August 01, 2023

Grandpa Gohan (S2E14)

51 minutes

Is this the most emotionally charged moment in Dragon Ball history?

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 74, 75, 76 and 77, "The Mysterious Fifth Man," "The Strong Ones," "True Colors of the Masked Man," and "Pilaf's Tactics." We continue discussing the Fortune Teller Baba mini tournament and break down the identity of the fifth fighter, Grampa Gohan, as well as his importance culturally and to the story.

In this episode:

Jelli is on an ant-hunt

We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments

How Toriyama is subverting expectations by pivoting from Western-Themed monsters to an Eastern-inspired hermit for his fifth fighter

The meaning of Gohan, being cooked rice, how it's colloquially "Let's Eat" in Japan, and how Gohan comes to clash with Toriyama's Sun Wukong-inspired Monkey King

The importance of hermits in Eastern culture and a brief mention of the film Amongst the White Clouds

How Gohan has some minor parallels to Star Wars

An explanation of why a dead fighter needs money

Baba's status as an onmyoji

We talk about Obon, the Japanese festival built around paying homage to one's deceased ancestors, and how important it is to Buddhist culture and future characters in Dragon Ball (Enma Daio, aka King Yemma)

How Toriyama repurposed halos for Dragon Ball

Why Gohan wears a fox mask

An elaboration on Kitsune (fox) in Japanese and Chinese culture

How kitsune are similar to tanuki

Why Japanese culture views foxes as more benevolent than Japanese culture and how foxes became intermingled with the concept of the Shinto god Inari as well as a symbol of Shintoism itself

The importance of a fox fighting a monkey in Eastern culture as a clash of kitsune and saru or even Shintoism vs Buddhism

How foxes relate to No Theater

A Pokémon connection to Ninetails and Vulpix

A Miles "Tails" Prower reference

Toriyama repurposing the fox mask from Dr. Slump

And we look for further examples of the importance of foxes in Japanese pop culture and get into a tangent on the film Pom Poko

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.

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By Final Forum Podcast

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