September 27, 2022

Muscle Tower and 80s Pop Culture (S1E23)

39 minutes

Is the Red Ribbon Army a placeholder for the communist armies of Soviet Russia and Communist China? How did the dire state of the Japanese film industries in the 1970s impact Akira Toriyama?

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 35 and 36 of the show, "Cold Reception," and "Major Metallitron" and we dig further into the Red Ribbon Army as well as their current base of operations for this portion of the arc: Muscle Tower

In this episode:

Jelli and Bekinney are preparing for invasion

We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments

We talk about whether the Japanese would say the "h" in White

We introduce the General White character

Muscle Tower resides in a snowy landscape that Akira Toriyama said was like Siberia, does that mean the setting is Northern Russia?

The hosts discuss Suno/Snow and where the name came from, whether it was inspired by the anime or if the mangaka gave it to the anime

We talk about some of the James Bond influences, like You Only Live Twice

An anecdote is shared from Masako Nozawa about her reaction to the episodes

We talk about the inspirations behind Muscle Tower, being, surprise Kung Fu Films, namely Game of Death

We discuss the game Spartan X that was released for Famikon, which was ported to the United States as "Kung Fu" and is inspired by Game of Death, not Spartan X (aka Meals on Wheels) as might be expected

Surprise, a part of Dragon Ball is inspired by Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee

We talk about pagodas and their importance in traditional Chinese culture

Major Metallitron, who is totally not Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator, appears

We discuss Goku "killing" Metallitron and praying, as Nam prayed in the Tenkaichi Budokai

We talk about the psychological examination of General White via Muscle Tower as a metaphor and how Goku interacts with that

We talk about what might have inspired Toriyama to start bringing in so much Western Culture into his manga

The state of cinema in Japan in the 1970s and how it affected companies like Toho, and bankrupted the studio Daiei, including stressful situations on the set of Gamera films

We talk about how the desperate state of Japanese cinema in the 70s led to importation of American films

We remind our listeners about Toriyama's westernized style catching the eye of Kazuhiko Torishima

Is Dragon Ball (or Dragonball Z) responsible for creating a sort of homogenized Japanese culture that Americans understand?

Toriyama is at the forefront of bringing Western inspirations to his story, does the rest of the Japanese pop cultural spectrum follow suit? Just ask Godzillla, who brings in references to Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, James Bond, and more ten years after Toriyama had done so.

The pop culture news shift and how things have sped up over the decades, and an anecdote about Jurassic Park

Quick aside: is it a problem that Goku uses the Power Pole to skip only the first floor of Muscle Tower? (Answer: shut up)

and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual

This is a breezy, quick episode, and we hope you enjoy!

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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