The news of Akira Toriyama's passing, leaves a void in the hearts of many, including my own. In an emotional journey, I share how the creator of Dragon Ball shaped not only my childhood but also the very fabric of my identity. As the unexpected news reached me, it sent me spiraling down memory lane, reminiscing about early morning viewings, the scramble to collect every VHS tape, and how Dragon Ball's humor and heart became a cornerstone of my own life story. Toriyama's global influence on manga and anime cannot be overstated, and as a long-time fan, I ponder the immeasurable impact of his storytelling genius.
As we bid farewell to a legend, I can't help but wonder about the future that awaits the Dragon Ball franchise. Should it forge ahead in its current trajectory, or would a new direction better honor the legacy of its creator?
Get $10 off of Dr. Squatch soap right now! Use the code WDYM
www.drsquatch.com/WDYM
Email me! Thewdympodcast@gmail.com
Intro by Kobeofei via Fiverr Season 2 Artwork: Ishida1694 via Instagram
The news of Akira Toriyama's passing, leaves a void in the hearts of many, including my own. In an emotional journey, I share how the creator of Dragon Ball shaped not only my childhood but also the very fabric of my identity. As the unexpected news reached me, it sent me spiraling down memory lane, reminiscing about early morning viewings, the scramble to collect every VHS tape, and how Dragon Ball's humor and heart became a cornerstone of my own life story. Toriyama's global influence on manga and anime cannot be overstated, and as a long-time fan, I ponder the immeasurable impact of his storytelling genius.
As we bid farewell to a legend, I can't help but wonder about the future that awaits the Dragon Ball franchise. Should it forge ahead in its current trajectory, or would a new direction better honor the legacy of its creator?
Get $10 off of Dr. Squatch soap right now! Use the code WDYM
www.drsquatch.com/WDYM
Email me! Thewdympodcast@gmail.com
Intro by Kobeofei via Fiverr Season 2 Artwork: Ishida1694 via Instagram
Speaker 1:
You're listening to the WDYM, the what Do you Mean? Podcast. Now everyone gather around and listen to one of Hamilton's best podcasts. No research to back this up. Your host, Michael Gillespie.
Speaker 2:
And welcome to another episode of the WDYM. I'm your host, michael Gillespie. Hope everybody's doing good. Hope everybody's doing well. This episode is an impromptu episode. I didn't plan this. I didn't write no-cliff notes or anything like this. I was hit with something that was very personal to me On Twitter, getting ready to go to bed at 10, 10.30 at night, and I get on Twitter and one of the people I follow on Twitter geeked in 101, puts out a tweet saying Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, is dead.
Speaker 2:
No joke, right? So it's 10.30 at night. I'm like man usually you know Google or you know Safari, something will be out there like a search at Akira Toriyama, and it would confirm it. And it wasn't the case. So I stayed paying attention to X or Twitter or whatever you want to call it. I'm looking for something, someone else, to confirm it. So he puts out the tweet saying that you know Akira Toriyama's passed, and then, shortly later, the Dragon Ball website put out a press release confirming what has happened. And I'm still I'm still amazed to hear this. I'm still shocked to hear that Akira Toriyama is gone Now. Again, if you know, if you follow Dragon Ball, you follow Akira Toriyama. This dude doesn't come out for anything right. He just doesn't do media. He just is real to himself, he's his own. He just does not do any of this media and stuff like that. So, as the press release comes out, this man died March 1st and the first hearing about it was 10 for me, 10.30 at night on March 7th, and it was. It's a shock to me that this man is gone.
Speaker 2:
Like, if you know me personally, you know I love my drag, I love Dragon Ball. In my studio I have two posters up of the Z fighters and the Saiyans Raditz, vegeta, napa which is a good poster, by the way, I think. Shout out to my boy, dylan, for the posters and everything. So losing something like that meant easily stopped my world. Now, when I say that there's only certain things outside of my family that can stop my world, like if anything happens to Elton John, billy Ocean, michael Jordan and Akira Toriyama, I need to pause, because those are people that have heavily influenced my life, and Akira Toriyama is definitely one of them, because as the night went on, where I'm looking for sources and I'm looking for something to confirm it and everything, I just see a whole bunch of people on Twitter, a whole bunch of people on Instagram that are just as shocked as I am.
Speaker 2:
And, funny as it was, as soon as I heard this news, dude, I couldn't sleep. I couldn't fall asleep or rest. You know it's 10.39. I got to get up at 5 o'clock to get ready for work. Yeah, that's not happening.
Speaker 2:
One man's vision, manga, has has an impact worldwide across you know everybody. Millions of people are affected by Dragon Ball or Dragon Quest or Chrono Trigger or I think another one's, blue Dragon, but I don't know, I've never read that Sandland, I think that's another one. All his work has had some impact, some touch on somebody, and that's even including myself. To hear that Akira Toyama is gone has really made me sad. From a personal point, dragon Ball has always been my thing Since Junior High waking up early in the morning and watching the first episode where Raditz comes to Earth and kills the farmer, and that that thing triggered so many things.
Speaker 2:
To this day, one of the things that I used to love back then was actually getting the VHS tapes and yes, I'm dating myself talking about the VHS tapes, but that was my thing. I would go to Tri-County Mall and over here in Ohio and go to Suncoast Video and get the latest VHS copies of Dragon Ball Z. And it was, it was, it was my thing. I would watch those nonstop, watch them, watch them nonstop, periodically, all the time after school, like it was. It was the Bible for me. And I was never ashamed of watching anime, right, because back in the 90s anime wasn't very popular. Nobody was going like now you can go to a theater and watch a anime movie in a theater. Let's, let's take a minute for that and say that was not a thing in the 90s. It was more of a hey man, you watch this show called Dragon Ball or something like that. And now it would perk my ears again. I may know a thing or two about Dragon Ball I love, I used to love Dragon Ball Z, but go rewinding or fast forwarding to that.
Speaker 2:
I used to get the tapes all the time and think about the VHS tapes. Have you lined them by on their side to give a picture of the latest saga and everything? And I got to a point where that people used to come to me for the dragon. I was a, I was a Dragon Ball distributor, you know say like, yeah, man, michael, you got any of those namex saga VHS. I said, man, Do I ever you want one or two of these? I was the dealer for Dragon Balls. Yeah, that's how. That's how I was back in the 90s. You know what I'm saying. It was, it was. It was just a great time to be a Dragon Ball fan.
Speaker 2:
And the thing about the VHS tapes or buying the extra tapes because it wasn't DVD, because DVDs were expensive Buying the tapes I ran risk of you know, people damaging on them and stuff, and boy I would have been upset. Another thing about getting the VHS I can go beyond the TV show, because back in the day the TV show would go all the way up to a certain point and reset back to episode one. So when I was getting those VHS tapes, I'm ordered, I'm talking about things they ain't even heard about. Yeah, yo, there's this kid named trunks comes out and he's a Super Saiyan too. And they were like oh, what's that? What's like Mike, I need those copies. Man and I was out there just distributing Dragon Ball.
Speaker 2:
The thing about that is that that that sparked a passion. So for so many things. Again, you know that anime made anime popular all Over the United States and then, once that came out, then you got the big three with bleach, not a toe and one piece, and just to say that Dragon Ball was the takeoff for anime in the US and and that was just amazing to me. That was just one of the things that Made me who I am. And now I Always wondered like how much life lessons or anything that I learned from Dragon Ball? It was just, you know, always, you know, being humble. That's the one thing I learned. I, at least what I picked up was from Goku that he was always humble and anxious to help people and all that stuff. So you know, I I'm very thankful for a Kirito Yama and his creation of Dragon Ball, and it doesn't go there like one of the things that Stands out to me when we, when we talk about Dragon Ball and everything, was the movies, man, I used to watch.
Speaker 2:
I used to watch the movies constantly. Before the Super Saiyan stuff happened. It was dead zone, tree of might and the world's strongest dead zone Tree of might, world strongest. I used to watch those things religiously Ocean dub, mind you, ocean dub, ocean dub, the original og and everything I love, smoking. I used to watch those Religiously and it's like, like it's so, it's, it's just so. It was so fun for me to watch this movies.
Speaker 2:
I get everything in One one setting. You know I don't have to wait till next time on Dragon Ball Z. I get everything. Then in there, boom, boom, bang, bang and I'm up. You know that's it. And I could watch it again and again and again. Just analyze, do all that stuff.
Speaker 2:
I used to be so knowledgeable of Dragon Ball. I used to like when people would talk about things like the power levels listen do. Power levels are trash, don't go by power levels. That was still that's still one of the Most debatable things and with the Dragon Ball community, power levels are trash. And I used to go on about things and hype and theories and all that stuff. And Another thing about Dragon Ball that I'm always appreciative of is that I Branched off and, you know, decided.
Speaker 2:
When I started writing, I started writing my own Dragon Ball story and when I used to write, I used to write like you know, different things, different aspects and all that, and I was like wait a minute. I started seeing people like who can draw Dragon Ball? You know draw, you know do commissions and all stuff, and that started back in, you know, mid 2000s and all that stuff, 2014, whatever and that led me to meet another Dragon Ball fans, or at least artists that do Dragon Ball. All that because of a Kira Toyama's vision. That Vision led to me writing more and making my own characters, creating my own ideas and Eventually writing my own version of the manga.
Speaker 2:
Now, you know, and in doing all these commissions so all that Goes back to a Kira Toyama, you know, like because of his vision, I was able to write my own things and meet new people, who, who do commissions and stuff, and I'm so eternally thankful for that. You know, if it wasn't for Dragon Ball, I would never have met some of the artists that I've had, like, numerous conversations with, like Eric Babs, one of the guys who did my commissions for a while. Ishii 1694, the guy I constantly work out, james D Frosty all these people that I've met that love Dragon Ball that has a connection to Akira Toyama, king Kino Arts. I cannot forget him. That's one of my favorite artists too. All these people I've met because of Dragon.
Speaker 2:
Ball and they've done wonders for me, as far as you know, taking my ideas and giving them life. I've always, always, always, always appreciated all the artists that do commissions for me, and it's all because of Akira Toyama. So the question now is what in the world is going to happen with Dragon Ball? One of the most popular IPs in Japan. Worldwide has lost its creator. I see that you know, the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh passed away recently. Me personally, I haven't seen anything since then. Now, mind you, I'm not the biggest Yu-Gi-Oh fan, like I was in the early 2000s and stuff, but when you lose a creator, where do you go from this? Now I wonder if Torotaro, the guy who's doing the manga now, what's he going to do? Are we still going to get Dragon Ball Super? Or about Dragon Ball Diamond, which is supposed to come out in 2024? I'm pretty sure it's already in production and everything. But where are the ideas? Is it doomed? Is Dragon Ball doomed to go away? And I also wonder what's the online community going to do as soon as something that we don't like or something that doesn't fit the idea of Dragon Ball, or what are we going to say? Well, if Akira Toyama was still here, it wouldn't be this way. So it's a weird situation we're in as a Dragon Ball fan in the community as well, and it goes to show. And one of the things that I smirk about is because I just started talking about Dragon Ball on the podcast. I think I did last two episodes with Dragon Ball podcast.
Speaker 2:
Now this one's going to be another episode of Dragon Ball and as a little episode I don't even want to put out there. I don't want to put this episode out there because it's near and dear to me, like dude this is. It's rough, man. It's rough when you lose the people that inspire you, that make you happy, and it's just a joy to be here on this earth and everything. And now that he's gone, it's like it's the biggest downer ever.
Speaker 2:
Like I said, my studio has two posters. I got Sinsu beans, two energy drinks that are all Dragon Ball related that, mind you, I'm never open those energy drinks, but this is like I got all this influence and now the creators gone. It's just such a big mental blow to me that this has happened and I'm hoping that you know, like you always want your, your favorite things to keep going on forever and this is the greatest showing that everything lasts forever and you have to take time to enjoy the moments you have on earth. So I'm just out of lost words, man, I'm.
Speaker 2:
I'm mentally trying to get like again. I took off work Friday and I had to weekend off, kind of had crystal classic this weekend, but like I'm trying to wrap my head around moving on and it sounds weird that I'm saying that, like you know, moving on from this situation, but you have to, you know what I mean Like I know he's gone and I feel like, even even though he's gone and everything like the IP is in good hands I'm hoping, I'm having faith in that, because I've had no problem with Dragon Ball Super other than retelling the stories over and over and over and over again, telling us a superhero which has already been a movie or that stuff.
Speaker 2:
So I'm hoping that the property is in good hands and that it continues to prosper, or that stuff, so what? So I'm very I'm anxious to see what happens for the rest of this year as far as Dragon Ball content and all that stuff. And I don't want to sound greedy or anything like that, but it's like Do you want this to continue? I mean me personally. Yes, of course I do want Dragon Ball to continue, but at what point? Like, what do you? What do you do in this situation when the creator dies and I'm pretty sure he has memoirs and everything like that, like of what, what he was doing, what he's writing. I'm pretty sure there's stuff out there or on his desk or in his person, but I wonder, what's, what's next? Do you just even, do you just start over? Do you just say, hey, we started a new direction, go to, I mean, I think In the, in the looking, looking forward. Do you just build your own Dragon Ball? You know, we've been in what? The North Hemisphere, the seventh, the seventh universe. What do we do something different with the fans? We vote. I mean, like, I don't mean personally, but I was taken over, taking over a character Yama's work and doing Dragon Ball. I don't know if I feel comfortable continuing to write Dragon Ball as is.
Speaker 2:
Do you put a in cap on the story we got with Goku and Vegeta, gohan and all that stuff? Do we put in cap, say, look, look, let's tell the story for a year and then create a new story, a new universe, new characters and all that stuff. Would that be a way of honoring a character, yama? That's a good question in my book. What would? What would, what would you do in that situation? I mean, if we continue Dragon Ball but tell a different aspect of it, because you can't match what a character Yama has done?
Speaker 2:
You know, the thing with the thing with Dragon Ball was that there is some humor in Dragon Ball. Prime example, goku, one of the strongest warriors in the whole series, is afraid of needles. You know, majin Buu will fall asleep in the middle of battle because he's bored of taking beating your tail in. Those are things that are, that are a character Yama's type. Funnies that remain, I get no more. So it may be good to honor him by doing a different direction. But then we get close to that black panther thing, which is which is a whole another story, for a whole another time. So it's a question of what is the right thing to do.
Speaker 2:
Going forward, I'm hoping. I'm hoping that he may be left Well, I mean, I'm pretty sure he didn't know he was going to die either. So it's like he was only 68. Can you imagine passing away at 68 years old? You know, we all aim to live as long as we can, but 68, man, that's, that's young man. And the thing is like how he died. He died from a blow to the head and I think it was like a blood clot.
Speaker 2:
I haven't read it because I don't want to read it. I don't, I don't want to read how One of the most influential people in my life passed away. So I don't know, it's just just a very bitter pill to swallow, just sucks. It just sucks to lose somebody that has brought so much joy to the world and everything. So yeah, so one of my favorite things of Dragon Ball has always been the characters, the side characters. Man, I mean, we all love Goku and all that stuff, but man, I've always loved Krillin. The thing I love about Krillin was that, like he's this one, well one, he's one of the shortest people on Dragon Ball, and that speaks to me. And the man was bald too, because I used to rock the ball too, but bald. And one thing about Krillin like he was willing to fight, you know, he was willing to get down and fight, like hey, I may be short, I may be from Earth, I ain't no stinkin saying, but I am going to fight, and that was something I always thought was cool Krillin.
Speaker 2:
And then, on top of that, on top of that, my boy got one of the baddest women in Dragon Ball with the Android 18. So then, a boo boo, I got the girl and all that stuff. That was one of the things I loved about Dragon Ball. One of the things I absolutely hated about Dragon Ball will always be sell. I freaking hate it so so much. I mean, the thing about sell is that One.
Speaker 2:
He was a punk, picking on all the humans and taking their energy, and then then, when he got to a point where you know his old thing was to be perfect and be the perfect Android, just that and the other you start whining. I hated that. There's one part where he was getting his butt handed by Vegeta and he was up there screaming it's not fair, I gotta do. What are you talking about? You've been eating all these humans this whole time. Now you want to whine. It's not fair, because Vegeta is putting his hands on you. I haven't hated that about so, and then, on top of that, he manipulated it. Yeah, well, you, let me do it, and you're 17. You'll get to match you One.
Speaker 1:
I said.
Speaker 2:
But she's like, really, what's going on? What are you talking about? Beat him and go home and fight Kakarot or something. You know, I just couldn't stand that the thing about sell. He just manipulated people and he was perfect. What do you do? He mopped the hell out of the cheetah. He had a lot of cheetah, served him right, and then he beat trunks. And then he's sitting there and, oh man, I could go on and on about how much I hate sell. He made a tournament that you got 10 days and then sat there just chilling and then you want to go around terrorizing people. I couldn't stand. So I hate sell to this day, even post super and I'm not talking about GT, I think sells the worst enemy, worst villain of all time. I cannot stand sell At all At all.
Speaker 2:
So yeah, now, now in the episode. So, um, you know, thank you, kirito Yama. Thank you for so much man, I mean dude, I wonder what my life would be without Dragon Ball. Seriously, there are so many people, so many artists, so many commissions that I've done inspired by Dragon Ball, and now that he's, now that he's gone, it's, it's um, I wonder, I wonder what the future holds for Dragon Ball. So, that being said, yeah, um, so you know, it's just still a bitter pill to swallow. It's just the sucks. Uh, man, thinking about it right now just not cool. Um, thank you for tuning in, as always, to the WDYM Show. Quite, seasons finally over, so I get back to doing my thing Because, man, it's required. It takes a lot of boy. You never thought of singing and dancing. It takes so much out of you, but it does. Uh, I'm your host of the WDYM, michael Gillespie. Thank you, as always, for tuning in. Make sure you love each other, man, because you never know when time is up. Peace out girl scout, boy scout, peace.
