Final Forum: A Dragon Ball Podcast

Final Forum Podcast

Dragon Ball has a wealth of cultural context and inspiration that’s often overlooked because the fights are cool. Though not averse to fawning over animation and allowing for the Rule of Cool, Jelli and Bekinney delve into the world of Akira Toriyama, and discuss lesser-known facts about the worldwide manga and anime phenomenon that is one of the most well-known and popular Japanese pop culture exports of all-time. Want to learn about the cultural importance of moments, literary inspirations behind scenes and characters, production facts, and more? Whether you‘re a fan of Goku, Vegeta, or any of the cast of characters including Piccolo, Gohan, Frieza, or even Broly, there should be something for you to enjoy as we cover all things Dragon Ball, including DBZ, GT, Super, Daima, and more! We‘ll have discussions, guests, interviews, reviews, and commentaries so grab a senzu bean, power up your fan level to Super Saiyan, and get ready to learn about Kakarot and his friends; and of course, thank you for helping us achieve our FINAL FORUM...We hear it‘s over 9000.

  1. 3d ago

    Super Saiyan (S5E5)

    Note: The audio is less than ideal for Jelli during the opening 3 minutes, but improves drastically during the topic-of-discussion. It's one of anime's most iconic moments, but did you know it has its basis in Buddho-Daoist traditions and the yin-yang cycle of energy? Let's talk about SUPER SAIYANS in today's episode! Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 91 through 95: "Embodiment of Fire," "Trump Card," "Keep the Chance Alive!" "Power of the Spirit," and "Transformed at Last." As we continue on into the Frieza Saga, we focus on Goku's transformation into a Super Saiyan and the importance of the moment. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney CAN escape...but SHOULD they? A slight step down for episodes, as the pacing really hurts some of what's happening here Focusing this discussion on Goku and Vegeta for reasons that will become clear Dragon Ball as a story about growth, even if that growth is incremental Why Dragon Ball's spectacle is not empty and how having something underneath spectacle makes the fireworks all the more satisfying The key conflict of the Frieza Arc A narrow mind vs an open mind How Goku brings these two ideas together and how that helps him transform Goku's philosophy of pushing himself to his limits and beyond and how Frieza's ruthlessness gives Goku no other choice but to transform A discussion of yin and yang and the taijitu How older Daoist texts refer not to black and white, but to red and blue Blue and red make...gold? Sudden enlightenment in Buddhism, satori, and how that influences the Super Saiyan transformation Attempting to rank the three biggest/most memorable Super Saiyan transformations against one another 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. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/

    1h 5m

  2. May 19

    Frieza (S5E4)

    You may know Frieza is based on real estate agents, but do you know why? Do his design quirks point to a deeper cultural connection to Japan's history with relating to outsiders (aka foreigners aka 'aliens')? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 86 through 90: "The End of Vegeta," "The Ultimate Battle," "Clash of the Super Powers," "Frieza's Boast," and "Bold and Fearless." As we dig into the Frieza Saga, we focus-in on the man himself and dive deep on discussing Lord Frieza. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are trying to plan an escape from the swirling dimensional vortex An overall solid batch of episodes, and we discuss why they seem more tolerable at the pace we've been going than they have in the past A reminder about Demon King Piccolo and how his children were born in the past Toriyama's decision to draw Frieza as purely evil in his first appearance and how that influenced his style of speech Frieza being partially modeled after Yu Kondo, and a promise to cover Toriyama's second editor in a future episode A discussion of oni, largely because Frieza has horns, but also because he can transform, and is alien How oni folklore in Japan has its roots in a fear of the unknown and outsiders A brief mention about The Devil, aka Satan, aka Lucifer from Christianity but not much discussion: we trust our listeners to pick up on the obvious symbolism there Frieza's basis in Japanese culture as a real estate developer/land prospector The Japanese Bubble Economy, its history, how it happened, how it burst, and the fallout Nui Onoue, Japan's Bernie Madoff, who wound up billions of yen in debt due to bad investments Shusuke Kaneko's (director of the Heisei Gamera trilogy, as well as Godzilla: GMK) own Bubble Economy movie: Linking Love The Godzilla movie that reflected the Bubble Economy: Godzilla vs King Ghidorah from 1991 Frieza's transformations Frieza's biggest comparison point in American comics, in our opinion, Mr. Sinister from the X-Men franchise 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. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/

    53 min

  3. May 5

    Piccolo & Namekians in DBZ (S5E3)

    Is Piccolo his own person or a re-incarnation of Demon King Piccolo? If he's his son why does he have his memories and his connection to Kami? If he's a reincarnation why does he become good and speak of himself as if he's a different person? Join Jelli and Bekinney as they continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon Dragon Ball Z by looking at episodes 81 through 85: "Deja Vu," "Frieza's Second Transformation," "Another Transformation?" "Dende's Demise," and "The Renewed Goku." We begin the Frieza Saga, and focus on the person who has had their context changed most by these adventures on Namek: Piccolo. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are still alive A decent batch of episodes, but some pacing issues to be sure A reminder about Demon King Piccolo and how his children were born in the past Piccolo Jr as contextualized by the Shinto concept of a bunshin How Bunshin compare to Buddhist reincarnation cycles How reincarnation cycles lead to the concept of a mindstream, which is akin to the Olympic torch, but for one's thoughts and soul What concepts from Daoism influenced Piccolo giving birth to Piccolo Jr by spitting up an egg Some symbolism with Goku destroying the Demon part of Demon King Piccolo The way this relates to Namekians, the Namekian concept of fusion, and Nail and Piccolo's fusion Namekians, their name puns, their physiology, and how that may all be influenced by the decision to name them after slugs Guru's (or Grand Elder) unlocked potential ability 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. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/

    48 min

  4. Apr 21

    Cooler's Revenge Commentary (S5E2)

    Tree of Might gave us all plot and little action, but what happens when we have all action and little plot? Can we sustain a commentary for a film as threadbare as this? The answers are within as Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling the 1991 movie, Cooler's Revenge. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are chilln We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners We discuss Piccolo's eating habits, if any, and whether Namekians operate on zombie rules or vampire rules when it comes to eating human food We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge such as its 1991 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, Magical Taruruto: Magical Battle of Friendship and Dragon Quest: The Great Adventure of Dai 1 A little bit about Tetsuya Egawa, who also created Golden Boy, and some connections between Magical Taruruto and Dragon Ball including voice work by Megumi Urawa (Uub and Universe 5's Supreme Kai in Dragon Ball Super), and production by Chiaki Imada Riku Sanjo, who wrote The Adventure of Dai and also worked on Guyver: Bio Booster Armor, as well as several Kamen Rider entries including W, Zero One, and Eternal Akia Katada, key animator, also from World's Strongest and Wrath of the Dragon Yutaka Nakamura, future Bones animator, with Bones being notable for having gorgeous work in their contemporary anime such as My Hero Academia and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, will this movie hold up? The Cooler Armored Squadron Neiz, whose name is based on mayonnaise Dore, whose name is a pun on Salad Dressing and breaking down some of the confusion around this pun Salza, whose name is NOT a pun on Salsa, but rather Thousand Island Dressing, and whose design is clearly influenced by Jeice The Cooler Armored Squadron as the we have the Ginyu Force at home squad Cooler, his appearance, his name and his personality Predator, or Yautja, and how Alien vs Predator was being teased from almost the moment there were Alien and Predator movies both in existence Toriyama's contributions to this movie being a bit more than usual. Dub peculiarities, and discussing Creative Products Corporation and their history with the franchise How Funimation both kept and altered the numetal soundtrack here, and tweaked the use of Disturbed in the film What Shenron and Bulma might be up to at this time A checklist of how this movie pairs with the Frieza arc and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this movie and re-evaluate our thoughts on it Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise.   https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/

    1h 7m

  5. Apr 7

    Lord Slug Commentary (S5E1)

    False Super Saiyan?!?! What could it mean???   The answers are within as Jelli and Bekinney continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon by tackling the 1991 movie, Lord Slug. In this episode: Jelli and Bekinney are ...doing something... We introduce special guests for this episode, the cohosts of the podcast Kaiju vs. History, Patrick and Myles We sync up our audio commentary for the listeners We discuss some of the production facts about the film Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug such as its 1991 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 film released alongside the movie, Magical Taruruto a A brief foray into the world of Ultraman The moment that Dragon Ball Z has become an absolute powerhouse phenomenon is here, as the box office has increased by 62% between movies Yamato, the Black Cat (or Kuroneko) delivery company in Japan and how they allowed the Ghibli movie Kiki's Delivery Service to use their trademarks The film's villains Wings or Doradabo and his resemblance to Dodoria Angila or Angira and his resemblance to Zarbon Zeeun, whose name means seiun or nebula Madamatcha, whose name is a space-related pun A brief discussion of the Andromeda Galaxy, where all this film's minor villains take their names Clash of the Titans 1981 Comparisons between Slug and Turles, the villain of the film Tree of Might A discussion of False Super Saiyan and Toriyama's intentions and more, including some general pop culture, trivia, and editorializing, as usual as we react to this movie and re-evaluate our thoughts on it Join us as we continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise. Also, check out Kaiju vs. History: https://kaijuvshistory.com/  https://bsky.app/profile/kaijuvshistory.bsky.social  https://letterboxd.com/KaijuVsHistory    Our Links: https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/

    1h 8m

  6. Mar 24

    March Madness 2026 Tenkaichi Tournament Pt 2 (S4E28)

    Who is the most DATABLE Dragon Ball character? Let's find out TODAY!   Jelli and Bekinney continue their break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun! In this episode: It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 32 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical game of The Dating Game, with a Jeopardy kicker We take if from the round of 32, down to the Sweet 16, Head into the Elite Eight, jump into the Final Four, and then choose our champion! Who will reign supreme and be declared the number one under heaven in datability? Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

    1h 20m

  7. Mar 10

    March Madness 2026 Tenkaichi Tournament Pt 1 (S4E27)

    Who is the MOST LOVABLE Dragon Ball character?!?! Jelli and Bekinney take a break from breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime phenomenon, and pivot away from tearing into the manga and anime that are the most crucial parts of the Dragon Ball franchise to have a little themed fun! In this episode: It's TOURNAMENT SEASON! Kick off your shoes, relax, and listen as we break down 64 of Dragon Ball's most popular (?) characters and discuss who would win in a theoretical episode of The Dating Game We discuss the system used for determining outcomes. We break down our opponents in each matchup. In the Saiyan Region: Will Goku topple Tarble, will Vegeta defeat Paragus, who will win when Broly encounters Goten? Will the timeline handle Future Trunks facing off against his younger self? Can Gohan defeat King Vegeta?  Can Cabba beat Bardock? Can Kale topple Nappa? Will Caulifla be able to defeat Raditz? In the Earthling Region: Krillin vs Yajirobe, Bulma vs Chiaotzu, Android 17 vs Ox King, Android 18 vs Mr Satan, Yamcha vs Chichi, Tien vs Nam, Android 16 vs Videl, Master Roshi vs Launch In the Villains Region: Can Frieza out-fox Mercenary Tao? Will Hit topple Recoome? Will Zamasu throttle King Cold? Who is more nefarious, Cooler or Pilaf? Who has the mad skills, Ginyu or Dabura? Will Buu beat down Android 19? Will Jiren smash Dr Gero? Can Cell prove to be more perfect than Garlic Jr? In the Deity/Ally Region: Who will win when Beerus, Oolong, Korin, Mr Popo, Nail, Elder Kai, Supreme Kai Shin, Puar, King Kai, Gregory, Dende, Kabito, Kami, King Yemma, Piccolo, and Jaco all face off? Join us as we take a break from uncovering the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise and have some March Madness themed fun!

    1h 6m

  8. Feb 24

    Season Four Finale - An Epic Beating (S4E26)

    Jelli and Bekinney have no time to continue breaking down Akira Toriyama's worldwide manga and anime Dragon Ball. In this episode: The climactic battle! Join us and find out if we will ever continue to uncover the cultural meanings, publication facts, inspirations and more behind the wildly popular Dragon Ball franchise, and unspool what we all love so much about Goku, the Dragon Ball franchise, the Dragon Ball anime, Dragon Ball manga, and more. https://www.facebook.com/FinalForumPodcast https://bsky.app/profile/finalforumpod.bsky.social discord.gg/KGGeyt2jWD https://www.youtube.com/@finalforum8985 https://www.instagram.com/finalforumpod/

    33 min
See All (137)

4.6
out of 5
10 Ratings

About

Dragon Ball has a wealth of cultural context and inspiration that’s often overlooked because the fights are cool. Though not averse to fawning over animation and allowing for the Rule of Cool, Jelli and Bekinney delve into the world of Akira Toriyama, and discuss lesser-known facts about the worldwide manga and anime phenomenon that is one of the most well-known and popular Japanese pop culture exports of all-time. Want to learn about the cultural importance of moments, literary inspirations behind scenes and characters, production facts, and more? Whether you‘re a fan of Goku, Vegeta, or any of the cast of characters including Piccolo, Gohan, Frieza, or even Broly, there should be something for you to enjoy as we cover all things Dragon Ball, including DBZ, GT, Super, Daima, and more! We‘ll have discussions, guests, interviews, reviews, and commentaries so grab a senzu bean, power up your fan level to Super Saiyan, and get ready to learn about Kakarot and his friends; and of course, thank you for helping us achieve our FINAL FORUM...We hear it‘s over 9000.

Information

You Might Also Like