We all frequent message boards and online forums (such as alt.fan.dragonball), and we all contribute as much as we can. Unfortunately, we don't KNOW of all the places people post questions, so it's impossible for us to reach everyone. However, if you're reading this, you at least know where WE are, so it's possible for you to ask us directly.

What we're going for here is sort of an "Answerman" or "Ask John" (from Anime News Network and Anime Nation, respectively). We'd like you to e-mail in whatever questions you may have, so long as it somehow relates to the world of DragonBall; be it the manga, the anime, merchandise... whatever. We've been around for a few years, now, and we know the ropes... we like to think we know our stuff.

And we want to help. E-mail your questions to VegettoEX@aol.com with the subject "Ask VegettoEX." We'll try to update this section every Saturday, with at least one question straight from the fans. Thanks!

[ Last Updated: Saturday, 08 November 2003 ]
[ Past "Ask VegettoEX" Archives ]

Q. Does Kami knows Shunkan-idô...? Or was that some animation laziness when Goku got off of Snake Way, Kami went to greet him, Goku held his arm and they both were at Enma-Daiô's desk? - My Arm is missin

A. Since when do you question the God of Earth?! Blasphemous! In all honesty, there's no way Shunkan-idô could have been THOUGHT of by that point, so it would make sense they'd use the same kind of animation without knowing what they were doing (since they couldn't look into the future).

He's Kami. Of course he's got some sort of teleportation technique! Right... *nods*... or something... *scratches head*

Q. Hey, VegettoEX! My question is more of an opinion one, but here goes. A few months ago, I was talking to an acquaintance of mine who is somewhat into to anime. She's not very familiar with DragonBall, so she asked my opinion about something some guy she was talking to told her. I personally think the guy is either crazy or a pathological liar but here goes: According to this guy, he was traveling in Japan and met Akira Toriyama and was hanging out with him (yeah, sure). He stated that Toriyama apparently told him that he based the Red Ribbon Army in DragonBall on the Chinese Communist Army and that his making them comedic was a statement and political satire on how he felt about Chinese Communism! I'd be interested to hear your take on this and if there is any validity (which I still doubt), to this statement. Have you ever heard anything like this before? Sorry my question ended up being so long, I just wanted make sure to get all the facts straight. Thanks! - Amy Phillips

A. Lesson of the day? Don't believe it when people tell you they've met Akira Toriyama. They haven't. He's one of the most reclusive men in Japan, and hardly ever gives INTERVIEWS, nevermind hang out with random people on the street.

At the same time, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to note some of Toriyama's "political" humor / satire in DragonBall. The Red Ribbon Army is probably more based off of the German army during WWII; why is this? Toriyama's obsessed with German culture. In an interview conducted with Banzai magazine (the German equivalent of Shonen Jump) earlier this year, Toriyama mentions his "... fascination with the German military." For straight-forward rip-offs, General Blue is drawn in a Nazi SA (stormtrooper) uniform. You'll also notice that when Toriyama draws little mini-self-portraits, he's generally wearing a WWII-style gas-mask.

Q. How do you define "otaku"? What does the word mean to you? Do you consider
yourself(-ves) to be otaku? Are otaku considered to be socially inept? - Remy R Zane

A. Many an American fan proudly proclaim themself to be an "otaku." We, as anime fans, hear this term all the time, and have grown to pretty much not even think about it when we DO hear it; it's just another word that goes with our fandom. At the same time, it *does* have a meaning to it (which is different for every person), but its origins can clearly be traced. Here are the characters that comprise it, in Japanese:

(Note: You may also see it written with the first character in simple hiragana)

The word's original meaning is that of "your house" or "your home" (with the first character, "o," being a formalizing prefix, and the second character, "taku," meaning "house"). Brief Japanese lesson before continuing... Katakana is the writing system in Japanese generally used to express words from a foreign language (as opposed to hiragana, which expresses simply sounds/syllables, or kanji, which expresses both sounds and meanings at the same time). When written as katakana, "otaku" takes on its American meaning... "geek," "nerd," or "enthusiast."

That's all fine and dandy. You may even begin to figure out, now, why the word eventually evolved into its current meaning; someone who is so infatuated with something (a hobby, for example) that they don't ever leave their own home... that's an "otaku." So yes, a "true otaku" would be so completely socially inept that they can't bring themselves to leave their own home to socialize with others.

The word is intended as a very derogatory description. As Americans tend to do, they ignore this, and adopt it as a "badge of honor" kind of thing. For example, think of the "Otakon" convention; half the word is from "otaku" itself.

To me, the word falls between both the original Japanese meaning and the newly-implied American meaning. There's varying degrees of "otaku"; I don't care if someone's really into something, but when it starts to take over their lives to this kind of degree... yes, the word "otaku" is a seriously offensive term and I hope you DO take offense to it.

Do I condiser myself an otaku? Hmm. I run a DragonBall website. I'm the president of my college's "Japanese Cultural Association" (aka - anime club). I make anime music videos. Then again, I like to think I'm a pretty normal guy. I don't cosplay (not that it's any worse than making music videos.. or is it?! :P), at anime cons I pretty much do nothing BUT socialize, I'm heavily into the local punk-rock scene... I dunno. Going by my own degrees of "otakudom"... I'm hardly at Sailor Bubba's level ^^.

Q. I'm sure you've seen the Matrix Revolutions and all, and just by taking the final big ole fight scene, is it just me or does anybody else suddenly have somewhat faith of a live action Dragon Ball movie that would actually be good? I mean c'mon, that entire scene was all ripped from DBZ, all straight down to Agent Smith (acting as Mr. Satan) claiming that "Its a trick!" - Robert Shepherd

A. Yes, many people have started citing scenes from the various Matrix movies as being great indicators that a DBZ movie could be done well. Here's the problem... the Matrix movies were done by competent individuals... the DBZ movie(s) will not be. The DBZ movie(s) will not have NEARLY the budget that Matrix movies received, nevermind any kind of talented actors (then again, that could change and I'll eat my socks, but for the most part, I think we'll get stuck with some no-talent hacks).

Let's just face it... DBZ movies will suck, we'll all go see them anyway, the internet will be a flame ground for years after their releases, and nothing is going to change that :P

Q. I've encountered online a version of DBZ subtitled episode 154 which contains, instead of its own, the title card from episode 277. It is my habit to do my own translations of anime episode titles, largely for my own edification and satisfaction; lacking kanji to work from, I cannot with confidence do so for this episode. I've been unable to find any sites which have images of the title cards from DBZ episodes; do you know where I might find such, or failing that, would you be willing to make such an image yourself and send me a copy? - The Wanderer

A. Regardless of what reasons you try to justify it with... why are you downloading the episode? It's widely available for purchase (getting nice and cheap, too) on DBZ volume 44, "Hunt for 18" (it's the second episode on the disc; "DVD Guide" entry here). It'll be all nice and pretty with translations by Steve Simmons, anyway, for your fantastic translation comparisons! Huzzah!

If you want the title-card to badly, purchase the disc and take your own screen-cap :P. I don't own that particular disc, anyway, so I wouldn't be able to get you the image, even if I wanted to.

That's all we can manage for this week! We're out of left-over questions (and newly submitted ones), so... e-mail us your questions for next week's update! No matter which one of us ends up answering, you're sure to get your money's worth (and don't complain if you don't, 'cuz you didn't spend anything anyway)!

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