#some dbz influence in there

[moose-goosey]

various sonic doodles, oldest to newest

[indirectcomedian]

little miss supervillain emulation over here would DEFINITELY be kinning the most problematic of characters if she had a tumblr account. her being carnage and envy being venom is actually so cute in a weird way, sister symbiotes!

punisher is another potential kin for envy, because rush said that this is what her battle paint here was specifically based off of (plus he is an assassin). and obviously there are the fma homunculi but thats kind of obvious

as for how the shards got their media knowledge, i would say most of it is from courtney. sloth has just taken up fiction as a historical extracurricular :)

one more post for the queue

do you guys ever think about how rosemary is into kinning

i think about this a lot like if the demon was human she would definitely post kin type stuff on tumblr

greed identifying with frieza and carnage comes to mind as does envy with venom

and it makes me wonder because it has to be one of them: did rosemary absorb knowledge of some fiction from courtney's brain, or does greed read comics and watch anime on her downtime? (is she gaining sloth's knowledge of such things? we know that sloth reads comics..)

[snapscube]

Hi Penny! I’ve been recently watching dub/abridged stuff (like your dub videos and TFS DBZ Abridged) and I was wondering if you grow up watching any dub/abridged that may have inspired you to do the dub videos? Or just really enjoyed them!

so the primary thing that inspired me to make SRTF specifically was just being a part of the RTF that SRTF is a spin-off from. i wanted to make a gaming-focused version of the show that incorporated some production value improvements i had been floating around for a bit such as recording remotely and making the whole thing a bit more edited with sfx and music and such.

BUT i will say that even before i was a part of og RTF i had previously really loved the idea of dubbing over movies/games on mute and i always had a fascination with it. i remember a few times on road trips i would be watching a movie in the backseat with my sisters and would be like "hey do u wanna mute this and make up stuff over it", which i only ever convinced them to do like one time and i remember having a blast. i also have to give a huge shout out to some old comedic Sonic dubs i ran into as a kid that almost certainly inspired the direction of the show subconsciously. i believe they were from Mardiculous? i dont think they're public anymore, at least not the ones i watched and was rlly into, but it's something that does immediately come to mind when thinking about early influences so i gotta give the respect.

i actually have never really watched the more popular abridged shows though! i have zero history with DBZA or anything of the sort i only hear about it in passing haha.

[sundove88]

DBZ: Waves of Freedom AU (Birthday Present for @sugarbear2001)

“Sometimes, to be free, we must dive deep to find out who we truly are.”

So, ya see, I was just being my own busy self and decided that I would make a platonic merman AU for KakaVege. The title of the AU? Waves of Freedom.

To put it simply, Goku is a merman living with his family and friends beneath the waves, and one day, when he goes to the surface and shapeshifts into his human form (I got inspired by Luca for this, all merpeople can shapeshift their tail into legs to walk on land in this AU, their upper halves remain unchanged), he encounters Vegeta, a human businessman who longs for escape from his horrible working life at Empire Oil Drilling Corps (Which is run by Frieza, who is an absolute butthole of a CEO in the AU), so he comes up with a plan with Vegeta to help him escape and finally gain his freedom. Also, this fanfic is a loose retelling of The Little Mermaid (One of its BIGGEST influences). The best part? There’s actual chapters on the way!!

Synopsis: When Goku, a carefree orange tailed merman encounters Vegeta, a trapped young businessman working for the world’s biggest and most oppressive oil drilling company, their encounter sets off a series of events that could change their lives for better or worse.

Anyhoo, here are the character parallels in the fanfic:

Vegeta- Ariel

Goku- Eric

Goten and Gohan- Flounder

Krillin and Piccolo- Sebastian

Bulma- King Triton

Frieza- Ursula

Zarbon and Dodoria- Flotsam and Jetsam

Chi Chi- Carlotta

Master Roshi- Grimsby (Maybe More, Imagine)

Launch, Tien, and Yamcha- Scuttle

Ginyus- Chef Louis

Android 17, Android 18, Nappa, and Raditz- Ariel’s Sisters

Trunks and Marron- Max

Chapters Below, btw. Also, if you wanna insert your Oc or another DB character (Like Shallot) into the AU, they can either be a land dweller or a merperson (With a merman/mermaid form with any tail and a land form)!

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

Chapter 1: Where The Land Meets The Sea:

Goku decides to go up to the surface to get some stuff for his family (Waterproof books for Gohan included, don’t ask me about that one) and runs into Vegeta. Geets then witnesses his transformation and is all like, “Oh my god, merpeople are REAL!!” And they become friends and stuff like that. Goku tells Vegeta about his life beneath the waves and Vegeta tells Kakarot about how he longs for freedom and the ocean is his only escape.

Chapter 2: The Weight of Expectations:

After getting suspicious of why Vegeta isn’t showing up that much, Freezy Pop decides to give him longer shifts and more work, and that includes the very fact that Veggie has to look outside the window and see his coworkers enjoy their summer fun. As he makes his way down to the beach through the corridors, he decides what he really wants and that is to talk to Goku more. Talk about devotion! And foreshadowing since it shows Vegeta being cast in a blue light while in his monochrome suit (Spoiler alert- It’s his tail color).

Chapter 3: Making Waves:

It then shows Goku introducing Vegeta to some of his ocean dwelling friends and family, including but not limited to: Piccolo (Eel merman), Krillin (Weedy Seadragon merman), Tien (Koi merman), Yamcha (Octopus merman), Bulma (Who has her tail inspired by a Blue Tang and a single mom to Trunks in the AU), Chi Chi (Arowana mermaid), Gohan and Goten (Same Orange Disney style tail as their dad), Master Roshi (Conmon Dolphin) etc, etc. Anyhoo, there’s this work banquet later that night, and Vegeta decides to sneak out of it and get undressed so he can get changed into his swimwear, and then Goku and Vegeta have their first swim in the ocean together :)

Chapter 4: Out of The Cage:

Veggie’s all like, “I’ve officially made up my mind! I wanna become a merman and stay with you no matter what!”, and that’s where Bulma comes in- she gives Goku an artifact called a Crystal Shell that’s powerful enough to change Vegeta into a merman- but there’s a catch: The change is permanent, and the price for his freedom and fins is his life on land. Luckily, Vegeta is totally knowing what he’s getting into, and he goes along with the plan and decides to write a resignation letter to Frieza to let him know he’s not coming back- also, he packs up his shell collection and lets his new merpeople friends take it from there.

Chapter 5: Ebb And Flow:

Vegeta finally decides to deliver the letter to Frieza, and he reads it and is ABSOLUTELY LIVID. Then while nobody is looking; Goku and Vegeta immediately swim off to some secret undisclosed cove from any human eyes so that Kakarot can transform his best buddy into a merman form with the crystal shell. Cue something akin to Ariel’s transformation from The Little Mermaid (But reversed and with elements of Melody’s transformation from Little Mermaid 2 and Brother Bear from when Kenai becomes a Bear) and Vegeta becomes a merman with a gorgeous royal blue Disney style merman tail! And then they swim off to explore the ocean, but not before sharing a hug like the best buds they are. Yaaaay! :D

Happy b day anyways! (Also, I may have spoiled the plot point at the end where Vegeta becomes a merman)

@jorongbak (I hope you find this AU idea interesting)!

[flightyalrighty]

came from the other side….saw a ongoing thread about your comic (b u l l e t s & s h o e s) ….as much I like canon as the next guy, I get lowkey angry when they try to hard apply that logic in…a comic that has Sonic covered in guts and blood of his baby brother…like buddy we are WAYYY past canon at that point! Literally just have fun with your story, not everything has to be 100% explained and we all have our own headcanons and takes on said things. 👍 Also get some rest, looks like you need that.

LOL OH YOU SAW ALL THAT HUH

Yeah so like the thing about me is that I care way more about Sonic and Shadow as characters than, say, well. Weapons? I know there's that DBZ influence and all but I do NOT care about power levels. I Do Not Care about whether or not Sonic can slam himself fist-first into a guy at the speed of blammo whammo and explode his head, like I don't care! I don't! I don't!!

So anyone over Yonder in the bird space arguing with me about how Sonic is sooo so strong and could beat up all the G.U.N. soldiers and rescue Shadow all on his own and explode all the bugs with his mind, stakes me damned, just... Immediately lose my interest. Like. That's just so boring to me.

Who cares about power levels. This is a horror comic about grief, not a shonen manga where Sonic's guaranteed to save the day in the end. It's exhausting to do a bunch of research to see what is and isn't possible only for a buncha nerds to come sauntering up trying to argue why the story shouldn't happen because Sonic's the strongest actually and Shadow's immune to being sliced in half with a table saw.

I understand this is inspired by an All Ages series, but boy does it sure seem like. Idk. Juvenile? My dad can beat up your dad kinda shit? Can Superman Kill Goku If He Punches Him In The Throat At Max Strength? I don't care. I really don't. I just wanna tell a story that stirred some personal feelings in me, and that came from a lot of internal shit already that came spilling out.

Is it a little silly to say I want my bug zombie sonic the hedgehog story a little more grounded than what we're used to? Maybe. But that's okay. I'm making what I wanna make and what I wanna see, and THAT is what matters.

Also I'd LOVE to rest but if I rest I'm gonna have to crunch next Wednesday again. I'm trying so hard to break free from the cycle. God. God, the cycle. Someone's gotta kill that witch.

[lunarsilkscreen]

Super Saiyan Sillyness

There's a small plot point in DBS that is really important as to the direction the series is going, but if I acknowledge it; it would be extreme spoiler content. So instead; I'm going to talk about how Super Saiyan works.

In the DragonBall series Ki is a metaphysical concept that can be used to increase your own endurance and kinetic power, without increasing your mass.

Originally, this was a small thing used by characters to shoot out magical bursts like a firearm, without a weapon. Allowing a Martial Artists to develop ranged attacks without weaponry.

As we get to DBZ however; this Ki energy becomes a way to increase your physical strength and endurance. Initially by increasing your muscle mass, and later without the forced muscle expansion that causes body degradation and extreme exhaustion.

This culminates in the Battle of Goku vs Frieza, where along with his innate spaceman genetics; Goku figures out how to use this Ki, along with his anger to transform into a super Saiyan.

What this is, is a focused version of abilities before this, developed by Roshi and King Kai. King Kai's variant being the most recognizable; Kaio Ken.

Kaio Ken, however; like the bulking Ki causes extreme wear and tear on the body. And so the Super Saiyans rarely use it after learning how to become super Saiyan.

Now, SS isn't the only type of super transformation available to denizens of Akira Toriyama's world. Frieza species seems to be able to "Go Gold" as well. Which is a full body transformation.

Similar to Super Saiyan 4 in the DBGT series, which explored the vastness of space after turning Goku into a child.

Saiyans also have a kind of werewolf transformation during the full moon, where they can't control their emotions.

This however is shown to be destructive, and akin to the muscle expansion techniques as it increases Mass equivalent to the energy gained.

The Namekians have a similar transformation showcases by Lord Slug and Orange Piccolo, which has all the same drawbacks.

What this means; is because Saiyans and Namekians and Frezians share these similar transformations and Ki generation; that these techniques should be available to every race and species.

It's just that some cultures are more ingrained with wanting to learn how to fight gooder. Or are Frieza and just Tyrants.

Vegeta and Frieza show a disdain for species that they previously believed were "inferior races". Frieza towards all Saiyans, and Vegeta to his Half-blood nephew: Gohan. Who display a completely different form of Saiyan transformation that isn't SSJ2 but is similar in power level. Dubbed Mystic Saiyan due to its creation by the influence from Supreme Kai's Magic.

But here's where it's interesting to me. As we get to Super Saiyan God mode, which is what the *real* SS legend is based on, and the Saiyan race had become extremely weak in comparison to their former abilities before the Friezers turned them into a caste of warrior conquerer slaves. Meaning they had forgotten nearly all of their *real* combat techniques that they thought made them a "superior race."

But this Super Saiyan God mode, which then can be focused into what's known as Super Saiyan Blue; demonstrates the use of Ki and it's reflection on tbe visible light spectrum.

Ki can be used raw to empower a person, but because it's non focused it will cause the body to undergo a temporary extreme physical transformation.

This is alleviated somewhat with the Kaio-Ken technique which focuses the ki to a sharper point, and allows for an exponential increase in comparison to the regular Ki power up, but has the *same* draw backs at higher levels.

Then we get to a kind of Middle point. Frieza has several forms before Gold, but they seem to be more able to limit their physical transformation to use the power gain more effectively.

In fact; Friezas stay in their supposed final form after entering permanently, and then have more forms to go, and Unlike Uzaro Form and Super Namekian form, retain a standard small humanoid size.

And here's where it gets interesting; these different forms and techniques can be combined or used interchangeably to achieve the same or similar results .

In DB:GT; Super Saiyan 4 is achieved by entering Uzaro Form, Mastering it, Turning Super while in that form, and then supressing the Ki and physical transformation to bring the user back to typical humanoid size.

With their body showcasing red fur growth over their body.

This indicates that Super Uzaro, Namek, and Frieza all use a similar method in order to achieve levels that are past Super Saiyan 3 levels.

SS3 is a unique form, because while still being Super Saiyan, it amps up the physical form of the user. It still increases the physical mass. Not only appearing to lengthen the hair follicles (which is probably just run-off ki, as the user returns to normal after use)

But bulking up as with the previous forms drawbacks.

Which means that this Bulking is the habit that most life forms exhibit when they increase their key until they figure out how to shift better.

Basically, SS3 is the Roshi Technique combined with SS transformation. And SS2 focuses the energy of SS1 better, because it doesn't exhibit the bulking drawback.

This bulking drawback is visible when Vegeta and Trunks attain their own post Super Saiyan forms as well. Vegeta commenting; "You're still using that bulky form?" At one point indicating to Trunks that he is doing it wrong.

Their SS2 forms included the bulking drawback that Goku's didn't exhibit.

So when we get to SS:God form; this looks similar to Kaio Ken, with it's red glow. Indicated a compressed form of energy, that can then be compressed into Super Saiyan Blue.

Vegeta demonstrated this with his Super Saiyan Prince form. As his eyes sparkle along the colored light spectrum indicating the varying power levels not visible in the hair.

This is different but similar to the SS4 shown in GT. Instead of the Ki run off coming from the tops of their heads as in the gold super Saiyan forms, the red ki comes out of the hair follicles across their body and from their regrown Saiyan monkey tails.

This is a strange transformation as it looks like a form similar to Ultra Instinct combined with a red variant of super Saiyan.

More on this; Ultra Instinct looks like base form. Because there is no bulking, there is no visible Ki generation at the hair follicles. Just a black-light aura.

This is because the Ki is focused to a point where it is no longer emitting from the visible light spectrum.

The drawbacks with UI seem similar to Uzaro and Kaio Ken form however. As UI takes an extreme toll on the body, and nearly loses concious control. Any less control, and it's conceivable Goku could become a mindless destructive force like Uzaro or Brolly.

Brolly is a Super Saiyan who can't control his super Saiyan powers due to extreme neglect and trauma induced by the former Saiyan culture and lifestyle. Which indicates a connection between Super Saiyan Brolly, UI, and Uzaro. SS Brolly forms (also shared by Kefla from Uni6) also showcases a greenish aura.

Demonstrating that there are different ways that different people can utilize the SS transformation and these other techniques.

What this means is that Uni7 UI Goku has potentially become stronger than DB:GT(unnumbered uni) Goku. Because he doesn't have Color inconsistencies. SS4 Goku and Vegeta in comparison, while having black hair, emit the Red Ki from their body hair, and red from their eyes, similar to Vegeta's Super Princess. SSJ4 also includes slight bulking.

However, UI has that extreme Drawback where once you've used up your energy, that's it until you take a long rest.

UI also seems different from Super Forms as you can't harness your emotional state, as one is often shown doing when they initially enter that state.

And Uni6 Saiyans, with the exceot of Vegeta's protege, entering it at will without emotion.

Hinting that the emotional burst is good to learn how to control larger amounts of Ki, but not good at focusing it down to the single point required of UI.

The SS4 Saiyan's also have a "Limit Breaker" similar to that of entering SS:God Mode. which enables them to use their transformation at will, unlike before which required becoming Uzaro, loosing control, regaining control, become super Uzaro, and then sustaining that. And maintaining it longer than 5 minutes.

Which suggests the forms are not unique to the method of transformation.

With Videl standing in for an extra Saiyan (Despite being Preggers) this also suggests that you simply need multiple people whose combined energy exceeds a certain amount, and isn't generically limited to Saiyan's.

This correlates with the other [Super Transformations] shown in the series as a whole.

What they tend to forget, is that despite being Human, Videl is one of the strongest Humans on Earth. Rivaling only Krillin, who isn't as strong as Goku simply because he doesn't have a single mind focused on becoming stronger. Also, unlike Goku, who inherited land and money from King Yama, actually needs to work for a living.

Goku isn't the strongest because he's a Saiyan either. Even Vegeta believed for a while that Goku was a low-tier saiyan incapable of meeting, much less exceeding the power level of a prince like himself.

He's the strongest because he's Goku.

This brings me to the end of this with one final observation; Goku and Trunks in Uni7. Who become Super Saiyan at will naturally. Without training, without really knowing what it is.

They're not just expanded power level from epigenetics, they have expanded powers because of the same technique that gives Goku and Vegeta SS:God powers.

Because it's the same technique showcased by Korin, Kami, Guru, and the Kai's, in "unlocking a person's potential".

Just a weaker form since a single person would only be able emit so much energy. Achieving SS:God and SS4:LB and the [Ki Expansion] technique most therefore be the same, becoming stronger the more Ki you pump into the recipient.

Ergo; Trunks and Goten have high power levels because of... Well... All that energy and training happening during the Buu saga...

[arbuthnotblob]

Two proud, fierce, spiky-haired warriors face each other across a rocky chasm… but why do they both feel so strangely familiar to the other?! A battle for honour is surely about to begin!

Through Dragonball, Chrono Trigger and Dragon Quest, Akira Toriyama had a massive influence on my childhood. I think it’s also pretty fair to say that Pokemon, and especially Lance, would not be the same without his stylistic influence on Ken Sugimori’s early work. So, for all the thrills and inspiration, both to myself and many others, thank you so much Toriyama-san, and rest in peace.

I had so much fun designing a Toriyama-style DBZ design for Lance, putting in a bit of flavour from both his Gen 1 red biker and Gen 2 pointed armour looks. The dramatic cape flourish also pulls a bit from his HGSS art pose, just for fun (and flair)

I learnt a lot picking apart and studying different Dragonball panels and colour spreads to make this crossover tribute, but perhaps the most striking thing was re-reading chunks of DBZ and realising just how good at weekly pulp adventure story pacing Toriyama was.

I already knew he had perhaps the best grasp of dynamic, crystal clear action panelling in the business, but his ability to pace out a weekly story and always have some new twist or wrinkle while maintaining a solid, driving central narrative really stood out to me this time. And that’s not even mentioning all the ad-libbing!

One of the greatest to ever do it in so very many different ways - I am sure his work will continue to inspire not just artists in our current generation, but many young artists in the future as well.

[thefortressofscience]

Akira Toriyama's work is the very reason I started drawing. As a child I watched and loved Dragonball Z. It was the show me and my friends would all obsess over! One day I saw Chrono from Chrono Trigger on some boxart while walking by a local mom n' pop video game store. I recognized the style right away and that moment is what drove me to design my very first OC, a red haired Chrono rip off with a giant sword.

Toriyama's work was a huge influence for me growing up, and knowing he's gone has affected me more than any other celebrity death I've ever heard about. His impact on Latin American communities both among diaspora in the US and in their countries cannot be overstated. I remeber visiting the Dominican Republic as a child and everyone would rush to watch Dragonball when it was on. No one even called it by it's title, instead choosing to excitedly point out that Goku was on TV. When you spoke with your friends about DBZ there, you would be asked if you watched Goku last night.

I don't really know where I'm going with this, except that I really appreciated the man's work. He really was the GOAT.

[dragimalsdaydreams]

Saiyan biology headcanons. I GUESS.

@cuddlesomeone is a fiend and the only reason I ever think abt DBZ, and I like my thoughts enough to write them down, so here we go

DISCLAIMER: I've barely seen any DB, I only know secondhand info from my dear friend up there, sorry if I misremember/misinterpret some canon info

also to be clear, I'm aware that many of these points aren't that important, considering what Dragon Ball is. it's not biological, it's just a "rule-of-cool" fighty show. yacht-sized mega-beasts are fun for big fights (if DB ever USED THEM..), cross-species kids are fun, etc. I don't actually care that much abt it, this isn't a 'critique' of the show or anything. I just like specevo, and have fun considering what my personal take on it would be 👍

1) Freeza's influence

Saiyans have several traits that don't make much sense as having naturally evolved, and I rather like the idea of these traits being forcibly induced over time. namely, I think Freeza purposely warped Saiyans over several generations, using both biological means and social propaganda to influence their bodies and cultures.

test-tube incubation (nursing pods?) is the most likely avenue for Freeza's direct involvement, and an obvious example of something that Saiyans prolly didn't start doing on their own. it would give Freeza intimate control over Saiyan population size, bodily autonomy, and direct physiological influence on the developing baby.

2) mindless violence

one of my biggest gripes abt Saiyans is their level of apparent bloodlust, sometimes to the point of extreme stupidity and selfishness. the Oozaru form emphasizes how this isn't simply a personal choice or cultural influence, but a biological imperative of the species.

and honestly, I'm just so sick to death of bioessentialism in worldbuilding, sapient species or not. there's no good reason why a species would evolve to be "mindless, violent monsters", even if it's only like one day a month. this would, in fact, be a detriment to their health and energy levels, and it's just lazy writing for a monster form IMO.

to be clear, I don't want to rewrite Saiyans as perfect little angels-- they can be a predator species with bloodsports, they can have cultures that valorize violence and domination. we see this irl with the human species after all. however, while some of these decisions are certainly influenced by biology irl (predators are far more likely to get enjoyment out of hunting and make it into a sport in the first place), violence is decidedly not a biological imperative, and there is obviously a wide array of diverse opinions on violence among humans.

which is all to say-- imo, an uninfluenced Saiyan is psychologically similar to a human, and would not automatically behave violently without some kind of sociocultural pressure or neurological influence. Freeza's empire may have found a violent, colonizing warrior culture by chance, but he took it further by rewarding that behavior for his empire's glory, and physiologically warping developing Saiyans. a combination of neurological tinkering and horrifically bad socialization during critical developmental years makes for adults that are unstable, quick to anger, and resort to violence by default.

also the idea of blasting a literal newborn off into space without any training or education, and expecting that baby to survive enough to become a useful soldier is... laughable, tbh. so I'm gonna say they're raised by Freeza's empire (away from their parents) until at least the age of 8-10, THEN blasted off and expected to survive. this at least makes some damn sense, but leaves room for the brutal "survival of the fittest" mindset.

3) Oozaru forms

"shifters" are an interesting conundrum to me in any setting, bc the more drastic the shift, the less it makes sense to me in the biological sense. I'm more willing to hand-wave it for thematic reasons, but DBZ doesn't run on themes (or biology, tbf), so it doesn't give me much to work with. not that shifters can't work biologically, but it's not as simple as just balancing out matter and mass. like, WHY do they shift? what is the evolutionary advantage?

and honestly I haven't come to an answer to that yet. I'm chewing on the idea of breeding periods and mating rituals, but I'm not fully sold on the idea yet. we'll see if I come up with anything better

I'm also not sure abt the actual trigger for it. like it's one thing to say that moonlight is the trigger for a completely planet-bound species, but what does that mean for a space-faring species? what differentiates a "moon" from a mere asteroid circling a planet? what exact properties of the light are the trigger here? what happens if a Saiyan lands on a moon?

I could just ignore this for my own sanity, but I also like the idea of Saiyans having some physiological adaptability to a given planet's rhythms. their bodies will sense the overall gravitational cycles of the planet, maybe even the moonlight as well, and adjust their shifting schedule accordingly. thus, I don't think summoning a random ball of 'moonlight' would trigger any real change in an uninfluenced Saiyan, but moons do technically impact a Saiyan's shifting schedule. though, perhaps Freeza put a 'switch' in influenced Saiyans that reacts to concentrated light on that scale so they can shift at will, idk

at the very least, I have some solid ideas abt the execution of the shift and resulting form. for one, I personally prefer shifters whose forms aren't 100% completely separate, so I like the idea of more monkey traits in their humanoid form. hell, even if they weren't shifters, I think an alien species with a furry tail shouldn't just look like a "human with a tail", that's boring. thus, I think Saiyans should look far more monkey, with snouty faces, full-body fur, and grabby feet. I'd like a different posture too-- maybe a little hunched with somewhat splayed legs, to emphasize an arboreal lifestyle. essentially, I'm picturing a smaller, leaner, somewhat more humanoid Oozaru

oh, and I nearly forgot to mention the tails-- why are they so weak? I'd maybe understand for literally any other animal, but an arboreal animal? their tails should be strong enough to at least hold up the mass of their own bodies, if not more. idk, maybe Saiyans aren't actually arboreal anymore, and their tails have weakened over time, but they still shouldn't be THAT sensitive. in any case, my Saiyan tails aren't any weaker than a regular monkey tail, and are often used as another limb for clinging/climbing

I also like the idea of gradual shifting, like bulking up on mass over several days leading up to the final, bigger shift on the full moon, then having to recover that energy/mass several days after.

speaking of mass, I'm also not a huge fan of the size of the Oozaru. I truly cannot conceive a scenario where yacht-sized mega-beasts would be evolutionarily advantageous (or even biologically viable), unless the entire rest of their planet's fauna was of similar size. but in that case, they wouldn't be a strange size for their environmental circumstances, and they prolly wouldn't have evolved a complementary tiny, humanoid base form in the first place. my take on an uninfluenced Oozaru is much smaller-- Saiyans can shift to the size of a horse or moose, maybe even the size of an elephant for particularly large/beefy Saiyans, but no larger than that. there's obviously still mass difference in the two forms, but with the gradual shifting and bulking-up I mentioned earlier, I think it's easier to hand-wave that difference away.

of course, this doesn't mean yacht-sized mega-beasts can't exist in the setting. in my view, Freeza also influenced this aspect of Saiyans, warping their Oozaru forms into something hideously large, unwieldy, and mindless. to compensate for the insane mass difference in forms, perhaps Saiyans wear special gadgets that pull mass from the surrounding environment during the shift, leaving a plain of desolation in their wake, even before the Oozaru can start wreaking havoc. but even with this gadget to help, injuries are common, and many of the larger Oozaru are left with gaping wounds from their flesh not reassembling correctly. many are also prone to joint/spine issues, as the body isn't prepared to hold that much mass at once, leading to limping, wobbly gaits. even those that escape most of these side-effects will almost always have burst blood vessels in the eyes, giving them an unsettling, red-eyed stare.

of course, these issues are not usually a problem for the Oozaru's work under Freeza-- the sheer size/power of these influenced forms is more than enough to subdue tiny, unprepared populations, despite all the drawbacks. but the after-effects of this form can leave affected Saiyans out of commission for days at a time.

and finally, my second main point hints at this, but let me say it clearly here too-- in my view, an uninfluenced Oozaru should NOT be acting like a mindless killing machine, that's completely Freeza's influence. uninfluenced Oozaru are fully conscious and aware of themselves and those around them. at most, perhaps they act a bit more uninhibited and energetic, pulling from a well of built-up energy to play, compete, court, and show-off. they certainly can act aggressive and violent, but that's not the default state, it's merely the natural fluctuation of emotions you'd find in the humanoid form as well. hell, I'd even allow for more aggression of the territorial variety, if the Oozaru form does end up being a courting/breeding thing, but it's still not mindless violence.

I'm not sure how I want influenced Oozaru to work, when they aren't supported by special gadgets to provide necessary mass from their environments. perhaps the transformation goes bad the first few times, and sorta stop-starts bc there's no mass to work with. this could be fatal, under the worst conditions. but once the body gets used to the idea of less mass, perhaps it settles back into a normal range of transformation. they're still larger than the average uninfluenced Oozaru, but not city-destroying size. perhaps they could even develop consciousness in this form, but it would likely take a lot of time and patience to overcome Freeza's psychological influence. in any case, influenced Oozaru shifting would probably still be exhausting, and influenced Oozaru wouldn't experience the same joy and freedom that uninfluenced Oozaru feel in their forms.

4) power level

we all agree that shouting out numbers is the most boring part of the show, right? right? yeah, I think it's all bullshit. Freeza just arbitrarily assigns all the Saiyans numbers and watches them bully one another into hierarchies

though I do think it's interesting to consider individual propensity for controlling life energy. surely, some ppl have an easier time than others, but you can still improve your skill, and it isn't as arbitrary and dumb-sounding as a "power-level". and I feel like there is precedent in the show for this exact logic, but it gets lost in the sea of "look how cool badass Goku is naturally!"

5) aliens and mixed species

different alien species having compatible gametes has always felt odd to me-- that just wouldn't realistically happen. on the other hand, I like Trunks and Gohan, so I GUESS I'm willing to hand-wave it so they can exist. but I'm shaking my head the whole time so the audience knows I don't agree with the biological implications

also, I'd make most of the aliens completely non-humanoid. I get that they all look human bc this is ostensibly a martial arts show, I just think it's boring when they all look human.

[sonicjustbecause]

Lost in translation (general). Unavoidable.

"What girl witch cute". Yes. This is the plain translation. I'll come there later.

I'm not a native English speaker. I can say I know one language and half. Written/spoken Italian (native), written English.

I like to watch shows in Italian and Japanese usually. Seldom I watch them in English. In general i dislike the translation and the voices they choose for characters from foreign shows.

Like, I would watch easily The Simpson in English because is their native show and the voice they choose are good. In the Italian show they went as far as finding VA who have very similar voices to the original VA.

Sonic Prime worked fine with English voice (because they choose canadian VA and not the american ones. Both RCS and Kirk Thorton are... uhmmm... I loved Deven Mack and Ian Hanlin). Is maybe one of the few shows I watched happily in English. And I could somewhat understand what they say because of a clearer pronunciation.

For other shows I often watch them either in Japanese with English sub, or translated in Italian. For Dragon Ball I watched the whole DB and DBZ in Italian, DBS in Japanese with English subs.

I watched my favourites episodes of Dragon Ball Z in Italian, Japanese and English, to see how they differ and how voices work.

Italian in general stay true to the Japanese dialogues (few exception here and there, I'll come later). English? Oh God. The scene with Vegeta being possessed by Babidy made me laugh in English. Something like: 'He is in my head! I'm attacked! I can't! Oh no, I'm not innocent" Talkative Vegeta. The context was the same, the message was about the same (more ambiguous and open to interpretation in Italian and Japanese, more one sided in English) but a dramatic scene like that became a comical scene in English. And the voices... oh no!.

English dubbing! NO! My ears!

Language, context...

Monolingual people think all language are the same. Not the case, languages are influenced by enviroment. Inuit have many ways to say 'snow' with a single word, referring to the different quality of it.

Coming to the language we are referring to, English is known to be a low context language. It has a word for everything and a very rich vocaboulary.

Italian is a mid context language. It has not a so large vocaboulary,

Some words are the same but with different meaning.

Example

Salutare: it does means either 'to greet and' 'healthy' Sale: it does means either "going up" and "salt"

Batteria: 'set' 'drums' and 'battery' Piano: "plan", 'floor' (of a building), 'flat' (like the surface of a table), 'piano'

Those words can be easily translates in English though.

The problem come with figuratve language. Every language has one. I don't speak Japanese so i can make examples using italian and English.

When someone is lucky, we say, vulgarly: "che culo!" But, translated in EWnglish it turns in a "What an ass!". The phrase is the same, litera, the meaning change completely. For this you can't always stay true to the original material.

Another example, still involving luck in Italian might be:

"Avere un culo così".

In English it turns something like

"Having a big ass"

From having luck to being fat. And there it turns even funnier because in Italian you can use the very same phrase to tell that either someone is fat or that a woman looks curvy in the butt area in particular. Though all of them are not nice and can be used only among close freinds. Otherwise there are three distinct phrase for the different things like: "avere fortuna" "essere grassi" "avere un sedere formoso". Context.

Japanese is abnormally high context.

Let's talk about the above monstruosity that make us laugh hard.

Among people who like Japamese stuffs, there are some who are so passionate that they would sacrifice grammar in order to have a product that is true to the original. In Italy we have many translators. Some are better, some are worse. We got cursed by this man in particular:

Gualtiero Cannarsi.

To be honest, is unfortunate. He talks the finest Italian you can hear. But his translations from Japanese to Italian suck. he is one who think the product must be true to itself, so he just change Japanese words into italian words, leaving the Japanese rules, grammars etc. Yes, nothing got lost in traslation. But the result is incomprehensible so to say the truth, everything got lost.

If transtated in Cannarsi style, Versailles no Bara turns into Versailles di Rosa (The correct translation is 'La rosa di Versailles). For a better understanding of what I'm saying, in English, if I just switch the words, I get 'Versailles of Rose'.

His translation get some... uh, funny results:

Porco Rosso is supposed to be settled in Italy. Then why do they talk like barbarians?

"To stay to have fun to those places you'll end to be kidnappen in company" Is bad I know. I tried to stay true to his awful translations. This is terrible, considering that Gibli tried to write in Italian, as best as they could to create a better atmosphere:

"Non si fa credito" "Le rosse ali si sono spezzate (correct but arcaic) "Vivo o morto?(sounds better) "Di nuovo il canto di trionfo del Porcellino Rosso (perfect)" "Le bambine sane e salve" Still the atmosphere is there, is true!

You have to be fluent in Italian to understand this. Then you can either laugh or facepalm or be disgusted.

We also have good example of translation from Japanese. Luckily we have many good products from Japan that are treated correctly. One that I can think off is from Dragon Ball Super - Broly.

In DBS - Broly, I can feel the Japanese aura/culture/mentality from every phrase, every word they speak. They all sound solemn without sounding the same. But at the same time it is translated in a fine Italian, we all understand what they say just fine. The actor were great at acting and... do you know that the one who dubs Goku is the same VA who dubs Shadow? And the voice sounds different, very silly when he dubs Goku, more serious and mature when he dubs Shadow.

We of course also had some bad translation because there was a period we relied on 4kids. Luckily we still had manga, they came directly from Japan and got translated in italian. Some of them unfortunately went translated by Gualtiero Cannarsi. Dark days for anime. It seems things are getting better right now.

Same VA, different personalities.

[hollowphobiasfw]

A friend of mine commissioned me to draw Son Goku, in honor of the passing of the beloved Akira Toriyama. I've not really talked about it much, but Dragon Ball Z, like many other kids in the west from the early 2000's was some of the very first anime I was ever introduced to, along with others like Sailor Moon, Digimon, Pokemon, Monster Rancher and many more and from there I'd continued to watch Eastern animation way into my 30's.

As such Dragon Ball has always held a special place in my heart, even as much as I disagree and complain about the way Toei Animation is currently handling the property and I do worry how the property will continue without Akira, I will still love the show regardless. I remember burning the DBZ songs onto CDS with Napster, hanging posters on my fall, seeing Majin Buu from a Japanese exclusive poster and wondering what the hell it was. I guess what I'm saying is I will always love this show, for without it, I'd not be the person I am today.

As for the picture itself, I knew I could never replicate Akira Toriyama's style one to one and it be foolish of me to even attempt it, but I decided to purposely go with little design choices to reflect his influence, such as using a more muted grey-ish black for one, to make Goku's hair feel a lot more natural than what we were use to seeing.

---

Patreon

Linktr.ee // Commission Info

[cocobeanzies]

Team Future: BTD6 Tourney Merges! 🗣️

This tourney was so much fun! I mostly participated because it would be good motivation to draw some Bloons stuff, which I eagerly wanted to sprinkle DBZ influence onto as that's my hyperfixation at the moment! Despite goofing around, this somehow won? 😂

[tsuchinokoroyale]

I’d love to hear more about your thoughts on JJK. Admittedly, I’m not well versed in shonen, so I never even considered that it was trying to subvert the genre.

P.S. Thank you for the consistently thoughtful takes and hot ass 😘

Ooooo boy I hope you’re ready for a whole ass essay 😎😎😎

Shonen as a genre has changed over time as any art form does, but it is still mired in tropes that can be traced back to the classics. The shonen genre is thus named bc its target demographic is boys to young men, for our discussion we’ll say teenage boys. While it obviously has big appeal for other demographics, it is mainly designed to both appeal AND communicate life lessons to that crowd of impressionable kids.

Because of this dual function you get this really odd genre full of super powerful special boys who love their friends but have no qualms about slaughtering their enemies. They typically espouse lessons about the merits of hard work, sticking to your beliefs ((so long as your beliefs are beneficial to society at large)), of goodness and friendship triumphing over evil. Look no further than DBZ and Naruto which can broadly be divided into Battle Arcs and Training Arcs, upping the ante for our special boy main protagonists until we literally have them fighting gods as the logical extreme of continuous escalation.

The Standard™ Shonen formula has a boy main protagonist who’s got some sort of motivation that is so ideologically pure that he’s basically impossible to defeat. Goku loves to fight, Naruto wants to be hokage, Tanjiro wants to cure his sister and slayer all the demons, etc. He forms/joins a band of merry outcasts with their own tragic backstories and sets out to defeat whatever villain appears for that arc. If they win, arc is over move onto training arc, if they lose, they train, fight and win, then train some more. The fun of the genre comes from the colorful side characters, and the little twists that come with each battle system, which brings us to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.

At the time JJBA was being published, the big influence on manga was big beefy male led 80s action movies and Fist of the North Star, a manga about a beefy martial artist named Kenshiro going around beating baddies in a post apocalyptic world. Battle systems in Shonen were usually incredibly soft, most tied to physical combat enhanced by some poorly defined life force energy that could be called upon to even out fights and give big climactic finishes, like Ki from dragon ball and their iconic kamehamehas. Even JJBA starts off this way, with our beefy boys learning Hamon/Ripple and duking it out with vampires, til my man Hirohiko Araki was like “mmmm this is kind of limiting. Time to Change Everything~” and he came up with the concept of Stands, incredibly limited psychic/magic abilities that manifest as furries or sexy robots or a Lego version of the White House (?). You can see this idea really grow and expand within the part it’s introduced, going from “fire furry” and “robot knight with sword” to “guy whose stand turns into a ball that immediately erases anything it runs into but he can’t really see what he’s attacking since he has to be inside his stand in order for it to work also his name is Vanilla Ice and he’s a vampire in a thong.”

You can FEEL the impact this had even to this day. Stands became Jutsus in Naruto, quirks in MHA, Nen in HxH, Cursed Techniques in JJK. And part of what made it fun was that it added strategy to the mix! Str8 physical fights are hard to strategize bc it’s basically just a numbers game, right? Like bc his power level is over 9000, it’s going to be a tough time until some plot contrivance and/or training occurs to drive *my* power level over 9000. But now there is an additional layer of *how* these powers interact.

My ability is to blow bubbles and his ability is to turn a single person who comes into contact with bodily fluids into a mindless zombie? Create bubble shields so they can’t splash blood on you. My ability is to fold anything into origami and if you touch the origami you begin to see one object as something else and his ability is an automatic tracking stand that hunts me down by creating face shredding tornados when I breathe? Make a city bus look like my dad ((part 8 is fucking nuts)).

As you can tell, JJBA really burst open the dam on creativity, but as per the examples I’ve given they can often feel very… silly and contrived. The Serious Anime Fan™ will complain and say those fights are full of asspulls, which they are, but that’s very much part of the fun of the series. BUT because diversity is the spice of life, you also get artists who are less interested in adhering to the Rule of Cool and more interested in making things explicitly “logical” which is how we get Hunter x Hunter.

While JJBA dabbles in using stands for characterization, HxH goes HARD into it. Nen abilities are ((usually)) manifestation of their user’s idea of power, creating a direct link between who that person is and what they can do as a result. This is balanced by people having innate Nen types which means the kinds of abilities they can use are limited, though there are rules restrictions and exceptions to this as well. We know all of this bc mangaka Togashi literally gives a college level lecture on Nen in the story, describing how it manifests, how it works, what it can and can’t do, and how individual rules can supersede the basic set of rules and the rules for doing that. I call this style Erudite Shonen, bc bitches be TALKING. In erudite Shonen, powers usually fall on the complex side, even Bungee Gum, which has the properties of both rubber and gum, can be used in insane ways like ricocheting bullets, gluing minors together, and/or cheesing a game of dodgeball and it’s all both shown AND told.

Now where does JJK fall into all this? Listifying the common Shonen tropes we have A Special Boy main protagonist with a pure motive, a crew, goodness triumphing over evil, prioritizing bonds and community over selfish gain, and the winning power of hard work.

Early JJK fits the mold pretty well. Yuji Itadori starts off the series special, with superhuman fitness before he ingests sukuna’s finger at which point he becomes a Naruto analog, where he is strong because he has a powerful spirit trapped inside him. He has the rather off kilter but still acceptable goal of “dying a proper death”. His squad of mentor Gojo, Fushiguro, and Kugisaki is established by episode 3. The villains are cursed spirits who want to eradicate humanity, the good guys are the jujutsu sorcerers who say “no u” to that. Yuji wants to gain power to protect others instead of just becoming powerful himself. And there’s a training arc! Sure, it happens after Yuji gets his heart ripped out, but he’s not even dead that long. Even the powers in early JJK present themselves as pretty simple, Fushiguro does shadow summoning, Kugisaki does hammer and nail resonance, panda, Inumaki does cursed speech.

It wears its darkness on its sleeve however, presenting Junpei as a potential future team member only to shockingly kill him. The whole star plasma vessel incident casts an unflattering light on Jujutsu society. But none of that COMPARES to the shitshow that happens in Shibuya, where JJK finally shows its real hand.

Over the course of the Shibuya arc, we watch our protagonist mount an offense against the villains that have been building themselves up over the course of the show, sacrificing so so much just to ultimately… lose. The Shibuya arc subverts not just idiosyncratic plot beats but story telling traditions as well. “The strongest” loses, multiple fan favorite characters are either taken out of commission or outright killed, the story progression slams the fast forward button as Yuji goes from having ingested 4 out of 20 fingers to 15/20 resulting in mass civilian casualties because his version of the 9 tailed fox is an actual monster, and ((meta-narratively)) worst of all, Yuji doesn’t even get to defeat his arch-rival, Mahito. Instead Mahito is unceremoniously absorbed by other big bad Geto/Kenjaku. It’s supremely unsatisfying and the weight of the tragedy is so immense you wonder how our heroes are gonna come back from this.

And thus begins the “deconstruction” phase of JJK. Cuz they just… don’t. As dark as Shibuya got, a standard Shonen would then go on to give the heroes a big fat W, some sort of come back after all that. But not JJK! Bc JJK is subversive 😏 this means the fact that the story is super unsatisfying is like, the point mannnn. This isn’t the worst thing that can happen. Chainsawman is also a story of major L’s and minor W’s and it’s my #1 favorite modern manga series. The difference is in intent, however. Chainsawman works as well as it does bc at its core, it loves Denji. He REALLY goes through the ringer, but it’s all in service of understanding what life is like for someone trapped on the hedonic treadmill and how one can ((attempt anyways)) to break out of it.

And then there’s JJK. It truly feels like the manga is designed to tear Yuji’s self sacrificial mindset to shreds for the sake of making him suffer and for the reader to feel bad for ever feeling like good has to triumph over evil. The real problem is, it feels as if the series is bending over backwards to make this shit happen.

Part of the change over is what was a previously simple-ish battle system goes full Erudite Shonen. There were hints that cursed energy could get more complicated, what with domain completion competition and guaranteed hits and simple domains and that one guys FPS ability I can’t explain. But we go FULL HxH level afterwards. All of a sudden oxygen delivery to the brain becomes important to cursed technique, there’s domain range and boundary fidelity and incomplete domain properties, disruption of somatic components becomes a factor, and… it honestly feels like utter nonsense at times.

Complexity isn’t bad, like I mentioned I LOVE HxH and could probably explain the chrollo-hisoka fight if you gave me a few hours to study, but I could not tell you all the new rules for cursed energy that seem just kind of invented on the spot in random chapters during this back half of JJK. Bc they involve concepts never really mentioned before, it feels like an asspull, like this was something made up to force the situation at hand. Thing is, more of those situations only benefit the villains. You get shit like a character winning a battle at the end of one chapter and then starting the next one to find they were killed off screen moments later, actually. It’s just like yeah it’s subversive, but the reason stories aren’t told like this is bc this shit sucks lmao. I think out of all the plans the heroes make like only a handful of them are actually successful, and even then they get so unwound by the next step in the plan that they may as well have not happened. It doesn’t help that the abilities are so complicated now you’ll get a chapter dedicated to explaining what one guy can do just to have him wiped off the face of the earth the next one.

So the crew is gone, our special boy is actually the most disempowered guy ever except for the fact that he can’t be killed for some reason, the good guys are NOT doing a great job standing up to evil since like 86% of their plans fail or have bad results, a gag character wins one of the most important fights in the story and it’s unironically the best thing JJK has done in a while, and it’s all just a very confusing slog to read. This is the danger of writing subversion for the sake of subversion with intent for contempt, kids 😮‍💨

Granted we aren’t at the end of the story yet so maybe I’ll be wrong and there’ll be like a reset button that fixes everything (( which would also suck )), but yeah. JJK wants what HxH did in the chimera ant arc but forgot that that story was possible bc it was fundamentally about humanity and love, not just the parts about how people suck and goodness can fail.

If you made it this far congratulations you’re entitled to one big kissy on ur forehead from me and barnaby 😚😚😚

[xb-squaredx]

A Tribute to Akira Toriyama

It’s been a bit over 24 hours since I’ve heard the news that acclaimed manga author, Akira Toriyama, has passed away, and frankly it’s still hard to process. I’d like to just say a few things to honor and mourn a man that I have never met, but whose work touched me and millions of others all over the world in ways I am only now really beginning to see.

Like a lot of 90s kids in the United States, my first exposure with Toriyama’s work was through the Dragon Ball Z anime. Despite the fact that I didn’t even know this was a sequel to a completely different series, and I had no real clue what anime even was at the time, I was captivated. For years I would race home from school and sit glued in front of the TV as Toonami would air the latest episodes. A phenomenon that rippled out across the world for several years in waves, from the original airing of DBZ, to some snippets of the original Dragon Ball and even later on with the anime-only continuation that was Dragon Ball GT, this series had such a hold on me. Friends and I would spend recess trying to recreate the iconic Kamehameha Wave, we’d scream trying to become a Super Saiyan, or take turns fighting each other in one of the MANY different video games based on the series over time. I’ve made friends through my love of Dragon Ball and it would go on to foster a love of anime and later manga. But little did I know just how far Toriyama’s influence would reach.

While I was never all that knowledgeable of his past work, particularly Dr. Slump, so many other series would be inspired by him or have his involvement in some way. Sonic the Hedgehog’s Super Sonic is an easy reference to spot, but less so was Cloud Strife’s garb in Final Fantasy VII being a dead ringer for Gohan’s outfit in the Cell Saga. As long as we’re talking about RPGs, Toriyama’s long history with various properties, from Chrono Trigger to Blue Dragon, and going back to the grandfather of all RPGS in Dragon Quest, it’s safe to say his legacy is felt in multiple mediums rather than just one. This wasn’t even limited to Japanese media either. I would see references to Dragon Ball in things like The Powerpuff Girls or Codename: Kids Next Door. Even well into my 20s, I was still seeing series inspired by him, like the whole fusion concept that made up Steven Universe. His reach was vast and multigenerational.

As I would get older, I would listen to Linkin Park AMVs on YouTube, with songs like Numb or In the End overlaid over the various hypest moments from the Dragon Ball series and its later movies. Even long after the series had finished airing, you’d still see the rare movie or special crop up, alongside an endless series of games trying to capitalize on the success of the Budokai Tenkaichi games. Toriyama was inescapable, and in a way it was comforting. You start to get used to his work being there, whether subtly or overtly. You never think about the day when he’ll be gone.

When first reading the article stating his death, it took a moment to really let it sink in. This man who had been with me, inspiring me throughout my childhood, was gone just like that. Over the past day I’ve seen the greater Internet in mourning, as people share their favorite manga panels, or iconic moments from the various anime interpretations of his work. Outpourings of fanart and inspirational stories from people who grew up with his work just like I did. There are people that got into bodybuilding to be just like Goku, for one. For another, during the finale of Dragon Ball Super there were massive watch parties set up in Mexico and even when authorities tried to stop the events they went forward anyway because they just had to see how Goku could finally defeat Jiren. I remember when Trunks first appeared in the anime, and I thought he was the coolest. I had to try to draw and replicate his first appearance, how he defeated Frieza, the person that took Goku so long to defeat, in a mere instant; I’m realizing now Toriyama might have been my real inspiration to start drawing, alongside who knows how many thousands if not millions of people. As sad as it is to see him go, to see so many people pay tribute and remember him, it really does lay bare just how influential he was, just how powerful art can really be.

It was only in more recent years that I’ve come to really respect Toriyama’s craft. Far beyond the screaming and power ups that many associate with him from Dragon Ball Z this was also a man who valued whimsy. He got his start as a comedy author, and for the longest time the Dragon Ball manga was just a humorous retelling of Journey to the West. The man loved a good bit of toilet humor and the occasional fourth wall break. Looking back at his manga, you can see just how amazing his panel work was, and how it still holds up. The ease at which he guides your eye from panel to panel, the expressiveness of his characters conveyed at all times. Many of his peers have called him a God of Manga, and I think they’re right to do so. The likes of Osamu Tezuka, the creator of manga, had called Toriyama his heir apparent, and stated he was “almost too good.” You can’t get higher praise than that.

Outside of his manga work, just his raw talent at creating iconic character designs needs to be praised. Taking a rather uninteresting mockup of the slime enemy in Dragon Quest, Toriyama would create perhaps the most iconic enemy in all of video games. His enemy designs are often cute and goofy, but occasionally can be quite ferocious. If nothing else, they are eye-catching and never boring. He was also a fan of vehicles and machines, with some really interesting modes of transportation shown off in a lot of his work. And then there’s the fact that so many of his characters have the trademark spikey haircut that has become shorthand for “anime hair,” that is understood to this day. To see him effectively retire after finishing with Dragon Ball back in the 90s, with the occasional contribution here or there, only to get right back to business as usual in the 2010s with amazing designs like Beerus or Android 21, not to mention his continual work on the Dragon Quest series all throughout that time…the man never lost his edge even once.

A sentiment I’ve seen over the last day or so is that Toriyama might, with no exaggeration, have inspired more artists than anyone else in modern history. So many people making their own “Saiyan-sonas” or being inspired to make manga of their own…we may truly never know how far his reach really was at the end of the day. But we do know that the “Big Three” of Shonen Jump throughout the 2000s can be attributed to Toriyama, as the likes of Eiichiro Oda, Masashi Kishimoto and Tite Kubo are all big fans of Toriyama, with Oda in particular worshiping the ground he walks on. Kubo is also on the record for stating that a letter from Toriyama, when his first draft of what would later become BLEACH was rejected, gave him the encouragement to try again and later be accepted into the magazine. And now these authors have gone on to inspire the next generation and so on and so on.

Over the last few years, we’ve lost a lot of creative figures in the manga industry. Toriyama now joins other similar legends, such as Yu-Gi-Oh creator Kazuki Takahashi as well as Berserk author Kentaro Miura. It is the end of an era, arguably of many eras, and it can be hard to imagine the future, but the Earth continues to spin and as Toriyama has inspired and influenced others, we too will inspire future generations with our work. It isn’t enough to call him a legend; he truly was in a league of his own, a legend among legends, and the outpouring of love for him across all manner of social media posts in just a little over a day alone is a testament to his immense talent and reach. I can think of no greater sendoff than the one that Eiichiro Oda gave him: “I pray for his soulful rest in peace. May heaven be the joyous world he envisioned.”

Rest in peace, and thanks for everything, Mr. Toriyama.

-B

[thelordofranch]

On March 8th, I learned that Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball (and numerous other things) passed away on March 1st, 2024 at the age of 68.

Dragon Ball Z has been my favorite thing since I was about four years old.

It’s a dumb show about buff guys with spiky hair beating each other up with the power of friendship but I love it to death.

I’m 24 now and I still consider it to be the biggest influence on me growing up along with greatly influencing my love of art and storytelling.

I would not be a filmmaker or artist today if it wasn’t for DBZ.

Some of my earliest memories are of playing Dragon Ball Z Budokai with my brothers or rewatching the same 7 VHS tapes I had in the living room.

I remember all the action figures I had.

I remember how all of my notebooks from the past twenty years of my life have little doodles of Goku in the corner.

I remember being frustrated that I couldn’t stay up to 11:30pm to watch Dragon Ball Z when it aired on Toonami in the 2000s.

I remember seeing the commercials for DBZ Legacy of Goku for the GBA and how cool I thought it was that the kid in the commercial had Super Saiyan hair.

I remember the Dragon Ball GT cake that my mom got for me for my 8th birthday.

I remember not being able to buy toys so I would draw the characters on notebook paper, cut them out with scissors and reenact the scenes from the show.

I remember annoying my brothers when I would scream and try to go super saiyan when I would play fight with them.

I remember waiting by the door every day to talk to my brother about some random DB fact I found out that day.

I remember how dumbfounded I was when I learned that the original Japanese voice actor for Goku was a woman by the name of Masako Nozawa.

I remember growing up and everyone kinda moving on but it still held a place in my heart into my teenage years.

I remember freaking out with my friends in Art Class over the new Dragon Ball Super anime getting announced (and our immeasurable disappointments when it aired)

The impact that Dragon Ball Z had on POC kids who grew up in the 90s and 2000s can never truly be understating. Its a piece of art that has truly surpassed cultural barriers unlike anything else.

The point being, it meant a lot to me growing up and me now. So hearing of Akira Toriyama’s passing today broke my heart.

Rest in peace to the greatest to ever do it.

[emojellyace08]

Lookism Random Headcannons (Because why not?)

Read the recent chapter recently and I am excited about the King of Soul's entrance (if ever)

Daniel watches anime since he thinks it's more entertaining than dramas. At some point he also wanted to become a manga artist but quickly gave up on it. His favorite is probably the classics (Naruto, One Piece, One Punch Man, DBZ, and he also likes the recent ones.)

Zack and Johan used to watch WWE matches together while Mira scolds them that they scream too loud when they're watching Royal Rumble lmao.

Undertaker was Johan's favorite WWE wrestler but thinking about it makes Johan embarrassed since he doesn't want to be seen as an edge lord or "emo or a goth" lol. Zack Lee's favorites are probably Edge, Brock Lesnar, and Randy Orton (idk I watch a little bit of WWE in my free time don't blame me).

Since Jay lived mostly alone in his apartment for who knows how long, he was thought by his butler to cook his own food since he doesn't really want to depend on them fully and make them exhausted. (Plus he's mostly bored, so why not cook and bake?) He almost burned his apartment once trying to fry an egg at first.

Hudson might not admit it but he also binges anime like Daniel. He believes that Makima sucks and the ones who defends her are simps (I mean she's a well written antagonist but her personality is a no).

Goo Kim = Cat Girl/ Cat Boy enthusiast (likes wearing low-budgeted cosplays A LOT for his own entertainment).

Goo Kim had stolen Gun's credit cards for his own shopping spree. Not once, not twice, but MANY TIMES.

Samuel might not admit it but he actually likes Jake and Big Deal. He just keeps denying it because of his ego issues.

Jerry had once owned a winter dwarf pet hamster. He properly took care for it for like 2 years and named her Bisky. But since hamsters have short lifespans, it died later on and he cried and didn't sleep well the following days since he missed her deeply. The shrine of it is still staying still on his backyard and he mostly replaces the flowers everyday or i he's not busy to pay tribute to her.

Daniel wanted to learn how to play the guitar or a ukulele but since his mom was struggling with their budget he cannot ask her to buy him one.

Jay can play drums (and teaches Daniel when having sleep overs!)

Mary can play bass and a little bit of guitar. And she secretly listens to rock, metal, and the alternative style of music since she doesn't want to be teased as emo by Vin the asshole lmao.

Avril Lavigne is the reason why Mary dyed her hair blonde you can't change my mind (not forcing you but listen to her music IT'S SO GOOD). She would like to have a friend (if not a girl friend not a girlfriend) who shares the same music taste with her to start a band.

Zack and Vin Jin used to bully kids on Roblox to boost their ego (Zack stopped because of his character development but probably Vin still does it lol).

Younger Kouji had once ate lots of candies and sweets to be "smart like L" from Death Note but almost got diabetes.

Gun and DG wears lip balms to keep their lips plump and smooth. DG had once teased Gun about being a model while Gun just smirks about it.

Mira SECRETLY LIKES Ayesha Erotica's music because of the edits on TikTok but since it's mostly explicit she's refraining to add her compositions on her Spotify playlists.

Since Vasco is mostly hardworking, there are times that he passes the exams (with the help of Jace and other Burn Knuckle members). But he just cannot push himself more to pass the Mathematics exams.

Eli had once tried to kiss Warren after their fight because of his innocence and curiosity before all the Hostel Drama. (I personally don't ship them but I just feel like it's something past Eli would do). They both cringe when they both remember it.

Doo Lee was once a Twitter influencer but because of his past dramas he was cancelled in social media.

Jibeom accidentally smashed Jihan's face when they were little when they are trying to imitate WWE stunts. Jichang was surprised to see his little brother's teeth getting cracked and falling off and he just didn't cried (it was Jibeom who shed tears because of guilt lol).

Crystal is a big fan of "vintage-core" or everything around the older eras because she believes that it doesn't only represents the beauty and evolution of human pop-culture but it also represents history. She always won on auctions to buy antique stuff and mostly donate it on museums to preserve it's structure while she kept some on her room. She almost got canceled by bidding on an authentic Marilyn Monroe's lipstick but she later on posted on Twitter that she donated it on a museum (which is not a fake news).

Gun doesn't eat too much fast-food products because he believes it's unhealthy and has chemicals to make the customers' crave for more (Goo teases him about this by dramatically eating an order of a large McDonald's French Fries in front of his annoyed face).

Ryuhei never kissed a woman in his life because of his nervousness. He secretly was weirded out by it so he lies that he had slept with many women to not be bullied by other people.

Vasco doesn't know how to properly wear a watch and a belt (ngl same I'm that stupid). He also doesn't know how to tie his shoe lace.

Jace prefers dark-chocolate rather than milk or white chocolate. Because he believes that since it has more cocoa content it can boost more of his energy and sharpen his mind and focus especially when taking his exams and quizzes.

Sally's favorite color was purple as she planned to dye her hair with her color of choice with a mix of indigo. But since she's afraid that it won't suit her, she changed her plans and went on to dye her hair with strawberry pink. She didn't expected it to look magnificent on her since Warren complimented her, so after that her favorite color was switched to baby or strawberry pink.

Mitsuki thinks that K-Pop music is cringe but she secretly has BTS, Twice, and Blackpink on her Spotify playlists. Ryuhei found out about this and she was pissed off up until this day lol.

Doo Lee once had a girlfriend who uses him for the money. She later on cheated with a new "handsome and charming" guy and when Doo found out he was FURIOUS. He later on was captured on camera beating the dude and when people found out he was canceled again on social media (pretty privileges never ends). He later on begged Daniel and Duke to make an apology video for him which looks so weird and scripted since Doo was pushing them. But luckily the drama heated down.

Magami Kenta's favorite vape flavors are watermelon, strawberry, and coffee.

Joy is very talented and skilled with nail art and she sells her products in a decent price even if it's REALLY DETAILED and well-crafted.

Sinu Han is a COMIC BOY FAN. Whether it's DC Comics, Marvel Comics, or even manga he's going to buy it. He later on posted on Twitter about how Gojo shouldn't have died since he relates to him so much (he was later on bullied by Samuel that he sounds like a weeb lmao).