August 26, 2025

The World's Strongest Commentary (S4E13)

1 hour 11 minutes

What would have happened if they saved Hitler's brain and put it in the body of a robot with a bubble-dome? What does the film Phantasm have to do with Dragon Ball? How did we manage to work in a reference to the Aum Shinrikyo cult that carried out multiple poison attacks on Japanese public transit in the early 90s?

The answers to these, and similar questions, abound as Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling the 1990 movie, The World's Strongest.

In this episode:

Jelli and Bekinney narrowly escape disaster

We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners

We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest such as its 1990 release at the Toei Manga Matsuri film festival, the film's box office, and the production team working on the film

We talk about the other films released alongside the movie: Akuma-kun: Welcome to Devil Land, and Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Sally the Witch movie.

A little history about Misuteru, including his creation of Tesujin 28, Babel II, Iga no Kagemaru, Sally the Witch, and adaptations of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Water margin

Contextualizing the box office of the film

Shedding light on Shinji Fukumitsu, the editor, who worked on Dragon Ball Z, Gegege no Kitaro, One Piece, and Transformers: The Movie

A little bit on Motoaki Ikegami and his career spanning Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dr Slump, Pokemon, Inuyasha and Twilight of the Cockroaches

Discussing the film's unique antagonists, Kishime, Ebifurya, Misokatsun, Dr. Kochin, and Dr. Wheelo (or Uiro)

Misokatsun --> Buyon --> The Blob --> horror movies --> Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (yes, really)

A bit about the Funimation composer, Nathan Johnson and his career, including his time as a Texas state senator

(Nathan) Johnsons, (Anthony) Wieners, adult film parodies of Chinese classic novels...things are coming unglued

A bit about the Metaluna Men from This Island Earth, Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Universal Monsters movies, especially Ghost of Frankenstein

and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this wickedly fast-paced film

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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