That’s right, there is now a Dragon Ball religion. It is called Gokuism, also known as The Church of Goku.

Gokuism is the belief that the principles of Dragon Ball provide a moral compass for one’s life, and that Goku is an ideal role model and moralistic person. By some definitions, it implies that Goku provides personal, global, and universal salvation, and that his death and resurrections were for our sake.

With so many religions already existing, why create this one based on Dragon Ball?

In today’s blog post you’ll learn where Gokuism came from, what its practitioners believe, and explore some thought provoking questions about this new faith.

The Roots of Gokuism

For many fans, Dragon Ball has always held a special place in their hearts. It’s more than just a show. Some spiritually inclined fans find moral lessons that align with their own perspectives, or they are inspired by Goku’s actions to improve themselves. This can range from hitting the gym to trying to become more honest and pure.

In Western Europe and North America there are believers in Judeo-Christian tenets that feel their beliefs relate to the principles in Dragon Ball. They see Goku’s actions and are inspired to become closer to God. But such inspirations had always been restrained within the understandable confines of Dragon Ball being a fabricated series, not an actual paradigm of salvation. And they were individually personal, not promulgated to others.

In this college essay from 2009, “cmvitolo” wrote, “He was a role model of a father, a great guy, strong and above all, caring. This one character, named Goku, demonstrated this beautiful personality, and his positive attitude and pure heart affected me. … As a follower of Christ, I was further influenced by Goku’s ability to do exactly what Christ had suggested we do: “Love your enemy.””

Bringing it to others via Gokuism, Dragon Ball fans have taken a story and world that they know is fantastical to begin with, and made a belief system out of it.

This is not an official religion endorsed by the Japanese license holders, nor the creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama. It springs from the collective minds of fans.

There does not seem to be a single specific place that Gokuism originated. As a global phenomenon promulgated through the internet, Gokuism could have first appeared anywhere and then gained popularity. Although it has a somewhat larger following in Spain and Mexico.

At the moment, Gokuism seems to have just begun, with only a few sites and established groups existing on the internet. But the comparisons between Goku and Jesus Christ have been around for as long as the series has been popular, which I explore below.

Given more time, what might the future hold? Could Goku become a bigger religious icon or a larger symbol of faith?

Before you write off the possibility, consider for a moment that this exact thing has already occurred with another very well known series.

Gokuism and Jediism

Gokuism appears similar to the Jedi Religion born from Star Wars, known as Jediism, or The Jedi Church

Is Jediism for real? Yes, very much so. According to Wikipedia, Jediism is an actual recognized religion in Canada. And in the 2001 census for England and Wales, there were over 390,127 declared followers. That same year in New Zealand there were 53,000 declared Jedi followers, even eclipsing the amount of Buddhists. There are followers across the world, and you can see the resources below for more information.

Sociologically what I find most interesting is the cross cultural comparison between the two.

Both Gokuism and Jediism are fan based creations aligned with pseudo-religious spirituality and eastern principles.

Jediism was based on a western creation interwoven with eastern Daoist / Zen mysticism and Taiji theories ala the Force. While Gokuism was based off an eastern creation interwoven with Buddho-Daoist legends and American Hollywood influences, and then recently paralleled with Judeo-Christian beliefs of the west.

It’s as if each group of followers is looking outside their own culture for something else and then finding ways to connect it to their already accepted world view.

Numerous books about Star Wars and living the path of the Jedi have been written, where the authors detail the similarities between Jedi philosophy and western belief systems, so as to make the content relatable. Is Dragon Ball the next subject for this treatment?

On the Facebook page titled Evangelical Gokuism, the owner says he created the page “To spread the message of our personal savior Goku, as well as promote my forthcoming book, “Praying to Goku.””

As Dragon Ball is in many ways a similar phenomenon to Star Wars (with films, a global fan base, billion dollar licensing deals, etc.), could Gokuism become the next Jediism? It has the same qualifications, such as worldwide appeal, an in-world belief system, an afterlife, demons, deities, and martial arts based paths of personal development.

Star Wars fans find the Daoist / Zen Buddhist perspective attractive enough to make it their lifestyle, so it seems logical that Dragon Ball fans would as well, since it is based on Journey to the West. In addition, members of both fan bases share similar ‘nerdy’ traits, and it is common to admire both series.

But truth be told, on a larger scale it seems that Gokuism is still years away from reaching the level of the Jedi Church, if at all. That said, Dragon Ball is incredibly popular. Perhaps all Gokuism would need to grow is another televised Dragon Ball series or a successful series of Hollywood films, thus pushing it further into the minds of the populace.

The Beliefs of Gokuism

What are the beliefs of Gokuism?

At the bare minimum, practicing Gokuism implies that you are a huge fan of Goku, as can be seen on this Spanish Facebook page, called “Because he Died for Us and Rose Again to Save Us… WE LOVE YOU GOKU,” which has over 290,000 Likes.

On a more religious level there is unfortunately little material available on the actual beliefs or tenants. At the moment there are no texts or codified materials. There is this site in Spanish that lists the 10 Commandments of Goku, but it appears to be a joke.

From what is available online I gather that Goku is perceived as a super powerful figure who sacrificed his life, was reborn, and fought for the salvation of mankind. Goku is taken as the physical and moral ideal. A role model of innocence and purity who has unfathomable power yet only uses it to help others.

According to one Gokuism Facebook page, it states the following creed. “Do you believe that Goku is the all powerful son of Bardock? Do you believe that Goku has a power level Over 9,000? Do you believe that Goku died, trained with King Kai, and was resurrected? Do you believe that Goku defeated Freeza, and gave Son Gohan the motivation to defeat Cell? Do you believe that you would give Goku your energy if he ever did another Spirit Bomb?”

Elsewhere, this sacrament appears. “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Saiyan Spirit.”

On a Spanish Facebook Gokuism page, it says, “Goku is above all things. Gohan is seated at the right of the father. Through the work of Vegeta he spoke through the prophets.”

Honestly I can’t tell if these are jokes or genuine beliefs. I contacted the owners of several sites to try and get answers to my questions, but did not hear back.

More importantly, what does a follower get if they believe these things? The ability to fire a Kamehameha, fly into the air, teleport, or punch through mountains? So far nobody has promised these abilities to converts, but if the movement became more serious, these temptations would be easy bait to swing in front of the eyes, just like Jedi Force powers.

It’s not that far-fetched, either. Consider that these same promises and belief systems were proselytized during the Boxer Revolution (1898 to 1901) in China, and among the White Lotus sects and secret religious martial arts clans for thousands of years. The result was millions of violent deaths.

In regards to physicality, if I had to conjecture, I would imagine that practitioners of Gokuism should also try and embody Goku’s exercise regimen and dietetic practices, such as avoiding alcohol and consuming healthy, natural foods, while training in the martial arts. This seems positive.

What is the ultimate goal of Gokuism? To simply live a better life in the model of Goku? Or does it encompass entering Heaven and fighting demons and other villains as well? Maybe the more spiritual aspects are perceived as allegory for internal conflicts and achievements within the practitioner.

Gokuism opens up a gigantic can of theological worms, so for my own sake I’ll stop with conjecturing here.

As it happens, Gokuism is just beginning, and the majority of inspiration for its existence seems to have sprung from followers of Christianity.

Son Goku and Jesus Christ

Ever since Dragon Ball has become popular in the mid to late 90’s, comparisons between Son Goku and Superman have often been made. Likewise, comparisons between Son Goku and Jesus Christ. There are reasons why.

Consider that in all three cases, the “only son” was sent from “heaven” down to earth, where he matured and harnessed supernormal or “divine” powers to fight against “great evil” and “save humanity.” The three stories are similar in many ways.

Followers of Gokuism (Gokuists?) often seem to believe in both Goku and Jesus Christ. Theologically speaking, can a person who practices Gokuism also practice another faith simultaneously? I would think that eventually they would have to decide which one is their true personal savior.

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

In the above video, rumored to be from Spain, titled “Ten Reasons Why I Am a Gokuista and Not a Christian,” the creator, EspirituNoTanSanto, states why he believes Goku is superior to Jesus.

For example, Reason 1, “The Number of Times They Saved the World.” According to the video, Jesus saved the world once, against Satan, by removing original sin. Goku on the other hand, saved the world from Pilaf, the Red Ribbon Army, Piccolo, Raditz, Vegeta and Nappa, Freeza, Cell, Majin Buu, and the Evil Dragons.

Reason 2, “The Number of Times Resurrected.” Jesus was only resurrected once, but Goku was resurrected twice.

Reason 3, “Their Skills.” Jesus can heal the blind, raise the dead, remove sin, walk on water, and multiply fish. Goku has the Kamehameha, Kaioken, Taioken, Dragon Fist, Teleport and Genki Dama.

It goes on like that for 7 more slides, concluding in the argument that Goku lived his entire life for other people and would soundly defeat Jesus in a fight. Therefore, he is the “Undisputed Winner.”

Dragon Ball and Parallels to Christianity

To be fair, there are many genuine parallels that can be drawn between Judeo Christian beliefs and the world of Dragon Ball, with Goku in particular.

For example, in regards to the Holy Trinity, Goku is simultaneously the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In one sense, he is the Son of Bardock, the Father of Gohan, and a Spiritual being that resides in both Heaven and Earth. He finishes Bardock’s fight against Freeza, closing the circle of “savior of the people” against “persecutory tyrant.” In a sense, he is like the child that was sent down in order to defeat Satan. He is also made in the same image as Bardock.

In another perspective, Goku is a Father to Gohan and Goten, the youngest and last pure blooded Son of the Saiyan people, and a Spiritual being that can manifest physically in two places at once. For example, after sacrificing his life and going to Heaven, he physically helped Gohan defeat Cell on Earth. Likewise, he rescued Gohan from the death grip of Bojack, appearing in physical form for a split second in order to punch Bojack in the face and free his son. Both acts could be considered the definition of a miracle.

Lastly, in Dragon Ball GT, Goku as an adult is the Father who shrinks down in size and becomes a child (aka the Son), while maintaining his mind and Spiritual powers. He is all three beings at once.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDfsF4zDdR0

Goku experienced many great tests. For example, at the end of the original Dragon Ball series Kami asks Goku to replace him as God and ascend the throne. But Goku refuses, choosing to remain on earth as a poor hermit so that he can continue improving and fighting stronger opponents.

There are also the demonic beings that Goku defeats, such as Broly. In Dragon Ball Z movie 8, Broly said the following. “Me, a monster? No, I am the Devil.” Christian fans of DBZ have grabbed onto this as an argument that Goku is defeating the devil. Similarly, Piccolo and several others also refer to themselves as demons. Goku defeats them all.

In terms of holy powers, in Dragon Ball Z movie 5, Cooler’s Revenge, Goku holds a dead bird in his hand and brings it back to life. And of course there is the ‘laying on of hands’ that Dende performs on others when healing them. Although from my perspective I believe this stems more from Daoist Qigong energy healing found in the eastern martial arts.

In any case, there are many other parallels to be drawn, and perhaps these are the reasons why people believe in the ideal of Goku and follow his way.

Practicing Ones Faith

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SBMTHcAwXA

Fantastical or otherwise, in the mind of a believer, Goku represents an ideal that can be followed.

Having considered the emerging presence of Gokuism and its reasons for being, it may be easy to see why Goku is considered a god, or even a manifestation of God Himself. Goku’s ability to save others and defeat evil, while teleporting between dimensions and enduring the unendurable, all lend credence to the perspective that he is a holy being.

Naturally this brings up the question of religious tolerance, and whether or not Gokuism should be considered a valid religion.

In the above video’s description the creator says, “Do you realize something? The character of Jesus is as fictional and or fanciful as Goku. However, people consider it ridiculous to worship Goku and not Jesus.”

Should a religion based on a cartoon character be taken seriously? Is Goku real? Is Jesus real? Is it all in the mind of the believer?

Goku’s origins can be traced directly back to the mind of Akira Toriyama, a comic book creator in Japan influenced by eastern legends, Hong Kong martial arts, and Hollywood cinema. We know for a fact that Goku is a fabrication.

For Jesus’ origins we have the biblical texts and historical artifacts that point in His direction, but no definitive proof. Thus His existence is, arguably, dependent on faith.

And yet for a practitioner of Gokuism, who may seemingly also believe in Judeo-Christian beliefs, does it even matter? I don’t think so, because in the mind of a practitioner, gradual self improvement toward an ideal is all that matters, even if the source of motivation is fabricated.

In The Dao of Dragon Ball book I quote a young man who said that Goku helped him come closer to Jesus, and that he hopes that when he dies, that Goku is there waiting for him. He is not a declared follow of Gokuism, and I don’t think he had ever heard of the practice, but in either case, both belief systems are reflecting off one another and providing reciprocal motivation.

In the end, while it seems Gokuism has been around for years on an individual level, it is only now beginning to establish itself on the internet. This means Gokuism may fade away, or it may grow. Only time will tell.

Concluding Thoughts

Since there are so many unanswered questions, that means this post serves as a great conversation starter. I’d love to hear what you guys think.

Personally, if I got into the mind of a Gokuist, I would immediately ask myself the question, “What would Goku think of all this?”

I believe he’d scratch his head, let out a laugh, and then return to his training.

Resources

Definition of Gokuism

The Church of Goku

Goku and the Church of Latter Day Saiyans

Evangelical Gokuism

I am a Dragon Ball Gokuista

Gokuism Group

Gokuism Group 2

Gokuism Group – Resurrection

Religión Gokuista

Because he Died for Us and Rose Again to Save Us… WE LOVE YOU GOKU

Gokuism on Tripod [The Great Book of Shenron]

Goku and Jesus Comparisons

Comments and Jokes on Reddit about Gokuism

The 10 Commandments of Goku

Christianity and Goku

Essay on Goku and Christ

Morality and Jesus vs Goku

Goku is NOT God

Super Saiyan Jesus

The Return of Jesus as a Super Saiyan

An Internet Theory about Goku and World History

The Jedi Church

Jediism Census Info on Wikipedia

Temple of the Jedi Order

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Gokuism – The Church of Goku

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?

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

In Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama incorporates spirit possession as a way to propel character development and plot.

This article explores how Toriyama was inspired by ancient belief systems and spirit possession traditions.

What is Spirit Possession?

Wikipedia defines spirit possession as “A paranormal or supernatural event in which it is said that spirits, gods, demons, animas, extraterrestrials, or other disincarnate or extraterrestrial entities take control of a human body, resulting in noticeable changes in health and behavior.”

In eastern Buddhism, Daoism, Korean Shamanism, Shinto and Japanese new age movements, spirit possession can also include the summoning of a spirit into an inanimate object, such as a sword, medallion or statue. In Japan, Shinto priests imbued samurai swords with foreign spirits (called Kami, 神) to increase their battle power or provide otherworldly protection.

In Dragon Ball Z we have many cases of spirits entering or being forced into inanimate objects. For example, using the Mafuba technique to seal a demon in the Denshi Jar; Tapion playing his ocarina to seal Hildegarn in the music box; and Rou Dai Kaioshin being trapped inside the Z Sword for millions of years, only being set free after the blade broke.

But in this article we’re going to focus on the spirit possession that affects people who are controlled by a foreign spirit unwillingly, or willingly ask a foreign spirit to control them in exchange for something else.

The History of Spirit Possession in Asia

Spirit possession is found in many world cultures, including Christianity. But the majority of Dragon Ball’s inspiration stems from East Asian belief systems, including from India, China and Japan.

The Anunka warriors of ancient India purposefully sought spirit possession to gain greater power. They would chant, enter into a trance, and plead foreign spirits to attach themselves to their bodies or take over their minds. In this manner they were said to become super strong in battle, going far beyond the limits of normal men.

The martial arts practices and religions of India were the precursors to many of the Chinese belief systems. They were inherited by the Chinese through the Ksatreya style of martial arts, and Buddhist and Brahmin systems.

Around 475 BC in Northeastern China there was a group known as the Fang Shi (Esoteric Magic Masters, 方士) who practiced shamanistic spirit possession. They were somewhat of a pre Daoist religious group of ascetics, with beliefs in the Five Elements, a Supreme Ultimate (Tai Ji), exorcisms, divination and alchemical immortality.

Primarily consisting of hermits and wanderers, the Fang Shi used magic arts to seek everlasting life, summon demons or spirits, predict the future and gain supernormal powers.

Considered technicians of magic, their practice grew in popularity and even courtroom influence until the government considered it a dangerous cult and outlawed it, ending the practice in approximately 569 AD.

The belief systems and physical practices of the Fang Shi were inherited by the Daoists, whom, in some of their organized forms, would become the literati immortality cults of China. The Daoists attempted to turn ignoble metals into gold, create immortality elixirs, give birth to ephemeral dragons in their own bodies, communicate with spirits in other dimensions and gain everlasting life through physical exercises.

Across centuries the Daoist and Buddhist martial arts became interwoven with the beliefs of the immortality cults, which then became replaced with elite sectarian religions and the continuation of earlier practices, such as shamanistic rituals.

The Fang Shi “magicians” were the precursors to many of the Daoist and Buddhist magical abilities and rituals of common belief. These became the sources of myths and legends which would find their way into novels like Journey to the West and Great Water Margin.

Dragon Ball is directly inspired by these epic stories, and so we also find them in Dragon Ball.

Virtue and Vice

There have been many different cultivation practices throughout history. Some practices teach honesty, compassion and the letting go of desires, while others promote greed, power and the satisfaction of worldly desires. Some are freed by virtue, while others are controlled by vice.

But no matter the principles, at some point a teacher needs to find a disciple.

In ancient China there was a phrase attributed to Daoism that says, “The master looks for a disciple, not the disciple looks for a master.”

It implies that when the time is right, the master looks for a particular quality within a person to see if they would be a good fit to inherit their practice. In the case of the Daoists, what they were looking for was virtue (Chinese: De, 德).

They had to find somebody with high level inborn quality and a large amount of virtue attached to their spirit. With that, the disciple would have an easier time enlightening, and their cultivation practice would meet with success. Without it, the practice would be very difficult and they may fail.

But masters of unrighteous practices sought just the opposite. They looked for disciples with wicked hearts and selfish minds. They wanted people who desired self validation and externalities.

In other words, those with weak hearts; something the Chinese referred to as “e” and the Japanese as Aku (悪).

In addition to the master seeking a disciple, there are sacred possessions and demonic possessions aligned with a person’s level of character.

In religious systems across the world, such as Christianity and Buddhism, it’s taught that exceptionally good people who are aligned with virtue can have their bodies possessed by ‘angelic’ life forms. They are used by heavenly forces to transmit the holy Law, complete important missions or physically receive marks, such as stigmata, as manifest proof of divinity. Their bodies are taken control of, they receive genius inspiration or they are guided along a fortuitous path to do sacred things.

Similarly, those who seek to achieve worldly desires and perform evil acts are essentially inviting things such as foxes, snakes, demons and ghosts, low level spirits, onto themselves. Because their thinking is the same as these creatures, their weak minds are pushed aside and their bodies are possessed.

So let’s take a look at these two different scenarios. One good. One evil.

First the good.

Kami and Shen

In Dragon Ball episode 139, Piccolo has entered the 23^rd Tenkaichi Budokai to fight and kill Goku.

Kami also enters the tournament so that he can confront Piccolo and defeat him. But he does not do so directly. Instead, he tries to surprise Piccolo by possessing the body of a human being as a disguise.

He chooses a man with the ring name of Shen (シェン), called Hero in the FUNimation dub. Shen is a homonym for Shen (神), an originally Chinese word meaning God, Divine, and Holy, but Shen’s name is written in Katakana instead of Kanji.

Shen is a nerdy, skinny middle-aged man who does not seem like the best choice for a martial arts tournament. Kami said in a later episode that he chose Shen because of his good nature.

Yamcha fights against Shen in the semi-finals and they have a conversation.

Shen says, “This is just between you and me, but I’m not really human.”

Yamcha laughs and dismisses the comment. “Don’t tell me you’re some sort of space alien or something.”

“Maybe, maybe not. All I can tell you is that I’ve borrowed this person’s body for a little while. Simply put, I’ve transferred my spirit into this body.”

What’s funny is that Kami actually is a space alien, but this hasn’t been revealed yet in the series.

Shen defeats Yamcha after a dramatic twist, and Goku realizes that Shen and Kami are the same person.

Goku thinks to himself, “Competitor Shen… Shen… Shen Long… Shen! That’s it! That middle aged man is actually Kami-Sama!”

While Shen and Yamcha are recovering from the match, Shen realizes there is blood on his chin. “Oh my, I’ve gone and injured my host body.”

With blood also running down his chin, but a smile on his face, Yamcha says, “I never had a chance of winning against someone who could take a direct hit from my Soukidan.”

Shen was able to survive Yamcha’s most powerful Ki attack, despite the fact that Shen was a weak, untrained, skinny middle-aged man completely unfit for the Tenkaichi Budokai.

Shen seemingly had all of the powers and abilities of Kami. This implies that it’s not the body that matters most; it’s the spirit that controls it.

Piccolo and Kami

In Dragon Ball episode 142, Kami, inside the body of Shen, faces off against Piccolo.

Shen attempts to use the Mafuba (魔封波) technique against Piccolo, sealing him in the jar for eternity.

Piccolo realizes Kami is in control of the body. He screams, “Kami, what are you doing in the Lower Realm?!”

Piccolo figures out how to win, and the Mafuba technique doesn’t work because he reverses it against Kami!

Trapped inside the Mafuba’s wave, Kami screams, “Dammit, it wasn’t supposed to turn out like this. At least let this human body go!”

And then the human body drops away and Kami’s true form appears inside the Mafuba’s spiral.

Piccolo, with great satisfaction, traps him inside the jar.

Shen’s body lay on the battle stage, and Piccolo Daimao holds the Mafuba jar in his hand that contains his former self and counterpart, Kami.

Piccolo’s father, Piccolo Daimao, the Demon King, had once been sealed in the Mafuba jar before, and he grew old and weary while inside. Now Piccolo Daimao Jr. had enacted his revenge.

In Dragon Ball episode 143, Piccolo laughs, “I’ve sealed Kami-sama, who had taken control of his body, inside this!”

Shen fails to get up during the 10 count, and Piccolo wins the match.

The announcer runs over to Shen to see if he’s okay. He says, “Shen-san! Shen-san!”

Shen wakes up, blinking his eyes in total confusion. He looks around, puzzled at what’s going on. The crowd cheers for him because of his performance up to that point of the Semi-Finals.

He asks the Announcer, “Um, this wouldn’t be where they’re holding the Tenkaichi Budokai, would it?”

“Eh? Yes, that’s right. Did you happen to hit your head or something?”

Shen looks around at Piccolo, Goku and the others, and is completely baffled. “Ah, silly me!” Then he embarrassingly runs off the stage.

He says to himself, “How strange. When did I get up there? Did I have a couple drinks or something?”

Then Shen’s son comes out from the crowd. “Daddy! I never knew you were so strong, Daddy!”

Shen had absolutely no recollection of the event, and his conscious mind had been completely repressed by Kami’s presence.

Kami took control of a human’s body and did what he felt was necessary for the greater good of mankind, fulfilling his role as Guardian of earth in a way that is very similar to the role of deities in traditional culture: Indirectly, and through the body of a human.

Now let’s take a look at an evil example of spirit possession in Dragon Ball.

The Majin

Much later in the series, in episode 228 of Dragon Ball Z, a higher level deity named Kaioshin has descended to earth in order to defeat the evil sorcerer, Madoshi Babidi.

Madoshi Babidi has the ability to possess the hearts of wicked men. The more evil their hearts, the easier it is to control them.

The beings Babidi possesses gain superhuman strength. Some are filled with intense anger and lose control of their personalities. They become maniacal slaves that are not only more malicious, but also seemingly invincible and impervious to pain.

In the 25^th Tenkaichi Budokai, two fighters named Spopovich and Yamu willingly allow themselves to be possessed by Babidi in exchange for more power.

Like the superhuman warriors possessed by foreign powers in the ancient legends, they have become fearful, almost unstoppable warriors. They violently fight their way up the tournament ladder.

When Videl (Gohan’s girlfriend) fights back against Spopovich’s endless assault, she kicks him in the head and breaks his neck. But he simply twists his head back into place and continues the fight, beating her to the brink of death.

Majin (魔人) is a label in Dragon Ball given to anybody that is possessed in such a manner. You can tell they are possessed because they have the mark of the Majin “M” on their foreheads or elsewhere on the body.

In colloquial Japanese, Ma (魔) has come to mean magic, or enchanted, while Jin (人) means man, or being, so Majin is commonly translated as “magical being.” In some ways this makes sense, but this is a shallow understanding of the original Kanji.

Likewise, Madoshi (魔道師) is a word that is often translated shallowly as Magician.

Ma (魔) means demon, evil spirit, witch, or describes an evil influence, power, enchantment or ability.

Do (道) is the Japanese pronunciation of Dao. It means the way, path, school, or practice, and is the same Dao from Daoism.

Shi (師) means teacher, master, or expert.

When put together, Madoshi means “Demon Way Master,” or “Master of the Demonic Way.”

So you can see that Madoshi Babidi is much more than a simple magician. He’s a genuine master of the dark arts. Similarly, a Majin is more than just enchanted. They are demons.

The Kanji for Ma (魔) suggests that all beings given this label are the antithesis of upright beings, driven to threaten humanity or overthrow the heavens.

In fact, Madoshi Babidi is the son of Madoshi Bibidi, an evil sorcerer who once did battle against the Kaioshin’s (界王神), the deities of the Dragon Ball cosmos.

In order to fight the gods, Madoshi Bibidi conjured up an evil demon that he named Majin Buu (魔人ブウ).

Buu (ブウ), written in Katakana, is also a homonym for Bu (武), meaning martial arts, warrior, war, or martial. Majin Buu thus essentially means “Demonic Being of War.”

Then why is it written as Buu instead of Bu? Because humorously, their names together are Bibidi, Babidi, Buu. This is the same magic incantation used by the Fairy God Mother in Disney’s Cinderella (1950), and is also called “The Magic Song.” Toriyama used it here as a verbal joke. Wikipedia states that “Most Japanese merchandise spells Buu’s name in the proper “Boo,” just like the song.”

Madoshi Babidi seeks to awaken Majin Buu from the egg-like cocoon he was sealed inside by the surviving Kaioshin’s, ages ago. Like Piccolo Daimao, this great evil had been sealed away.

Realizing the threat this poses to humanity, Kaioshin arrives on earth. One planet out of the countless he oversees.

Kaioshin meets with and convinces Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta to attack Babidi’s ship. He wants to destroy Babidi and his spirit possessed slave, Dabura, the King of Demons, before they can awaken Majin Buu.

Dabura is the King of the Demon Realm (Japanese: Makai, 魔界), a world in an inverse dimension to that of earth, where everything is dark, evil and populated by demons. Babidi is an incredibly powerful sorcerer to have been able to possess Dabura. Toriyama named Dabura after the second half of the magical incantation, “Abracadabra.”

Dabura fights against Gohan and in the midst of battle witnesses a moment of impatience and anger in Vegeta, who tires of their drawn out conflict and is disappointed by Gohan’s relative weakness after the 5 years of peace following the Cell Games.

Dabura immediately withdraws from the battle, saying, “I myself do not need to fight. I’ve found a good warrior [to do so for me].”

Babidi and Vegeta

Vegeta is frustrated and wants to end this stupid adventure so he can finally challenge Goku in a fight. He decides he’s going to blast a hole through Babidi’s spaceship, straight down to the lowest level.

Kaioshin stops him, shouting, “If you do such a thing, Majin Buu will be revived! Majin Buu is a monster who does nothing but create destruction and slaughter again and again. He is quite literally a demonic being, as four of the Kaioshin were no match for him! If Majin Buu is revived, then mankind… no, all living things will be put to death, and the earth will unmistakably be turned into a planet of death.”

Just as Kami sensed the goodness in the heart of Shen, Dabura senses the evil in Vegeta’s heart. He advises Babidi to attempt spirit possession on Vegeta.

Goku and Gohan were untouchable, but Vegeta’s impatience and tolerance hinted at flaws in his character.

Babidi looks at Vegeta through his crystal ball, talking to Dabura. “You’re right, he’s different from the others. It’s just as you said. His heart is filled with wickedness. He hasn’t come here for any just cause at all!”

Babidi casts his spell, saying “We’re going to have you serve us.”

Vegeta’s head is filled with pain. He writhes in agony as Babidi fights for control of his body.

Kaioshin tells Vegeta, “Babidi is attempting to use the evil in your heart! That’s right! Madoshi Babidi can manipulate the evil-hearted at will!”

He advises Vegeta, “Vegeta-san, empty your mind! You must not think of anything!”

Perhaps if Vegeta could, at that moment, empty his mind and become peaceful, there would be nothing for Babidi to latch onto. No attachments. No gaps.

Babidi gleefully continues, “All right, while we’re at it, let’s also draw out his hidden power, beyond his limits!”

Vegeta floats into the air, screams in anguish, and red lightning bolts arc throughout the room. The power of his energy causes a small earthquake in the surrounding cliffs around the ship.

Goku shouts, “What a Ki! I can’t get near it!”

The light recedes. Vegeta falls to the floor, crashing to his knees.

A moment of pause.

Vegeta slowly rises, with a Majin M on his forehead and a wicked grin on his face.

Majin Vegeta

Babidi successfully possessed Vegeta.

He chants an incantation, “Papparapa!” and they are transported to a new battleground: the Tenkaichi Budokai stage. Babidi and Dabura want Vegeta to fight against Goku and Gohan so that they can collect the dispersed energy from their battle and use it to awaken Majin Buu from his slumber.

Babidi tries to control Vegeta, telling him to battle and “even kill the others, if you like.”

“Silence!” Vegeta shouts. “My only objective is Kakkarot! I don’t care about anyone else!”

Babidi is in shock. “What a guy! He still isn’t completely under my control. This is a first.”

After calling Goku out in a challenge, Vegeta fires a Ki blast directly into Goku’s face, which Goku blocks, but he cannot redirect the beam. It flies into the crowd, killing over a hundred people immediately. Then the beam flies through the arena wall, burning through the city for more than a mile, finally erupting in a giant mushroom cloud.

Total death count? According to Babidi, 200 people.

Goku realizes what’s going on. “Vegeta! Don’t tell me you fell under Babidi’s spell on purpose. … Answer me, Vegeta!!”

Vegeta fires another blast into the stadium, killing dozens more. He then grimaces at Goku like a psychopathic madman.

Goku fills himself with rage and transforms into a Super Saiyan.

Goku says, “Vegeta. You let yourself fall under Babidi’s spell and lost your self-control, and did all this in order to get me serious? Am I wrong?”

Vegeta replies, “If I hadn’t done all this, you wouldn’t have fought me! In only one day, you’ll disappear from this world. And yet all this gets in the way!”

Kaioshin rebukes him, “So for that… just for that, you’ve done this foolish thing?”

Vegeta is insulted and shocked. “Foolish thing?! FOOLISH THING, YOU SAY?!!”

He powers up, sending dust everywhere.

“This is everything to me! It does not matter to me what happens with Majin Buu or anything else!”

Pointing at Goku, “He… He surpassed my strength! He is a Saiyan, same as me, yet he outpaced me! Me! The Prince, at the height of his overwhelming power! I… I’ve even had my life saved by him! I cannot forgive him for that! Absolutely not!!”

At the request of Goku they are transported by Babidi to a desert battleground away from civilians. Babidi tries to control Vegeta again, ordering him to kill everyone.

Vegeta’s mind is split in two and he writhes in pain. “Do it! Do them in!” The Majin symbol on his forehead pulses with red light.

“I refuse!”

Babidi orders him to do it once more, and Vegeta’s body spasms in pain.

Vegeta speaks to Babidi, “Like I said, all I want to do is fight Kakkarot. I… I am the proud Prince of the Saiyans! You think I would allow myself to become your serf?! You may control my body and my heart, but at least you will not have your way… with my PRIDE!!”

Vegeta screams in anger, powering up, sending a huge golden aura out of his body, while lines of white serpentine energy course out of him. Mountains collapse as the earth quakes.

Kaioshin is in shock, “Unbelievable! To think there’s a person that could defy Babidi while being controlled by him!”

Goku, almost in disgust, says, “So this is how badly you wanted to settle things between us, Vegeta?”

“I’ve waited. I’ve waited so long, Kakkarot!”

The Pride of a Man

In this scenario we see the extent to which Vegeta would go in order to enact revenge against Goku. He would even allow a foreign being to take control of his body and heart in exchange for more power.

Why? For a chance to feel complete once again. And a chance to restore his pride.

Vegeta explains in the following episodes that he willingly let Babidi possess him so that he could remember the feeling of only caring for himself… the simple freedom and joy that this brings. The satisfaction of being a ruthless, cold hearted warrior, and of being the best.

He had tried Goku’s way… the way of kindness and family. The way of protecting others.

But what did it get him?

In Vegeta’s mind it only brought comfort and weakness. Sentimental rubbish! An unfitting way of life for a warrior!

Most importantly, it did not increase his power and it did not satisfy his ultimate desire.

When Vegeta had the opportunity to let this all go and return to his former self, he took it.

After an intense and exhausting battle, the two warriors were evenly matched.

During a moment when Goku offered his kindness, Vegeta attacked with a sneaky blow from behind, knocking Goku unconscious.

Vegeta betrayed Goku’s trust and won the fight.

But shortly afterward he lost his life against the recently awakened Majin Buu… in the ultimate self sacrifice.

He also lost his soul, and was sent to Hell.

Vegeta’s spirit possession resulted in short term satisfaction from a battle with Goku, and the long term death of millions.

Was it worth the cost?

In Vegeta’s eyes, it was. Satisfying his pride is all that mattered.

Such is the price this man paid to achieve his desire.

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Spirit Possession in Dragon Ball

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARCUS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DEREK: Ohhhh.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARCUS: Hm-hmm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARCUS:

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

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

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

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

MARCUS: Hm-hmm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARCUS: Yep. Exactly.

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

MARCUS: Man, that is a tough question.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I have two more questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARCUS: Who is your favorite MMA fighter right now?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Marcus Brimage – DBZ and MMA Part 2

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

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

Here is Marcus’ introduction interview on the show.

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

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

We ended up talking for over an hour!

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

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

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

*Warning that this interview contains occasional swear words.

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

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

That’s right, kids!

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

Dragon Ball Z Inspires a Young Man

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARCUS:

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

DEREK: Well, yeah, centuries ago.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARCUS: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MARCUS: Yeah.

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

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

DEREK: Why do you wish that?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dragon Ball is #1

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

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Marcus Brimage – DBZ and MMA Part 1

It took 7 days for us to gather the 7 dragon balls, and now we can summon the almighty Shenron and have him grant our wish!

“Come Forth, Shenron!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-IUZe6dR_k

Shenron Tattoos

The Dragon Has Awakened!

“You who has summoned me… State thy wish!”

What will you wish for? Add your comments below!

Thanks for joining us on this 7 part series. If you enjoyed these posts, then please let me know in the comments and I’ll do more like them in the future!

And hurry up with stating your wish! Shenron is losing his patience!

Post from: The Dao of Dragonball Blog

Dragon Ball Tattoos – Shenron