Tag: Dragon Ball

  • On Shounen and Transformations

    On Shounen and Transformations

    *This article contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Z, Naruto: Shippuden, One Piece, and Hunter X Hunter. Got it? Good.* Transformation as a concept is all but synonomous with the shounen genre. Ever since Goku traded his black locks for gold, every series in the genre wanted a piece of that pie. Who could blame them?…

  • A Tribute to Akira Toriyama

    A Tribute to Akira Toriyama

    This one is going to hurt. On March 1st, 2024, Akira Toriyama passed away due to acute subdural hematoma. At 68, he’d put his pen to countless creative works, from his original gag manga Dr. Slump to providing artwork for iconic video games like Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger to, of course, his most famous…

  • We Need to Talk About Dragon Ball Daima

    We Need to Talk About Dragon Ball Daima

    Toriyama is taking the franchise to strange new places… Dragon Ball is a series of highs and lows. Z was amazing… up until the Buu saga kinda messed it all up. GT was one of the most disappointing anime I’ve ever seen. Super was a mixed bag; it had some great moments and the movies…

  • Icons of Shounen: Son Goku (Dragon Ball)

    Icons of Shounen: Son Goku (Dragon Ball)

    Shounen is by far the most popular genre of anime. Ever since Fist of the North Star, it’s been manga’s #1 cash cow. As such, it’s also the most competitive and densely packed genres. Which means we’ve got a lot of characters to look at. And more importantly: rank. Starting with everyone’s favorite martial artist…

  • Remember Raditz?

    Remember Raditz?

    Dragon Ball has a whole slew of incredible villains. The Red Ribbon Army. Freeza. Cell. And who could forget: Jelly Vegeta! And then there’s Raditz. When this dude showed up, literally EVERYTHING changed! Before, Goku was a magical monkey boy! Then Raditz revealed that he was actually, in fact, an alien! And that Raditz was…