We Would Not Be Here Without Akira Toriyama
Cast of Dragon Ball ZALT

I am sad and emotionally wrecked right now. We lost a legend that changed everything.

Akira Toriyama, who’s famous for Dragon Ball and working on other properties like Dragon Quest, passed away at the age of 68 this March. It sucks because we’re celebrating 40 years of Dragon Ball.

Dragon Ball Z was my gateway into anime fandom when I was a 5th grader literally 30+ years ago. Way before Toonami, I watched a Cantonese-dubbed episode of DBZ at a friend’s place and became slowly hooked ever since then. Chinatown in New York City at the time was filled with Dragon Ball Z merchandise. Posters, toys, wall scrolls, video games, trading cards, etc. You name it, it was there. DBZ fandom wasn’t as mainstream back in the early-to-mid ‘90s as it is now, but there was something. Especially for me.

I also remember my first time using the internet at a public library in 1999 and one of the first sites I visited was a GeoCities fan site about DBZ. That’s how I found out about the original manga. My first manga purchase was Dragon Ball Z Volume 1 by VIZ Media in 2003 and it was a big-sized volume that was priced at $14.95 at the time.

Dragon Ball Z also got me closer to one of my younger cousins during the Toonami years and we formed a bond over anime since that time. I would play make-shift DBZ scenarios with him when he was little. I had Dragon Ball Z figures at the time. When I think about those days, I realize that it’s those moments that count especially when kids are dealing with so much competitive stressors that don’t encourage play.

I know everyone has their favorite Dragon Ball characters, but my favorite character ever is Vegeta. I wrote a whole bunch of articles about him through the years. One of my top posts ever was about growing up with Vegeta. And that was written 13 years ago.

At the time, I felt similar to Vegeta. I have this very lone wolf-ish disposition despite appearing friendly to a lot of people. I’ll admit that I have softened a lot over the years. I don’t have as much pride as Vegeta does as of late. But the thing about Vegeta lately is that he’s a much different character than in the past. If you follow the Dragon Ball Super manga, you know what I’m talking about.

And then I realize I’ve grown up alongside Vegeta for 3 decades. It’s surreal. Part of me feels like I haven’t changed all that much like he has, but I have grown up in ways that I wouldn’t have expected.

Which leads me to this - if it weren’t for Dragon Ball Z, I wouldn’t have gotten into anime. I wouldn’t have gotten to explore other series beyond it. I wouldn’t have gotten into manga. I wouldn’t have met friends in fandom in my '20s. I wouldn’t have fallen deep into the JRPG abyss. I wouldn’t have gotten into Yakuza/Like a Dragon afterwards. I wouldn’t have gotten into Japanese mahjong as a result of that. Dragon Ball Z started a chain effect that’s still sending ripples to me to this day.

Akira Toriyama provided a introduction for me and everyone looking for something different into the world of Japanese pop culture. He is Cool Japan to me. Toriyama got so many people to see how wild, imaginative, fun, and inspiring Japanese pop culture media was. It’s arguable that Toriyama had a much bigger impact on overseas fandom than Osamu Tezuka.

A lot of people involved in anime and manga would not be here if not for Toriyama. I want us to acknowledge that. I know I have. He was a game-changer or should I say, a world-changer for everything related to the perception of anime and manga globally.

Rest in peace and power, Toriyama-sensei! You will never, ever be forgotten!

Berserk’s Continued Popularity and Trauma
Berserk Deluxe Edition covers, Dark Horse ComicsALT

I often keep up with what’s selling in the manga world, so it’s not a surprise that I check out ICv2’s Manga Week when the site posts up interviews and insights about the industry. What caught my eye this time was Kentaro Miura’s Berserk still being a top-seller and a top manga franchise in the English-speaking side of the world.

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14 Years Running

Today marks my 14th year writing this blog. One more year before the big 15.

I do want to say that I’ll be taking my time to write more stuff and slow down a bit more. I used to think quite a bit about virality, but I feel that I don’t care much about that anymore. I want to focus on writing the best posts I can. Even the best people I know who blog don’t update consistently. I used to follow the “2 updates a week for your blog” advice back when blogging was all the rage, but I sometimes have felt that I was posting for the sake of posting.

Plus lately, I’m starting to feel my age and am trying to begrudgingly accept that. I also came down with COVID for the 1st time this past month and figuring out how to move forward because it wasn’t a fun time.

There’s stuff I want to do for this blog, so I’m not going away anytime soon. It’s a nice break from mahjong since I still feel like I have unfinished business over here.

Anywho, thank you to everyone who still reads what I have to say. I do want to keep writing because reading manga is a lot of fun and I’m always learning about the world around me and tying it to manga.

Let’s make it to year 15!

Meguru Bachira (Blue Lock) - Accepting the Monster
Meguru Bachira, Blue LockALT

Tell me, monster. What should I do? What will it take for those two to acknowledge me?

If there’s one hidden truth that’s apparent once it’s open, it’s that we all have dark sides. With happiness comes sadness, with joy comes anger. We can’t have yin without yang. However, there’s so many of us who can’t accept that we sometimes have inner monsters. We carry trauma that builds up over time stemming from childhood experiences and begins to take a life of its own when unchecked.

I’m going to talk about a very notable character whose claim to living is their inner monster and that’s Meguru Bachira from Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura’s compelling hit soccer anime/manga series, Blue Lock.

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Bad Circumstances Can Create Bad Outcomes
Kyoto Animation logo, 2023ALT

Many anime fans remember what happened in 2019 with regards to Kyoto Animation. An arson incident happened at their studio that took the lives of many people and wounded several others. The suspect who did it themselves was noted to have a history of mental health issues. A proper court resolution happened recently with the suspect accepting full responsibility for their actions and facing the death penalty.

Before the court sentence, an article I read in the Otaku USA newsletter highlighted the doctor who saved the suspect’s life, who had some words to say about how do we stop horrible tragedies like mass murder from happening.

The doctor, Takahiro Ueda, was in charge of healing the arson suspect, Shinji Aoba’s wounds. At first, he hesitated. But Ueda said that no one should die before facing justice. After some time, Ueda was able to talk to Aoba about what happened that day. Aoba would say that he was pushed into a corner. Then he would say something that fascinated Ueda. Aoba said the hospital treated him with a lot of kindness, more than anyone ever did in his personal life. Ueda realized that Aoba went through a lot of personal trauma which started with familial abuse and got worse from there.

Ueda said the following while lamenting that there needs to be more action on how to prevent people from going over the edge and end up hurting society as a whole. To quote from the Manichi Shimbun,

“His was a particular kind of upbringing, but he isn’t the only one out there. We have to consider the possibility that this could happen even in the communities we live in.”

I know this whole ordeal has made a lot of anime fans sad. It’s a lot more complicated for me because of my own history with mental health issues. When violent incidents happen, lawmakers always point to poor mental health as the case. Some people in my past have teased that I would hurt someone when I express negative emotions in an aggressive manner. Most people with mental illness do not partake in violent crime. But in this particular one, I do feel that poor mental health combined with other factors has led to this tragedy.

Is this all Aoba’s fault? He definitely has some blame and has to face responsibility for his actions. I just know that it’s not all on him.

I say this out of a habit I have of telling people that I can do great harm to others when I’m pushed to despair. Back at Anime NYC last year, I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in a while and we talked about our lives. I told him that I was doing alright and even said that I could have been an incel-type if things weren’t working out and didn’t know how to process my emotions. I don’t think I’m that good of a person.

I think of all the people I’ve met in my life and have shown some kindness towards me. I realize how lucky I am. I know some of you might be like “No way you would commit a crime! You seem like you’re a really good guy.” But I will gladly remind you that we can all turn out to be bad people when our life situations become very dire. Who doesn’t want meaning and connection when we become isolated for no good reason? When we’re starved of those two things, we can get pushed so badly by certain ideologies and manifestos towards a point of no return.

Aoba’s words about hospital workers being kind to him do hold value. While he did something that’s unforgivable, I want him to help others for the rest of his life (that should be his “punishment” if possible) while getting the help he really needs.

Ueda’s words about preventing future tragedies also hold value. What can we do to be more proactive instead of being reactive? How do we even start with tackling on trauma that is almost always complicated and requires more than just a quick fix?

Kindness is a start for now, I guess. Be kind. Give people who are so cynical some measure of hope that there’s still goodness in this world. When I say show kindness, it doesn’t mean that you have to be a total doormat. Setting constructive boundaries with those in need is a sign of kindness because you want to be at your best (not your worst) to be kind and more importantly, you believe in the other’s person ability to be better.

I still hope the families of the victims are able to find peace in their own way and I hope that the people in charge are able to create better circumstances that lead to everyone in life finding peace in general.

Note: As I was finishing this post, I found out about Hinako Ashihara and her death due to a possible suicide. I’m just devastated. The circumstances surrounding what happened are awful and my point still stands that even if circumstances do become bad, we can absolutely do better to make them not any worse for the sake of everyone affected by them.