Final Forum: A Dragon Ball Podcast

Ninja Murasaki (S1E26)

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Is it racially inappropriate if a Japanese creator makes every ninja joke under the sun?

Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by breaking down episodes 37 and 38, "Ninja Murasaki is Coming," and "The Five Murasakis" and we dig further into the Red Ribbon Army and Goku's challenge on floor 4: a deadly ninja assassin

In this episode:

  • INVASION!
  • We recap the episodes and discuss our favorite moments
  • We discuss the origin of Murasaki's name and why it's different than other members of the Red Ribbon Army who have color-based names
  • We break down Murasaki's design
  • There is a brief detour into Akira Kurosawa's films such as Seven Samurai, Ikiru, and One Wonderful Sunday (and Ran, Yojimbo, Sanjuo, Throne of Blood, Kagemusha, etc)
  • The importance of language in Murasaki's speech patterns and how it changed from Japanese to English
  • The connections to James Bond, especially the film You Only Live Twice
  • We talk about some of the James Bond influences, like You Only Live Twice
  • How Toriyama is blending cultures: A Japanese Ninja, working for a James Bond Villain, controlling a Red Army, to defeat a Hindu Monkey Demigod - to create new things
  • The use of all the ninja jokes that exist
  • We talk about Akira Toriyama's use of stereotypes
  • We break down the tatami mat joke, which neither of us understood prior to researching this episode
  • More discussion of opposites colliding, and subversion, which have definitely become Toriyama signatures at this point
  • Connections to Journey to the West, including a clash between Sun Wukong and Laozi
  • Explanation of shuriken
  •  Explaining the Murasaki Brothers and how the five of them come together to form one person
  • How Murasaki's personality and style reflects those of General White
  • Is Murasaki a social commentary? What is he saying about salary man culture? Is Toriyama making a statement about Japan in the post-war years? Is this a statement made about the past, present, and future of Japan?
  • If you've been listening along, you can probably guess the answers to some of this
  • 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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    Final Forum: A Dragon Ball PodcastBy Final Forum Podcast
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