Dragon Ball Book Review – Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga
Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga provides an easy to read summary of Toriyama’s life, career and success in Japan. It’s succinctly edited and well designed. While it doesn’t bring much new content to the table, it is the first book to be written about Akira Toriyama and does a good job at what it set out to do; chronologically revealing the life and career of Akira Toriyama.
Even after more than 30 years in the industry, and after creating the #1 selling shonen manga series of all time (at 300 million copies), there was until now no book about Akira Toriyama, one of the most influential manga authors in the world.
Written in French by author Olivier Richard, it’s clear that Richard gives respect to Toriyama and other shonen works, and that he understands the genre.
From the foreword, “In fact, as a best seller of the highest caliber, Dragon Ball falls into the same category as Star Wars, the cultural phenomenon. Like George Lucas’ space opera, Akira Toriyama’s manga has captivated millions of children, adolescents, and young adults who followed with almost religious fervor the adventures of Son Goku, the fascinating and charismatic hero of a true modern myth.”
Marcus Brimage – DBZ and MMA Part 2
This is Part 2 of the Marcus Brimage interview about DBZ and MMA. Click here for Part 1 of the DBZ and MMA interview
DEREK: You stated that Dragon Ball Z is the greatest action anime of all time. Why do you feel that way?
MARCUS: Because, man! No fillers baby! They got straight to the point. The action!
They had one filler, and that was the Garlic Jr. Saga. Which wasn’t that bad! It was a nice little break, like 5 episodes, and then they got right back to Future Trunks and the Androids. They got right back on it.
And they had a little fun with Goku and Piccolo trying to learn how to drive, you know, that little bullshit, but for the most part Dragon Ball Z stayed the course, it always stayed focused on the action.
Marcus Brimage – DBZ and MMA Part 1
Dragon Ball Z is a martial arts epic brimming with legendary fights.
These fights have awed and inspired fans across the world. And there are some fans who become so inspired that they decide to pursue martial arts and make it their career.
I had the privilege of interviewing one of those inspired fans recently: Marcus Brimage, a Mixed Martial Artist who can currently be seen on Season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) on Spike TV.
Here is Marcus’ introduction interview on the show.
This caught my attention and I decided to reach out to Marcus on Twitter. He agreed to the interview and the results were amazing.
We ended up talking for over an hour!
How and why did Dragon Ball inspire him? As an expert martial artist, what is his opinion on the fighting styles of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z? How does spirituality play a role in his fighting? And did Dragon Ball influence his fighting style?
We also discussed his time growing up in Alabama and his desire for a greater life. His early experiences getting tough love from his MMA instructors. And the superiority of Dragon Ball over other action anime.
Not to mention another comment by Marcus for all of the Naruto fans out there!
*Warning that this interview contains occasional swear words.
*Warning that this interview contains violence and mixed martial arts content.
*Warning that this interview contains Dragon Ball spoilers because Marcus and I are super-fans and discuss the series in detail.
That’s right, kids!
So without further ado, here is The Dao of Dragon Ball’s interview with Marcus Brimage, a mixed martial artist and Dragon Ball fan!
Dragon Ball Tattoos – Goku Returns
Welcome back to part 6 of our multi-part series of Dragon Ball tattoos! Goku is a popular guy, and there are more tattoos of him out there than anybody else, so he’s back for a second round!
Goku passed away and went to Heaven. But now he’s super strong after training with North Kaio, and he’s on his way back to help with the fight!
Let’s take a look at these colorful displays of Dragon Ball fandom from around the world!
continue …
Dragon Ball Tattoos – Groups
Welcome back to part 5 of The Dao of Dragon Ball’s multi-part series on Dragon Ball tattoos.
An enormous power threatens the galaxy, and our heroes come together to defend it… in the form of Dragon Ball tattoos!
Is there a specific DBZ character you prefer over the others? Why pick and choose? Why not have ALL of them tattooed onto your body!
That’s what these folks did! So let’s take a look!
continue …
Dragon Ball Tattoos – Heroes & Villains
Part 4 of The Dao of Dragon Ball tattoo series is here! Watch these Dragon Ball Heroes and Villains face off in a battle for the galaxy!
continue …
New Dragon Ball Book Cover
The new book cover
The theme for the book cover was to try and capture some of Goku’s personality in a simple and clean way. I borrowed the orange from the color of his dogi, the blue from his boots, belt and shirt, and the yellow from his Super Saiya-jin hair.
The logo consists of the orange star from Orange Star High School combined with a Daoist yin-yang in the colors already mentioned.
And I chose a simple but large font that was easy to read from far away as well as in the form of a tiny thumbnail, such as you might see on Amazon books.
The characters below the yin-yang are “Long Qiu Dao” (in Chinese) and translate as “Dragon Ball Dao,” or in other words, The Dao of Dragon Ball. This way it becomes clear at a glance that the book contains East Asian content, and perhaps that will fascinate someone long enough to open the book or read the back cover.
For comparisons sake, you can also check out another mockup I created for the cover in June of 2009.
Categories
- book reviews (6)
- dragon world (4)
- excerpts (2)
- fans (7)
- general (25)
- history (2)
- interviews (2)
- martial arts (7)
- news (5)
- philosophy (11)
- questions / answers (2)
- social (2)
- spirituality (2)
Recent Comments
- derekpadula: Thank you!Derek PadulaCEO and Founder310 987-5394dpadula@youngforestgames.com …
- @JXYOH: Just finished the survey - Johan, Paris (France) …
- derekpadula: That\'s an important quote. Thanks for taking the survey! …
- Adamsennin: "There's no one left, except for you!" -Kid Vegeta to Goku during Goku's vision …
- derekpadula: Yep, those were good ones! Thanks! …
Support the Author
Sponsors
Ads
