Final Forum: A Dragon Ball Podcast

Is Piccolo his own person or a re-incarnation of Demon King Piccolo? If he's his son why does he have his memories and his connection to Kami? If he's a reincarnation why does he become good and speak of himself as if he's a different person? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 81 through 85: "Deja Vu," "Frieza's Second Transformation," "Another Transformation?" "Dende's Demise," and "The Renewed Goku." We begin the Frieza Saga, and focus on the person who has had their context changed most by these adventures on Namek: Piccolo. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are still alive A decent batch of episodes, but some pacing issues to be sure A reminder about Demon King Piccolo and how his children were born in the past Piccolo Jr as contextualized by the Shinto concept of a bunshin How Bunshin compare to Buddhist reincarnation cycles How reincarnation cycles lead to the concept of a mindstream, which is akin to the Olympic torch, but for one's thoughts and soul What concepts from Daoism influenced Piccolo giving birth to Piccolo Jr by spitting up an egg Some symbolism with Goku destroying the Demon part of Demon King Piccolo The way this relates to Namekians, the Namekian concept of fusion, and Nail and Piccolo's fusion Namekians, their name puns, their physiology, and how that may all be influenced by the decision to name them after slugs Guru's (or Grand Elder) unlocked potential ability and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/  

Tree of Might gave us all plot and little action, but what happens when we have all action and little plot? Can we sustain a commentary for a film as threadbare as this? The answers are within as Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling the 1991 movie, Cooler's Revenge. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are chilln We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners We discuss Piccolo's eating habits, if any, and whether Namekians operate on zombie rules or vampire rules when it comes to eating human food We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge such as its 1991 release at the Toei Manga Matsuri film festival, the film's box office, and the production team working on the film We talk about the other films released alongside the movie, Magical Taruruto: Magical Battle of Friendship and Dragon Quest: The Great Adventure of Dai 1 A little bit about Tetsuya Egawa, who also created Golden Boy, and some connections between Magical Taruruto and Dragon Ball including voice work by Megumi Urawa (Uub and Universe 5's Supreme Kai in Dragon Ball Super), and production by Chiaki Imada Riku Sanjo, who wrote The Adventure of Dai and also worked on Guyver: Bio Booster Armor, as well as several Kamen Rider entries including W, Zero One, and Eternal Akia Katada, key animator, also from World's Strongest and Wrath of the Dragon Yutaka Nakamura, future Bones animator, with Bones being notable for having gorgeous work in their contemporary anime such as My Hero Academia and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, will this movie hold up? The Cooler Armored Squadron Neiz, whose name is based on mayonnaise Dore, whose name is a pun on Salad Dressing and breaking down some of the confusion around this pun Salza, whose name is NOT a pun on Salsa, but rather Thousand Island Dressing, and whose design is clearly influenced by Jeice The Cooler Armored Squadron as the we have the Ginyu Force at home squad Cooler, his appearance, his name and his personality Predator, or Yautja, and how Alien vs Predator was being teased from almost the moment there were Alien and Predator movies both in existence Toriyama's contributions to this movie being a bit more than usual. Dub peculiarities, and discussing Creative Products Corporation and their history with the franchise How Funimation both kept and altered the numetal soundtrack here, and tweaked the use of Disturbed in the film What Shenron and Bulma might be up to at this time A checklist of how this movie pairs with the Frieza arc and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this movie and re-evaluate our thoughts on it Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.   https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/  

False Super Saiyan?!?! What could it mean???   The answers are within as Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling the 1991 movie, Lord Slug. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are ...doing something... We introduce special guests for this episode, the cohosts of the podcast Kaiju vs. History, Patrick and Myles We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug such as its 1991 release at the Toei Manga Matsuri film festival, the film's box office, and the production team working on the film We talk about the other film released alongside the movie, Magical Taruruto a A brief foray into the world of Ultraman The moment that Dragon Ball Z has become an absolute powerhouse phenomenon is here, as the box office has increased by 62% between movies Yamato, the Black Cat (or Kuroneko) delivery company in Japan and how they allowed the Ghibli movie Kiki's Delivery Service to use their trademarks The film's villains Wings or Doradabo and his resemblance to Dodoria Angila or Angira and his resemblance to Zarbon Zeeun, whose name means seiun or nebula Madamatcha, whose name is a space-related pun A brief discussion of the Andromeda Galaxy, where all this film's minor villains take their names Clash of the Titans 1981 Comparisons between Slug and Turles, the villain of the film Tree of Might A discussion of False Super Saiyan and Toriyama's intentions and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this movie and re-evaluate our thoughts on it Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. Also, check out Kaiju vs. History: https://kaijuvshistory.com/  https://bsky.app/profile/kaijuvshistory.bsky.social  https://letterboxd.com/KaijuVsHistory    Our Links: https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/  

Who is the most DATABLE Dragon Ball character? Let's find out TODAY!   Jelli and Bekinney continue their break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun! In this episode: It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 32 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical game of The Dating Game, with a Jeopardy kicker We take if from the round of 32, down to the Sweet 16, Head into the Elite Eight, jump into the Final Four, and then choose our champion! Who will reign supreme and be declared the number one under heaven in datability? Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

Who is the MOST LOVABLE Dragon Ball character?!?! Jelli and Bekinney take a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun! In this episode: It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 64 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical episode of The Dating Game We discuss the system used for determining outcomes. We break down our opponents in each matchup. In the Saiyan Region: Will Goku topple Tarble, will Vegeta defeat Paragus, who will win when Broly encounters Goten? Will the timeline handle Future Trunks facing off against his younger self? Can Gohan defeat King Vegeta?  Can Cabba beat Bardock? Can Kale topple Nappa? Will Caulifla be able to defeat Raditz? In the Earthling Region: Krillin vs Yajirobe, Bulma vs Chiaotzu, Android 17 vs Ox King, Android 18 vs Mr Satan, Yamcha vs Chichi, Tien vs Nam, Android 16 vs Videl, Master Roshi vs Launch In the Villains Region: Can Frieza out-fox Mercenary Tao? Will Hit topple Recoome? Will Zamasu throttle King Cold? Who is more nefarious, Cooler or Pilaf? Who has the mad skills, Ginyu or Dabura? Will Buu beat down Android 19? Will Jiren smash Dr Gero? Can Cell prove to be more perfect than Garlic Jr? In the Deity/Ally Region: Who will win when Beerus, Oolong, Korin, Mr Popo, Nail, Elder Kai, Supreme Kai Shin, Puar, King Kai, Gregory, Dende, Kabito, Kami, King Yemma, Piccolo, and Jaco all face off? Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

Jelli and Bekinney have no time to continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime Dragon Ball. In this episode: The climactic battle! Join us and find out if we will ever continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/  

We've reached a mid-point(?) of the overall Namek arc of Dragon Ball Z. We've reached Namek, we've dispatched Frieza's henchmen, and even the elite Ginyu Force have been defeated. How do we feel about this saga, as we begin the final battle against Frieza himself? Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by jumping into comparing the Dragon Ball anime to the Dragon Ball manga. We continue discussing Frieza arc, and talk about pacing. We also discuss five episodes of the anime, episodes 76-80, "Picking Up the Pieces," "Plans for Departure," "Nursing Wounds," "Friends or Foes," and "Held Captive." In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney descend to the surface of Mars We recap the story a little bit We discuss Elder Namekian (aka Guru) being able to unlock potential and why Gohan is able to have his potential unlocked twice throughout the story Scouters vs chi and how expertly the Z fighters, as they're known, can alter their flow of chi A brief note on Change, Switch, and Ginyu, whether he possibly says Henshin and whether the word choice matters Mr Popo's carpet can teleport? Bulma's hairstyles Gohan says it out loud: Piccolo is his dad Vegeta's tail...he claims it will grow back?!?! A continuity error the anime fixes Some of the timing/timeline differences introduced by the anime taking place at a slower pace Frieza killing Cargo or Dodoria, and whether it matters Goku reaching 100G on purpose or accident, and whether it matters Notes on the title pages, including possible inspiration behind the Driver License episode Frieza's chair: does it fly, or does he fly it? Wrapping up the arc with grades and comparing the manga to the anime and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/  

Dragon Ball Super RETURNS! After the much-anticipated Genkidamatsuri event that took place in Tokyo, Japan, on January 25, 2026, there's a slew of news about Dragon Ball: New games, new anime, now DLC, and new versions of old anime...or old stories done new or...uhmmmm...Dragon Ball Super Kai, basically. Join Jelli and Bekinney as we do a casual check-in and wrangle together the news from the Genkidamatsuri event and talk about it. We also catch up on what we've been watching, Jujutsu Kaisen, Evangelion, Gurren Lagann, Fallout, housing issues, bad puns, Hunter x Hunter, Predator Badlands, Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Good Boy, Primate, Nobody 2, Bugonia, The Surrender, One Battle After Another, It Was Just an Accident, and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple   Join us for this more casual conversation as we dig through our lives. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social  https://discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD 

What do you get when you put together all the PLOT of a movie, but little of the ACTION of a Dragon Ball movie? Why are we talking about Jane Fonda on a Dragon Ball Z commentary track?  The answers are within as Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling the 1991 movie, The Tree of Might. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are nearing a certain Red Planet We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might such as its 1991 release at the Toei Manga Matsuri film festival, the film's box office, and the production team working on the film We talk about the other films released alongside the movie in an event known as Akira Toriyama: The World, namely, Kennosuke-sama and Pink the Rain Jack. A little bit about Minoru Okazaki, director of Kennosuke-sama who also contributed to Dr. Slump, Tetsujin 28, Dragon Ball GT, Mega Man: Wish Upon a Star, Astro Boy, Cyborg 009 and more, as well as the voice cast featuring talents that would appear in Metal Gear Solid 2, Soul Calibur III, and the Lupin franchise Comparing Pink to Akira Toriyama's later manga, Sand Land, and discussing its director, Toyoo Ashida, most known for the original Vampire Hunter D, as well as Fist of the North Star and the 1986 Guyver anime, as well as the anthology film Batman: Gotham Knight A brief discussion of Yuji Ikeda, art director for this film, and through Super Android 13, as well as Barefoot Gen 2, Bleach, Death Note, Demon City Shunjuku, Digimon, The Guyver, Naruto, One Piece, Pokemon and Yu Yu Hakusho The first appearance of Icarus, who we likened (A VERY LITTLE BIT) to the DBZ equivalent of Harley Quinn and drew comparisons to a Dr Slump character, Taxi Dragon Discussing the film's unique antagonists, Raisin, Lakasai, Cacao, Amond, Daiz and Turles Cacao's visual similarities to a slew of creatures that bounced around Jelli's brain including the Inhumanoids characters Tendril and Metlar as well as the design similarity to the third Clayface, Preston Payne Delving into a unique aspect of Daiz's design: leg warmers and how they were popularized by the 1980s aerobics fad, originally pioneered by Jacki Sorenson and popularized by Jane Fonda's home workout video series Other elements of the 80s leg warmer fad including Fam Flashdance and Xanadu A little about Jane Fonda's career, from Barbarella to political activism, to her faux pas that led to her being dubbed Hanoi Jane, to her attempt to rebrand herself with her home exercise tapes How Jane Fonda's workout is a trope that is so well-known, people have likely seen homages to or parodies of it (like 2024's The Substance) even if they didn't know it, akin to Star Wars or Dragon Ball Z Jelli acknowledging that the popularity of Jane Fonda's home workout paved the way for his exercises of preference, P90X and other Beach Body (or Bodi) workouts Trivia around the movie's many dubs, unique design debuts, and cast of characters Ron Wasserman's contributions to the original score and his thoughts on Dragon Ball Shuki Levy, a partner of Haim Saban and co-founder of Saban Entertainment How the Tree of Might may be an allusion to a Tree of Life Bekinney pointing out that the Tree of Might is kind of like the Tree of Heaven and is a terrible thing, unlike Toriyama's pre-established Tree of Hell (the Enseijuu Tree, seen in the HFIL episode) that is a healthy, prosperous thing, and how this highlights Toriyama's love of opposites. and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this movie and re-evaluate our thoughts on it Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/  

What happens when an independent artist unofficially adapts a Dragon Ball-free adaptation of a Dragon Ball video game into a light novel? Did that question even make sense?   Jelli and Bekinney are taking a quick break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at a novelization of the NES game: Dragon Power, inspired by the Worlds of Power book series. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney pass through an asteroid belt The Worlds of Power Book series, from its inception as an idea inspired by Seth Godin's conversations with his nephew about reading to its ultimate success Nintendo's decision to pass on the Worlds of Power licensing Random House's Godzilla books A discussion of Quan Millz and Chuck Tingle and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/  

What if… Dragon Ball were to implement a Secret Invasion type of story, with a race of Ginyu type aliens body swapping into various bodies? How would swapping two beings into the same body at the same time? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 71 through 75: "Goku is Ginyu and Ginyu is Goku," "Calling the Eternal Dragon," "Gohan, Defeat Your Dad," "Captain Ginyu…the Frog" and "Password is Porunga." We continue talking about the Ginyu Force, and this episode, zero in on Captain Ginyu, the namesake of the group. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney pass a certain ringed planet A decent batch of episodes Vegeta’s outfits and the internal consistency (or lack thereof) of Saiyan armor stretching to fit its wearer The man (?) of the hour: Captain Ginyu Ginyu’s personality resemblances in WWE, including Ric Flair and the Ultimate Warrior Ginyu’s physical resemblance to the Talosians of Star Trek Whether Ginyu’s body is his original, which spirals into a conversation about how multiple body swaps would work simultaneously What if: Ginyu’s species could ALL do the body swap and we had a Secret Invasion type of story in Dragon Ball with the Ginyus acting as the Skrulls Should we have done a Frieza episode before a Ginyu episode? Are Ginyu and Frieza stand-ins for Mephistopheles and Satan? Nio, a pair of wrathful dharmpala who are guardians of Buddha and destroy obstacles to enlightenment, also known as Agyo and Ungyo And invitation to be corrected on the connections we’re making Ginyu and Frieza’s comparability to Orcus, Sauron and Galactus and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/  

Prepare for Trouble! And make it...two. Two of the...the bad guys. Two of them. At the same time. A tag team of cosmic proportions, when the fastest man in the universe and...another guy team up to take on the forces of good. Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 66 through 70: "Goku's New Power," "A Legend Revealed," "Ginyu Assault," "Incredible Force!" and "Frieza Approaches." We continue talking about the Ginyu Force, and this episode, zero in on Jeice and Burter, the two who operate as a tag team withing the unit. In this episode: The season is over...? A good bunch of episodes again Some trivia about Burter, his height and his involvement in Dragon Ball GT A tangent into Ultraman Leo Jessie the Body Ventura The idea of punctuality and time management as it pertains to Japanese culture, and how the country was not always thought of as the bullet-train-driven hyper-efficient society it is now Jeice or Jheese Sticking with WWF/WWE bit of comparison with Jeice and Burter being like The Rockers, where Shawn Michaels betrayed Marty Jeaneatty, or a visual comparison point of The Road Warriors, especially with Road Warrior Hawk looking somewhat similar to Burter Revisiting the history of punk in Japan Tracing punk's history in Japan from Maruhachibu and Zuno Keisatsu into The Stalin and Hantarash and how punk's emphasis on visual style in Japan gave way eventually to Visual Kei A brief history of visual kei, via the band X Japan and some American comparison points like Twisted Sister or Kiss Jeice as a glam rock superstar and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

They appear as a full team for approximately 1% of the franchise, and yet the Ginyu Force leave an indelible mark up Dragon Ball. How do they do it? Is it their flashy poses, their sense of style, their group dynamic? What is it about these five warriors that make them so memorable? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 61 through 65: "Hidden Power," "New Ally, New Problem," "Guldo's Mind Binds," "Recoome Unleashed," and "Let the Battle Begin." We are officially into the GINYU Saga and we're taking a look at the eponymous Ginyu Force, especially zeroing in on Recoome and Guldo. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are looking out the window. Still. A much better batch of episodes The Ginyu Force as a microcosm of Toriyama's sensibilities - subversive, parody, colorful, fun, powerful, self-contradictory, everything he likes Breaking down the name Ginyu Tokusentai into a discussion of what toku and sentai might mean to American audiences Talking about Super Sentai, including Shotaro Ishinomori, the creator of Kamen Rider and Super Sentai Ishinimori as the Japanese counterpart to Jack Kirby The impact of Super Sentai on the pop culture landscape and the more well-known American counterpart, Might Morphin Power Rangers The Ginyu Force as a classic Disney trope of a second-in-command villain who's more of a bumbling oaf than a genuine threat Breaking down Ginyu Puns; Ginyu - Dairy, Recoome - Cream, Guldo - Yogurt, Burter -Butter, Jeice - Cheese Delving into Guldo or Gurd His function as the Saibaman of the Ginyu Force Possible comparisons to Herve Jean-Pierre Villechaize, who played Nick Nack in Bond film, the Man with the Golden Gun, and Tattoo on Fantasy Island Possible comparisons to Danny Devito, due to the movie Twins with Arnold Schwarzenegger coming out at this time Diving into Recoome Is Recoome a robot? Recoome as a blend of Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren, due to the popularity of Rocky IV at the time and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

Have you heard that Dragon Ball Super Season 2 is coming soon? What about new movies? The continuation of the manga? It’s that time of year where “Dragon Ball Super Season 2” ‘announcements’ plague the rumor mills and every talks about what to expect for 2026, so we’re here to, frankly…ruin everyone’s fun. It’s time to do some rumor control. Join Jelli and Bekinney as we do a casual check-in with our friend Lux Edwards. We talk about Dragon Ball Daima now that it has finished its Toonami airing, and we get into some rumor control. We break down what facts we know about Akio Iyoku, president of Capsule Corporation Tokyo, and his past history with Shueisha. We get into his friendship with Akira Toriyama, and into the ongoing legal stalemate between Capsule Corporation and Shueisha. We don’t out-and-out DEBUNK rumors, but we do tell you to bring some salt to sprinkle on all these rumors. We also bemoan the current lack of a successor to the Goku Black arc’s most hilarious dub line, that has to do with Trunks shouting “Don’t shoot!” We also talk about Predator Badlands, The Chair Company, I Think You Should Leave, Tim Robinson, put a bow on Halloween, discuss upcoming Thanksgiving plans, and just kinda ramble. It’s a casual conversation and nobody felt much like editing, so just come hang with us. Join us for this more casual conversation as we dig through our lives. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social  Binary Breakers: https://binarybreakers.com/ Lux Edwards: https://bsky.app/profile/soulmass218.bsky.social  

How do we manage to turn a discussion of zenkai boosts into yet another of our disturbing moments of talking about carnality? Why does Goku do 10,000 reps of his training moves? Where does The Wizard of Oz figure into this? We'll present the information, you tell us if the answer is "anything at all" Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 56 through 60: "Zarbon's Mission," "Gohan, the Hunted," "Unknown Enemies," "Destination Guru," and "Bulma's Big Day." We continue discussing the Namek Saga and take a look at Vegeta's assertion that Saiyans gain a power boost after facing death. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are looking out the window A discussion of how some of the filler here kills the pacing, differently than filler in the past Going back to the Pilaf Arc for a cleanup discussion Comparing Yamcha and Bulma to characters from The Wizard of Oz How the Wizard of Oz utilizes the "it was in you all along" trope and how that was influenced by the bluebird of happiness trope How the bluebird of happiness trope came from the Quran and what influence Journey to the West may have had in bringing in elements of this into Dragon Ball A discussion of Xi Wangmu, the Chinese deity known as the Queen Mother of the West Zenkai boosts A Vegeta impression!? Why zenkai are no longer used, featuring both an in-universe explanation and some head canon that re-defines a certain practice that was most (in)famously utilized by David Carradine (of Kill Bill fame) A Bruce Lee quote concerning the number 10,000 The infamous 10,000 Hours Rule made famous by Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers What Anders Ericsson, whose research formed the basis for this rule had to say about Gladwell's interpretations A bunch of discussion about practice creating greatness and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

What do WWE/WWF, King Kong Bundy, Bam Bam Bigelow, Junkyard Dog, David Bowie, the 80s punk rock movement, voice actor Sumi Shimamoto, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have to do with Dragon Ball? We'll present the information, you tell us if the answer is "anything at all" Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 51 through 55: "Vegeta Has a Ball," "The Past and Future," "Zarbon's Surprise," "Guru's Gift," and "Piccolo vs Everyone." We continue discussing the Namek Saga and take a look at Frieza's right-hand men, Zarbon and Dodoria In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are traveling through space The episodes are solid Notes on Dodoria's name pun, and physical appearance, including whether he was originally intended to be yellow rather than pink Confusion about the appearances of a durian fruit, horned melon, jackfruit and pineapple The differences between a tankoban and kanzenban and attempting to equate it to American comics with trade paperbacks and omnibuses King Kong Bundy, his life and career including his run at the top of WWF alongside Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, and his appearances on Married with Children Mentions of Bambam Bigelow and Junkyard Dog Musing about whether Dodoria's design was influenced by punk culture Brief notes on Japan's punk scene in the 80s Sliding over to Zarbon Notes about his name pun and appearance The cultural importance of the zabon fruit (aka the shaddock) in Southeast Asian festivals Whether Zarbon is at all influenced by voice actress Sumi Shimamoto from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind David Bowie and his obsession with Japanese culture Musing on Zarbon's transformation and whether it's a nod to reptiles, or possibly frogs, and then a detour into the realm of TMNT and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

#1 will surprise you! #10 will titillate you! [insert other clickbait phrase]! Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular! In this special Bekinney-only mini-sode we take a complete break from format, and from breaking down Akira Toriyama's manga and anime smash success to continue our October/Halloween Festivities and on this episode, it's all about attacks....and attempting to pick ten DIFFERENT attacks than Jelli previously picked. That's...scary...right? Probably. So, what will make Bekinney's Top Ten Dragon Ball Attacks? The pool to choose from is ENORMOUS: Vegeta's Final Flash and Galick Gun and Big Bang Attack and Final Explosion, Tien Shienhan's Kikoho, General Blue's Hypnosis, Tao Paipai's Dodonpa aka Dodon Ray, Piccolo's Makonkosappo aka Special Beam Cannon , Frieza's Laser Blasts and Death Ball, Android 16's Hell's Flash, Majin Buu's Candy Beam and Human Extinction Attack, Dabura's Stone Spit, Beerus' Hakai, King Kai's Kaioken, Goku Black's Sickle of Sorrow, Hit's Time Skip, Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist, Gohan's Masenko and of course Goku's Kamehameha ....and more...? Bekinney threw all these (AND MORE) in a pile and picked out just TEN of his favorites. Who will they be?

What is it about giant fire-breathing turtles that can become airborne flying saucers that delights children and even worms its way into the hearts of cynical adults? Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular! In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney break down the 1969 film, Gamera vs. Guiron. It's part of our October/Halloween Festivities where we're taking a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon and delving into times our franchise's creators have "put on a costume" and worked on other shows and movies. In this case, we're talking about Shunsuke Kikuchi, the composer behind Dragon Ball. And since we felt like we couldn't do it alone, we've brought along a friend: John DeSentis is a composer, musician, and kaiju fan who has conducted orchestras, scored films, and helped organize kaiju conventions. His credits include the anthology Worst Laid Plans, the short film The Conduit, and Kaiju Crescendo: An Evening of Japanese Monster Music. He has appeared on the Kaiju Transmissions podcast, as well as Imaginary Worlds, Growing up with Godzilla and is a frequent guest on the Gen X Lounge. (He also loves Vin Diesel memes and enjoys being confused with Ron DeSantis.)   In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney say hello to Johnny We discuss why we chose to look at Gamera vs Guiron Production facts and history behind 1969's Gamera vs Guiron, including its place in the Gamera pantheon of films, budget, and release history Brief discussion of Daiei studios as a company Why Gamera exists and how it kept Daiei afloat for close to a decade Discussing the film's "stars" including Yuko Hamada, Khan Omura (aka Kon-Chan, aka Cornjob), and Christopher Murphy A look at the life of director Noriaki Yuasa, his filmmaking prior to Gamera, including Nezura and If You're Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands, how Gamera became his signature franchise, and how Yuasa differed from his contemporaries, especially Ishiro Honda Yuasa's filmmaking philosophy and his thoughts on the 1990s Heisei Gamera films directed by Shusuke Kaneko How budgetary limitations affected the production of the film including the creation of Space Gyaos and the Guiron suit Daiei's financial struggles in the late 60s leading to their bankruptcy in 1971, as well as a unique agreement worked out with screenwriter Niisan Takahashi and how that may have influenced some of the Showa Gamera crew's feelings about the 90s Gamera films A discussion of Counter Earth or Opposite Earth and the Greek philosopher Philolalus, a disciple of Pythagoras and Aristotles thoughts on Philolalean cosmology as well as Pythagorean discipleship Shunsuke Kikuchi, his life, his background, and his career including Doraemon and Grendizer A comparison of Gamera films to fantasy and fairy tales including Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilock and the Three Bears, Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel (including a recommendation to check out the 2025 film The Ugly Stepsister) A brief discussion of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (aka MST3K) and their history with the Gamera franchise including the KTMA season of the show A closing in which we talk about our Halloween viewings including the Hammer Dracula films (and particular focus on The Satanic Rites of Dracula), Blacula, Tales from the Hood, Let the Right One In, the Grudge films, Sadako vs Kayako, Weapons and the documentary Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror ...and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise....or in this case, the Gamera franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event! https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod   John DeSentis: https://www.instagram.com/johndesentis/?hl=en  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5044010/  https://www.youtube.com/user/JDeSentis3  https://genxlounge.buzzsprout.com/ 

Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular! In this special Jelli-only mini-sode we take a complete break from format, and from breaking down Akira Toriyama's manga and anime smash success to continue our October/Halloween Festivities and on this episode, it's all about attacks. Because of the punching. That's...scary...right? Sure. So, what will make Jelli's Top Ten Dragon Ball Attacks? The pool to choose from is ENORMOUS: Vegeta's Final Flash and Galick Gun and Big Bang Attack and Final Explosion, Tien Shienhan's Kikoho, General Blue's Hypnosis, Tao Paipai's Dodonpa aka Dodon Ray, Piccolo's Makonkosappo aka Special Beam Cannon , Frieza's Laser Blasts and Death Ball, Android 16's Hell's Flash, Majin Buu's Candy Beam and Human Extinction Attack, Dabura's Stone Spit, Beerus' Hakai, Goku Black's Sickle of Sorrow, Hit's Time Skip, Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist, Gohan's Masenko and of course Goku's Kamehameha ....and more...? Jelli threw all these in a pile and picked out just TEN of his favorites. Who will they be?

What makes the 1986 adaptation of Journey to the West so endearing? Welcome to Final Forum's Dragon Ball-oween Spooktacular! In this episode, Jelli and Bekinney break down the 1986 Chinese television event, Journey to the West. It's part of our October/Halloween Festivities where we're taking a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon and delving into times our franchise's creators have "put on a costume" and worked on other shows and movies. In this case, it's a little bit different, as we talk about Wu Cheng'en and the inspiration behind the Dragon Ball franchise.   In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney say hello to Halloween We discuss why we chose to look at Journey to the West The life of Wu Cheng'en, novelist, poet, and politician who is the most likely author of Journey to the West Why the authorship of Journey to the West is up for debate and assertion from Anthony Christopher Yu, scholar, theologian, sinologist, and professor who translated JTTW that Cheng'en did in fact write the novel originally The production history of the show and how that ties into Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution, and China's moves towards embracing its traditions The struggles that Yang Jie, director, showrunner, producer, writer, editor, location scouter, casting director, and budget overseer had while making the show, including a single camera and accusations of theft The cast being largely derived from Peking Opera backgrounds Liu Xiao Ling Tong's performance as Sun Wukong The dangers of the show The reception of the show and its legacy Plans to continue breaking down the show in the future ...and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise....or in this case, the Halo trans-media franchise....for our special Dragon Ball-o-Ween event! https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod

Quarks! Quantum entanglements! Relativity! Non-Einsteinian simultaneity! What do these have to do with Bulma making a phone call from Namek to Earth? Everything, it turns out. Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 46 through 50: "Defying Orders," "Namek's Defense," "The Hunted," "The Prince Fights Back," and "Unexpected Problem." Wedive into the Namek Saga and tackle the problem of faster-than-light communications and time travel. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are being cagey Back to a solid run of episodes Putting some SCIENCE into our science fiction How long it SHOULD take to send a message to Namek Ursula K LeGuin and her creation of the ansible What is an ansible? Why is it called an ansible? How does an ansible work? Robert Heinlein's (Starship Troopers) answers to how faster than light communication would work Non-Einsteinian simultaneity and how early work on non-simultaneity and relativistic speeds influenced Einstein's theory of relativity Lorentz transformations and Einstein's train thought experiment How the term ansible and the work of Le Guin influenced people like David Langford and Orson Scott Card A brief slagging of Card Research done into tachyons and reverse time travel The work of physicists Ben Tippet and David Tsang in the math behind reverse time travel Whether changing the past changes the future and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

We've still never heard of editing but we HAVE heard of Dragon Ball this time...kind of. Join Jelli and Bekinney as we catch up after just a couple weeks. Bekinney discusses a new book series he's reading, while Jelli delves back into Japan, walking through Osaka, Dotonbori, Tanuki statues, the Orix Buffaloes, Expo 2025 (which leads us into a brief discussion of the movie Gamera vs Jiger) the Curse of the Colonel and the Hanshin Tigers, Hiroshima and Peace Park, and the Hotel Gracery or the Godzilla Hotel in Tokyo. Jelli also talks about some general tips for travel and alludes to a video that may or may not ever happen. We also discuss The Princess Bride, and the Buffalo Bills, and Dragon Ball Gekishin Squadra   Join us for this more casual conversation as we dig through our lives. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social 

How do you pad for time between arcs? Are those Crows? What awaits us as we begin a new story arc? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 41 through 45: "Look Out Below," "The Search Continues," "A Friendly Surprise," "Brood of Evil," and "Frieza Strikes." We begin discussing the Namek Saga and attempt to break down some filler episodes and preview this new arc. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney try to plot their next move The run of great episodes is over, but let's not lose hope. Breaking down the names for Raiti and Zaacro, as well as Cui Attempting to evaluate the Treedon birds through the lens that they might be crows and looking at how crows are viewed in Japan Cannibalism? One of us totally would. Which one will (not) shock you Jack and the Beanstalk and its origins as a very different story from the one we know A little bit about Group TAC, which allows us to talk about the voice talents behind Pokemon's Mewtwo, and get tangentially into a wild tokusatsu movie... ...Rex: A Dinosaur's Story, the tale of how a baby tyrannosaurus rex is raised by a little girl, gets in a food fight, escapes marketing executives on a snowmobile after stealing a Christmas cloak from Colonel Sanders and the story of how the movie's production led to the arrest of the head of Kadokawa for smuggling drugs A bit about Japan's Sesssho-seki, or Killing Stone famous in Tochigi Prefecture Nautilus, their shells, the Golden Ratio, the Fibonacci Sequence, and illusions We're not grasping at straws AT ALL Setting the stage using examples from X-Men, DCEU and Journey to the West Vegeta's history as the heir to the throne, and his early life Some of Toriyama's thoughts on Vegeta, at least early in the story Vegeta and Goku: Opposite sides of the same coin How Vegeta so internalizes the lessons he learns as a child that it shapes his entire worldview, and how the very existence of Goku flies in the face of said worldview The Six-Eared Macaque from Journey to the West, one of Sun Wukong's most formidable foes Some researched theories about the relationship between Wukong and Six-Ears and how that is mirrored by the relationship between Goku and Vegeta The Lego series Lego Monkie Kid and its portrayal of Six Ears Why Vegeta is always invoking his prince status as if it is a boast, despite there being only a handful of Saiyans left Why Vegeta is so relatable and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

Dragon Ball? Editing? Never heard of those things. Join Jelli and Bekinney as we catch up after six weeks of not talking much. Bekinney discusses a family reunion and riding sketchy rides on the boardwalk, including the Himalayan, and Jelli regales everyone with the first week of his trip to Japan, with his usual penchant for rambling and self-indulgence We also discuss Superman, Thunderbolts, Captain America: Brave New World, Better Man, Robbie Williams, Paddington in Peru, James Gunn's DC universe, Jurassic World Rebirth, and provide one of the only reviews you're likely to hear about the movie Brush of the God.   Join us for this more casual conversation as we dig through our lives. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social 

What would have happened if they saved Hitler's brain and put it in the body of a robot with a bubble-dome? What does the film Phantasm have to do with Dragon Ball? How did we manage to work in a reference to the Aum Shinrikyo cult that carried out multiple poison attacks on Japanese public transit in the early 90s?  The answers to these, and similar questions, abound as Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling the 1990 movie, The World's Strongest. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney narrowly escape disaster We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest such as its 1990 release at the Toei Manga Matsuri film festival, the film's box office, and the production team working on the film We talk about the other films released alongside the movie: Akuma-kun: Welcome to Devil Land, and Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Sally the Witch movie. A little history about Misuteru, including his creation of Tesujin 28, Babel II, Iga no Kagemaru, Sally the Witch, and adaptations of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water margin Contextualizing the box office of the film Shedding light on Shinji Fukumitsu, the editor, who worked on Dragon Ball Z, Gegege no Kitaro, One Piece, and Transformers: The Movie A little bit on Motoaki Ikegami and his career spanning Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dr Slump, Pokemon, Inuyasha and Twilight of the Cockroaches Discussing the film's unique antagonists, Kishime, Ebifurya, Misokatsun, Dr. Kochin, and Dr. Wheelo (or Uiro) Misokatsun --> Buyon --> The Blob --> horror movies --> Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (yes, really) A bit about the Funimation composer, Nathan Johnson and his career, including his time as a Texas state senator (Nathan) Johnsons, (Anthony) Wieners, adult film parodies of Chinese classic novels...things are coming unglued A bit about the Metaluna Men from This Island Earth, Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Universal Monsters movies, especially Ghost of Frankenstein and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this wickedly fast-paced film Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

We've reached the end of the Saiyan Arc. How do we feel about it having reached its end and being primed for the next adventure? Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by jumping into comparing the Dragon Ball anime to the Dragon Ball manga. We continue discussing Saiyan arc, and talk about pacing. We also discuss five episodes of the anime, episodes 36-40, "Picking Up the Pieces," "Plans for Departure," "Nursing Wounds," "Friends or Foes," and "Held Captive." In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney destroy the gravity generator We recap the story a little bit Wukong Hospital and Goku's unique looking hospital bed, with a possible inspiration from Alien Bulma's outfit being inspired by Alien, and its possible influence on Hideaki Anno's Neon Genesis Evangelion A theory about Bulma's evolving hairstyles A brief discussion of Frank Frazetta, the "godfather of fantasy art" who was a well-renown illustrator who worked on Conan the Barbarian and John Carter of Mars among other things in his career A conversation about the Russian attempts to place mirrors in space, and a brief tangent into discussing Archimedes' Sun Death Ray Wrapping up the arc with grades and comparing the manga to the anime and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

How do you handle introducing a rival? Why does Vegeta always call himself the Prince of All Saiyans? Is there any basis for this character in the story Journey to the West? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 30 through 35: "Goku vs. Vegeta," "Saiyan Sized Secret," "Spirit Bomb Away!" "Hero in the Shadows," "Krillin's Offensive," and "Mercy." We continue discussing the Saiyan Saga and talk in detail for the first time about one of the franchise's most iconic characters: Vegeta. We talk about his in-universe history, and his psychology, as well as his possible sources for inspiration, and what makes him so popular In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney enter into the gravity well Just how good are THESE episodes? For really real. Who is Vegeta? Setting the stage using examples from X-Men, DCEU and Journey to the West Vegeta's history as the heir to the throne, and his early life Some of Toriyama's thoughts on Vegeta, at least early in the story Vegeta and Goku: Opposite sides of the same coin How Vegeta so internalizes the lessons he learns as a child that it shapes his entire worldview, and how the very existence of Goku flies in the face of said worldview The Six-Eared Macaque from Journey to the West, one of Sun Wukong's most formidable foes Some researched theories about the relationship between Wukong and Six-Ears and how that is mirrored by the relationship between Goku and Vegeta The Lego series Lego Monkie Kid and its portrayal of Six Ears Why Vegeta is always invoking his prince status as if it is a boast, despite there being only a handful of Saiyans left Why Vegeta is so relatable and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

Could Akira Toriyama have pulled inspiration from WWE for Dragon Ball Z? Did he really have nothing to do with the anime portion of the show? What happens when we come across five more stellar episodes of DBZ? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 26 through 29: "Nappa's Rampage," "Nimbus Speed," "Goku's Arrival," and "Lesson Number One" We continue discussing the Saiyan Saga and talk about one of Dragon Ball's most infamous villains: Nappa. We also talk about filler moments such as the character Gregory, Snake Way, and Goku's misadventures in Hell and what influence Toriyama may have had on those elements. WE ALSO discuss some of the new ki attacks namely: the kienzan, or Destructo Disc, and the Masenko In this episode: Jelli manages to stave off further adventure, much to the chagrin of Bekinney Just how good are these episodes? For real. How much input did Toriyama have on anime filler? We know he designed the character Gregory, and came up with the idea for Goku to be chased by a giant snake as well as Goku eating clouds. What does this say about how involved Toriyama may have been in filler? We briefly discuss the guidebooks, or Daizenshuu A note on a filler moment from very early in Dragon Ball, with regards to Muscle Tower and some possible foreshadowing to Goku's Saiyan heritage What inspired Toriyama to create the Destructo Disk? What would Gohan's use of the Masanko tell his intended audience (Japanese people) about Gohan and Piccolo at this point? It's over 9000! A discussion of the meme Nappa: his name, his design, and the team dynamics between he and Vegeta Bolo Yeung, Hulk Hogan, Bruce Lee, and King Boxer An attempt to tie-into Journey to the West, at least thematically and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

Join Jelli and Bekinney as we continue looking at Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball franchise by tackling a discussion of where we sit currently at Final Forum. Recapping where things stand in the animated area of the franchise, and just providing a general update for the upcoming couple weeks. Bekinney discusses watching Full Metal Alchemist and then Jelli gives an SEO-friendly (hopefully...gotta get them clicks RIGHT?!) update on some movies he watched including: The Monkey, Predator: Killer of Killers, 28 Years Later, Mickey 17, Pee-Wee as Himself, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, Companion, Heart Eyes , Novocaine, Nickel Boys, Love Hurts and the little-seen Bob Trevino Likes It.   Join us for this more casual conversation as we dig through the franchise in a post-Daima world and continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social 

It's our 100th Episode! And we didn't want to celebrate on our own, so we brought in some new friends, Spencer and John from the show Eric Hates Dragon Ball Z to do a commentary-slash-reaction to the second live-action bootleg movie, Taiwan's Dragon Ball: The Magic Begins. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are celebrating 100 episodes We reveal our title and instruct listeners where to find this one We discuss some of the production facts about the film, its 1991 release, and the production team working on the film Discussing the history of Taiwanese cinema Why this movie is on Tubi, Amazon Prime, and official YouTube channels A theory about why this movie looks like it has a budget Forays into the history of China and Taiwan A wild combination of everything being absolutely right and ABSOLUTELY wrong and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this insane fever dream of a film Eric Hates Dragon Ball Z Links: https://www.rocktopusnetwork.com/eric-hates-dbz  https://erichatesdbz.libsyn.com/  https://x.com/erichatesdbz  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8rUZoC6KaDgEo9cnFnMRLw  https://www.instagram.com/erichatesdragonballz/?hl=en  https://discord.gg/7pUnfRf29k  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more.   https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

Could Akira Toriyama have pulled inspiration from The Thing for Dragon Ball Z? What would the effects of Saiyan space travel be if it were real? What happens when we come across five stellar episodes of DBZ? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 21 through 25: "Counting Down," "The Darkest Day," "Saibamen Attack!" "The Power of Nappa," and "Sacrifice." We continue discussing the Saiyan Saga and talk about some new foes: The Saibamen. We also talk about the Saiyan Space Pods, or Attack Balls. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney's situation has become most desperate Just how good are these episodes? For real. Were Saibamen inspired by the Bio Men from This Island Earth? Or perhaps by The Thing from Another World? Maybe by the Xenomorphs of Alien? Perhaps by the titular monsters from The Day of the Triffids? Maybe the pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers? More? None? All? Are there any ties between the Saibamen and The Red Ribbon Army? (not really, but there is a minor reference made by the hosts) A possible pull from Osamu Tezuka's manga, Lost World Potential inspiration from Dragon Quest Other variants of Saibamen that appear in video games and a tangent on their naming conventions How fast do Saiyan space pods travel? Is that speed feasible?  What does Saiyan deep space exercise look like? Something to think about when we talk about the exercise requirements of astronauts in space. The gooification of people inside the Attack Balls when they land and the Iron Man problem A possible tie back to Journey to the West, as well as the Chinese emperor Yu the Great A discussion of Soyuz rockets, used by Russian cosmonauts for space travel A brief look at Vostok-1 and Yuri Gagarin's historic feat The Rule of Cool and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social

What do centuries of isolation with only a monkey as company do to a martial arts master? Is the blue catfish man really a martial arts master? What's with all the dad jokes? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 16 through 20: "Plight of the Children," "Pendulum Room Peril," "The End of Snake Way," "Defying Gravity" (and to think, we barely make any Wicked references), and "Goku's Ancestors." We continue discussing the Saiyan Saga and talk about Goku's newest teacher, King Kai. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are in a rather desperate situation Is Pigero like the Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist? Or is he more like Rufio from Peter Pan/Hook? Good vs bad filler Do King Kai's jokes translate between languages? (We're actually asking) What episodes are cut out of the Ocean Group dub? Why HFIL happened and how and why things got altered wit a brief overview censorship An all-too-brief discussion of Funimation's history releasing Dragon Ball, DBZ, and their partnerships with the Ocean Group and Saban Entertainment Translating Kaio-sama to King Kai and/or The Lord of Worlds King Kai's design including his clothing from the Qing Dynasty, and his teashade sunglasses from John Lennon, or is it Mahatma Gandhi? And what is a Mahatma anyway? And who was Mahatma Hirandanda, and what of his Mewad Remayana manuscript? The deity Prince Rama and how he might tie-in to King Kai Catfish? No. What about fireflies?  Genji's Firefly Hitodama and a Return of Ultraman reference to hitodama kaiju Femigon The Tale of Genji or the Genji Clan aka the Minamoto Lamenting to loss of a great pun, but a promise to revisit when we discuss Dragon Ball Daima in the future and delve into Warp Sama and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Dragon Ball Daima is over. The dub has been released in full. What now? Where does the franchise go from here? Where CAN it go from here? What would we LIKE for it to do now? Join Jelli and Bekinney as we continue looking at Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball franchise by tackling a discussion of Dragon Ball's "State of the Union." Recapping where things stand in the animated area of the franchise, the manga and of course, current video games. We talk about where Dragon Ball Super last left off with the Super Hero arc being completed and the big Black Frieza teaser left out there. We talk about the four big video games currently being supported in the Dragon Ball world that led to Dragon Ball being Bandai Namco's number one money earner for the past fiscal year, namely The Breakers, Xenoverse 2, Kakarott, and Sparking Zero. We also talk about James Gunn's Superman, Sinners, Friendship, Paul Rudd, Tim Robinson, I Think You Should Leave, The Dark Tower, Stephen King, Holly Gibney, and of COURSE....lawnmowers.   oin us for this more casual conversation as we dig through the franchise in a post-Daima world and continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social 

Do you walk this lonely road? Is it the only one you've ever known? Do you not know where it goes? But it's home to you and you walk alone? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 11 through 15: "Terror on Arlia," "Global Training," "Goz and Mez", "Princess Snake," and "Dueling Piccolos." We continue discussing the Saiyan Saga and talk about Snake Way, and Princess Snake. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are on a new and strange planet Ox Head and Horse Face? Goz and Mez? Gozu and Mezu? We highlight the cultural underpinnings of a pretty good filler episode  The Sanzu River and the River Styx and a brief foray into Dante's Inferno The dream logic of Princess Snake, and the episode featuring Russian roulette Whether Princess Snake is inspired by a Nure-onna or an Uwabami and the importance of Snakes in Japanese culture Snake Way Snake Street in Nezu, in Tokyo, and its history along the Aizen River Torii gates Snake Way being a physical manifestation of the metaphysical Yellow Path or Sacred Path or Path Within Us from Shintoism and Buddhism Why falling off Snake Way is punished by a visit to Hell, or HFIL depending on what version of the show you're watching The Han Dynasty afterlife concept of the Yellow Springs How the cycle of reincarnation works and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

What does it take to be the 'man' sitting in front of the entry to the afterlife, judging souls? Why did we accidentally slip in to a discussion of the Ox King? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 6 through 10: "No Time Like the Present," "Day 1," "Gohan Goes Bananas," "The Strangest Robot," and "A New Friend." We continue discussing the Saiyan Saga (now that the Raditz Arc is officially already over), and talk about King Yemma. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney make ready for their next planetary expedition It's WWE time. Full Nelsons, Ruffy Silverstein, Hans Mortier, Bruno Sammartino, Hulkamania, The Warlord, the Powers of Pain, the Road Warriors, and Superstar Billy Graham. What do they have to do with Dragon Ball? Maybe nothing! The connection between King Yemma in Dragon Ball Z and the character Enma from Dr Slump The Hindu version of Enma, or Yama, and his history and mythology The Buddhist version of Yemma, Yama, and his role in the afterlife How these two characters fuse into the depiction of King Yemma Possible inspiration points from Dante's Inferno, as well as the depiction of St. Peter guarding the Pearly Gates A note about Nemuria and its connection to Lemuria, Mu, Atlantis and other Lost Continents Yamcha's team, the Taitans and why it's not spelled Titan with our tokusatsu reference for the day in the form of Ultraman (and Ultraman Tiga vs Ultraman Taiga) Somehow, a discussion of the Ox King and his ability to be Gohan's grandfather while navigating the parenting styles of both Goku and Chichi and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

What could Goku's next challenge possibly be now that he's the Strongest Under the Heavens? A sibling rivalry? Is that really all you got, Toriyama? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by breaking down episodes 1 through 5: "The New Threat," "Reunions," "Unlikely Alliance," "Piccolo's Plan," and "Gohan's Rage." We begin discussing the Saiyan Saga (or the Raditz Arc under the new terminology), and talk about Raditz as well as the pivot into DBZ. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney recuperate from their hard-fought battle We talk about the pivot into Dragon Ball Z Why is it called Dragon Ball Z? What role did Kozo Morishita, Takao Koyama, Kazuhiko Torishima, Yuu Kondo, and Akira Toriyama play in the decision to rebrand the show DBZ? We discuss whether this pivot is good or bad and talk a bit about everyone's favorite topic in Dragon Ball: Power Levels Raditz. His design, his inspirations, and his motives, we take a look at them and break them down in our typical fashion, talking about Saiyans and Toriyama's puns in the process. How does Raditz compare to Darth Vader, play on David vs Goliath, tie into Osomatsu-kun, Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, and the Bible? How does Jelli sneak in a kaiju/Godzilla reference this time? and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

It's FINALLY time for Dragon Ball Z! Kind of! Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by ...getting into our first DBZ discussion by tackling the 1989 movie, Dead Zone. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney recuperate from their hard-fought battle We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone such as its 1989 release at the Toei Manga Matsuri film festival, the film's box office, and the production team working on the film We talk about the other films released alongside the movie: Akuma-kun: The Movie, Mobile Cop Jiban, the Movie, and Himitsu no Akko-Chan's first movie We delve into the background behind the Toei Manga Matsuri – Toei Cartoon Festival and its inception in 1969 and other such festivals around the country such as Toho's Champion Festival Contextualizing the box office of the film Shedding light on Yuji Ikdeda, art director for Dr Slump and Dragon Ball Delving into Kozo Morishita, a producer for Dragon Ball GT and important figure in Dragon Ball history Morishita's work on Transformers The Movie (1986), as well as Tiger Mask and UFO Robot Grendizer, Fist of the North Star, Devilman, Mazinger Z, Cutey Honey, and Wolf Boy Ken Morishita's fame for Transformers and subsequent changes to Saint Seiya Mark Menza and Nathan Johnson, composers for the American music to these movies, working with the Bruce Faulconer team We discuss the different dubs created for the film by studios such as Creative Products, Speedy, and Funimation Breaking down the movie's characters and their inspirations, Garlic Jr, Sansho, Nicky, and the crystal used to seal away Garlic Comparisons between the Dead Zone and Superman's Phantom Zone and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this wickedly fast-paced film Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Jelli and Bekinney continue their break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun! In this episode: It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 32 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical game of Win Ben Stein's Money, with a Jeopardy kicker We take if from the round of 32, down to the Sweet 16, Head into the Elite Eight, jump into the Final Four, and then choose our champion! Who will reign supreme and be declared the number one under heaven in trivia? Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

WILL we find out why Piccolo is here? Is Super Saiyan 4 really canon now? Does that matter? What's the meaning of canon? What's the meaning of life? Why are we here? Does anything matter? Are we just on a big ball of entropy careening towards the heat death of the universe? Join Jelli and Bekinney as we continue looking at Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball franchise by tackling a discussion of Dragon Ball Daima, and its final five episodes: "Degesu," "Gomah," "Awakening," "Betrayal," and "Maximum." The Great Value Ginyu Force has their moment Gomah gets the Evil Third Eye Glorio does...I don't know...something. His story makes as little sense as we could have imagined Piccolo's punches do nothing? What is he DOING here? (spoiler: we never find out) Super Saiyan 4!?!?! SSJ4?!?!? Canon?!?!? ZOMG! Vegeta and Bulma make us wish for that sitcom we pitched last time even MORE Then there's a bunch of punching and fighting for multiple episodes And then Kuu, Duu, Arinsu, Glorio, Panzy, Kadan, and the rest all get a happy ending...wait...not THAT kiind. What else are Jelli and Bekinney up to?  Jelli is re-reading The Dark Tower, talks about The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and talks about Mike Flanagan Bekinney is playing Monster Hunter Wilds Join us for this more casual conversation as we dig through the world of Daima and continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social 

Jelli and Bekinney take a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun! In this episode: It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 64 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical episode of Win Ben Stein's Money with a Jeopardy kicker. We discuss the system used for determining outcomes. We break down our opponents in each matchup. In the Saiyan Region: Will Goku topple Tarble, will Vegeta defeat Paragus, who will win when Broly encounters Goten? Will the timeline handle Future Trunks facing off against his younger self? Can Gohan defeat King Vegeta?  Can Cabba beat Bardock? Can Kale topple Nappa? Will Caulifla be able to defeat Raditz? In the Earthling Region: Krillin vs Yajirobe, Bulma vs Chiaotzu, Android 17 vs Ox King, Android 18 vs Mr Satan, Yamcha vs Chichi, Tien vs Nam, Android 16 vs Videl, Master Roshi vs Launch In the Villains Region: Can Frieza out-fox Mercenary Tao? Will Hit topple Recoome? Will Zamasu throttle King Cold? Who is more nefarious, Cooler or Pilaf? Who has the mad skills, Ginyu or Dabura? Will Buu beat down Android 19? Will Jiren smash Dr Gero? Can Cell prove to be more perfect than Garlic Jr? In the Deity/Ally Region: Who will win when Beerus, Oolong, Korin, Mr Popo, Nail, Elder Kai, Supreme Kai Shin, Puar, King Kai, Gregory, Dende, Kabito, Kami, King Yemma, Piccolo, and Jaco all face off? Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

It's Summer Convention Season! You think it's not, just because it's winter? Well, tune in to find out why it is! Jelli takes you into the world of our summer conventions by presenting one of the panels we held this year, at Colossalcon Texas in Austin, TX (well, technically Round Rock, TX) from Colossalcon. This panel was also presented at Anime Weekend Atlanta (AWA) in (obviously) Atlanta, GA and the Q&A portion of that event is retained here.  In this episode: Jelli is on his own. We talk about Toriyama's childhood life We learn about Toriyama's early obsession with drawing and animation The influences of a young Toriyama are discussed, especially his enjoyment of Showa-era television and movie entertainment including Godzilla, Ultraman, Osamatsu-kun, Astro Boy, Iron Man Number 28, Doraemon and some early manga by creators such as Osamu Tezuka, and Fujiko Fujio despite not being a big reader of manga himself. Toriyama's realization that to be a popular anime, you should have a popular manga Discussion of how Toriyama writes and creates while watching TV and movies We discuss Toriyama's initial years out of college in a salaryman job and how his non-professional attitude caused him to seek out something more fulfilling Toriyama's passion for building models and how that allows him to get a 360-degree view of things in order to learn how to draw them Toriyama's well-known antisocial tendencies and his desire to live as near a hermit lifestyle as possible How a young, budding Toriyama got his first big shot from Kazuhiko Torishima, an editor with Shonen Jump The fusion of a manga-ka (Toriyama) who doesn't read manga, and an editor (Torishima) who also does not read much manga, and how that led the two of them to create a unique presentation Brief discussion of some of Toriyama's earliest publications in Shonen Jump including Wonder Island, Today's Highlight Island, Tomato Girl Detective, and ultimately, Dr. Slump How Arale-chan's glasses became part of her iconic look How Dr Mashirito, the villain, came to be designed after Torishima Discussion of Akira Toriyama's Crummy Manga Lab, a series of funny, short manga that were intended to semi-jokingly teach people how to be a manga-ka. How Toriyama creates Toribot, because of his desire to never be seen in pictures and avoid being recognized by people in public Toriyama falling in love, getting married, and how a snafu with press on his wedding day leads to his vow to never show his face in public How Torishima had to push Toriyama along the way to be productive and ultimately create Dragon Ball How Yoshimi Kato, Toriyama's wife, helped create Dragon Ball with an off-hand comment to Torishima about the manga-ka's work habits A very brief discussion of how Dragon Ball Super is crafted, as a collaboration between Toriyama and his chosen successor, Toyotarou Some more details on Akira Toriyama's unfortunate passing from subdermal hematoma and more, including some general pop culture and editorializing, as usual. Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.

What happens when Vegeta goes even further beyond? When will we find out why Piccolo is here? What's Daima's terrible behind-the-scenes secret? Join Jelli and Bekinney as we continue looking at Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball franchise by tackling a discussion of Dragon Ball Daima, and its next five episodes: "Legend," "True Strength," "Surprise," "Taboo," and "Third Eye". Why is Majin Kuu best boi? Is his brother, Majin Duu also best boi? Piccolo forgot how to speak Namekian? What is he DOING here? Battles against Tamagami 1 and 2 Kaiju sized hamsters! Who is the mysterious woman with the fun hat? What's the deal with the Great Value Ginyu Force? Join us for a pitch for a new show: The Saiyan Prince and Buu Heirs, and marvel at its potential storytelling heights such as Duu and Kuu asking Vegeta in a heartfelt way, "Why doesn't Arinsu want me?" (Yes this is a Fresh Prince spinoff sitcom...featuring VegeBull Hybis Duu and Kuu) What else are Jelli and Bekinney up to?  Jelli is re-reading The Dark Tower, talks about The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and gives thoughts on 2025's Wolf Man as well as 2024's Street Trash remake Bekinney is playing Final Fantasy 7, and gives thoughts on the anime and manga series Hajime no Ippo Wait, what? Are we okay? Join us for this more casual conversation as we dig through the world of Daima and continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social 

Jelli and Bekinney have no time to continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime Dragon Ball. In this episode: The climactic battle! Join us and find out if we will ever continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

A LIVE-REACT COMMENTARY?!?! What is the hidden mystery of this episode? Jelli and Bekinney are still on a break from Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon (don't worry, it's still Dragon Ball related this time) by pivoting slightly and taking a look at the 1990 film: Dragon Ball: Fight Son Goku, Win Son Goku, aka Dragon Ball: Zero. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are closing in on the power reading We reveal our title and instruct listeners where to find this one We discuss some of the production facts about the film, its 1990 release, and the production team working on the film Discussing the history of mockbuster movies The Asylum, their philosophy, and their movies such as HG Wells' War of the Worlds, King of the Lost World, The Da Vinci Treasure, Snakes on a Train, Transmorphers, I Am Omega, and Atlantic Rim (obviously cashing-in on Spielberg's War of the Worlds, Peter Jackson's 2005 King Kong, The Da Vinci Code, Snakes on a Plane, Transformers, I Am Legend/The Omega Man, and Pacific Rim) The Asylums "original" movies such as King of the Ants, 3-Headed Shark Attack, 5-Headed Shark Attack, the Sharknado series, the Mega Shark series, Lavalantula and of course, bad cinema classic: Air Collision. A mention of Monster Island, Ape vs Mecha Ape and Ape vs Mecha Ape New World Order (meant to cash in on the MonsterVerse movies Godzilla King of the Monsters, Godzilla vs Kong and Godzilla x Kong the New Empire) The "rich history" of trash cinema naming things in ways that would trick audiences best, such as how the German film industry crammed the name Frankenstein into the titles for movies such as Ghidrah the Three Headed Monster, Ebirah Horror of the Deep, and Son of Godzilla due to the success of Frankenstein Conquers the World and War of the Gargantuas, and how they went on to cram Kong into the titles of the two Mechagodzilla movies due to the upcoming Dino DeLaurentiis Kong movie in 1976 Italian cinema's history of ripoffs including Lucio Fulci's Zombi 2, an unofficial sequel to George Romer's Dawn of the Dead (released in Italy as Zombi, despite being a sequel itself to Night of the Living Dead) A very brief history of the Video Nasties Korean genre cinema, such as Space Monster Wangmagwi, War of the God Monsters, and Yongary, and how these movies are being released and preserved in the 2020s Director Ryong Wang (aka Mike Wang) and his career including appearances as the character Beggar So, time spent with Godfrey Ho, and turns at directing Korean adaptations of Fist of the North Star, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Street Fighter Hyung-rae Shim, who plays Master Roshi, and his career from his time as Esperman in the Korean sentai (Power Rangers/Jetman) ripoff Thunderhawk to his long-time portrayal of the character, Young-gu, an Ernest or Madea of Korean comedy fame Young-gu's many appearances alongside the likes of Dracula, Wolf-man, Rambo, The Three Musketeers, Master Thief Lupin, Goden Bat, and even in a movie called Power King that got the Power Rangers treatment when exported internationally. Learning about Korean mockbuster cinema and their riffs on jiangshi, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman, Gremlins, ET, Gatchaman, Wonder Woman, King Kong, Street Fighter, Robocop and more How Bong-joon Ho's movies Okja and The Host changed the attitude towards Korean genre cinema A history of this film's attempts at preservation and translation here and on the internet Bekinney's live reactions as he was told to come into this movie blind and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this wickedly fast-paced film Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

What was Toriyama's manga like before he made the big time? What was bubbling in his brain even while he was working on Dragon Ball? Jelli and Bekinney take a break from Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon (are we ever getting back to that?) by breaking down some early manga from the man himself. We're talking about Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater....welll...most of it In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney have landed A note on some very different formatting because notes were hard to come by Contextualizing these stories and their reasons for existence, as best we can Digging into the likes of Wonder Island, Wonder Island 2, Cutesy Tomato Gumshoe (aka Tomato Girl Detective), Pola & Roid, Mad Matic, Chobit, Chobit 2, Today's Highlight Island, Escape, Pink the Rain Jack, Dragon Boy, The Adventure of Tongpoo, Mr. Ho, The Elder (aka Sanchoh), Little Mamejiro, and Karamaru and the Perfect Day We have notes about Godzilla, Ultraman, name puns, Mad Max, Dragon Ball, and more and a heap of confusion around opaque humor and social commentary and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

It's Summer Convention Season! You think it's not, just because it's winter? Well, tune in to find out why it is! Jelli takes you into the world of our summer conventions by presenting one of the panels we held this year, at Anime Texas 2024, in Spring, TX from Fandom Events. This panel was also presented at San Japan in San Antonio, TX but the audio got too blown-out sounding to put out the full episode...but the Q&A portion of that event is retained here. The panel was also presented at Fan Expo Denver, in (of course) Denver, CO from Fan Expo HQ, the audio from that was unfortunately entirely unusable. In this episode: Jelli is on his own. We delve into the background behind the Toei Manga Matsuri – Toei Cartoon Festival and its inception in 1969 and other such festivals around the country such as Toho's Champion Festival Contextualizing the box office of the films Going through all of the original movies and looking for what interesting facts and value they possess Curse of the Blood Rubies - notes on censorship and references Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle - Ghastel and his relationship with Prince Nezha Mystical Adventure - Similarities to the movie The Last Emperor Dragon Ball Z Movies Dead Zone - The Phantom Zone and Garlic Jr's unique properties The World's Strongest - Hal 9000 Tree of Might - A possible Tree of Life Lord Slug - Super Saiyan and Pseudo-Super Saiyan, or False Super Saiyan Cooler's Revenge - Predator Cooler Returns - The Death Star, the Big Gette Star, the Borg Cube, and Star Trek's Vger Super Android 13 - Don't Lecture Me with Your $30 Haircut Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan - Meme culture in Japan and Nostradamus Bojack Unbound - Stan the Lariat Hansen and WWF/WWE references Broly Second Coming - Toribot and Nata de Coco Bio Broly - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Fusion Reborn - The Dictator, YIKES Wrath of the Dragon - Hirudegarn and kaiju Q&As and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

There is new Dragon Ball for the first time in years and we felt it was important to share our thoughts and opinions.  Join Jelli and Bekinney as we continue looking at Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball franchise by tackling a discussion of Dragon Ball Daima, and its next five episodes: "Lightning," "Collar," "Tamagami," "Thieves," and "Ocean". Who is Glorio, and what are his motives? Have we learned anything new? What does the recently-introduced Panzy bring to the table? What of the minotaur who wants to eat everyone? Are there any readily apparent cultural underpinnings with the revelation that Shin (Supreme Kai) has a real name, and it's Nahare? What of the rest of the cast? Where do Bulma, Piccolo, Vegeta, Gohan and others fit in? What's the potential significance of Majin Kuu, and the character Hybis? Did we crack the code and realize that Daima is basically Toriyama's riff on Charlie's Angels? Why isn't Drew Barrymore allowed on Final Forum? What about Lucy Lui, Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Banks and the other actors from those movies? Wait, what? Are we okay? Why did we talk about the Hair Club for Men? Join us for this more casual conversation as we dig through the world of Daima and continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Was the original voice of Dragon Ball Z's narrator almost arrested before he ever got a chance to work on the show? To paraphrase his most famous saying: Find out [THIS] Time, on [Final Forum]! Jelli and Bekinney are still on a break from format and Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball, and are interviewing one of the voices of our childhood, Dale D. Kelly, the original voice of The Narrator and Captain Ginyu, as well as Porunga.  In this episode: We dive into Dale's career, beginning with his time in radio and his early years in entertainment. Dale tells us how he almost got arrested on his first night on the job Why he chose to answer an ad in a Dallas newspaper What made him initially turn down the opportunity His philosophy behind voice acting as well as music, as he became the composer for Episode of Bardock and The History of Trunks What led to his leaving Funimation His time after Funimation, including working with Rich Little and Tommy Lasorda, as well as a story about Johnny Carson and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

Gaming. Dragon Ball. They go hand-in-hand. Did they always? Jelli and Bekinney take a break from Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon (because we don't do enough of that, right?) by breaking down some early video games. We're talking about Dragon Ball 3: Goku Den, aka Dragon Ball: Goku's Story from the Famicom; Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure for the Gameboy Advance; Dragon Ball: Origins and Dragon Ball: Origins 2, for the Nintendo DS In this episode: Bekinney is checking the ship for abnormalities Cleaning up some items about pre-console video games and talking briefly about Tiger Electronics handhelds A reminder about TOSE Software, the programming company behind Dragon Ball 3: Goku Den TOSE's credits, including Bases Loaded, Mappy-Land, Toxic Crusaders, Tetris 2, Yoshi's Cookie, Resident Evil Survivor, Resident Evil Zero, Scarlet Nexus, Dragon Quest, WWE and Metal Gear Solid Dragon Ball 3 Goku Den story recaps and how it goes through the end of Dragon Ball We discuss early Nintendo RTS (real time strategy) games The port of Goku Den to the Wonderswan color, and a brief discussion about that system, including a reference to the Nintendo Virtual Boy and Gunpei Yokoi Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure story elements and how the game goes from the beginning of the story through the Demon King Piccolo arc How Dragon Ball Advanced Adventure's gameplay works and the mind behind its creation A brief summary of the company Banpresto Getting into Dragon Ball Origins and Yoshiki Okamoto, best known for creating Gyruss, 1942, and Street Fighter II. He also helped created Rockstar’s Red Dead franchise, and was a supervisor on Resident Evil 2 and Dino Crisis Discussing the use of the stylus on the Nintendo DS How Origins 2 functioned as a last-time-out for Stephanie Nadolny as Kid Goku and Tiffany Volmer as Bulma SURPRISE! We mention the game Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo for the Nintendo Wii and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod  

What does it take to be one of the most well-respected voice actors of all-time? Jelli and Bekinney have finished the "Dragon Ball" portion of Dragon Ball. That means it's time for Dragon Ball Z, right? Welllll....let's take a break from format and Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball by pivoting and talking about the life and personality and career of one of the most important figures in Dragon Ball, the voice of Goku himself: Masako Nozawa. In this episode: Jelli has Bekinney prep for a spacewalk. We have already discussed the life and career of Akira Toriyama, Daisuke Nishio, Toshiki Inoue, Takao Koyama, Chiaki Imada, Jackie Chan, and Kazuhiko Torishima. Slowly chewing up "behind the camera" talents to discuss, we talk about one of the "faces" of Dragon Ball, Masako Nozawa. Nozawa's birth in Nippori Town and childhood in Numata, in Gunma Prefecture Her early career in child acting and theater acting Her father Ryoshu Nozawa, a moderately well-known painter, and her unique parentage Why Nozawa moved from Tokyo to Numata as a child (hint: in 1944) Her initial intentions to pursue stage acting and her first forays into voice acting, doing dubbing for Western films Her "big break" in anime voice acting, in an episode of Astroboy, considered by many to be the "first" anime series An interesting synergy with her husband, voice actor Masaaki Tsukada, and how they both have a character voiced in English by Sean Schemmel Her career with various talent agencies and her foray into establishing her own How missing out on a return to Gegege no Kitaro led to her landing the Dragon Ball gig Her philosophy when it comes to voice acting and her work process What Akira Toriyama said to her that makes her continue to portray Goku, even as she nears her 90s and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual  Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://twitter.com/finalforumpod