions, I don’t know. Sorry.

DEREK: No, I completely understand. I would have a hard time coming up with some questions as well.

You mentioned that Toriyama is known as being shy and reclusive. Why do you think that is?

And during your research were you able to find any insights into Toriyama’s private life or information that is not publicly available or that fans might be curious to know about?

OLIVIER: No, because I put everything into the book.

Of course I would be glad to ask him if he gets drinks once a week with his publishers, or whatever. But I think he wouldn’t want to say. It’s not his character.

DEREK: He has been enormously successful though. People have compared Toriyama’s success in manga with Steven Spielberg’s success in directing.

Do you know how well Toriyama has done financially? Some fans are curious to know if he received the same wealth that his publishers did for all of his hard work.

OLIVIER: I don’t have any figures, but I think he’s okay. [laughter]. Because you see, he owns the copyrights of the series.

DEREK: It’s not owned by Shueisha?

OLIVIER: As far as I know, it seems both Toriyama (or Bird Studios) and Shueisha own the copyrights. because when you look in the books it says, “copyright Bird Studios,” and “copyright Toriyama,” not just “copyright Shueisha.”

It’s not like the old Marvel comics or DC comics. For example, the artists or writers, for a long time, completely sold their works to the companies. When the company made a movie, they usually didn’t get money. Now in the last 15 or 10 years, it has changed.

But the Japanese artists, they usually kept their rights. This was not the case for most of the Americans.

DEREK: Yeah, I bet he’s doing okay. [laughter]

Toriyama’s Influence Today

DEREK: How would you describe Akira Toriyama’s influence on the world?

OLIVIER: I think it’s overwhelming. Thanks to him, many kids in America or Europe, opened up to Japanese and Asian culture.

In France, when the animated series was broadcast for the first time, there were only 5 or 6 TV stations, and only 3 broadcast programs for kids and teenagers.

DEREK: What time period was that?

OLIVIER: Between 1990 to 1996.

DEREK: So you guys got it before we did?

OLIVIER: Yeah, yeah, of course, yeah. The big question in the 90’s, the big thing… Dragon Ball Z was very huge in Europe, Italy and Spain… Everybody is aware of the American market, it’s very difficult to enter.

Because usually, at the time you didn’t get many anime series, and some of them which worked well in Europe, like Saint Seiya, didn’t do that well in America. But even in America, Dragon Ball succeeded.

But of course we got it before you because we had the tradition since ‘78 of the Japanese series on the French networks.

DEREK: That is very fascinating. When it came to America they made a lot of changes to the show, to Americanize it and make it appeal to the American audience. Did they do the same thing in France to make it appeal to the French?

OLIVIER: No, they kept the program.

However, sometimes in Dragon Ball Z it’s very violent. The show was broadcast on Wednesday mornings, and kids in France, the small kids, don’t go to school on Wednesdays. Some of the fights are very bloody, so the French version, the first one, was cut. Most of the gory scenes.

And we added a stupid French song in the opening credits. Terrible song.

DEREK: Yeah, I’ve seen it on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ1NcxAZUYk

OLIVIER: Awful song. [laughter]

DEREK: Well, what are your thoughts about the American version of DBZ?

OLIVIER: I think it’s American. It’s what you could expect from America. [laughter]

But at least they see the show, you know? They see it on TV and if they really like it they will buy the DVD’s and the original version. It’s better to have it that way than not have it.

DEREK: Did you see Dragon Ball Evolution? And what did you think?

DEREK: Why do you think it turned out the way that it did?

OLIVIER: I don’t know, because the studio wanted to make money, and they’re happy with it, you know? I think it’s bad, but I don’t know, maybe it turned out that way because the studio felt that it was such a big license that it was simply enough to put Dragon Ball on a poster and attract people to the theaters. It happened that way, unfortunately.

And the Japanese had a contract, and I guess somebody sent his [Toriyama’s] comments, but when you have such a bad, bad, bad movie, what can you do?

Even the poor Stephen Chow, who had directed in Crazy Kung Fu some very good Dragon Ball type scenes, wasn’t listened to by the studio execs, because I think it’s a cultural… I don’t know, I don’t know.

I think when James Cameron shoots his GUNNM version, it will be something that is very different and very good, but which will respect the original manga.

DEREK: Right, and that’s a shame. I would agree with you.

I have a question from an American Dragon Ball fan. He wants to know, from your perspective, which modern anime series holds the title of Dragon Ball’s successor?

OLIVIER: In terms of success, it’s obviously One Piece. One Piece is bigger than Dragon Ball now, in terms of sales.

DEREK: What about in terms of spirit?

OLIVIER: Naruto, One Piece, maybe Fairy Tale. Lots of, almost every shonen manga, has pieces of Dragon Ball in it.

Dragon Ball and Chinese Culture

DEREK: You said that you went to China to get pictures of Sun Wukong. Are you familiar with the Chinese legends that inspired Dragon Ball.

OLIVIER: Yes, yes, yes, of course, yes. I’m kind of familiar with the religion, and wherever you go in China there are places where the Monk and Monkey King are said to have passed. You have statues and wall paintings. And so wherever you travel in China, even in North China, you might encounter some art.

DEREK: Yeah, I traveled to Beijing and Xi’An, and they had the White Horse Temple there, and they also had statues of the Monkey King and Tang Monk.

OLIVIER: Yes, and in Beijing’s Summer Palace there are paintings on the walls of Sun Wukong.

DEREK: Yep, yep, I actually saw that in person. Speaking of which, has Dragon Ball been successful in China?

OLIVIER: Yeah, it’s very popular! But you know in China there are many bootlegs. So, many people read unofficial comics.

And we also had lots of Cardass produced in Hong Kong. Many people had to inspect if the cards were Japanese or Chinese, because they wanted to have the official products.

DEREK: Dragon Ball was inspired by these Chinese legends, at least in the beginning, and those Chinese legends are very much involved in religion, spirituality, legends and fables and things. Do you see any of those aspects in Dragon Ball?

OLIVIER: Yes. It’s very subtle, but when you read it, not every time of course, but in many episodes, there are references to the Japanese legends or Asian legends. So it’s like the watermark, it’s like the background of the series.

Toriyama’s Talent

DEREK: You mentioned that Dragon Ball has Japanese, Asian components to it, but was also influenced by American cinema in Hollywood, and also by Hong Kong, Jackie Chan and Kung Fu. The result could have simply been a mish-mash of a bunch of different things, but it worked out really, really well, and it’s extremely successful. Why do you think that is?

OLIVIER:

Of course he is influenced by Terminator 2, Chinese movies, many things. And in the end you have something which is very unique, even though you could spot some [references], or identify things that inspired him.

Most of the bigger artists are like this. If you look at Star Wars, the first ones at least, it’s heavily influenced by the old Flash Gordon. Speaking of designs, there are many starships, or the Stormtrooper’s uniforms, you could say they were influenced by the science fiction magazines of the mid ‘70’s, especially Heavy Metal. You could track George Lucas’ influence.

There are also influences in Star Wars from the Indian legends, like the Ramayana. You could say that the Padawana inspired the name, he calls (the young Jedi disciples), one of the two families of the Ramayana, you know.

Lots of big artists are inspired by many big things, and in the end it’s not a mish-mash, it’s something unique.

For example, if you look at Avatar, when you watch Avatar, many people are reminded of Princess Mononoke, from Miyazaki.

So for me it’s not a problem when you read Dragon Ball and you can identify what inspired Toriyama. It’s enjoyable because you can see how he took the werewolf, and many things from everywhere, to produce something that is unique and coherent.

DEREK: Yeah, I agree.  I think that is a big reason why it was so successful. I also think it just appeals to people’s… you know we grow up hearing about legends, like you said about werewolf’s, and vampires and witches, and monsters, and heroes who grow up to defeat these monsters. And that has been the case for thousands of years, and even today. So I think there is something in human nature, especially as kids, that draws us, we’re attracted to that, and Toriyama manages to depict all of that, while at the same time being funny and action packed, and he managed to find a worldwide audience. It’s really incredible.

OLIVIER: Yeah, and everybody speaks of his talent, saying he is a talented artist, but he’s also a talented writer, a very gifted writer.

When you start to read the story, if you dig those kinds of universes, you don’t want it to end, it’s very good, like a good serial, very incredible, it takes you by your neck and you can’t stop, you know?

Of course, in episodes 14 to 72 it starts to be tournaments, fighting, fighting, fighting, if you’re not interested in fighting, okay, you’ll start to feel it’s repetitive.

But if you are interested in action and sci-fi, it’s incredibly rich. Especially because it’s written and drawn by the same person. When you look at the American comics, which I like a lot, when you look at 10 years of Spiderman, it’s not that good.

DEREK: Oh, is that because there are different people involved?

OLIVIER: No, it’s because they don’t have Toriyama!

DEREK: Wow, that’s a big statement.

OLIVIER: Yeah, speaking of comic books, of course.

DEREK: So you have a lot of respect for manga and anime.

OLIVIER: Yes.

Dragon Ball is for Everyone

DEREK: Some people might say manga is just for kids. What do you think?

OLIVIER: Japanese comic books are not like in some countries, because they are aimed at different targets. Japanese manga could be for kids, it could be only for adults. It’s very rich.

Still, in France we still have people saying that it’s industrially produced by workshops of slaves who want to invade the western civilization with their low quality products. Those people, thankfully, their numbers are diminishing and everybody now appreciates good comic books, like graphic novels, the best American comics, or European comic books.

Like I said, even the government, who is not known for being avante garde in speaking of comics, gave a medal to Otomo Katsuhiro.

DEREK: That does say a lot.

Your book covers Toriyama’s entire life, from his childhood up until now. Dragon Ball was obviously his most successful, but Dr. Slump made his career, at least that’s what gave him his initial success after getting a few manga published in Weekly Shonen Jump and things like that. What do you think is his best work?

OLIVIER: I like Dr. Slump and also Dragon Ball because they are very different. But it’s difficult to say because they are different genres. One is a comedy and one is an action fantasy. They are both good, different styles and genres.

OLIVIER: What do you think Dragon Ball is? What is the essence of Dragon Ball, if you could describe it? It’s a huge epic series so it’s hard to describe succinctly, but what it is that people are attracted to, why do they like it so much?

OLIVIER: Most people like it because they can identify with a hero, they grew up with a hero. One of the peculiarities of the series is that in the end the hero is like a teenager. Not only a teenager, but he grows up, gets married, has kids, and you grew up with the series. So it’s very… you can relate to the hero if you met the series when it was released, you grew up with the series.

And if you meet the series later, it’s such a classic hero, very naïve, very pure, he’s irresistible. If you are sensitive to action, heroes, and the classic values of good versus evil, it’s like a synthesis of every good thing.

DEREK: It appeals to who we are as human beings.

OLIVIER: Yes, yes, that’s it!

DEREK: Well, that’s all my questions. Thank you very much for your time, I know that was a long interview. I could talk about Dragon Ball all day!

OLIVIER: Thank you very much for the interview, and if we have an English version that comes out, I’ll let you know. The approval was only for the French speaking markets. I’m sorry for the English speaking readers! I’ll let you know anyway if something happens with the book, if there is a new edition with more information. And keep me informed with what’s going on with your book too.

DEREK: Yeah, absolutely, and maybe you can interview me one day for the French speaking audience.

OLIVIER: Haha, you bet!

Concluding Thoughts

What a great interview! As you can see from our discussion, Olivier made a big impact in France by bringing Dragon Ball and other shonen titles to television, and he clearly knows his stuff about Akira Toriyama.

That’s a shame there won’t be an English translation though. What do you guys think about this? Will you pick up the French version?

And do you believe that Toriyama should be called a master? Is he the living version of Osamu Tezuka?

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Interview with Olivier Richard – Author of Akira Toriyama Book – Part 2

Olivier Richard at the Shueisha headquarters in Tokyo, Japan

Join me for a conversation with Olivier Richard, the French author of the book, Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga.

Olivier Richard was an integral figure in the French manga and anime industry during the 80’s and 90’s. As a long time fan of Japanese comics, he wrote the world’s first biography about Akira Toriyama.

This is Olivier’s first interview about the book conducted in English, and thus represents his premiere to the North American and international English speaking audience of Dragon Ball fans.

Read on to learn about Dragon Ball’s popular explosion in France, hear Olivier’s personal feelings about comics, and gain international insights into Toriyama’s success!

Manga and Anime in France

DEREK: When did you first become interested in manga and anime?

OLIVIER: I was first interested in Japanese manga, actually, anime, by the end of the 70’s, when I was very young.

The first Japanese anime’s were broadcast on French TV in ‘78, with Mazinger. Everyone saw it on TV when it was broadcast.

Also around those years I was reading some fanzines about science fiction and fantasy movies. Those fanzines dealt with all kinds of movies from America and Great Britain, but also from Asia. So we were aware of what took place in Asia, and of course Japan.

Sometimes we were able to write reviews about Japanese anime, like the first movies of anime inspired by Space Cruiser Yamato. When it was broadcast in the Cannes film market there was a review about it, so we knew that it existed, and those films being made by the same kind of people who produced the anime we were watching on TV. And sometimes there were movies.

So I’ve been interested in Japanese manga and anime for a long time.

DEREK: Did you have a role in bringing these films to France?

OLIVIER: Later I had a job at French TV channels, like MCM, which is a kind of French MTV. We have MTV in France, and MCM is the same type of music channel. We also used to broadcast for the tweens and teenagers, so I used to purchase anime’s like Dragon Ball, One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist, Paranoia Agent and Bleach.

DEREK: Yeah, on the inside jacket of your book it said you helped to distribute Dragon Ball in Europe, along with One Piece and Bleach. How exactly were you involved?

OLIVIER: Dragon Ball premiered for the first time in France in the late 80’s. It was very popular at the time, so years later when I had the job of being the Head of Programs, I bought Dragon Ball and reran them, and it was the first time for ages that the channel broadcast the complete three series. So we had very, very high ratings.

Speaking of Fullmetal Alchemist, I broadcast the whole series.

Regarding One Piece, I purchased 150 episodes which were broadcast for the first time in France.

Speaking of Paranoia Agent, it was the first time it was broadcast in France.

DEREK: That’s great! Obviously you saw an audience there that would appreciate it.

How do French people, the youth, or whatever the target demographic is for anime and manga are, how do they view international Japanese manga and pop culture? Is it something that’s really popular? Is it understood well? Or is it just seen as some kind of oddity that people are curious about?

OLIVIER: It’s very popular. But of course we still have some people thinking Japanese only produce hentai or things like that. Now almost everybody is aware that it’s very big, and it’s read and screened by people from the core target of 12 to 24, but you can even read good reviews about Japanese manga in Newsweek type magazines in France.

It’s very, very popular. For example when Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, releases a new movie in France, everybody talks about it on TV or in Newspapers.

DEREK: Really? That’s good.

OLIVIER: Yeah, really, really. For example, we had Otomo Katsuhiro, he got an artistic award by one of the members of the government, like 5 or 6 years ago. He got a medal in Paris.

DEREK: That’s an impressive amount of sales.

OLIVIER: I was told France is the second market in the world for manga.

DEREK: Is that right? I didn’t realize that.

OLIVIER: I think so, yeah. And there are a lot of manga and anime conventions in France. The biggest one, Japan Expo, takes place in the Paris area and attracts almost 200,000 people in 4 days, every year.

Personal Tastes

DEREK: It seems that based off of your work that your focus is on shonen manga, is that correct?

OLIVIER: Yeah, because the channel I was taking care of was reaching this 15 to 24 year old demographic. We also broadcast some seinen and kids manga, but we mostly broadcast shonen manga.

DEREK: Is that your favorite genre as well?

OLIVIER: No, no, no, not my favorite. It’s one of the genres I like, but I also like seinen, and all types of comic books, actually.

DEREK: Do you also appreciate western comics?

OLIVIER: Yeah. Right now I’m reading a lot of DC Comics.

DEREK: Oh, yeah, they are going through a lot of changes right now, with The 52, right?

OLIVIER: It’s very good. Right now I’m following the Justice League. It’s very good stuff. I also like a lot of American and British comics. I’ve done interviews with writers or artists like Jack Kirby. So to me it’s the same kind of thing.

Of course there are differences between shonen manga, French comics and American comics. But what I like are comics books, sci-fi and fantasy, so of course Japanese manga are one of the most interesting comics produced.

DEREK: I see. I think that’s good, because it gives you a broader perspective. It’s entertaining, too.

Comics in France

DEREK: I recently just finished reading The Little Prince, which I understand is very popular in France. Are you familiar with that story?

OLIVIER: Yeah, yeah. Everybody hears about it. It’s been one of the books you’re supposed to read when you go to school.

DEREK: Oh, is that right? I bring it up because I’m curious, and see some parallels between that and Dragon Ball, in terms of innocence and things like that. And I wonder if Manga is so popular in France because of the culture that existed there already. Seems like maybe it was primed for that type of illustrated art that was targeted to children.

OLIVIER: You know, from Paris there is a long tradition of comic books. Since we are very close to Belgium, and half of Belgium speaks French, everybody has the opportunity to read them. Classics like Tintin, Spirou, whatever.

Speaking of Japanese manga, shonen manga is very popular in terms of sales. But of course the high brow people would prefer a seinen manga. Taniguchi Jiro is very popular with high brow people in France, and Miyazaki of course. But Shonen manga is not that well regarded. Some people think it’s basic stuff, you know. It’s read, it’s very big in France, but it doesn’t have a good reputation amongst high brow people.

But a good point is that, for example, when a new Naruto or One Piece volume is released in France, it’s one of the top 10 books sold in all of France, in all categories.

And I don’t mean one of the most successful comic books, I mean one of the most successful books of all types. [For example] Number 1 is Steve Jobs’ biography. Number 2 or Number 3 is One Piece.

It’s very, very big. Some people don’t like it, but they have to witness the facts.

DEREK: Yeah, you can’t deny that.

Toriyama Inspires

DEREK: How has Dragon Ball and Akira Toriyama’s work influenced your life in particular?

OLIVIER: My life? I know I wrote a lot about it! [laughter] Since I used to work in a video game magazine, at the apex of the Dragon Ball manga, we used to write a lot about it, so it’s one of the topics I’ve worked on the most.

DEREK: So for years you’ve been writing about Dragon Ball?

OLIVIER: Yeah, because I used to work at a video game magazine called Player One. Every month we had reviews about the new manga and animes. Between 1992 and 1995, 1996 maybe, there were at least 2 Dragon Ball movies a year, plus the games, plus the new manga, and since it was successful we did a lot of articles about Toriyama and the Dragon Ball series. It was one of the topics I worked the most on!

DEREK: From a professional perspective it sounds like Dragon Ball played a big part in a lot of people’s lives.

OLIVIER: Yes.

DEREK: From another perspective, did Dragon Ball ever inspire you to change your life in a positive way, such as practicing the martial arts, or working harder at achieving a particular goal?

DEREK: Did that happen while you were working on this book?

OLIVIER: Yes, it did. [laughter]

DEREK: Toriyama did work really hard!

The Right Man for the Job

As you can see, with Mr. Richard’s extensive career in the French manga and anime industry, he was the perfect man to write a book about Akira Toriyama and his life’s work.

This interview was particularly engaging, as we’re both big Dragon Ball fans, so check out Part 2 of my interview with Olivier Richard, where I ask him in-depth questions about his book, why he chose to write about Toriyama, difficulties during the development process, and why he believes that Toriyama is an under-recognized writer.

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Interview with Olivier Richard – Author of Akira Toriyama Book – Part 1

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

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.”

[Note that the preceding quote and all others in this review were translated by Derek Padula.]

The books inside jacket says, “Olivier Richard has been interested in manga and Japanese animation for over twenty five years. He has written on the BD [comics in French], the cinema, animation and music in Rock & Folk magazine, Player One, The Show and Manga Player.”

Richard also worked in European television as a program director at MCM and helped distribute the Dragon Ball trilogy, One Piece, Full Metal Alchemist, and Bleach in Western Europe.

Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga is 144 pages in total, divided into 13 chapters, plus the appendices and post content.

The book primarily talks about Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball, but also mentions many of Toriyama’s lesser known comics published in Japan, such as Wolf, Pola & Roid, and Kajika.

Unfortunately there is no table of contents or chapter titles, so you don’t know what you’re getting into before you invest the time to read it, and you’ll have to memorize the location of content if you want to reference it again later. There’s also no index, which is a shame since it’s non-fiction.

The book is very historical and follows a timeline of events, but it doesn’t tell much of a story. It’s a biography without really being a biography. Filled with What, When and Where, but not much of How, Who or Why. Some people might prefer that, but be aware that there are few quotes or original thoughts.

That said, there are occasional insights into Toriyama’s life that paint a nice picture of what his perspective might have been like during his rise as a manga author. For example, in Toriyama’s early years when his submissions were repeatedly rejected by Weekly Shonen Jump, and then finally accepted. And the powerful influence his editor, Torishima-san, had on his work.

In Chapter 7, Richard writes, “The editor feels that the character [of Goku] is not sufficiently developed, his potential is not operating at maximum, and is boring. He thinks Toriyama is too far from the original idea and that at present there is not enough fighting in Dragon Ball. …  As always, Toriyama listened carefully to his mentor.”

At the end of the book is an appendix, which contains 13 interviews with notable industry figures talking about Toriyama and his work.

Interviewees include editors in chief’s of many manga magazines, the head producer at Namco Bandai (Daisuke Uchiyama) who made the video game Dragon Ball: Ultimate Tenkaichi, a Bandai Toy developer, a professor of manga, journalists, manga authors, a children’s television director, and others.

The interviews are perhaps my favorite part of the book because they provide original content, even if they are mainly opinions and anecdotal experiences.

After the appendices there is a chronology of Toriyama’s life and career, followed by a timeline bibliography of Toriyama’s work referenced in this book. These can be useful as reference material.

The book is thoroughly researched and up to date, with a short section for the series’ latest incarnations, including the Dragon Ball SD manga, Bardock Super Saiyan Special manga, Dragon Ball Heroes carddass game, and Dragon Ball Online.

The book design is simple, clean, and easy to read, with detailed, full color pictures of Toriyama’s work and related merchandise. This adds greatly to the books value.

Should this book be purchased if you don’t speak French? Being unable to read the content will obviously have an effect on your enjoyment of the book, but if you’re familiar with any of the Romance languages, then you may be able to understand a bit. If you don’t speak French or don’t want to type the content into an online translator, then wait until your preferred translation is available.

It’s hard to find fault with Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga. It is perhaps too simple, but less is more when you’re trying to achieve a specific goal, and this book achieves it.

Is Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga worth buying?

If you’re a huge fan of Toriyama, then you probably already know about his life and career and won’t get much more out of this summary, as there’s sparse new content.

But for those who want a beautiful and concise reference manual on Toriyama, one of the most monumental figures in the manga industry, this book is it.

Dragon Ball Book Information

Author: Olivier Richard

Publisher: 12 bis

Price: EUR 19.00

Pages: 144

ISBN: 978-2-35648-332-4

Further Resources

Amazon France Book Page

Publisher Book Profile Page

Publisher Author Profile Page

The Dao of Dragon Ball Interview with Olivier Richard

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Dragon Ball Book Review – Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga