Toriyama sensei's work inspired multiple generations of animators, especially due to being dubbed in so many languages early on in the popularity of anime in the west.
We originally released this on Goku Day 2024, and now it's here on Newgrounds to share as well.
I know this song is hated by a lot of people for good reason, lol. But please follow me on this line of thought-
I'm 38, and I've been a huge DB fan since I was about 11 or 12 in mid 90s America. My first exposure to the show was even earlier, original Dragon Ball in full Japanese airing very early in the morning on some channel we got when I was a little kid. I'd think this was a fever dream if I didn't remember so many details.
The impression the show left on me (in both instances) was enormous. How it LOOKED and how it MOVED. I'd never seen anything like that then. Seeing this dumb intro blast on to tv all insanely with the Ocean dub in like, 1997, broke my brain in a phenomenal way.
This I know to be true as well for a lot of current animators who are aging rapidly like me (lol). I've seen Japanese language DB several times over at this point, and like a weird purist don't ever watch the dub-- but oh baby, the Ocean dub in the 90's just hits that specific way that brings me back to being so small and sitting in front of a tube TV, absorbing the show into my bones. I wanted to pay tribute to that feeling, and how much effect this feeling has had on the animation community across the globe.
I was deeply saddened by the loss Tori-sensei this year, way too soon for it not to be tragic. I feel like I owe so much to him. I hope he knew the sheer amount of people he influenced, just exactly that same way.
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